Comments on: Reports Of Dog Illnesses From Chicken Jerky Treats Continue

By: richard

richard — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:31:14 +0000

All of these chicken treats are from processed chicken from China. They have repeatedly tainted food products to enlarge profits! baby food, dog food, ect. We thought the waggin tails where made in the usa . The chicken is from China. Our dog experienced a loss of appetite for his normal food “cesars” but craved his jerky treats sound familiar. I never knew the connection until I went on line looking for a homemade chicken jerky recipe and saw all these post.Someday we are going to find out that these treats from China are tainted with something! 3 Lbs of chicken breast at 2.25 per lb will make about one pound of jerky” half the price of store bought processed China chicken. super easy and he love em . Best of all his appetite is returning to normal and his mood and energy level is up as well .Google homemade jerky recipes for dogs ,lots of easy healthy free recipes . And refuse to buy any food related products from China . Good luck everyone hope your pets are ok !

By: john foster

john foster — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:43:27 +0000

jenna please dont assume on the waggin brand I buy at sams also and the package say all natural but they are made in china .Dont trust sams or wallmart to protect you from china,they are china best customer.

By: Jannie

Jannie — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:51:17 +0000

Please do not trust any chicken strips- Smokehouse, Waggin Tales, whatever- even if the bag says it is Made in USA. My German Shepherd is very ill, on 2 strong antibiotics from the Smokehouse chicken breast strips Made in USA- 100% natural it says. I called Smokehouse in Calif, asked for QC- they said ” we are fairly certain” there is nothing but chicken. Fairly certain? I asked- she told me well, we have two kinds- one made in China, one in USA.

By: Jenna

Jenna — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:31:08 +0000

Waggin Train treats are all natural. You can get the chicken jerky treats at Sam’s Club 40oz for $14 or get a smaller bag at WalMart. Says their headquarters are in Anderson, SC, so I assumer they’re made here in the US. I don’t have my bag with me to be 100% sure, but my dog loves them and doesn’t get sick.

By: Judy

Judy — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:57:08 +0000

On December 17, 2008 both of my dogs (Yorkie 8y/o and Yorkie mix 16 y/o) became ill with vomiting, excessive drinking and urinating as well as letargy. When I took the dogs to the vet she was concerned that both were suffering from kidney failure. She had asked if they had been exposed to pesticides or any other poisons. I am sure that they were not…they were always on a leash when taken out. However both had eaten Ol’Roy grilled chiken strips in the past several days. I had not been aware of any of the warnings regarding chicken treats. Both were hospitalized given IV tx, antibiotics…to make a very long, painful story short…both also developed pancreatic problems. After several weeks of special diets, subcutaneous hydration at home, re-hospitalization their health was very fragile. On January 4, 2009 the youngest of he two passed away and on February 10, 2009 the older passed on. I am conviced that the chicken strips were the problem. I have filed a complaint with the FDA. It’s too late for my dear dogs…but maybe others will be spared this suffering.

By: sue leo

sue leo — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:38:59 +0000

I will be returning to my vet tomorrow for a another test for my 2 year old doxie I have been giving him harpers beefeaters chicken strips from bj,s made in china I only happened to stumble on the alert about such products by accident I took him off the strips after the dog food recall I was afraid of anything from china at the time I could not find any other such treat made in usa I didn’t hear about any problems with these and it was the only treat he liked so I returned giving them to him he has been acting lethargic And had a couple bouts of diarrhea with a little blood so I took him to the vet for bloodwork his creatnine level is high and the only thing I have done differently is the vet upped his interceptor heartworm meds from brown to green into the over 11# range I am just beside myself I keep blaming myself for giving in and giving him back his treats he loved I’m such a picky nut about his food{natures variety prairie and timberwolf] I wished I paid more attention to his treats but I’m still not sold that it could also be the heartworm meds thanks Sue Leo

By: Claire

Claire — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 03:34:17 +0000

Hi There
I live in NZ and have just had issues with a Chinese made Duck Jerky treat. Never even thought it might be an issue. My three small dogs, 2 bichons and a toy poodle, had diahorea, vomiting, lethargy and I didnt know what was wrong. I stopped giving them the treats because that was the only thing that had changed in their diets. They seem to be ok now, last symptoms were maybe 5-6 days ago. The brand name was Wampy (I shoulda known better huh?)

