Vets issue warning on dog treats from China

[seafan]

Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Federal regulators said Friday they are investigating potential contaminants in dog treats made in China, as the nation's leading veterinarian association posted a warning to pet owners that the products might be making animals sick.
The American Veterinary Medical Association, which represents 75,000 vets, issued the statement prompted by members' reports of numerous unusual cases of dogs suffering from a rare kidney ailment after consuming the China-made treats. Most of the products were chicken-flavored.

.....

Dr. Richard Goldstein, associate professor of veterinary medicine at Cornell University and part of the team assisting the FDA in its investigation, said most of the affected dogs are small breeds that had developed renal problems. Symptoms include vomiting, lethargy and lack of appetite.

.....

Dr. Brian Roberts, with Veterinary Specialists of South Florida in Cooper City, said he became convinced something new was wrong with pet food when he recently diagnosed four dogs in six weeks with Fanconi Syndrome, a rare disease which damages the kidney tubule. The disease is so uncommon that some vets never have a case, Roberts said.

Fanconi's usually is genetic and seen in the Basenji breed. But none of Roberts' patients were Basenjis, and all were young, small dogs. In talking to the owners, he realized all the animals had been fed jerky treats manufactured in China, all of them chicken flavored. Veterinarians participating in online chats started reporting similar Fanconi cases possibly associated with the treats, Roberts said.

He who called the FDA to report his concerns.

"The disease is so rare, it's very suspicious," he said.

Read more: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/sfl-0915jerky,0,532766...

[lonestarnot]

1. Costco selling them in a big bag. Ick "Made in China"

[Duer 157099]

13. Do you know which brand Costco was selling?

I don't have the bag any more, but my dog has eaten a couple bags worth of those over the past several months. Last time I was at Costco, I tried to find them to see what the bag said, but they weren't carrying them anymore.

Edit to add: I think I just answered my own question. I believe this is the brand:

http://benniandpenni.com/home.php

We appreciate your concern and are fully aware of the unfortunate events surrounding Wal-Mart and Bestro Chicken Jerky.

Benni & Penni is an independent company which has no association or ever had an association with Bestro or Shanghai Bestros trading company.

Our products are processed under USDA and FDA guidelines and specifically treated to be bacterial free. We do not use wheat gluten in our products. Our products are made and imported from Yantai, China. Our chicken jerky treats go through strenuous lab tests before and after production by an independent laboratory in the United States to ensure that our products are completely safe and nontoxic. Our products are safe and we stand behind its quality 100%.

We have recently tested our chicken jerky at an independent lab in California and the result shows no Melamine.

[Quantess]

17. I remember looking at a bag of Chicken Jerky at Costco.

I was going to buy them, but when I saw the jerky was solid pieces of boneless chicken breasts, I became suspicious. Why would the best meat on a chicken be used for dog treats?

Unless....the meat was bad, the chickens were sick, the chickens had died on their own, etc.
Then I saw they were made in China, which was also a deal breaker. No way was I going to feed that to my dog. He's better off eating table scraps.

[OhioChick]

2. K&R

When will this end?

[tuckessee]

5. It'll end when people stop buying food of any kind from China. n/t

[AndyTiedye]

11. How Do You Do That? They Don't Tell You Where They Buy Ingredients From

The big cat food recall involved many of the "best" American brands of cat food.
It even included some of the veterinary prescription cat foods.
They had outsourced some of their production to Menu Foods,
who bought contaminated wheat germ from China.

None of the pet food involved had any indication of non-US origin on the packaging.

[CountAllVotes]

3. more here from itchmo.com

>> As of this morning, PetSmart has pulled various Smokehouse Brand dog treats off of their shelves. There have been reports of pets becoming ill after eating the treats, and as a precaution, PetSmart has removed the products. There has been no formal recall as of yet.

Here is what the PetSmart corporate office released to the PetSmart stores:

“Today the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) issued a media alert warning some treat products from China may be a potential threat to pets due to ’several complaints from pet owners and veterinarians of illness in dogs.’ No deaths have been reported at this time. The symptoms of pets reported sick were vomiting, lethargy and anorexia. To date, testing by the FDA and PetSmart Techinical Services has ruled out melamine contamination that might be making pets sick.

http://www.itchmo.com/smokehouse-brand-dog-treats-pulle...

Here is the SKU list of the Smokehouse Brand dog treats that have been pulled off of PetSmart shelves:

7856525052 5108696 Chicken Chips 1lb.
7856525053 5108692 Chicken Chips 8oz.
7856525092 5108693 Chicken Poppers 8oz.
7856525093 5108698 Chicken Poppers 1lb.
7856525134 5108691 Chicken Tenders 8oz.
7856525137 5126536 Chicken Breast Tender Snacks 1lb.
7856525138 5126535 Chicken Tenders 2lb.
7856584255 5126702 Duck Breast Tenders 8oz.
7856584256 5126534 Duck Breast Tenders 1lb.
7856584257 5126532 Duck Chips 1lb.
7856584258 5126531 Duck and Sweet Potato 1lb.
7856585808 5108695 Chicken Tenders 1lb.

[Inkyfuzzbottom]

4. I never feed my dogs anything that's not US made

Not rawhides, not pig ears, not biscuits...nothing.

I feed my two standard poodles Stauffer's animal crackers. They are your typical animal crackers many people give their kids. They are low fat and pretty basic. Probably not the most nutritious snack in the world for kids or dogs, but they aren't too complicated. They are made in the USA and they are inexpensive. My dogs LOVE them. My vet said they were a decent treat option for my dogs, in moderation. I can get a 2 pound bag at most stores for less than 2 bucks.

[ptolle]

7. handmade

I never feed my cats anything that's not handmade. I figure that way I know pretty much the ingredients and the processes.Besides they like to hang around in the kitchen while it's being made.Good interaction for all involved.

[Pokey Anderson]

6. Old Mother Hubbard treats - no problems.

I feed my pup Old Mother Hubbard treats. Canadian company. None of their stuff was ever implicated in the recalls.

[qazplm]

8. at this point

I think the only thing I would buy from China is rat poison, which pretty much would be accomplished by anything else they make.

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

9. Here's the press release from the AVMA

http://www.avma.org/press/media_alerts/070914_jerky_tre...

[allisonthegreat]

10. what's astonishing to me is...

that the *&(^^%$#@ still have the crap on the shelves. I rather feed my dogs baby carrots than take a chance on the crap from China. It was still on the shelves a couple of weeks ago and i could not believe the &*^#$@#^ still had it out there.

[Raine]

12. I'm done with commericial animal feed FOREVER

I haven't used it since the food contamination that was months ago and I don't intend to feed it to my little babies ever again!

[Wcross]

14. I wonder whats in our human "prepared" foods we don't know about?

You have to assume that makers of prepared food use the cheapest commodity available. China does cheap very well. Cheap & deadly. I heard rumors about children having kidney problems but it was on the Internet & you know how crazy people can post just about anything they want......or, er, uh, oh never mind anything I said.

[seafan]

15. Not a rumor. The Internet(s) are right.

Kidney failure rate soars among S. Florida's children

[Wcross]

16. Wow, the Internets ARE right.

It's too bad the government seems to be more content on killing us (and others) than serving us as they were hired to do. You can spend 500k to a million USD to kill a few Taliban fighters with an ariel bomb but can't hire more food inspectors? What a wonderful world.