Note: more recent updates on the recall are being posted here.
There’s been a huge recall of dogfood:
WASHINGTON – A major manufacturer of pet foods sold throughout North America under dozens of store names is recalling millions of containers of its products while working to determine what caused kidney failure and some deaths of cats and dogs.
Menu Foods said Saturday it is recalling dog food sold under 46 brands and cat food sold under 37 brands and distributed throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. The pet foods were sold by major retailers, including Wal-Mart, Kroger and Safeway.
A complete list of the recalled products along with product codes, descriptions and production dates is available from the Menu Foods website, http://www.menufoods.com/recall. Consumers with questions can also call (866) 895-2708.
“At this juncture, we’re not 100 percent sure what’s happened,” said Paul Henderson, the company’s president and chief executive officer. However, the recalled products were made using wheat gluten purchased from a new supplier, since dropped for another source, spokeswoman Sarah Tuite said. Wheat gluten is a source of protein.
An unknown number of cats and dogs suffered kidney failure and about 10 died after eating the affected pet food, Menu Foods said in announcing the North American recall. Product testing has not revealed a link explaining the reported cases of illness and death, the company said.
The recall covers a large number of brands from a large number of major retailers. Fortunately, the brand we feed—Sensible Choice—wasn’t affected.
If you’ve got pets, check out the web site above. Better safe than sorry.
Update
Nutro has voluntarily withdrawn some of its “wet†pet foods in response to recall:
CITY OF INDUSTRY, Calif., March 17 /CNW/ — As a result of the Menu Foods North American recall of specific canned and small foil pouch ‘wet’ cat and dog food, Nutro Products, along with many other pet food companies, has announced a voluntary recall on specific pet food products manufactured for it by Menu Foods. This recall applies to certain wet food only. No dry Nutro pet foods, biscuits or treats are impacted by this matter and no other canned or pouched Nutro products are subject to this recall.
While Menu Foods has indicated that none of the products that may have given rise to pet illness or death were Nutro’s products, there have been a very small number of reported cases of pets becoming sick and developing signs of kidney failure from ingestion of products tied to Menu Foods. Signs of kidney failure include loss of appetite, vomiting and lethargy. Consumers should immediately stop using the involved products and consult with a veterinarian if their pet shows any signs of these symptoms.
It’s a little difficult to tell which brands are affected by the recall based on the Menu Foods link above. The foods involved are all wet food i.e. sold in a can or pouch and not dry kibble. Since Menu Foods is a private label manufacturer for so many major chains, if you feed a store brand, it’s probably prudent to suspend feeding the store brand wet food and ask, specifically.
Update 2
The following are some of the brand name pet foods affected by the recall based on what I’ve been able to determine . Right now Menu Foods’s web site (linked above) and many of the the web sites of the affected brands are overwhelmed by the traffic they’re receiving and are unreachable.
Brand name foods affected by the recall
Eukanuba
Iams
Mighty Dog
Nutro
most major retailer house brands—check your retailer
Brand name foods not affected by the recall
Cesar’s (all Mars products)
Pedigree
Royal Canin (including Sensible Choice)
The complete list of recalled foods with links to the specific lots is below…
- Americas Choice, Preferred Pets
- Authority
- Award
- Best Choice
- Big Bet
- Big Red
- Bloom
- Wegmans Bruiser
- Cadillac
- Companion
- Demoulas Market Basket
- Eukanuba
- Food Lion
- Giant Companion
- Great Choice
- Hannaford
- Hill Country Fare
- Hy-Vee
- Iams
- Laura Lynn
- Loving Meals
- Meijers Main Choice
- Mighty Dog Pouch
- Mixables
- Nutriplan
- Nutro Max
- Nutro Natural Choice
- Nutro Ultra
- Nutro
- Ol’Roy Canada
- Ol’Roy US
- Paws
- Pet Essentials
- Pet Pride – Good n Meaty
- Presidents Choice
- Price Chopper
- Priority
- Publix
- Roche Bros
- Save-A-Lot
- Schnucks
- Shep Dog
- Springsfield Prize
- Sprout
- Stater Bros
- Weis Total Pet
- Western Family
- White Rose
- Winn Dixie
- Your Pet
I had a poodle dog I fed Mighty dog packets to for a long time all at once in November of 2006 he became ill and would not eat. I took him to the veterinary and learned that the dog was in kidney failure and he got so bad that the kidneys quit working and veterinary advised me to put him to sleep rather than suffer. I lost his just before thanksgiving. I feel there should be some compensation for the grief that I had to go thru and the fact that he was a purebred dog. He was not replaceable. He was only 8 years old and should have had for at least another 6 years. I trusted your food and have used it and the Old Roy for some time. This should never have happened. My phone number is 570-265-2883. Barbara Bailey
Barbara, I’m not the dogfood company nor the manufacturer. I’m just another dog owner trying to get the word out.