I feel devastated that I actually fed my precious fluffs something that hurt them, could have even killed them. I would never forgive myself.

By: Vickie

Vickie — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 23:22:17 +0000

I am so sorry to hear about the lost of your little one. Were they Maltese’s? My dog is currently fighting the toxic posisions from Smokehouse chicken treats. I did not realize they were made in China. She started getting sick last week, and i was thinking she had a stomach virus. She had to be hospitalized. Thank goodness I took action when i did. She weighs 8.5 pounds, and lost a pound in a week. Her hair was falling out, she was vomitting, not eating, drinking tons of water and urninating constantly… all the symtoms of those toxic treats from China! Luckily the ER vet i took her to had treated 2 dogs recently with same symptoms and she asked me if i had been feeding Sugar any chicken treats from China. After hydrating her and pumping her with Potassium, she is starting to come back, thank goodness. The FDA just posted a waring about these treats week of Dec 19th. I’ve called them ot put in a complaint and turned over the remaining treats i had to my vet who is also filing a complaint and submitting the chicken to the FDA for testing. These products were PULLED off the shelves in 2007 and now they are back? What the heck is going on? I’m livid and plan to take Legal action.

Again, so sorry for your loss. I can’t even imagine what i would do if we lose Sugar. She is fighting hard and I too will never give her ANYTHING made in CHINA.

By: Crystal

Crystal — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 04:52:40 +0000

I feel I need to also tell my story about Waggin Train Chicken Jerky treats. I purchased one bag from Sam’s and would rip them into and give one to each dog as a treat. This was the only new item in their diet. The bag lasted about 2 to 3 weeks (alternating with their regular treats I had been giving them), I was having some problems with diarhea at times not sure which baby it was and never connected it to the treats just thought some were having a stomach issue. No one seemed sick. I gave them the last of the bag (two treats that day). Two days later when I got home from work one of my babies was acting very sick, not eating nor drinking and just not wanting to do anything. He vomitted stomach acid that night at bedtime. I took him to work with me the next day to watch him and see if I could get him to drink. After a couple of hours I could see he was getting worse and couldn’t force him to drink. I took him to the vet and they said he was a sick baby and within 4 hours he had died. My vet said the blood work results looked strange and asked if I used any poisions around the house. I don’t use any kind of poisions (I would never risk it with animals), he had not been anywhere but at home. I live on 5 acres with no neighbors in sight. He wasn’t a curious baby either and never got into anything. I narrowed down the other 2 babies that also had diarhea and took them to the vet one had to stay and get a IV overnight the other one (larger) got to come home with fluid under the skin and watch him closely. My furbaby I lost was my smallest baby he weighed almost 5 lbs and was not even 2 years old yet. I am angry that I gave them these treats as I should have searched on the internet first. If we could only go back and do it over again. I know these treats were the cause of my babies death and sickness of the other two. I will never buy another treat from China again as I feel they don’t care about human lives why would I think they would care about my furbabies lives.

By: Cici

Cici — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:39:34 +0000

I am trying to get the word out to dog owners whose dogs love chicken jerky! Ours got sick too from jerky from China, but our vet told us about Kona’s Chips that are made in America with USDA chicken… it’s worth checking out:

www.konaschips.com

p.s. don’t let your babies eat meat from China!

By: Kristin

Kristin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:24:50 +0000

I fed my 9 month old Shih-Tzu Dogswell Chicken Jerky and she became extremely ill. The first time she tried one, she had diarreah. I put her on chicken and rice and she felt much better. Four days later, not thinking it was the treats, I gave her half of one. She was up all night with bloody diarreah. She never has accidents and she actually pooped on our bed. She was brought to the vet and received fluids and flagyl. The vet said they must be the cause. I know now I will just stick to her food, dog bones and her kong. A good tip for a Kong is to fill it with kibble and top it off with pb and freeze She loves it!!!

By: waggon train dog treats

waggon train dog treats — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:11:03 +0000

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By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:14:29 +0000

I had not realised it was such a serious and common thing until I had my three year old chihuahua diagnosed with Fanconi Syndrome in February. In January I noticed that she started to drink and pee excessively. The vet found a high level of glucose in her urine and initially thought diabetes (although she is too young for that generally). She had an UTI also. However there was no glucose in her blood so not diabetes. She was treated for the UTI with antibiotics but it was prety presistent. My vet knew very little about Fanconi Syndrome and I found out far more than she ever did. I sent Rosie’s pee to the University of PA (the test for Fanconi Syndrome).

