Several Unconfirmed Reports of Iams Dry Food Causing Illness
Update 3:30pm: We will be collecting emails over the next few days and release a result early next week. In the meantime, if you believe your pet was sickened by ANY kind of pet food, please contact the manufacturer and/or the FDA.
Original Post: We want to repeat that Iams dry pet food is NOT a part of the recall (it only applies to wet food) but itchmo has been hearing of several independent reports that Iams dry pet food has caused illnesses in at least three independent cases. All three reports of pets getting sick has singled out Iams dry food as the cause.
We’re not sure if this is anything more than just coincidence. But, we haven’t seen other dry food being singled out for illness and we’re curious. If you believe your dog has been sickened by dry food, or know of any reports that say so, please email us at tips@itchmo.com and we’ll see if we can log more possible cases.
A list of reports after the jump.
Reports of Iams dry dog food problems:
Colorado paper reports FDA investigating food not on the recall list.
March 23rd, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Itchmo, we need to check with Trader Joe’s and find out if they use the same manufacturer for their dry food as does Iams.
March 23rd, 2007 at 1:06 pm
I’m glad you posted this too. I’ve seen some other reports (in addition to the sources you listed), I’m searching through a few hundred bookmarks now to find them again.
March 23rd, 2007 at 2:04 pm
What a coincidence….I have 3 maltese dogs, a 11 lb., 7 lb. and a 4.6 lb.
They all eat the Iams Dry Dog Food, mini chunks. The past 6 days my 4.6 lb. maltese has been sick. He has not been vomiting but he is not responsive and very lethargic. He hasn’t hardly eaten in 4 or 5 days and hardly wants to drink. He just stands there and stares. He doen’t seem to respond to anything. He just had a small bowel movement for the first time in 5 days. I had him at the vets and he did some blood work. He had a 103.6 temperature. His bloodwork came out negative to everything. I was able to get his temperture down to 101.9. So far, he just started to drink a little water and today had another small bowell movement. The last 2 days I was albe to get him to eat about 2 tablespoons of pumpkin pie filling for fiber. I think he is starting to show a small amount of progress. He is far from being his normal self but he’s a little responsive…not much. The vet does not know what’s wrong with him.
March 23rd, 2007 at 2:12 pm
NUTRO MAX CAT CHICKEN - DRY - PURCHASED LATE DEC.
WITHIN DAYS CAT DEVELOPED PROJECTILE VOMITING, STOPPED EATING COMPLETELY AND HAD DIFFICULTY URINATING. AT THE TIME, VET SAID CYSTITIS BUT I QUESTIONED A BAD BATCH OF FOOD AND SURE ENOUGH, WHEN I STOPPED THE FOOD THE PROBLEM STOPPED.
BLOOD PANEL DID NOT REVEAL HIGH KIDNEY VALUES BUT A BORDERLINE HIGH LIVER VALUE AND SUGAR VALUE. OF COURSE, KIDNEY VALUES MAY NOT SHOW HIGH UNTIL 75% KIDNEY IS ALREADY DESTROYED. I HAVE THE BAG OF DRY.
PENNSYLVANIA
March 23rd, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Our nine year old female cat died March 1st of kidney/renal failure. She was in excellent health otherwise. Totally unexpected. In days before her death, she exhibited vomiting, lethargy, glassy eyes, loss of appetite. She finally had to be euthanized. She ate IAMS Dry only (senior hairball formula). I live in Oklahoma and reported this to FDA regional office in Dallas on March 20th. I’ve also reported to IAMS.
March 23rd, 2007 at 4:21 pm
My aunt has her 10 year old Siamese with kidney failure. He was checked in November 2006 and perfectly healthy. Last month he stopped eating his Iams dry cat food (the only food he ever ate). He dropped 5 lbs in 7 days. He wouldn’t touch the dry food. She would give him yogurt and he would gobble it up imediatly. She checked the Iams dry food bag and thought maybe she bought him a flavor he didn’t like. She went to the store and got the other flavors. He at very small amounts of those, then stopped eating them too. She brought him to the vet and he was diagnosed with kidney failure. (this was approx. 10 days prior to the recall). He was given fluids, a prescription food, and she injects him with fluids at home everyday. He is doing better, thank God! But, I wonder about the dry food too…I really think there is something in there too. Just too much of a coincidence!
March 23rd, 2007 at 4:58 pm
I have 4 indoor cats which have always had nothing but Iams dry hairball cat food. Four days ago they all stopped eating it, not even one bite. I thought I would try a new bag, same problem. I know they are aware of something and I have stopped the food.
All 4 cats can not be wrong.
Beware, something has to be wrong.
March 23rd, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Debby,
Watch them close and don’t hesitate to go to vet for precautionary kidney function test.
RW
March 23rd, 2007 at 7:05 pm
My mom’s Charlie was on IAMs dry cat food. He was strictly an indoor cat
and was healthy for his age.
We had to let him go last night. He was 15yrs old. He got sick on
Monday and he was brought into the vet right away. The doctor said
that his kidneys were failing and assumed that the cat must have
gotten into some anti freeze or some other chemical. Well as
mentioned previously he is an indoor cat and stays in the basement
(dog stays upstairs because she is scared of the cat and the cat
stays down stairs cause he was afraid of the dog). There isn’t any
chemicals in the house.. they store them out side in the shed(except
cleaning chemicals that are under the kitchen sink upstairs)
I had hope that he would get better but yesterday the vet took
another blood test and the levels were extremely high. It was a hard
decision but they decided to end his suffering and have him put down.
March 23rd, 2007 at 7:15 pm
My dog switched to Iams Dry and became very ill and wouldn’t eat. I finally switched to canned food, including lamb and rice from Trader Joes. She died of kidney failure a few days later. No autopsy, but I am highly suspicous that food contamination played a role in her death.
March 23rd, 2007 at 10:57 pm
Hi! I am from Florien Louisiana.I am so glad I have found other people that are having the same problem as me.I had an 11th month old Black Lab name Magnum die on March 13th 2007.The vet told me he died from Kidney Failure after he stayed in the hospital for two days.The vet told me Magnum could not have been poisoned by antifreeze because he would have died in a few hours.He said it could be rat poison because it would shut his kidneys down and that could take several days before killing him.The vet said there was nothing else he could do for him.So I picked him up and brought him home and he died March 13th.The only thing he ever put in his mouth was Dry Dog Food(OL’ROY KRUNCHY BITES AND BONES)from Walmart.
March 23rd, 2007 at 11:39 pm
I had three cats, all of which ate primarily Iams Multicat dry food. We had to put our 17 year old, Buttercup, to sleep in late December due to kidney failure. In early January we took our 13 year old, Jake, to the vet for a check-up. He had lost a few pounds in the last few months (although he was overweight to begin with). His bloodwork showed he was severely Anemic. His HCT was 17, when normal range starts at 27. A slew of tests and over $1,000 later, and the vet was never able to determine the cause of the anemia. He is an indoor cat, and was tested for FIV, FELv, and other viruses, all of which came up negative. They also did protein tests and x-rays to look for possible cancerous tumors, and nothing. In the midst of this we switched his food to PetGuard canned food, in hopes to curb his weight loss. With no medication except for Pet-Tinic (a vitamin), his HCT is now magically up to 36. The only change in his life was the food, and I am convinced that was the cause of his anemia. I wonder also if it played a role in his big sister’s passing.
March 24th, 2007 at 12:03 am
What a frelling hose. I have four indoor only cats and I guess I’ve been fortunate enough to have dodged a bullet on this so far. The cats eat a dry prescription diet in the mornings for urinary tract issues, and HAD been getting Iams canned in the evenings since they absolutely refuse to eat the canned Rx diet since a formulation change about a year ago (I don’t free feed). When this crud broke, I checked the date and plant numbers and the cans were JUST outside the stated range, but I stopped feeding the Iams anyway. I’m working in finding a suitable replacement canned diet they will eat, leaning toward one of the foods that are only human grade meats and veggies if they will eat it.
My deepest sympathies for those who’ve lost their loved pets, I know they can be like children for some (they are for me) and I would be devastated & infuriated should they be poisoned by something like this.
March 24th, 2007 at 12:12 am
My beloved dog Nemesis recently passed away a month ago and we had to put him down because he fell sick suddenly he had all the symptoms vomiting, fatigue, lost so much weight, dehydration, and so on. We paid a fortune in medical bills and we are still in the process of paying back all the medical bills. Our dog Nemesis was part of our family and we our still depressed over his death he was so special and he can never be replaced. I still cry every single day over him.
March 24th, 2007 at 12:18 am
This is an add on. We were so caught up on talking about the grief that I forgot to mention the food. Our beloved Nemesis started getting sick when we started feeding him Iams canned food and Iams dry food we had to bring him to the ER shortly after because he wasnt his usual self.
March 24th, 2007 at 12:40 am
Feb 26th I bought a new bag of IAMS Lamb Meal and Rice DRY dog food.
My dog ate it for about 1 week. He woke up on March 8 vomiting a watery slimey fluid. I got him to the vet that afternoon, he suspected pancreatitis.
He died 2 am Sunday March 10.
March 24th, 2007 at 1:20 am
Nutro Max Cat Chicken has poisoned my cat.
She has kidney Failure.
Not sure if she is going to survive!
I have reported to the FDA but the food is still on the shelfs!!!!
March 24th, 2007 at 11:21 am
I fed my cats Nutro Gourmet Classics (Hairball Management, Chicken Flavor) Dry and my dog Nutro Natural Choice (Lamb & Rice Formula) Dry. I caught my 7 year old healthy cat eating the dogs food, something she NEVER does. The next day she passed away.
I took my other cat and dog to the vet to get checked out. My cat had a normal blood test. The dog has increased enzymes in his kidney and is being treated. Hopefully he will be ok.
I don’t think this is a coincidence, I think the dry food is also tainted. I emailed Itchmo and gave him my story. Also contacted the FDA in NYC, but I have not heard back from them yet. Thank you for looking into this. I’m tired of hearing it is just a “coincidence”.
March 24th, 2007 at 11:57 am
I have fed my dog Science Diet Dry Dog Food for 7 years. I bought a new bag at Pet Smart and when I opened the bag it had a strange smell and the food looked darker then usual. I gave it to my dog and she ate some and that night she started vomiting. She was sick for two days, and would not eat any more of the food. Two days later they came out with the recall of ‘WET” food. I truly believe the dry food is also contaminated and will not feed any dog food to my pet.
March 24th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
I’ve now read several reports about NUTRO dry food causing illness and deaths. I’m also sending those folks here to report it…
March 24th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
[…] Itchmo!Seattle catches a Rocky Mountain News story that notes the FDA “is looking into a small number of reports that pets have died after consuming food that was not included among the recalled products.” Itchmo has been collecting reports of pets allegedly sickened after eating dry Iams brand food. […]
March 24th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
I heard of this site through Tanya’s Feline CRF Information Center, www. felinecrf.org–a super site with invaluable information!
Anyway. This is about Iams Select Bites Tuna and Salmon in Sauce. I informed Iams on Friday, 9 March (in the evening, so I’m sure no one saw it until Monday, 12 March) that both my cats had become ill on 5 March and we don’t know what could have caused it, other than the food. Did they know of any problems with their food? I included the code number on the box, which started with 6338 (!!!), followed by 4197W1.
On 14 March I received a reply that they were not aware of any problems…
I wrote to them last weekend, I wrote to them on Tuesday. I called them Thursday morning (and finally got through), I called them Friday morning. I was told three times (one time by e-mail on Tuesday and twice on the phone) that I would be called. I’m still waiting. I’m trying to get them to amend the code number so people don’t think they have food that is not affected. Buster is dead and Jack is in renal failure, I have to give him subcutaneous fluids every day. We don’t know yet whether or not he’ll pull through.
I don’t know how far back they need to go in their numbers, but I KNOW 6338 MUST be included!!!
Please let people with cats know that the code numbers as published by Iams may not be including all the affected products. 4197 is the code for the plant, I wouldn’t touch anything with that number, regardless of the numbers before that.