My family HAD a beautiful 7 year old black toy pomeranean dog that died within 72 hours of eating OLD ROY wet dog food. We had been feeding him Purina Dry Dog food as his normal meal and used Old Roy Wet food as his treat. She loved it…….. I can’t believe that a dog food manufacturer would release a change to their product line without thoroughly testing it. And now my family is devastated at the loss of our best friend…… Boo !!
I have been trying to get the word out as best I can as well. Unfortunatly the recall came too late to save my dog, I had to have him put down a little over a week ago due to kidney failure. I hope everyone with a pet is paying attention and gets help for their pets before it is too late.
I`ve been feeding my dog Publix brand dog food WITH COUNTRY CUTS for months. HE died on march 15, last week, just before the recall. I checked the recall list & there were the numbers from the can he was being fed from.
he had all the symtoms discribed in the recall.
he was an older dog in not very good health, but i think his life was cut short by his eating this product. I am very sad that i contributed to his death by feeding him this tainted product.
I lost my Pure Breed Dalmatian to kidney failure on Oct. 18. I had been feeding her Purina One and Ole Roy can at night. She was a very healthy dog and just became sick. I immediately took her to the vet and was told she was in kidney failure. She fought hard, but was so sick. She lost 20 lbs in a matter of 10 days. It was so sad when we had to put her to sleep. My family is still in shock that our beloved “four legged child” is not with us anymore.
I had all of her food tested then and it was tainted. I dont even know if her food is a part of this recall, but none the less this makes me mad!! I had no idea that ole roy and nutro, which I switched to, were made by the same company. I have 3 other four legged kids to think about too.
I have been feeding my dog Authority for awhile now and the only thing that he did go thru was that he wasn’t eatting and his stool has become very soft. I went to Petsmart where I bought the dog food from and the only thing they recommanded was to take him to the vet and get him checked. We should at least get reinburst for doing this because if it wasn’t for this problem we all didn’t have to worry about how our family pet could end up. I love my dog and I don’t want to see him go. They should pay for the blood work.
ON THE 10TH OF MARCH, I FOUND MY 4 YR OLD POODLE DEAD.
HE HAD BEEN FED THE BEEF CUTS/GRAVY FROM WINN DIXIE IN FLORIDA.
I HAD NO KNOWLEDGE OF A RECALL,HE HAD BEEN LISTLESS, AND HAD VOMITTED, THEN I JUST FOUND HIM DEAD. I NO OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE HIM CHECKED BY A VET AS IT WAS LATE ON A SATURDAY, AND REALLY DID NOT SEE AN URGENCY OF A PROBLEM. HE HAD THROWN UP AT OTHER TIMES IN HIS LIFE WITH NO CONCERN.