I had to travel 90 minutes to a vet that has a special blood gas machine (this is an expensive piece of equipment so most vets do not have it) go find out the dosage of various pills, minerals, vitamins and supplements she now has to take (possible for the rest of her life) as her kidneys are affected and are spilling over with glucose and other nutrients. If she does not take these pills - loads a day - she will get sick and most probably die. There is a doctor - Dr. Gonto - that has made a protocol for Basenjis and this works for other dogs with acquired Fanconi Syndrome.

I am so mad at all this. I never fed Rosie any of the withdrawn brands - she ate Waggin Train and Dogswell (chicken and duck types). This has affected hundreds of small breed dogs. The vet I took her to has two others that have become infected this way. It is just not right that this is still going on. I will never feed another piece of jerky, no matter where it comes from, even the US.

And for the poster above me. Rosie had one treat a day at bedtime. Not more than that! It is not kidney failure and it is not due to excess protein. The protein levels in the kidneys are normal. They spill over sugar and other nutrients which has nothing to do with excess protein. It is due to a toxin from the chicken that has been ingested.

By: Jeff Hayes

Jeff Hayes — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 20:47:21 +0000

Well, I’ve been giving my half chihuahua, half Jack Russell little boy Tater Tot Waggin Train brand Jerky Treats for close to 3 years now (he was 3 in September, and I think I started buying them when he was about 6 months old), and I’ve yet to see ANY problems with HIM from them (and I watch his health and behavior closely).

I DID just take him for his annual vet appointment today, though, and as usual, I took a sample of everything I feed him with me, including one of the jerky treats, and I used one of the empty bags of that to carry it all, and my Vet told me EMPHATICALLY to throw all that stuff out, that it was KILLING dogs from kidney failure — even that brand in particular — the tech who was assisting her attested her own dog had trouble and she was using Waggin Train.

But I’m stubborn. This brand has NEVER been implicated in any of the recalls, and, like one of the folks above, I once ate one and found it delicious. It’s his favorite thing in the world to eat, but I don’t give him more than one a day, and the vets seem to have NO IDEA WHY these treats are causing kidney failure in some dogs — mostly SMALL BREEDS, so I have a theory of my own… I’m thinking the ones who’ve had kidney failure have eaten more than their kidneys could process… That dehydrated chicken is a very CONCENTRATED source of protein, and even on the package it says to feed them only as an “occasional snack.”

I’ve seen NO issues with Tater Tot drinking more or having urination issues, but I may STILL cut down his nightly ration from a full one to a half one, just to be on the safe side… I DON’T THINK (except in the case of the Bestro and some of the OTHER recalled brands) it’s a case of contamination… It’s a simple case of excessive protein concentrations hitting the kidneys and putting undue stress on them, so I’ll back off on his portion size, but he’s SO USED to getting one as a “midnight snack” before I go to bed (he stands up in his bed and refuses to lie back down until he gets it — WAITS for it), I just couldn’t do that to him (and I feed him less regular dog food in compensation.

My vet WAS NOT happy that I didn’t just go GEE, AWW and say I’d go right home and toss out an almost-brand-new bag I just opened last week, so she made sure to put a note on the bill warning against feeding him those, too… I give her credit for caring, but I’m guessing MOST of the dogs who had problems from brands that WEREN’T either contaminated or moldy were fed TOO MUCH of the treats, maybe even fed them as their entire diet, because they taste so good, I’m sure most any dog would readily agree to eat nothing else.

Thoughts?
Jeff

By: Jolene Van Horn

Jolene Van Horn — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 05:24:33 +0000

I hate to say this but CRAP!!! I was eating some of these myself!!! I will NEVER buy my rottie another treat!!! And yes I DID wind up in the ER from eating bestro chiken jerky.They tasted GOOD though!!! That is the ONLY treat I ate of Hera’s was the chicken jerky.strange but tasty!! But now I have pains,vomiting and colon problems as a result and drink TONS of fluids!!