Thanks.
Andrea
March 24th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
[…] THIS JUST IN: Radcliff, Allie, Luna, & ozzie wrote: Hi. Not sure whether you want to report something this thin, or not. People are probably freaked out enough without this, but there are a few, UNCONFIRMED reports of problems with Iams DRY food. […]
March 24th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
I also have canned Eukanuba “Flaked with Select Seafood in Sauce”. Each time my cat ate this food, she threw up within 5 minutes. The code is: 6325 4197…I believe this is tainted too. How can they possibly know for sure that it starts with 6339? I am SO sure there are more cans/packets involved then what they told. I am willing to have my cans tested!
March 24th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
I stopped feeding Science Diet Dry Food. Since I bought a bag Jan? Feb?my dog hasn’t wanted to eat it ,the few times he did he would lay spread out on his tummy as if he had a tummy ache. I thought maybe he knew more than I did.
March 24th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
My healthy, seven-year-old, completely indoor male cat died of acute renal failure March 21. The only change in his diet was dry Nutro food purchased in late January, which I began feeding him in early February when my dry Science Diet (purchased weeks before) ran out. I do not buy this as “coincidence.” I reported my kitty to Itchmo and to Pet Connection’s database. My deepest sympathies to pet owners who’ve lost pets or have sick pets as a result of all this.
March 24th, 2007 at 10:36 pm
I am happy to see a site dedicated to reporting pet issues. While I would not dismiss these reports, I would like to provide some additional perspective around dry foods.
I scanned through these reports and see many aged pets with a final diagnosis of kidney failure. This is a relatively common end-of-life issue for feline and canine senior citizens
Certain pet foods can help to nutritionally support renal functions (over the counter and prescription foods both). Some foods, though AAFCO complete and balanced foods, are lower quality and not very good for helping support renal function. Read the labels to see where the meat-based proteins are and whether the manufacturer is using some/many vegetable-based proteins which are often cheaper. Despite popular belief, things like chicken by-product meal is a good source of protein and naturally-occuring essential ammino acids.
Regarding pets refusing a food they previously ate, pet foods can be transported and/or stored at many different temperatures, affecting the food’s taste. How many of us have stored dry foods in very warm places in the summer or places that get many warming and cooling cycles? How many of us store our dry foods in open containers? The food can get stale or rancid (fats and oils in the food get soured). While dogs often like rancid foods, cats typically will not eat the stuff.
And if a pet has a funny tummy one day and doesn’t feel good while eating a food, he may associate his sick feeling with that particular food (learned behavior) and avoid it for a long period or forever. Cats are notorious for this.
I am sorry to hear anyone’s pet have had issues. I hope this provides some perspective from veterinary seminars, research, and lectures I have attended over the years.
March 24th, 2007 at 10:56 pm
When I first learned Iams wet pouches was recalled, I was concerned. Even though my dogs (chihuahua, rat terrier, 2 yorkies, st. bernard) didn’t eat wet food, they did eat Iams dry. They recently finished a bag, which we started feeding just before the recall was announced. For the past few days, my chihuahua and rat terrier had seperate spouts of diaherria. It had been more consistent with my rat terrier, along with vomiting (which has been happening perhaps once a day, either vomiting or diaherria). The yorkies have been having diaherria as well, and one had pooped blood on the floor (I don’t know which one it was). Aside from that, my dog’s have been acting fine. And when I found out some other’s were having problems with Iams dry, it really got me nervous. I suppose I won’t have any choice but to take them to the vet for blood tests. The chihuahua and rat terrier had recently been neutered (March 7, 2007) so at least we’ll have very recent results to compare it to. If you have any additional info, PLEASE e-mail me at glowing_jelly@hotmail.com
Another note, my grandma’s cat has passed away as a result of these recalled wet foods, and my uncle’s cat was on the verge of death, but he has been saved, at least for now.
March 24th, 2007 at 11:04 pm
I lost 2 of my senior dogs within 13 days of each other after feeding them food that was later recalled and I also feed Nutros dry small bite. I know also have a 5 1/2 year old cat that has been diagnosed with kidney failure.
March 24th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
I want to report that my cat died two weeks ago after eating 9 lives canned food. He has eaten it all his life but back in early Jan he started throwing it up after he ate it. He was very listless and started to refuse to eat the food. I started giving him people tuna or ground beef and he would get better so I gave him the 9 lives again and he started vomiting again.He lost a lot of weight, was drinking constantly and started having seizures. He was being treated by a homeopathic vet so we didn’t do bloodwork on him because the vet is not local.
This went on for 2 months before he died in my arms. I had no idea what was going on except he was sick. Before this happened he was a lively sweet cat.
I have contacted Del Monte and they denied any of their food was bad. I contacted the FDA and am waiting for their call back. He has not been buried yet as the ground is still frozen up here. I am going to call a local vet on Mon to see about tests being run on him for bad food or poisoning of some sort.
I don’t believe it is just the foods on the list. My cat was only 7 years old. I am devasted about his death and very concerned that more cats may be at risk if the 9 lives was responsible.
Healthy cats do not overnight get sick like he did, nor do they turn up their noses to their favorite food.
The food was the turkey and giblets and the shredded turkey with sauce…
March 24th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
Ann,
Thanks for the perspective, but my nine year old cat’s kidney failure was not an end-of-life old-age issue. She was in excellent health and very active.
March 24th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
[…] we collect reports of pet illnesses and deaths associated with dry food, Peta is demanding that Menu Foods recall all […]
March 24th, 2007 at 11:40 pm
Ecellent info
March 25th, 2007 at 12:13 am
Ann,
Although I am sure you think your comments are helpful, the posts you are referring to are suggestive of much more serious conditions and for younger animals…not near-death by any means. Every cat I’ve ever owned has lived well past 15…9 is not an old cat that should have renal failure.
If the situation with contaminated food in fact does include dry food and other brands of food, the public needs to know it…NOW.
March 25th, 2007 at 1:07 am
My schnauzer and westie have been sick every time I bring home a bag of dry Science Diet ID from the vet sinece last June. We have been to the vet almost every month since June. It was particularly bad in November thru January requiring a couple of emergency room visits as well as sub-q fluids and and shots for nausea and vomiting. Vet thought my schnauzer had Pancreatitis. She does have a very sensitive stomach and is prone to GI bleed if her diet is not maintained, but the episides almost monthly came after each new bag was opened for her and my westie. My westie is very hesitant to eat but after she gets started she will follow through. She gets sick as well. I have mentioned it to my vet repeatedly. all he says is to phone Hill’s. Did that too. All they did was send me a five dollar coupon toward my next purchase. go figure! I am scared now to feed them the dry Science Diet. Vet says definitely do not feed them any chicken, turkey or meat of any kind and to stay on the Science Diet! So what do you do? what can you feed them? I don’t want to risk this but what is the alternative? Pet manufacturers have us in their grip here. I know that Hill’s tells me that their prescription foods are not part of the recall but I don’t think anyone understands the full scope of this yet. I know in my gut that their food was making them sick. Vet thought I was over reacting but I know that I am not and have the vet bills to prove it. So where do we go from here? None of it is safe and we need better regulation of this industry and more protection for our pets! any suggestions out there?
March 25th, 2007 at 1:14 am
I switched to IAMS Light large bits for my yellow Lab who is my service dog Walker on Feb 28. That is when Then he also started a lot of water then I noticed that Walker started waking me up to go outside to go out to pee. Then I noticed he would not eat it all at once. His stools are ok but not his urine. This particular product is not on any of the list but I really have to wonder if it should be. I have attempted to call the hot lines and I either get a busy signal or a recording comes on with a message of “Your call could not be completed please try later. The fact that they won’t even answer their phones tell me they are tired of hearing about their mistakes.
I am a old farm gal that believes that if you find a rat in your barn then there has to be a rat nest nearby. So by not answering their phones tells me they either don’t care or they are trying to hide something.
March 25th, 2007 at 2:31 am
I forgot to say that Walker is my service dog because I am a paraplegic and cannot walk. So the value of him is easy to prove that it will cost me approx. $20,000 to $25,000 to replace him. He is in the final stages of renal failure.
He also pants all the time and he is alive because his veterinary has him on antibionics and pain pills for 10 days. We go back Friday for another test. I am so afraid they will tell that there is nothing more that they can do.
March 25th, 2007 at 3:42 am
Someone mentioned their cat refusing Nine Lives after eating it for a long period of time. I had the same problem. Nick (my handsome Russian Blue, now only 18 months old) enjoyed the Nine Lives cuts food. He is picky and I was greatful we found something he liked. In January he quit eating it. Never threw up, just sniffed and took one bite. He would just walk away and then beg us for food. Switched to Fancy Feastf roa bit, and he ate that ok. Switched again to Special Kitty, he loved it. Now he is drinking a lot of water, but his blood tests for kidney issues came back ok. Although his white count is low. On antibiotics. Have switched him to Natural Balance, although he isn’t fond of it.
March 25th, 2007 at 9:28 am
ON MONDAY NIGHT WHEN I CAME HOME I LET MY YOUNGEST DOG OUT. I WENT TO LET HER IN AND SHE WAS ON THE GROUND UNABLETO GET UP AND VERY SCARED . SHE WAS CRYING AND I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON. I CALLED MY VET WHO SAW HER RIGHT AWAY. THE VET CHECK TURNED UP NOTHING. THE NEXT MORNING SHE WAS NO BETTER, PERHAPS A LITTLE WORSE. I TOOK HER BACK TO THE VET. SHE RAN MANY TESTS INCLUDING A CARDIAC WORKUP.HER HEART WAS WAS VERY HIGH AND SO WAS HER BLOOD PRESSURE. MY VET WAS BAFFLED AND TOLD ME TO KEEP AN EYE ON HER. THIS MORNING WHEN I WOKE UP I COULD NOT FIND MY YOUNGEST CAT, WHO LOVES TO EAT AND EAT. I SEARCHED AND SEARCHED AND FINALLY FOUND HER HIDING AND SCARED. I THEN TOOK HIM TO THE VET WHERE TESTS WERE DONE. HIS URINE SHOWED THAT HE WAS IN RENAL FAILURE. THERE WAS GLUCOSE SPILLING INTO HIS KIDNEYS, BLOOD, AND A HIGH PROTEIN LEVEL AMONG MUCH DEBRIS. MY VET THOUGHT AT FIRST IT MIGHT BE DIABETES BUT THAT WAS NOT THE CASE BECAUSE THE BLOOD WORK UP WAS ALL NORMAL. SHE RAN THE TESTS TWICE JUST TO BE SURE IT WASN’T A FLUKE. I TOLD HER BIFFY (MY DOG ) ATE THE CAT FOOD WHEN THE CATS WERE FINISHED. THAT WAS WHEN WE STARTING PUTTING TWO AND TWO TOGETHER AND FIGURED IT MUST BE THE “DRY” FOOD THE CATS RECEIVE, WHICH IS SPECIAL KITTY BRAND. MY VETS CAN ONLY CONCLUDE THAT MY ANIMALS HAVE BEEN POISONED BY THE FOOD. WE DON’T KNOW IF THE CAT WILL BE ALRIGHT I CAN ONLY HOPE AND PRAY. I HAVE TO BRING MY DOG BACK TOMORROW AND HAVE HER BLOOD PRESSURE AND URINE CHECKED. HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE IS SOMETIMES A SIGN OF KIDNEY DISEASE. MY VET HAS SWITCHED ALL THE PET FOOD. WE WILL HAVE TESTS RUN ON THE SPECIAL KITTY AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. HOWEVER THE COMPANIES DON’T WANT TO TAKE ON THIS EXPENSE EVEN THOUGH I AM IN THIS WELL OVER HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS. I LOVE MY ANIMALS VERY MUCH AND AM BESIDE MYSELF. EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT AN ANIMAL PERSON PLEASE FORWARD THIS ON SO WE CAN GET THE WORD OUT AND SAVE THESE DEFENSELESS ANIMALS. THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND I WILL KEEP YOU POSTED. JILL
March 25th, 2007 at 10:57 am
I feed Iams and Science Diet dry with a very small portion of wet as a treat. I have lost one cat and another has minor kidney issues. But, all of my cats have had diarrhea and vomiting (sometimes with blood). Their blood work does not show a problem but some are now showing neurological/coordination problems. All of my cats have been very healthy and very active. I have 7 cats over the age of 10 and 5 of them are over the age of 15. Even though I have cans of the infected food and they have eaten it, they are experiencing different issues. 6 of the cats have bladder infections. 2 have heart issues which were not present a year ago. I am sick of this entire affair and am not purchasing any foods from any of these companies anymore. I am going back to human grade cat food and also cooking my own. I believe that this has been an issue for a long time and these companies have been poisoning our children!