I HAD HIM BURIED. NOW I FOUND OUT ABOUT A RECALL, AND I AM CERTAIN THAT WAS THE CAUSE OF HIS DEATH. HOW CAN THESE COMPANIES DO THIS TO THE PETS THAT WE LOVE AND ARE PAART OF OUR FAMILIES. I AM DEVASTATED,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO DO ABOUT THIS?
On Jan. 15,2007 I had to put down a perfectly healthy Boxer that developed the same symptoms overnight. I have been feeding him Pedigree pouches along with Purina dry food for years. They say the Pedigree pouches are all right but it seems very pecular to me. Thanks, Owen
I have six cats and several weeks ago changed from Walmart’s Special Kitty to all Friskies canned food. My cats didn’t particularly like Special Kitty, but they love Friskies. Do to some financial setbacks, I had to cut costs and changed my catfood to Fine Feline at nearly half the cost and my cats didn’t like it, so I kept the cans and went back to Friskies and I did without my own necessary food….. So glad I did that!! Always be aware of what your animals turn their nose up at…… It saved my kittie’s lives !! I lost two kitties last year to cancer and other causes…… it has still been a terrible loss, but to lose a beloved pet to poisoning is just the worst and I definitely feel the manufacturers should be held liable to pay vet bills, all thrown-out food and personal loss scheduled amounts. It can’t bring our animal families back, but the responsibility has to be placed where it is proven to be a fatal error on their part no matter how they deem it as accidental. Plane crashes and car crashes can be accidental and there are still lawsuits and recovery of monies spent on the product or service. Why should animal food be any different? Have you ‘Unpet’ people seen what a painful death it is to these dear family animals and the effect it has on the rest of the family? It just can’t be adequately described by the word ‘devastated’ !! I hope Friskies is listening and learning with regard to their food and taking excessive contamination controls. I just wish they’d reduce their prices….. they have good food and except for the price, it certainly saved my cats…….!!
It is so very sad and hard to read all these stories. My dogs all eat dry food, Nutro Lamb and Rice. I still am worried even though I checked it out with the web site, called my vet and went to Pet Smart to see if mine was pulled from the shelf. Apparently my food is ok. I have 2 very small Yorkies and my daughters maltese. My Yorkies have sensitive stomachs and they were throwing up about 2 weeks ago for several days off and on. This was before the recall was announced. So in short even though my food is suppose to be ok you better believe I am going to keep an eye on my dogs more so then before. If they even throw up one more time I am going into the vets office. Mind you it is not out of the ordinary for my little ones sensitive stomachs to throw up but now with the recall we shall see.
My heart goes out to everyone that lost one of there 4 legged family members. I guess a class action law suit will be coming next after all this.
correction- Nutro Natural Choice Dry Food Lamb and Rice small bites
Can anyone advise me how I can determine if Cesars Dog Food (Canine Cuisine) is involved in the recall. Thanks in Advance
According to the Cesar web site none of their products are involved in the recall.
Our family lost two beloved pets in January. Out of the blue, our 9 year old Schnauzer dropped dead in our yard on 1/4, then we discovered our 8 year old Bouvier had renal failure, and had to be put to sleep on 1/27. Both ate Nutro Natural Choice canned food (along with their dry food). I have no idea if they ate any of the contaminated petfood, since the recall came too late for us. It does seem like too much of a coincidence that we lost both pets within weeks of each other. Either way, even if it ended up being the contaminated food, nobody can erase the loss of a beloved family pet. I still cry daily from our loss – – – they were our family.
My two year old standard poodle just gave birth to 6 pups three weeks ago.
Her stools are runnie and have been since I started to feed her O’Roy.
Will her pups be effected if she gets any sicker…I’m worried.
i have a 9momth shij tuz that i was told that her kidney blood work,and liver blood work was high,she is our baby,how could this happen,it cost us husreds of dollars,
needless to say the tears and stress this has cause us.
i hope we got this in time.they didnt no way this happen.now we herd of the recall.someone should take
respoabiley for all us that are suffering over this.this should
not happen . madder then hell
My comment is to Bren in CT. I work at a veterinary clinic and we have no idea what is causing the problem. You said you had the food tested and it was tainted, I was wondering if you could tell me what it was tainted with?
