• April 02, 2007
• Vol. 67
• No. 13

Pet Food Scare

By Susan Schindehette/New Jersey, With Diane Herbst/New Jersey, Ellen Shapiro/New York City

At Least 14 Animals Have Died After Eating One of 90-Plus Brands. What Cat and Dog Owners Need to Know

• Which brands are affected?
Menu Foods, which manufactures store brands for Wal-Mart, Kroger and Safeway, among others—along with private labels like Iams and Eukanuba—has recalled 60 million cans and pouches of dog and cat foods. To find out exactly which brands and lot numbers are affected, go to www.menufoods.com.

• What's causing the deaths?
Animals are dying of kidney failure, but at the moment, no one is sure what's causing it. An FDA investigation is focusing on the possibility that wheat gluten used to thicken pet food gravy may have been tainted, either by mold or another contaminant.

• What should pet owners be on the lookout for?
Early symptoms include loss of appetite and excessive thirst, followed by vomiting. "People shouldn't panic," says Dr. Louise Murray, Director of Medicine for the ASPCA in New York City, "but if I was feeding my pet one of these foods that have been recalled, I would make an appointment to have a blood and urine test run to gauge kidney function."

• Can kidney problems be treated?
Yes, by giving fluids and providing a modified diet. Says Murray: "The sooner an animal with kidney problems of any kind is treated, the better the chance of success. Minutes and hours count."

More From This Article

One Family's Loss

Every day for the past six months, Day Keel fed the family dog Soju two packets of Nutro Natural Choice dog food. On Feb. 10, after the mutt stopped eating and began to drink water incessantly, Keel and her husband, Tison, took him to the vet. But Sujo, who was 11, continued to decline, and two weeks later, the Keels had to put him to sleep. "He was a bag of bones," says Day, a stay-at-home mom from Basking Ridge, N.J. "His eyes had the saddest look, like, 'I can't do this anymore.'"

When Day saw that the lot numbers and dates on Soju's food matched those in the recall, "I said, 'I think this is what killed our dog.'" She can't be sure, since renal failure isn't uncommon in dogs. "But the timing—it's too coincidental," Keel says. One thing she knows: Soju will be missed. "He was completely devoted," she says, "like a child."