March 25th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
I do not feed my dogs or cats anything that has been mentioned thus far although, with my cats, cat food without corn, Eukenuba chicken and rice or lamb and rice, doesn’t make them throw up, no corn in the ingredients. But I don’t know anymore so I’ve been looking around for recipes and I hope they help.:
This is for the dogs:
http://gourmetsleuth.com/recipe_dogbiscuit.htm
This is for cats and dogs:
You can also boil brown rice, not bleached, and mix it with meat, no ham for dogs! I don’t know about cats, I won’t feed mine ham just to be safe. Make sure the rice is boiled to the point where it will not expand anymore, this is a crucial step, because it does expand, oatmeal the same.
March 25th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
I have 3 Doberman’s ages 1,4, and 5. I feed Nutro Dry, for the past couple weeks all three have been throwing up yellow bile. I took them off the Nutro yesterday…. Since then there has been no throwing up.
March 25th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
I have a 1 1/2 year old and 3Yr old cat. Both have been eating Purina dry cat food. Three weeks ago the youngest started vomiting a lot and has never vomited in the past. I took him to the vet and they found no problems and he actually seemed ok after a few days stopped vomitting and was eating and drinking again. Then this past week he vomitted again and became dehydrated lethargic and stopped eating. I took him to another vet and they did blood tests and said he seems to have some type of kidney infection but they didn’t know why and what made him sick. Even though my other cat seems ok now I really believe it was the food because I read that they may not become sick right away.
March 25th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
[…] - Several Unconfirmed Reports of Iams Dry Food Causing Illness http://www.itchmo.com/read/sev.....s_20070323 […]
March 25th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
Why isn’t Iams dry food on the recall list? My god this has been handled horribly!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am starving my cat, because I think that menu foods is not being honest and I am scared to feed her cat food.
March 25th, 2007 at 6:35 pm
My cat ate purina one dry food,(indoor cat food) and vomited, which she never does vomit. It was a new bag of food. The only other thing she ate the night before was a wiskas treat in the yellow pouch, chicken flavor.
March 25th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
My dog died on January 26, 2007. I’m just now putting two and two together. I feed her only Iams dry dog food mixed with Mighty Dog pouches. She lost control of her kidneys, had no appetite, was lethargic…I feel so stupid that I didn’t think about dog food. Of course the recall wasn’t until March. I was broken hearted but now I feel worse because I am the one who fed her the tainted food.
March 25th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Just wanted to let everyone know I am giving my cat IV therapy at home, because he is in kidney failure caused by dry food. He is not even two yet. I have to do this for a week. Do you know how much fun it is holding down a scared cat as you are inserting a large IV needle as he crys and trys to scratch and bite you. I am doing this to try and save my pet. This cat is a very special kitty that my sons adores. He is a part of our family. This is so unfair. Please keep posting your comments.
March 25th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
Oh…I am so sad for everyone! I cry as I read these terrible stories! Why isn’t something more being done!? How can they continue to deny and hide what is really going on. I feel that any product that contains wheat is possibly poisoned. How are we as consumers supposed to know where all the wheat that is in all these brands came from? How are we assured that every company everywhere did not get its wheat imported from China?
I hope that everyone is reporting their animals who are sick from dry food to the companies as well. Even if they tell you “Oh, that food is not part of the recall” Make sure you tell them “I understand that, what I am reporting is a seperate issue I would like you to log and look into.” Just because the food may not be a part of the recall, doesn’t mean you cannot report it. I also suggest you report your incident to the FDA as well. That way you will have record of it, in case there is an issue or a recall in the future.
Also, I called Menu Foods to report an issue with the WET Eukanuba food. They told me they are NOT handleing any issues with Eukanuba or Iams and I would have to deal with them direct. They said they had NO information to give me on these brands. I then said “How is that possible? You manufacture this wet food.” They said they DID NOT and to please call the company direct (which I already had, I just want to report it to every possible source). I think the whole thing is weird and inconsistant with what they are telling us.
Anyway, I am praying for the people and the animals who have been affected by this terrible thing! Mine have too…my 6 month old ragdoll baby boy has been on IV’s. His levels were perfectly normal 3 weeks ago when he was neutered. He ate both Iams/Eukanuba WET & DRY food. I am livid at these companies and the stress and heartache they are causing so many innocent people & animals!
I have started to feed my cats Dick Van Pattens Natural Balance Dry Food. There is no wheat and all products are from the US.
March 25th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
The workers at Petsmart stores need to be educated on how to deal with this fiasco. I was talking with some of them about the scope of the recall when it first came out and their reaction was, “That’s a lot of money.” A week later when I returned all of the dog and cat food that I had purchased from there (brands on the recall list, but not any that was actually recalled) the reaction was, “You know we’re not the only retailer involved.” Where do the allegiances of these people lie?
March 25th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
[…] Itchmo!Seattle […]
March 26th, 2007 at 12:20 am
Back in February we gave our dog Ol’ Roy Kibbles, Chunks, and Chews dry dog food and my dog was throwing up and having extremely soft stools. The dog looked beat. So I immediately took her off the dog food and she’s looking a lot better. I remember going back to Walmart and buying Purina, I told the Walmart cashier that the Walmart brand was making my dog sick. And this was before any reports of tainted dog food were reported.
March 26th, 2007 at 2:05 am
I purchase my dog food iams and nutro and even purina at both costco and fred meyer and my dogs have been sick….I never would have thought of something like this causing them to be ill….I lost one dog a while ago, he stopped eating and I just assumed it was he’s getting old (12 years). looking back….i’m thinking he was poisened by this tainted food that may have been the cause of his death….our other two siberian huskies have showed signs as well. I am going to get them checked….it seems that all the foods i’ve been giving them may be the reason for their health problems.
March 26th, 2007 at 4:36 am
Neither Nutro nor Menu Foods have officially recalled or even mentioned DRY
FOOD.
However, buzz is accumulating around the internet as individuals — one who
has reported dry food [possible] poisoning to the FDA — report illness
related to IAMS DRY and NUTRO DRY. (I personally threw out my kitten Nutro
dry and bleached the container. I will never buy Nutro again…)
I can only pass along these accounts (below) as organized in our recent
action campaign against Menu Foods.
If you are interested in receiving the ENTIRE alert, with sample letters
addressed to Menu Foods and other authorities, please request “Demand Action
In Menu Foods Recall†at kinshipcircle@brick.net
Brenda Shoss, Kinship Circle
Below is an excerpt pertaining to dry food:
===========================================================
#6: Recall Info, Alternative Food Sources, DRY Food Scare?
What’s in a Can of Dog Food? Don’t ask.
http://www.slate.com/id/2162164?GT1=9231
EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT: PET FOOD RECIPE?
SOURCE: Cornwall’s Voice For Animals, cvfa.uk@virgin.net
[From my friend on myspace] 3/22/07, Gayle writes: My brother has actually
been to the [MENU FOODS] plant in Columbia/Lexington, South Carolina. (He
automates machinery and they bought machinery from the company my brother
works for.) He said it was DEPPLORABLE! Upon entering the road to the plant,
there are barrels lined up, starting at the street. People from nearby areas
bring their dead pets, cattle, road kill and shelters (their euthanized
animals) and dump them in the barrels. The barrels are then taken inside the
plant where the carcasses are boiled. They pull out the larger bones to
resell as pet bones. The meat, hide, small bones and fur are ground up and
sold as pet food to the companies on the recall list. My brother said the
smell at that place is unbearable. He could not stay there because of the
smell and knowing how they made the pet food. He said he could not stop from
gagging… He said they also use rotten fish from the grocery store, old
dead chickens. After his trip to that plant, he began making his own dog
food for his dog
March 26th, 2007 at 5:17 am
I have a six-month-old kitten. Usually I feed him a bit of kibble in the morning and a pouch of some kind of wet food in the evening.
About a month ago, I ran out of dry and was giving him just wet. I had been giving him Meow Mix–which isn’t on the list of food that’s getting recalled, and which he had had before. He liked it. Suddenly, though, he was having bouts of diarrhea. I kept him confined for a couple of days, stopped giving him the Meow Mix, and picked up a fresh bag of kibble and some more wet.
On the kibble–Purina Kitten Chow–he’s fine. In terms of the wet, I had some Eukanuba kitten food. and Nutro Gourmet Tomato and Basil, which is also not on the recal list. Both of those gave him diarrhea again, so I stopped them immediately, and now he has no more problems.
He was neutered about two weeks ago and there weren’t any problems, according to the vet, so I just hope I caught it in time. But I’m wondering about the Meow Mix.
March 26th, 2007 at 6:22 am
I’m glad to read a post about the dry dog food…
My two Golden Retrievers eat Trader Joe’s DRY dog food. About two weeks ago, one of them had horrible bloody diarreah and vomiting. He wouldn’t eat or drink. He got so weak and dehyrdated and almost died, but thankfully, we got him to the vets on time. In a stretcher!
A week later, our other Golden got the same symptoms and we rushed her to the vet. still no word on what caused it… but we’re feeding them a different food till we figure it out.
TJ’s is only voluntarily recalling the wet food…
if ANYONE knows anything else about the dry food, or where Trader Joe’s manufactures it’s dry food, PLEASE let me know!!
March 26th, 2007 at 6:33 am
My cat was drinking tons of water — as well as urinating frequently.
I am almost positive it was from the new brand of dry food, that I purchased around Christmas time at Kmart’s — and it was odd — she would not eat it, but — I thought it was because I had changed her diet.
I thought at first it was Iams; but it could of been another brand, like Max/Nutro, either one of those two. I only gave her a few bags of it around the Christmas season.
She is doing fine now, the vet gave her a blood test, and she has no Kidney problems, just Diabetes — but that is better then Kidney problems.
He advised — me to change her diet, and now she is doing fine, she runs all around the apartment, often — and is not drinking tons of water, as she was before, and smiles, and does not shed as much hair as before; I think she likes her new diet — holistic Halo Spot’s Stew for Cats — and the Vitamins I give her.
I also think the vet said her sugar level was 250, or something like that — another cat was bothering her at the vet — that could of raised her blood sugar levels. I am not a vet though.