Thank you
HEART BREAKING, AND THE BASTARDS PROBABLY WHERE AWARE THAT THERE WAS A PROBLEM LONG BEFORE THE PRESS BLOWUP AND STILL ALLOWED MORE ANIMALS TO DIE. THEY PROBABLY WILL BANKRUPT AND NEVER REALLY PAY FOR THE DAMAGE THEY HAVE DONE.
My 6 year old Abyssinian started drinking LOTs of water about a month ago. She ate only WalMart’s Special kitty chicken in gravy (on the list). I took her to the vet on Mar 13 and the blood tests found kidney damage. She’s on Hills k/d (prescription food for animals with kidney disease) now and we’re hoping for the best. I’m keeping records of everything. NOTE – when I returned the cat food to WalMart they tried to give me a gift card for the amount of the food, but NO paperwork to show that I had returned the food. They only gave me a duplicate of their receipt when I insisted.
What was very interesting was that when I filed my complaint with the FDA (and everyone needs to do that) the very nice lady said, “I can’t tell you anything, but you should know that your cat is one of the lucky ones.” Apparently they are being flooded with reports. This is going to turn out to be a BIG issue.
IS LITTLE CESARS DOG FOOD ON THE RECALL LIST?
If you mean Cesar’s, no. It’s produced by Mars and no Mars foods have been recalled.
I am worried about my dog, Missy, who has been my constant companion since my husband died. I do not wish to lose her because some company feels it is necessary to import wheat from China rather than using American products which cannot use the type of poisons that one article said had been used in the production and or the shipping of the wheat. I am also disturbed that the company did not release their findings until it as too late for many dog owners. I am concerned that the Pedigree wet dog food that I have been using for some time is also unsafe. If anyone is certain one way or the other, I would appreciate hearing from them. I hope everyone’s dogs recover and there are no more senseless deaths. Thank you for your help.
At this point no pet foods produced by Pedigree are part of the recall. Only foods produced by Menu Foods are involved and according to their web site no Pedigree foods are produced by that company.
$$$$$$$$$$$LAW FIRM$$$$$$$$$$
THIS IS GOING TO BE A HUGE CLASS ACTION SUIT!
AS YOU GET READY TO JUMP ON, MAKE SURE THE ATTORNEYS WERE NOT SENT FORTH BY MENU FOODS!
I AM SO SORRY FOR ALL YOUR LOSSES, I CAN’T IMAGINE WHAT I WOULD DO IF THIS HAPPENED TO MY BABY!
I feed my three dogs Nutro Max Natural Choice small bites lamb and rice dry food. I am wondering if this is recalled??
I feed my three dogs Nutro Max Natural Choice small bites lamb and rice dry food. I am wondering if this is recalled?? They keep saying no dry dogs foods are affected but I see nutro small bites senior is recalled and that is a dry food??
To the best of my knowledge no dry foods have been recalled yet. Nutro’s web site specifically says that no dry foods have been recalled and lists the Nutro products that have been recalled.
Our 12 year old cat Nunnu was throwing up, lethargic, high fever, drinking a lot of water and was in the animal hospital for 3 days…this was New Year’s Day. Now I think that she must have had some of the bad food that was out there. No one came up with any real diagnosis. My husband had bought something “fancy” in a can because it sounded so absurd, the label, because of how these companies really sell these foods to the humans.
I do not recall the name of it but that was the only time she ate that stuff.
The vet bills came out to $3,000.00 but she seems to be okay again except for some scooting which I have taken her to the vet for twice already and that did not help.
Any ideas?
I thought that when anal sacs were drained the is a definite odor to it. Both times we took her to the vet to have her anal sacs drained there was no odor and she is still scooting.