March 26th, 2007 at 8:49 am
I had/have 3 very sick dogs since the end of November 2006- whether related or not to the food, I don’t know- but I find it very curious… I feed dry Canidae, which is not on the list- but I do watch my friends Corgi’s and she feed Iams dry and my dogs have sampled it… Her dogs have had a “stomach bug” and I thought My dogs caught it from hers…
BUT…
My first dog is a 7.5 y.o. 97 pound Bernese Mt. Dog- who became rather lethargic in mid December and just not herself; by mid January she was very old very quickly; She dropped 8 pounds. She was put on antiobiotics right away (vet was suspecting a reocurrence of Lyme, which she has had a couple of times in the past…) and with in 48 hours we saw an improvement… She sleeps hunched - legs tight into the belly as if cold, rather than her “how much floor space can I take up so you notice me” typical position!
the second Dog; is a 105 pound 2.5 year old Bernese who started with occassional Diarrea and vomiting in December- and also a 9 pound weight loss- I was told to give her a boiled hamburger and rice diet and pepto bismal… This went on until February, when I saw a drastic weight loss- she now had dropped approx. 18 pounds, and was looking thin and her coat was washed out and brittle. Her energy level very high, which is quite puzzling. Increased diarrea and more frequent vomiting…no other physical ailments; I thought possible blockage (she’s a sock stealer) Vet took an x-ray and did blood work in Mid Feb. and found lots of gas, nothing else seemed out of wack. She is hypo-thyroid; yet she dropped another 9 pounds she was put on something to balance the bacteria in her intestines; By the next week you could practically see her ribs - she was skin and bones and resembled something closer to a hairy Greyhound at 72 pounds rather than a 105 pound Bernese Mountain Dog. 33 pounds lost! She was dehydrated; yet still as active as ever! Vet put her on an IV some antiobiotics and did full blood panel; Very pale continual Diarrhea and vomiting- …result: Pancriatitus- cause unknown, suspected at the time (prior to food recall) was some bad food and she got a bacterial infection. Hopefully there is no damage to organs. Looking at Kidney and liver damage. She is now on a pancreatic enzyme (for 4 days now) and it seems to be helping… She may be on this for life, no known cause at this time, to otherwise healthy dog.
the 3rd is a 6 year old 1/2 Lab 1/2Golden Retreiver mix- who dropped 7 pounds at the end of February- he started with severe flatulates vomiting and diarrhea, for 3 days he laid he was lethargic (when looking back ot it - it was gradual over the 3 days, started with having to call him for dinner; by the second day, I was working and he was in a different room, how odd?! So I called him and he trotted in, and slumped down; and on day 3 he didn’t get up when I call him, I kicked a ball and the tip of his tail barely wagged… this is a dog that would fly at the word ball) and when a ball rolled bast him he didn’t even flinch- so off to the vet - thought we were going to lose him; IV and blood work, and x-ray just in case of blockage- and antibiotics he is on the mends too… possibly Samonella, or Giardia were what the vets thought at the time - seems to be no rhyme or reason to 3 sick dogs, who have been incredibly healthy their entire lives up until December; similiar - but different- ailments (which is not uncommon when in the same household, with the same diet)
March 26th, 2007 at 10:17 am
This is for jill shpur!!
(hope you come back here to look for more information)
I put 3 clothespins in a row on my cat’s scruff to calm him down before I give him the subcutaneous fluids. I read about that on felinecrf.org, it is really a wonderful Web site. I guess it causes the same reflex kittens have when mom picks them up at the neck, they go limp. I put the clothespins on before I start the procedure, and Jack fights me considerably less! It doesn’t seem to hurt him and makes the whole operation less stressful for the both of us.
March 26th, 2007 at 11:48 am
UPDATE:
I called Trader Joe’s headquarters, 626-599-3700, in order to find out who makes their dry dog food. They lady at Customer Care told me they couldn’t disclose the information, but did say they were not manufactured by Menu Foods. When I patiently insisted and told her about my sick dogs, she hung up on me…
March 26th, 2007 at 11:53 am
Does Menu Foods Make Nutro?… who can we trust… what is it about money that the corporations have no ethics…
Every… government official should be requiredt taste test all of these products.
March 26th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
Rich:
Menu Foods DOES make Nutro, so watch out!!
here’s a link to the Menu Foods product recall list:
http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_dog.html
March 26th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Has anyone heard anything about Eukaneuba dry foods?
March 26th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
We’ve been feeding our 5 yeare old Bluetick Coonhound Nutro DRY food for the last few years.
But I would say we have noticed in the last few months, she has been drinking a lot more and thus urinating more often, even getting up in the middle of the night.
Last week, after buying a new bag of Nutro, she began licking the floor and eating grass to settle her stomach. She didn’t vomit but she spent two days eating grass. We had our vet check her out, and she is supposedly okay but I don’t trust the Nutro DRY food anymore. We’ve taken her off of it and she is now getting something else.
March 26th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
I have been scanning the posts & I haven’t seen Eukanuba dry catfood mentionned as causing harm.
March 26th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
I had a beautiful 7-year-old calico cat named Jade. She died of the same symptoms in December 2005 that all the dogs and cats are having now. She also went from fat and healthy, to sick the same way. She was a strictly indoor cat so there was no way she could have been exposed to poison, not to mention my other 5 cats seemed to be doing fine. Vet diagnosed the beginning of kidney failure and had me administer subcutaneous fluids. Well - she was peeing fine, but continued to degenerate, till she died.
I always thought the circumstances were strange. I had yet another 7yo cat die in the same unusual circumstances, two years prior.
All my cats eat Iams dry. I know back then I occasionally gave them canned as a treat, as well, so who knows.
All my current cats seem to be well, though my one 11yo boy did get sick in december to january, but it’s cleared up.
March 26th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
BB:
Menu Foods does not have a manufacturing facility in South Carolina per their corporate filings. That story sounds just a bit over the top.
Lea:
Check the Iams website for information about Iams and Eukaneuba (www.iams.com).
Menu Foods ONLY manufactures wet foods. Any concerns about dry food would be specific to the brand, not Menu Foods. Iams apparently makes their dry food in-house, as I’m sure many other brands do.
The recall is confusing enough, let’s not make it worse by introducing mis-informed panic across the board.
March 26th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
I have Iams lamb and rice dry food for a dozen years, and never had a problem. I go through 40lbs in about 3 weeks. I have about a week left. This really scares me. I know I shouldn’t panic, but these postings are saying they fed iams dry and still had pets get sick. I really wish someone would look into it. In the meantime, I am switching.
March 26th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
It is a scary thing going on with our pet foods. Especially sence they can not speak to us as to how they are feeling. My daughter was feeding Pedigree to her precious sheltie which is an inside baby. She lost weight along with throwing up and diareah with lots of blood. Vet said it was something she ate. The only thing she was fed was Pedigree dry. She is doing fine now after being given a round of meds. She has gained weight, stopped throwing up and stools are normal. She will never be given that food again. Has anyone else had an experience with pedigree dry?
March 26th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
My vet is recommending that you feed only food that is labeled “human compatible ingredients”. She had me throw out my Pedigree and started the dogs on Eagle Pack and for the cats since one is in renal failure a kidney diet food. She is also having me stop the treats for now. I bought carrots and they seem to like them and they are good for them.
P.S. Thanks for the clothespin trick, I’ll let you know if it helped.
Keep Posting!!!!!!!!!
March 26th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
THANKS ANDREA
March 26th, 2007 at 8:58 pm
Just wondering if anyone’s pet started to have seizures? We aso lost a delicate pet cat back in December. She was a special needs cat and was blind but started to just go pee everywhere and died very suddenly, like within hours of doing that, she would get wet food. but, our bud Bear is in an animal hospital right now. we’ve been feeding old roy, or purina dry and he started out of the blue having seizures last night. His blood work for kidneys and liver came back OK, but there is no good explaination on what it could be, especially since the seizing hasn’t stopped and the meds aren’t working.
March 26th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
I have a 6 month old Maltese puppy. I bought her a new bag of the dry Nutro Natural Choice Small Puppy Bites-Chicken Meal, Riace & Oatmeal Formula (best used by 24 Jun 2008) and gave her a cup and a half of it. The next day I just happened to have scheduled her for a routine vet visit. By the time I arrived at the vet’s office she was vomiting a clear liquid and continued this for approximately two hours. She was also running 102 temp. I explained to the vet that her poop that day was like lava rocks. It was hard and grey and I even made the remark to my son that I would have thought she had made that poop weeks ago if I hadn’t cleaned her room earlier that day. Even though at that time only the wet dog food had been recalled, I explained to the lady with the Menu Foods hotline that I still didn’t feel comfortable giving her the dry dog food either. She acted like she was purturbed, but I honestly believe this stuff is tainted. I would love to get it tested somewhere.
March 27th, 2007 at 12:07 am
Sadie a 2 year old black bitch was raised on Eukunaba puppy than adult but was having problems with itchy skin so I switched to IAMS Lamb and Rice earlier this month.
I took her off the food and went to Flint River Ranch with the recall, even though IAMS said that the dry was not at risk. I stopped being a preferred IAMS breeder for my kennel and went to Flint River Ranch when my kennel was actively showing in 1998 as IAMS was dulling the coats as time went on.
But when I retired my kennel in 2001, I did not think once I sent my show dogs off with co/owners I would get another dog, but enter Sadie.
I did not wish to mess with mail order food since Sadie was a companion not a show prospect. Well today she is vomiting, and drinking a lot. I will be taking her to the vet tomorrow.
I would tell anyone if you knew what was in retail pet food you would go to something like FF Ranch which is human grade food, and avoid all commercial brands out there. But by my laziness my dog maybe be sick- do not trust anything they are saying many places here are pulling all IAMS, and our shelter in no long accepting donations of any type of IAMS food.
Take Care Sandy Metcalf
French-Vanila Labradors (retired)
French-Vanila Lab Rescue
March 27th, 2007 at 12:31 am
Please call and report your issues to the food companies directly. If they tell you that the food you are calling on is NOT a part of the recall, tell them you would like them to record this as a whole seperate issue that you want documented. They still have to take your calls and your reports. You can also report the issue to the FDA. Keep a log of the calls you have made.
March 27th, 2007 at 4:03 am
Hi People.
Reading all these post makes me want to cry .
As a avid supporter of PETA I personly feel that Iams sould be closed down .
I know that they have been busted for testing and staving animal.
Link : IAms cruelty.com
I personly dont know if its only Iams that does this but send all letters to Peta
March 28th, 2007 at 9:17 am
[…] days ago, we started reading reports of dry food possibly making pets sick, specifically Iams. We then asked our readers to provide […]
March 28th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
January 2007, lost my black lab, suddenly - emergency vet hospital said it was acute renal failure - we questioned how could it be possible, she was healthy as could be, then began showing signs of lack of appetite, fast weight loss, then stopped eating in the one day (a Sunday), and Monday we rushed her in for emergency care - of course the overly frequent need to go out for relief, and that Monday before getting her to the emergency vet, she had issues drinking, wanted water desperately, but would choke trying to swallow it, she was actually not able to drink anymore on that Monday. This was quick and sudden. Food - we just changed her diet to NUTRO Natural Choice DRY DOG FOOD in the fall, and she was fine up until early January, and then suddenly and unexpectedly she was gone. I noticed she was ’sick’ Sunday, and she was gone on Monday. She did not have kidney disease, which from the information we’re trying to learn is progressive, she had acute renal failure which everyone is saying is not normal. We knew it (in January before news of the recall/poison) that something took her from us, and no one could give us answers. Now ‘we know’, even if no one will admit the dry dog food is in question also. Nutro will never be in our house again, ever.
March 28th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
I am a member of a rescue group. I have 18 cats in a large, air conditioned/heated room. Fri. evening one of my rescues started throwing up. Hairballs again, I suspected. Went out the next day around 11:00 am and Gabby couldn’t walk or stand and was crying as if in alot of pain. I immediately took her to emergency pet services. Profuse drooling and she still couldn’t stand. She died at 12:30 that evening. I mix Hill’s Science Diet with Iam’s weight control/hairball formula. No moist food what so ever. I am currently waiting for the autopsy to come back. My vet told me he saw several lesions in the stomach. I am reserving my judgement as of right now, but after hearing such comments I am glad I made the decision to do the necropsy. I contacted Iams and they “assured” me menu foods had nothing to do with the dry food, but I have to question why so many people have had the same experiences. I will send info as soon as I get the results. I am also sending out some of the food to be tested.
March 28th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
Try as I may, I can’t seem to find the lab that I read somewhere will test the food. Can anyone help me???
March 28th, 2007 at 8:26 pm
My 6yr old sheltie, Kosmo ate dry Nutro Lamb & Rice formula (no wheat gluten there!) and never ate the canned foods. She had blood work done about 3 months ago, and everything was fine. Last Monday she got sick (lethargic, wouldn’t eat, drank a lot, had a hard time controlling urination). I took her to the vet Thursday. The vet gave her an antibiotic for a urinary tract infection. She got sicker, and started vomitting every hour Saturday night, so I took her to the Emergency Vet clinic Sunday morning. At that point blood work was done again, and it was determined she was suffering kidney failure. She was given fluids all day and all night, but still couldn’t urinate. The emergency vet and her regular vet said she couldn’t be helped at that point, because her kidneys had shut down and she also had blood in her lungs. I had to put her to sleep Monday. As you can imagine, I am absolutely devastated.
March 28th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
A HAPPY UPDATE. MY CAT VINNIE HAD A REPEAT URINE DONE TODAY. THE RESULTS WERE MUCH BETTER. STILL NOT OUT OF THE WOODS. BUT ATLEAST SWITCHING THE FOOD HAS MADE A DIFFERENCE. THANKS
March 29th, 2007 at 10:26 am
There are so many more total figures regarding Dry Dog Food issues/deaths. Unfortunately many people don’t realize this site is collecting information, I’m posting some comments below to add here, but to also show there are other sites with reports of deaths/illnesses on DRY dog food, and also those without internet access, who don’t realize the scope of the problem, they can only rely on the ’spin’ and lack of reports in the news/newspapers.
This one didn’t show death, but did show sudden illness,
http://boards.msn.com/MSNBCboa.....m=Page%3D5
Warren Meny
Message #56
03/19/07 02:42 PM
Things are just too coincidental. Have fed my six year old Brittany dry Iams for his whole life. Last week the dog started vomiting, wouldn’t eat (not even treats) or drink for two days. Went to vet and he just guessed after $600. that he may have a virus. Put him on straight chicken mixed with some water 1/2 cup at a time with a whole bunch of pills. Finally after a week he is back eating his dry food. This is some scare, trashed the Iams dry food, think I’ll go back to Purina that I used years ago for my bird dogs. Of course there is no way getting through to anyone at Iams.
http://boards.msn.com/MSNBCboa.....m=Page%3D9
grand rapids
Message #104
03/19/07 04:06 PM
So far they are saying it is only the moist food. My 2 year old Main **** cat eats Iams dry food, and she has just been diagnosed with kidney problems. I think this may go farther than just the moist food.
http://boards.msn.com/MSNBCboa.....=Page%3D14
LovesAnimals
Message #161
03/19/07 07:00 PM
My dog died of renal failure in January and she was a healthy dog. She ate Iams dry food from WalMart. She started sick and getting very picky, I cooked her chicken, turkey, beef and she still would not eat. The vet tests came back with advanced kidney failure. I asked her….was it her food?? I can’t get thru on 866 number. I feel like I am mourning her loss all over again. She died for nothing. It could have been a coincidence but they are not saying dry food at this point. Does anyone know of what kind of recourse we have????
http://boards.msn.com/MSNBCboa.....=Page%3D17
heart-sick
Message #196
03/19/07 07:48 PM
We lost our sweet 9 year-old cat last week of acute kidney failure. She ate dry food only ( science diet, indoor cat…not a bargain brand.) Although this is not on the list, I strongly suspect it was the cause. She had never been sick before. Our nightmare included hospitalization, iv antibiotics and a week of home-administered ringer’s lactate infusions, before she succumbed. How can we find out if the dry foods contained whatever it is that is harming our pets?
http://boards.msn.com/MSNBCboa.....=Page%3D19
Eschultz
Message #221
03/19/07 08:11 PM
I have 2 friends in NE Ohio who have dogs that died of kidney failure in the last month. Both ate IAMS dry dog food and both were otherwise healthy 4 year old Labs. Anecdotal evidence to be sure, but certainly raises an eyebrow when they admit that other products have been tainted.
I fed my dog Nutro up until this came up.
http://boards.msn.com/MSNBCboa.....=Page%3D23
Sledford
Message #276
03/19/07 09:58 PM
Today is one of the worst day in our family had to put are japanese chin bruce to sleep he was in full renal failure was fine on friday saturday was just a little wobbly sunday got sick a few times monday morning took him to doctors and had to have him put to sleep doctor said can not save him when he was wobbling on sat it was already to late / feed him iams mini chunk dry food does not get any wet vet said either food or antifreeze he is an inside dog only goes out to go to the bathroom in a fenced yard he is not replicable it was a great loss we bottle fed him from 2 hours old his mom attached the litter and he was the only one we saved had one eye removed was a great and loyal companion please warn anyone who feeds there dog iams he was only a year old in december should not have been gone yet was robbed of many years we should have had.
————————–
There are many more messages over at this msn board, you can add to the above, I just didn’t have any more time at the moment to glean more, perhaps those posts there can be counted and added regarding the dry food information, ?
March 29th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Our family pet of 20 years has been very ill for the past 13 days. He has not eaten in the past 12 days. I thought it was just his age catching up with him but when I spoke to my sister and her cat is also ill. I started to wonder becasue it seemed really odd that they would both have the same symptoms at the same time. Her cat was eating Science Diet food. When I saw the recall I immediately looked up info and saw that it was not for Iams dry products. Our cat has eaten Iams his whole life and we have never had any issues. He has the same symptoms as many of the above posters. He won’t eat, has a glazed over glassy look in his eyes, cannot walk any longer and now has stopped drinking. I reported this to Iams and they would like me to send them a sample of our food.
March 29th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
We had to euthenize our one year old, happy and healthy shar-pei on Monday due to acute renal failure. He started vomiting bile 2 1/2 weeks ago and went down hill from there. We took him to the vet right away and he said nothing was wrong and to bring him back if he worsened. We stupidly did not ask for blood work. He would not eat anything and lost a tremendous amount of weight over the next two weeks. He drank water, was lethargic and just layed around, along with the constant vomiting. We finally took him to the ER pet clinic and he was diagnosed with acute renal failure. The food he ate was Old Roy dry and Mixables poured over the top–both brands are on the “list.”
March 29th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
my cat has been raised on Iams Dry food daily - she is six years old. We also give her Iams wet about once a week for dinner. A month ago she vomited a few days in a row, then she stopped eating altogether. She would look at the food, sniff it and then walk away. She stopped drinking water and became lethargic - barely moving one day. We bought fancy feast canned food and she ate it voraciously. She went back to normal activity and health. After a couple of weeks we decided to try the dry food again. We had heard about the recall at this point, but figured dry food was okay. We bought a new bag of Iams and she has been vomiting every day. We just bought her Fancy Feast today and that is all she will be eating. These poor animals!
March 29th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
I don’t know what to think about whats going on with my dog. She has eaten IAMS CHUNKS (dry) for 3 years….and for the past month she has just not been herself. Constantly shaking and panting, and not eating for the past week. :( I don’t know if it has anything to do with this awful recall, but I’m worried and I think I will call my vet tomorrow. Does anyone else’s dogs act like this? It just seems she’s so scared all the time, she doesnt even want to go outside (which is weird for her) and she is dehydrated as well…
March 30th, 2007 at 11:25 am
Bud has been eating Iams dry for several years. I’d been saying he acts funny for about 10 days. Then the recall came about. Increased thirst, wouldn’t eat pizza crusts! We have switched to purina one dry. Within 3 days is acting more like himself.
March 30th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Our beloved cat became ill approximately 1-2 weeks ago when I purchased new batch of food. He has been on science diet canned and dry food all his life. He has never had a serious illness and is 15. For the last week we have had him to the vet 3 times, the vet has told us that he his kidneys are failing and that he does not know how long he will live, he is not doing well. The vet says that he is not suffering but our cat moans and was almost screaming out loud last night. We were told to switch him over to prescription kidney food and he is not interested. I barely slept last night and am concerned. We are giving IV fluids once to twice a day and he still is not doing well, mostly hiding out and sleeping on and off. Concerned what I should do next. I called Hills Science Diet yesterday and they took down my name and number and said that they would have some one call me back shortly. No one has called.
March 31st, 2007 at 10:30 am
My 12 year old dog had a seizure at the end of the year last year (only one that I know of). Then in late January, he started sitting down hard and wouldn’t move (turned out to be due to bladder spasms). We ended up at the emergency vet, and an x-ray showed he had crystals in his urine and he started urinating blood. (He had never had any UTIs or anything like that before). He had been on canned I/D and dry Eukanuba FP at the time. (My other dog is only on the Eukanuba FP because he was getting severe diarrhea and vomiting from the I/D the year before; he seems to be ok right now.) The 12 year old was started on S/D and distilled water only, but kept refusing most of the food. He was also drinking a lot, urinating a lot, and losing control of his bladder in the house (which he doesn’t normally do). He lost so much weight from refusing the S/D that I finally put him back on the Eukanuba FP, and he put all the weight back on in a week. We did an ultrasound 1-1/2 weeks ago, and they found a bladder tumor (no signs of crystals). I took him to a cancer specialist 3 days ago, and he has more crystals and bloody urine again, in addition to the tumor. I never suspected the food until I started reading about the melamine contamination, and it mentions urine crystals and bladder cancer. I also saw that veterinarians are reporting crystals in both the kidneys and the urine in some of the sick animals. I never suspected that the food could be the problem before, but now I’m worried that the problems might be related to the food. Does anyone have any more information about this?
March 31st, 2007 at 12:48 pm
What a mess! I own a boarding kennel, show my own dogs, etc., and am very interested in all matters pertaining to dog food. My theory regarding pet food is to do your own research into the ingredients and manufacturing process. The Whole Dog Journal does an annual article ranking dog foods and they do most of the work for you. But just as importantly, buy food from a company that makes their own food. Don’t buy from someone who “jobs out” their food. Not just the big food companies, but most of the little boutique dog food labels are not involved in the making of their food. These jobbers may make hog food in the morning and that afternoon make dog food using the same machinery. The jobber is given a recipe and the bags to put it in and they ship it out. No one from the dog food company is on site. Anything could go into that food.
There are quality foods available. Right now I am feeding Canidae at the kennel as well as to my own dogs.
Some of my clients like to bring their own food and this morning I posted a notice that I will not accept any brands of canned or dry food, dog or cat, associated with the recall. There are too many unknowns right now. Why take the chance?
March 31st, 2007 at 5:41 pm
I just wanted to say sorry to all of you that have sick dogs and cats or have lost your your dog or cat because of this crazy pet food ordeal. As soon as I heard about the recall last week, I immediately stopped feeding my dog her dry food. I may be overly cautious but she’s all I have and she’s healthy so maybe I dodged a bullet. She has been eating Iams and sometimes Science Diet dry food all her life, but now she’s going with boiled chicken, rice, and some Kraft milk bones until this thing runs its course. Now that they have added dry cat food to the list, I’m just waiting to see how many other dry foods are going to be recalled. This is just ridiculous and the fact that the toxic chemical is known to come from China makes me furious. If I wanted food from China, I would just go to China where you can order “dog” at many restaurants. To hell with these traitor American companies that deal with them to save a buck.
April 1st, 2007 at 12:04 am
I have a 4 yr old White german shepherd. I have always fed him Iams Dry Large breed. In Feb/07, I purchased 2 bags (large) from a pet store in Valparaiso, IN. I live in Ontario, Canada but was visiting my son in IN. Iams dog food is cheaper in IN. than in Ontario. That is why I brought them back with me. I started feeding my dog this food around the first week of March. On Mar.23/07 I rushed him to my vet’s. He was lethargic and bringing up yellow bile. He stayed there for 4 days on IV and amoxicillan. He is home now with a special low gastric food and we are awaiting test results for Lepto. My vet seems to think he was poisoned by food or some chemical. There are no chemicals around that he can get into. When I find out test results, I am sure I will be notifying Iams production. Is there any recourse available in Canada. Cost almost $1,000
April 1st, 2007 at 7:40 am
“BB:
Menu Foods does not have a manufacturing facility in South Carolina per their corporate filings. That story sounds just a bit over the top.
Lea:
Check the Iams website for information about Iams and Eukaneuba (www.iams.com).
Menu Foods ONLY manufactures wet foods. Any concerns about dry food would be specific to the brand, not Menu Foods. Iams apparently makes their dry food in-house, as I’m sure many other brands do.