What do you think?
Thanks
Pia Levensteins
My 8 year old shij tuz died on 3/23 I was feeding her Ol’Roy dinner rounds dog food. I found out about the recall the day before she died. This dog food was not on the list of recalled dog food but she had the same symtoms of the dogs that had died from the recalled dog food. Does anyone know if this food was bad or is there anything I can do to find out. I still have the food. I miss my dog very much and I know nothing will bring her back but if I ever get another dog I can feed her another type dog food.
i have an 10 year old dog, she only eats DRY DOG FOOD, purina brand…she is in the hospital, she stopped eating 3 days ago, had bloody stool, was vomiting, and she was all gassed up, this morning we awoke to see her eyes looking sunken in and her inner lids swollen out…we rushed her in to the vet……..she is now on an iv and getting many meds, they told me she is very sick, she ate something that has caused her intestines to become inflamed and bleed………say a prayer……..AND LETS ALL HOPE THEY TEST THE DRY FOOD SOON!!!!
P.S. MY DOG WAS SCOOTING FOR THREES DAYS ………PRIOR TO ALL THIS
A few days before the recall was announced I fed my 3 yr old dwarfted teacup Chiuhauha alittle OLD ROY can chicken chunks w/ gravy (I still have it) mixed with Purina little bites. He’s not a big eater and has always had very bad breath regardless what I did to correct it. He was always fed dryfood because the Vet said it would keep his teeth in healthier conditioner (hopeing to help his BAD breath too). Well, I fed him this combo one night and the next morning he threw it up partly digested. I tried it the next day and it happened again. I decided that was enough. He was also thirstier than normal and alittle off but not bad. I talked to the Vet who said to change his food. Then I went to Petco and switched him to “Nutro Natural Choice” for sensitive stomachs a dry dogfood. He’s been OK but I”M scared!!! As with most of you-if I lost him because of all this unnecessary bullshit!!, my Laywer will be my new best friend. I will have lost the closest thing I’ve ever had in my life. I’m 51. He goes absolutely everyplace with me (stores,hotels,ect). If he’s not good enough to be admitted, neither am I. I’ve shown horses all my life and they are (were) first and foremost but do come second to my dog. The horses just don’t fit everyplace my 2 lb baby does. Anyway, keep me posted if you can. (How much of what the Gov’t (any of it’s agencies) has ever told us, has been the whole truth???? Thanks for listening-Sorry it took so long!!
Buyer beware anything you buy from wal-mart most likely come from China or any country that has very low wages that this company thrives on they live on the many to give them there wal-mart family a fortune for there intire family with with they are the richist retail company in the word They will stoop to the lowest ,no morals just money wise up america,Bob Vowell
is old roy wet and moist [pouches] on the recall list.
Was or has Ol Roy Dinner Rounds or Purina One been recalled…My dog has been withdrawn and has diarrhea and has thrown up-i had been feeding him one brand and switched to other by gradually mixing the two brands…He is at the vet being held for a few days-they believe it is pancreaitis but the more i read here the more it appears very similiar to dogs that have been poisoned by contaiminated dog food. My mini schnauzer TRUSTY means the world to me-i dont want to lose him. If he is ok i think i will just buy him frozen chicken on sale and boil big pots in the kitchen and freeze in bags until needed and avoid all the brands-its almost more cost effective to do that and i would assume alot healthier and more natural-makes the coat shiny.
My dog ate a few cups of dinner rounds a couple of weeks ago and died today of kidney failure, but its not on the list. If ANYONE here had the same issues please email me mg011399@juno.com
Doesn’t WalMart also own PetSmart?
OMG! I’ve practically read all of these awful losses!! From my end, I think a good option to commercial dog food is holistic dog food, my Poodle LOVES it! I actually wrote a blog post inspired by him 🙂 http://urban-pet.ca/up/2010/06/holistic-dog-food/
Cheers everyone!