The recall is confusing enough, let’s not make it worse by introducing mis-informed panic across the board.”
BB, as a researcher, I can certainly appreciate prudence in making unfounded accusations; however, when the health of your pet is at risk, it seems safest to just go ahead and take the animal off the food.
My 5 year old dog has ONLY eaten Iams DRY Mini-chunks dogfood since she’s lived with us, and although we’ve had no problems with her in the past, this last week she’s not quite been herself (even going to the bathroom - loose stools - in the house twice, which she NEVER does). I only found this site, in fact, because I awoke at 4AM, discovered she’s had another loose bowel movement in the living room, and began to worry about her dogfood.
I visited the IAMS official website, and read the same notice: Menu Foods does not produce IAMS dry food. Still, if ingredients (not the plant) are the issue, how can I be sure that IAMS in-house plant is not also using tainted ingredients??
I will not be surprised - due to all the reports linking sickness to the dry food - to see Iams dry food added to the recall. Perhaps all these reports of dogs/cats eating Iams dry and getting sick are merely coincidence; after all, I’m sure thousands of animals eat Iams dry food, and animals do get sick from other sources. As I love my dog and want to do what is safest for her, at this point, I still think the safest bet is just to TAKE HER OFF the food.
April 1st, 2007 at 7:43 am
I’m sorry…my post above should have been addressed to AARON…guess being awake since 4AM worrying about this issue has frazzled my brain a bit. Thanks.
April 1st, 2007 at 12:11 pm
My 13 year old lab mix, Django, died on February 23. He suddenly became sick on 2/4 - at first his hind quarters seemed to fail him then he was vomiting and lethargic. This lasted two days. He managed to get outside and fell down . My son had to carry him in the house. I was staying by his side and bringing him water which he drank a lot of and then he vomited this thick yellow bile. After that he was fine. Back to his old self. I assumed that he had gotten into something outside that poisoned him though I couldn’t imagine what since there is nothing in our yard that he could get into. He was a healthy, active dog for his age.
On 2/21 he got sick again - same symptoms - drinking lots of water and vomiting. This time he did not recover. I never connected this to the recall and I still have no idea if it is connected but the symptoms were so similar to all the stories that I’ve been reading that it has certainly made me wonder. He had eaten Pedigree Dry food his whole life. He was the best dog I’ve ever known and we loved him so much and miss him terribly. I knew he was getting old for a large breed and we were lucky to have him for so long. So sorry for all who have lost their pals.
April 1st, 2007 at 12:29 pm
I have been reading all the sad animal stories on your site and thought I would share our story even though we are lucky enough to still have our wonderful pet. We are from Canada & our dog is 8 years old a cross between yorky & maltese. She has always eaten Iams dry dog food. In early March I purchased a new bag same kind and started feeding her from that bag about March 8th. We left for holidays on March 15th and on March 16th she started violent throwing up and diaherra. The vomit was a yellow sticky substance and the diaherra turned very bloody as well. She hadn’t eaten for a couple of days and one night we were of course worried about her not eating and we tried hand feeding her. She only ate about 10 pieces and only choice pieces then some of it she just would not eat. Again that night she was up all night with the vomiting and mainly blood diaherra. That night we were in Anaheim and a gentleman in the campground told us about the recall we immediately took all food away and when we got to San Diego the following day we took her to the vet who could only tell us she was definitely dehydrated, they could not get a temperature on her because her back end & organs were so sore she would not even let them touch her. They have her an IV and gave me medicine to give to her for nausea & dithers and we also started feeding her Hills prescription ID dog food and within days she was passing normal stool and has gradually come back to herself
April 1st, 2007 at 5:35 pm
I have a 20 month old cat . He is an indoor /outdoor cat so I know there is room for doubt. He would only eat wiskas dry. I offered others but he was not interested. He also would not eat wet food. The end of Feb., he threw up. Later that day, he threw up again, only bile. Then he got diarhea.He didn’t eat or drink for 2 days. I offered him Purina Natural dry and he ate it but he was drinking a lot of water,2 bowls a day.I gave him his wiskas back, but he won’t eat it. Then he stopped eating the Purina so I tried 9lives.He won’t eat that either.Today I bought Fancy Feast. He went out and got a mouse and ate it.He isn’t acting sick but something isn’t right. He is shedding like never before and he just isn’t eating like he should. As much as I don’t like him outside, maybe a diet of country mice isn’t so bad.
April 1st, 2007 at 6:23 pm
This is very serious and I truly believe it has been going on longer than anyone knows or is telling us. My two rescue pups were very ill in early November with the same symptoms we are hearing about. The vet could not figure out why. They kept asking me what they could have eaten that was toxic. I searched everywhere and found nothing. They have always eaten Iams/Eukanuba dry. I would occassionally mix in a small amount of “wet” food as a treat. There are hundreds and hundreds of these same stories. I literally thank God everyday that my pups survived but since this scare I have been feeding them only boiled chicken/rice/vegetables and they seem so much more lively and alert. Thanks to all the wonderful web-sites and bloggers who are getting the word out about this crisis.
April 2nd, 2007 at 2:16 am
My cat has been eating Hill’s Science Diet since he was a kitten and he is now almost 3 years old. This diet was recommended by my vet. In February he has to be rushed to the emergency room because he could not urinate. He was diagnosed as having a kidney stone which the emergency vet was able to get him to pass. I took him home and the next day he was still having problems urinating so I took him to my regular vet. They performed an x-ray on him and found three more stones. I then had to take him to another vet to perform a perineal urethrostomy. All the stones were removed and now he is on a special diet by Royal Canin s/o - hopefully this is not on the recall list. He seems to be doing fine, and should be after spending $4500 to get him well. The last bag of Hill’s Science Diet - Hairball control, light that I fed him stated best before 07/2008 with a number of K1850549RE353. How could a cat so young have so many stones? Something in the Hill’s diet must have caused this!
April 2nd, 2007 at 12:30 pm
My 4 month old standard poodle foster puppy passed away mysteriously 10 days ago. I didn’t feed her any of the tainted wet food. The vets kept saying that it looked like some kind of toxicity. I feed/fed her Nutro puppy food. Her symptoms were just like others are reporting.
April 2nd, 2007 at 3:36 pm
My cat has been fed Iams dry food since he was a kitten. 2 weeks ago I noticed he puked up his food…normally not a big deal, it happens. For some reason though I thought to call the vet. Well I took him in and he had severe acute kidney failure. Had to be put on fluids immediately. We really didn’t know if he would make it. His creatinine and BUN levels were so high, they were off the readability of the vets machine, so they had to be sent to a lab, his #’s didn’t drop to be read on the vets machine until 2 days before coming home. Well he seems to be fine, we brought him back home last Friday….so he was on fluids for a week straight. Nothing in our house had changed chemical wise, no plants, they tested his urine and there was no bacteria so that rules out an infection causing the kidney failure, and he is only 6 years old.
April 3rd, 2007 at 9:26 am
Our beloved Allie was such a big part of our family. She was only 5 years old when we lost her, February 16, 2007. Allie woke up as she always did with us. She seemed fine to me, although days before she had some diarrhea. I thought she had a simple stomach bug. She had also been excessively thirsty. My husband and son went to get their haircut. I was cleaning and I noticed Allie had thrown up her food. It was a beautiful cool morning, so I let her out side while I cleaned it up. Minutes later I went out to get her and I couldn’t find her. I began to panic. At first I thought she was digging in the dirt, when I saw her I realized she was having a seizure, which she had never done before. I grabbed her in my arms and got my 8 year old daughter. I knew it was bad. I realized it was Saturday and the vet would be closed. We ran to my neighbors to help me. By the time my neighbor answered the door, Allie stopped shaking and her eyes were fixed. I knew she was gone. My daughter was screaming for me to do something. It was horrible. In just minutes she was gone.
This happened days before the dog food recall. My good friend is a vet and saw Allie frequently. One of the first things she asked when we talked about how Allie died was could she have gotten into rat poisoning. We knew our house and knew she had not gotten into anything. We were devastated and had no answers of how she died. Days went by and we heard of the pet food recall. We had only given Allie dry Iams. It was not in the recall but in our hearts we feel this was some how tainted.
April 3rd, 2007 at 10:05 am
My 16 year old Lhasa has been throwing up the last few days. He eats NutraBalance dry for seniors from Priority foods (safeway brand). It is also a Menu foods product. I didn’t think much of it at first because he has always had a sensitive stomach. But now I just found that menu makes this product too. So no more for him. My 3 cats are on fancy feast and purina cat chow dry. They are all doing fine.
April 3rd, 2007 at 11:23 am
My beloved 9yr old healthy 140lbs Rottweiller “Hercules†died on March 13/07. He was on the dry Iams weight management. I came home on February 20/07 and found him paralyzed and lethargic in my bed. He had stopped eating his kibble apx 1 week prior. However, he would eat human food. His belly was rock hard and he seemed to be in a lot of discomfort. I rushed him to the vet -who had no clue what was wrong with him. The vet gave him a shot of steroids, did some blood tests (which later showed nothing) and gave me a supply of steroid pills which gave him the strength to walk with assistance for about a week. I told the vet that I had thought he had a bad batch of food and I actually returned the dry food for a refund on March 3/07 after showing the manager my vet bill. Herc would pace all night long and would refuse to lie down-when I would tell him to lie down he would yelp in pain. My boy hung on to dear life until March 14/07 where he collapsed on my back step…dead. He tried but didn’t even make it inside. He died alone on the cold hard step at my back door after I tried calling him inside 5 min earlier (he just stared at me so I thought he wanted more time outside). He tried his best that night to be the obedient & loyal animal he was.
His belly was 2X the regular size and still rock hard. He had suffered extreme thirst & urination but no vomiting or diarrhea (however he was burping and gagging quite a bit)He would not even touch human food for 3 days before he died. I am so guilt ridden with the fact that my poor dog was suffering and didn’t have the words to tell me. According to my vet Herc still had many years to go & his illness was not age related. PEOPLE DO NOT FEED YOUR ANIMALS ANY DRY OR WET IAMS FOOD PRODUCTS!!!!!! Also I contacted Iams to inform them that it was the dry food that killed my dog and they said to fax my vet bill to them for an immediate reimbursement. My lawyer has advised against this. Somebody is going to pay. My young children have been so traumatized that they are sleeping with me almost every night & keep having nightmares from seeing their beloved family member suffer & drop dead before their eyes-while I cried hysterically that night trying to revive him. They wont even go downstairs at night alone because they’re “scared without Hercâ€. BTW I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. jen@goddessfilmproductions.com
April 4th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
We lost our dog Samantha (11 years old) suddently on November 21st from a brain tumor (diagnosed after seizures started a week before). She only ate dry food. I am digging up all my receipts because I had been trying all different brands because she was so picky on her food. We always had to mix people food with her dry food.
Soon after, our cat Casper (very healthy 15 year old cat) started losing weight, excessive thirst, excessive urinating and lethargic. Everyone that I knew that had an older cat said that older cats will get kidney disease and it is only prolonging their lives to medicate them but before I knew it she was down to almost nothing. We always thought he died from a broken heart over our dog (they were very close) but now I’m realizing I started feeding him gourmet pouch food right before our dog started with the seizures. Sometimes our dog would eat the cat’s wet food. The only two kinds of wet food given were 9 lives select and Meow mix gourmet pouches.
We now have a shiba inu (5 months) and now after reading all these messages I’m afraid to feed her anything but people food.
Any advice?
April 4th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
Iams has a horrible animal testing record-they hurt, maim and kill unwanted dogs and cats to supposedly provide good nutrition. Why are people still feeding this to their animals? Stop using IAMS altogether-whether it’s tainted or not. Let’s put them out of business.
April 4th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Are Pedigree wet packets for dogs ok?
April 5th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
As I posted earlier, we strongly suspect our dog died from eating Iams Dry mini chunks. This happened before the recall. I emailed Iams before this whole thing and they are now calling me back. I have not been home when they have called but have received 3 calls.
I don’t have a direct phone number but hope I will talk to someone tomorrow while I am home.
Any suggestions on questions I should ask. I expect the same response that is on their website, No dry foods have been involved in the recall. yada yada!
I wonder with todays new recall on the bisquits. I was understaning that wheat gluten was the gravey in the foods. They are saying wheat gluten is not in dry food, how can the be in the bisquits. I wish I knew for sure about the wheat gluten in Iams dry.
April 5th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
Just read this blog quickly and saw Nutro Max Cat Chicken dry food mentioned as a possible problem. That’s what I was feeding my two cats before the recall and in last three months noticed more vomiting. I saved the bag. One of my cats had elevated glucose in blood panel a couple of months back — will now go back and check for more details. If anyone has any information on reports about this dry food, please advise.
April 6th, 2007 at 12:47 am
Everyone: I think it is so important to register your pet’s illness or death with petconnection.com and the FDA. They want this information. This horrible horrible situation is broader and has gone on longer than is being reported. It will just be swept under the rug if we do not do something to stop it. Our precious little ones cannot speak for themselves so we must do it for them. Several US Senators and Congresspeople are looking into this. Please write your legislators and force them to look into this!! Thank you and God Bless all of you and your precious animals who have suffered.
April 8th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
I had to have my 9 year old cat put down on February 2nd, before we heard about the recall. She was diagnosed with kidney failure. I was feeding her dry Iams hairball cat food.
April 10th, 2007 at 11:15 am
Our cat was on Iams hairball. He became sick same time our dog died. We immedietly changed his food, this was before the recall also.
So sorry for your loss.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:08 am
I also have been wondering what happen to my two cats. The first one had to be put to sleep in mid December due to kidney/renal failure. He was 9 years old and in perfect health, the second had to be put down early March for the same reason, he was 11 years old. Both cats have always been indoor cats good health and always ate IAMS DRY CAT FOOD. Both showed no signs of being sick until the last few days of their lives. It is too coincidental that both died from the same thing two months apart.
April 11th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
There is a huge blog on MSNBC that people have been posting on regarding the whole pet food fiasco. It has some very knowledgable people who post and the latest information and links. http://boards.msn.com/MSNBCboards/thread.aspx?
ThreadID=232979&BoardsParam=Page%3D305This is a very dire and important situation and has affected so many people. There are Senate hearing taking place and a nationwide memorial march that is taking place on April 28 and I’m not sure a lot of people are aware of the enormity of this situation. We all need to know and keep up on the latest information for our little ones who can’t do this for themselves.
April 18th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
My Boston Terrier puppy started getting sick in early January. Vomiting, Diahrrea, he lost half of his body weight. He was tested for every kind of parasite known, had skin scrapings done… Nobody could tell me what was wrong with my dog. I had purchased some Iams foil packages of food for him as a special treat at Christmas. I had poisoned him. The vet put him on a protein powder to help him gain some weight back, with no luck. I had to mix the powder with a wet food, and guess what I picked? Iams. I was continually poisoning my dog. It got so bad in February that my vet was trying to convince me to put Baxter to sleep. He was amazed that he was still hanging on. We had been to see a specialist in a large city around us and were to the point of no return. I finally decided to stop all the medicines and switched to a special dog food for easy digestion provided to me by the specialist. Just the switch of the dog food saved my dogs life. We are now back to just store brand dog food, he has put most of his weight back on. No more vomiting, no more diahrrea. I almost lost my puppy… All of this after about $600 of prescriptions and vet visits. And it orignally just cost me $12 for the special treat. The poison treat…
April 20th, 2007 at 10:41 am
All this stuff is making me very scared for our animals. Last week I bought a bag of Kibbles and Bit dry food for my dog and puppy. Within 12 hours of eating the food. Both had explosive diahrrea, no appetite, and were lethargic. Neither one of my dogs were interested in eating the food. My older dog would eat table scraps no problem. My puppy is in the vet right now(has been since tuesday) They did blood work and stool samples and as far as they can see there is nothing wrong with her. She is on fluids and eating baby food right now. My adult dog is now eating a totally different brand of food and no longer has diahrrea. Now call me paranoid but could it be the food? That was the only thing that had changed…….
April 21st, 2007 at 10:08 am
Lost my 10 yr old male cat 4/19/07. He was an indoor cat & was on Nutro max cat senior dry. Very healthy when examined last september & behaving quite normally 4/15 and morning of 4/16. Started showing weakness evening of 4/16, congestion morning of 4/17, vomiting evening of 4/17. Took him to the vet on 4/18 & Louie had low temp (94 instead of normal 100.5 to 102) but urinalysis showed some signs of kidney problems, but it didn’t look extreme. By evening of 4/18, the vet called and said to get him in to the emergency clinic IMMEDIATELY. Blood work showed kidney failure. Temp had dropped to 91. Xrays showed complete organ failure - fluid in lungs, fluid around heart, liver damage, kidney failure, even stomach & colon were enlarged. The vet said she’d never seen anything like it. This came on too hard and fast to be anything but environmental. I’m very angry, but most of all, my heart is broken. How could something like this happen?
April 21st, 2007 at 1:32 pm
I have a 14 year old orange tabby hunter who has been extremely healthy except for a little weight gain so I tried Iam’s weight control. Within two weeks he was drinking and urinating excessively so I took him to the vet on Mar 19th/07. He was diagnosed with diabetes and immediately put on insulin. Three days later on checkup I was told his labs showed an excessive bum reading and he was put on an IV kidney flush for 3 days. On Mar 31 he had his last insulin injection and is showing normal BG readins of a healthy cat. Very strange, especially since I have since learned that the FDA has warned Iam’s to remove a chemical in their weight control dry food that interferes with glucose processing. There have been no recalls on this food but I believe there should be and I believe this was the cause of my cat’s illness. I feel very fortunate to have a vet who promptly instituted treatments that probably saved h is life. He is now a perfectly healthy hunter again. Strange!
April 24th, 2007 at 10:47 am
Left message with FDA last week, as well as email to Nutro. Nutro emailed back a bunch of disclaimers. Surprise.
FDA called back last night. Told me to keep all my leftover food, they may want to collect it for testing. Had both vets fax medical info to him. Verified that rice proteins & corn gluten were now being looked into.
Don’t know where this will lead, but nice to be taken seriously.
April 28th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
I have a 3 year old mutt mix. I just started to switch her from Eukanuba Prescription Low Residue to Iams Active Maturity because I was told that the 2 were similar. In any case, she was only on it for it two days when she started throwing up and acting funny - very fearful, similar to when a large thunderstorm is underway. Not sure if it is the food, but not taking chance. I’m going to feed her chicken and rice for a few days.
May 24th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
I have two beautiful dogs: a Shitzu and a Pekingese. Both of them have been having bouts of diahrea. I was feeding Science Diet for Sensitive Stomachs, but because of the recalls, I thought I’d go Organic. And that’s when the diahrrea began. I thought a rice and boiled chicken diet would “tighten” them up…. then went back to the Science Diet Sensitive Stomach. Diahrrea went away for a couple of days, with firm stools. I added a bit of chicken and next day, diahrrea was back. They’re again on Science Diet Sensitive Stomach. I know, I know… changing food so much not good — but I’m really nervous about this recall business & don’t want to lose my “boys.”
May 25th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
I lost my beautiful samoyed Cody on March 3rd. To give a little bit of background….at the end of last August he suffered from an impacted bowel. He survived the ordeal and bounced back amazingly. He appeared to be happy and healthy and there was no sign of any kind of organ damage. The last weekend in February I was unable to buy his regular food and picked up a bag of Iams weight control dry food (as he had been on that prior and seemed to like it alright) I noticed on the Tuesday he didn’t have a bowel movement during our walk, and again on Wednesday. On Thursday morning I took him to the vet, we were given some medication and he was sent home (thinking that he would be less stressed at home than he would be if left at the vet’s). On Friday morning we had to carry him to the truck to take him back to the vet. He was in shock. The vet could not believe the deterioration and suspected that his bowel had perforated. Xrays proved that it hadn’t and they started treating him and by Friday evening he was starting to have bowel movements again, but by Saturday morning his kidney’s were failing. He passed away during Saturday night. At the time the vet felt that his condition had been too much for his body as he was a 12 1/2 year old dog. Just one day after the call to say his ashes were back at our vet’s office the news of the dogfood recall came out. I immediately called Iams and was assured that their dry food was not affected. I have never been convinced that their wasn’t something going on with Iams other products. For years Cody was eating their weight control dog biscuits and now I have to wonder if a change in ingredients may have caused the constipation and then on top of that the switch to the dry food contributed to the kidney failure. I spent 12 1/2 years trying to do the best I could for Cody and now fear that it I contributed to his death. The whole thing has been truly devasting
May 26th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
My pet ate the Mini Chunks and I strongly believe the food was the cause.
She was a 6yr. Chi/terrier mix, healthy little dog.
She died March 11,07 days before the recalls. Vet and meds. didn’t help.
IAMs and FDA have my complaint. Have fallen to deaf ears and denial.
August 2nd, 2007 at 6:39 pm
My 9 week old puppies plus mom and dad were all sick within days of opening a new bag of Iams Puppy Food.
Mom and Dad each vomited. I did not think to seriously of it till all 4 puppies began having diarrhea, then bloody diarrhea.
I changed their food and all is back to normal.
The mom, dad and puppies shot’s and vaccines are up to date and my vet tells me it looks like a problem with the food and not a puppy illness.
I will never feed them Iams again.
Not sure what I should do with the two bags I have. Can I have them tested somewhere?
August 2nd, 2007 at 6:46 pm
I should have mentioned the Iams puppy food mention in the earlier reply was Dry Food.
August 6th, 2007 at 10:33 am
We lost our 2 yr. old West Highlander Terrier Chloe on July 27, 2007. She had thrown up over night and a couple of times in the morning. I figured she ate something bad, so I didn’t really think too much about it. I went to run errands and returned several hours later to find her collapsed in her pen. I rushed her to the vet - she moaned terribly bad in the car. The vet said he thought she had Addison’s disease and that she had become dehydrated. I left her there with an IV going. The vet called me several hours later to tell me that she passed away. On the following Wednesday, my other dog started throwing up. I immediately took her to the vet. She stayed there several days and is doing fine now.
I spoke to other pet owners who had similar tales. They told me that their pets had died because of tainted dog food. I called the vet back to express my concern about this, but he pretty much dismissed my diagnosis. We had recently changed to Iams MiniChunks from Eukanuba. I figured they were made by the same company, so the Iams dog food would be safe and fine. It is my opinion that the dog food is what killed our Chloe.
My 7 and 4 yr. old daughters were not home when this happened. I had to tell them that she died. If was awful, they are heart broken and cry everyday about her. When the other dog Cocoa got sick, I didn’t know what I was going to do if she died, too!
August 6th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
DO NOT FEED YOUR DOG EUKANUBA!!! IAMS IS THE MADE BY EUKANUBA. THE JUST CHANGE THE BAG AND LOWERED THE COST OF THE FOOD TO GET MORE SELL. IT IS THE SAME FOOD. MY MINI SCHNAUZSER OF 81/2 YEARS OLD PAST AWAY 2 WEEKS AGO. I KNOW FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART IT WAS THE IAMS MINI CHUNKS GREEN BAG!
August 24th, 2007 at 9:52 am
We have been feeding our four month old Large Boned German Shepherd puppy Iams Smart Puppy Large Breed puppy food. I noticed a few days ago that he wasn’t acting like himself. He would not take a single bite of his dog food. Two days ago, he vomited a bubbly white substance. Later that day, he was laying on our porch and when we called for him, he could not get up. We thought that maybe the heat had gotten to him, but I know for a fact that he had stayed in the shade all day and that he continuously had cool, fresh water. We brought him inside in case it was the heat, but several hours later after being in the air conditioning, he continued to just lay around with no energy. The only way we could get him to drink, was to bring the bowl right up to his face. He is normally a very bouncy, playful puppy who runs to greet you, but here lately, all he does is lay around with the most pitiful face. I have changed his food, in hopes that it is not too late and that he can recover from his illness. Has anyone else had a problem with Iams Smart Puppy Large Breed puppy food?(In the yellow bag)
September 6th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
My miniature pinscher has been eating Iams Smart Puppy since I got him about a month and a half ago, and we recently stepped up to the bigger chunks so he stopped inhaling it so fast. Directly afterwards, he started having explosive diarrhea and threw up constantly. As soon as the food was removed from his diet, it all stopped. We thought it might be coincidental so we mixed a bit back in, and the same happened instantly. Iams dogfood seemed to be the culprit.
September 7th, 2007 at 12:35 am
My puppy (okay, he’s over a year old but he’s still a pup!) likes variety in his food. He’s a miniature pinscher/dachsund mix - least that is what his mom was, his dad must have been a big boy cause Gator weighs 55 lbs. I picked up a bag of Iams Weight Management because I had a coupon for a free bag, and thought since he likes his regular Iams and he’s getting a bit tubby, it’d be a good thing. I served that mixed in his other food for about a week and he got v ill. He was gagging, vomiting, having trouble breathing, just totally not himself. He’s been to the vet several times, finally diagnosed with pancreatitis. The vet says to put him on Hill’s Science prescription food - no treats!! I think Gator is gonna get rather upset about that, he loves his treats, not that he got that much human food. I don’t know if it is due to the Iams or something else. I may email Iams but I don’t think that will accomplish much. If it was due to Iams food, it would be nice to get reimbursed for some of the vet bill - $1200 with all the blood tests and xrays and overnight stay.
September 29th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
I have 4 puppies who started to eat Iams smart puppy food(yellow bag)
Soon after they got very sick with explosive diarrhea and vomiting. Each puppy is very sick and I blame the puppy food. I did start them on an other brand but the chunks were to large so we changed to Iams. The other food no problem except to big for their little mouths. I did call the store that I purchased it from and they said all the recall stuff was off the shelves, well I told them to check again. I hope that my puppies make it, my son will be heart broken.
October 10th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
My 11 yr old lab has eaten Nutro dry for many yrs…he was on various one thru the years(adult, senior) and as of late he has been on senior large breed and just 1 1.5 months ago I switched to nutro dry senior large breed weight management and now tomorrow I’m afraid his trip to vets may be his last.
He hasn’t eaten in days and b4 that he wasn’t eating properly…he drinks excessively and the past few morns I had to pick him up just to get on his feet and w/in past few weeks he has dropped probably 20 lbs. It all started when that weight management food entered our house.
I think he has been eating tainted food for the past month….how could this be…mid Oct and the recalls were in May?? Way to fup the US China…thanks but no thanks next time!
October 10th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
My 11 yr old lab has eaten Nutro dry for many yrs…he was on various one thru the years(adult, senior) and as of late he has been on senior large breed and just 1 1.5 months ago I switched to nutro dry senior large breed weight management and now tomorrow I’m afraid his trip to vets may be his last.
He hasn’t eaten in days and b4 that he wasn’t eating properly…he drinks excessively and the past few morns I had to pick him up just to get on his feet and w/in past few weeks he has dropped probably 20 lbs. It all started when that weight management food entered our house.
I think he has been eating tainted food for the past month….how could this be…mid Oct and the recalls were in May??
December 29th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
I too have a big problem with NUTRO dried food. 5 cats with ataxia, unable to walk, falling and dragging their hips on the ground. One other cat had a seizure, 2 other cats with uterine inertia and a haemorrhage resulting in a loss to my breeding program. Stud pts with hind limb ataxia, 34+ kittens born dead or died screaming in agony within 24-48 hours of birthing. Dams with no milk to feed their litters when they had always been great mums. 3 cats lived on Nutro only.
And I know also of a moggy, another indoor only pet, and 5 longhaired breeding cats with similar problems. All being fed Nutro dried food. Now, since I removed it from the diet the survivors are walking again and healthy litters have been born. Don’t have to be Einstein to figure it out! I complained through all the right channels end May early June and have been stuffed around ever since. Vets bills I could not jump over. One man has spent $3500 on testing his cat, and since he removed Nutro from her diet the cat can walk again but appears to be brain damaged. No support from Nutro whatsoever, just doing paper shuffling and hoping we all go away.
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:27 pm
My five year old female mix has become ill after haveing her Kennel cough and her 3 year Rabbie shot Vaccine. She had them on the 25th of January last week and came down with a little sneeziing late friday night after she had water so I thought she sniffed water while she was drinking it. Upon awakening on Saturday, yesterday, she vomited and then didn’t want to eat. Late last night she started having horrible bloody diarreha. We gave her only the 2 vaccines this time because she had a similar illness last year one week after vaccines. We are feeding her Low Residue ever since her illness last year. Around October her low residue dog food bag went from Euknuba to Iams. I am aware that Iams in fact makes Eukanuba not the other way around. She had been eating Nuto max wet and dry prior to her illness last year. I am very confused about what is causing her illness this time and will be taking her in for and I.V at the emergency animal clinic because it is sunday. I am very worried about what they will do because she is easily stressed and I do not think she can take much she is very weak. I still believe in my heart that this is a reaction to her vaccines even though it has been eight days later.
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:46 pm
What is your tips e-mail address. Can’t find it anywhere…Why would my e-mail be spam and can’t you get it off or out of your spam folder. Please e-mail me with where you want me to resend it. Thanks. This is the first time I have submitted anything. I linked to this site from asking for help for my dog (side affects of kennel cough-rabbie vaccine).
February 11th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
This is an update on Daisey, the black lab mix. She was back at the Vet today. She has severe skin lesions all over, especially around her neck and chest. I still do not know if she is going to make it. Our Vet said that they will report the reaction. The Vet has increased her steroids and given her an antibiotic, plus, has put her on a med that opens her blood vessels. I am really worried about how bad she may get. Daisey is so smart and so sweet and now she faces this huge reaction. Remember (above) that she started bleeding through her bowels and throwing up blood seven days after her 3 year rabi shot and kennel cough vaccine. She then developed a nervouse tick and shaking all over. And now skin lesions all over her upper body and maybe all over her whole body. Somebody help !!!
March 15th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
My 10 y.o. Rhodesian has suddenly become ill with fluid around his heart and I cannot help but feel that it has to do with IAMS dry dog food. Perhaps a coincidence, but since I started him on it two or three weeks ago, he is not the same dog. I took him to the Vet today and now he is a very sick dog with fluid encircling his heart and inability to eat because of the pressure the fluid places on his esophagus I am going to have the food tested.
June 26th, 2008 at 1:12 am
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July 9th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
My 8 year old cat Smokey was just diagnosed with kidney failure. the doctor says that his kidneys are 75% damaged. I love Smokey to death. I don’t know what i would do without him. I had left him in the hospital for three days for medication and IV fluids. He has not been eating or urinating he has been depressed and not himself. I was real shocked when i heard that he at such a young age has kidney failure disease. The vet should call me back tommorow to tell me how he is doinbg
I am so afraid for him. I have another cat who is a year older than him, 9 i think it is best to get her tested as well before its too late i dont want anything to happen to smokey especially overnight since there are no staff in the animal hospital.
July 9th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
I feel so bad.
July 9th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
i just feel so bad that this is happeneing. I loved my cat he has been with me ever since i was thirteen years old. why did this have to happen to him?
July 9th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
i don’t want Smokey to die ever.
July 9th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
He hasn’t been eating the only thing he used to eat was fancy feast food but now i feel so guilty since this has happenbed i wonder if it was ever my fault in a way that he is ill.
July 27th, 2008 at 8:02 am
After buying and feeding my GSD some Iams dry food for large breeds (green bag)in Ottawa, Ontario (WalMart, Orleans), she developped severe diarrhea. Had to get up almost every hour one night to let her out. After feeding her lots of Immodium quick dissolve (small pills, not large chewable ones) which she readily took without having to mask in anything else, and feeding her rice and chicken for a couple days she’s OK. I’m throwing out this almost new bag of Iams and going back to what she was on before which was less expensive. This happened in the week of July 21 to 25, 2008.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Hi Guys,
My dog is a Bernese Mountain Dog has been on Eukanuba FP for 2 years now and had now issues, noce hard stools. The brand is now called IAMS FP, and up until 2 weeks ago he was great, but since I bought the most recent bag, he is no longer interested in his food, so I added a bit of cheese and he ate it, a day later, the runs. My dog has IBD (Chron’s disease for Dogs, not IBS) and FP is the only thing that works for him. Has this happened to anyone recently? I did notice that the color of the food was a bit off, lighter than usual, I should have trusted my dog. I ahve sent back the bag to the Vet to have it tested and I know have a new bag. I am giving him only 1/2 a cup with rice and boiled beef for the time being, but I am curious to see what the tests say. I am hoping he has not become allergic to this as well, because I have no clue what else to feed him.
Dom
August 4th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Have, on a lark, purchased a 20 lb bag of IAMS cat food for our 12 cats (we live on a farm and they live very well) anyway they have started getting sick and the vet thinks it is possibly a toxin. Purchased the bag in Little Rock Arkansas. We have switched back to their old food but they slowly getting better. They have been diagnosed with Pancreatitis. First one then another then another then two more. No way it is a coincidence. No other new items in their area.
jp
August 12th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Hi Guys,
So last week, I had to hospitalize my dog due to Metronidazole intoxication. For 2 years he would take 500mg/meal and during the past week, he had to take 1000mg/meal which was still in tolerated range. But as with statistics and probability and Murphy’s law. One week of this caused massive intoxication. I had to rush him to the 24hr hospital where he spent 4 days to have the intoxication wear away with help from diazepam and IV fluids. He is now on Tylosin (anti-inflammatory), so far not bad, but coudl be better. He is also taking FortiFlora for pro-biotics.
Anyway, $2500 and 4 days later, my advice to anyone is that if your dog starts to take metronidazole for long duration for Irritable Bowel disease, pay attention to his gait. If you see that he starts to miss his step or trip more often, chances are he is getting intoxicated slowly. In the matter of 2 hours he because totally incapcitated after 1 week of over-use. I am not dissing the meds, but statistics always have margin for error. The inetranal medicine vet wants me to stop the metro for good, but I think he was ok on 500mg/day. I have to go back tomorrow for an ultrasound to see why his stools still are softer than usual. Another 300 smackers.
Dom
August 12th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
is pedigree puppy food okay? what food would you reccomend i am thinking about switching foods.
August 13th, 2008 at 6:41 am
Hi Shelby,
What type of dog do you have? I typically stay away from any dog food that does not have the meat/protein as the first ingredient. I then check if the protein is first, for ex:Beef, I make sure it says Beef, and not Beef digest or Beef meal. These are lower quality. If you have a large breed dog, then you may want to focus on a food specifically for large breed, as they need a lot more nutrient for rapid bone/muscle growth. Large breed dogs gain on average 2.5 - 4 pounds a week. Other key factors, I try to stay away from any corn based foods as most mammals do not digest corn, it is just a filler.
BR,
Dom
September 28th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
In January 2008, my healthy 7 year old cat began vomiting (yellow liquid & partially digested food) several times a day. He had never previously vomited in his lifetime, to my knowledge.
He was fed Nutro MaxCat Gourmet Classics Adult Roasted Chicken flavor,
which he had been fed for seven years without incident.
After changing to another brand, the vomiting drastically subsided within days. After six months, the vomiting had completely ceased.
Recently, as a stop gap I stupidly mixed in some of the original MaxCat formula with his current diet and within a week his vomiting has suddenly returned to 3-4 times daily. I have of course immediately stopped and am praying that he will once again recover.
From these circumstances I am 100% certain that this batch (Jan 08) of food is tainted.
Does anyone have information on how to get this food tested or on existing test results for this brand? I have a significant quantity of this batch remaining for testing. I also have the original packaging if that is suspect.
Is there any specific testing for my cat I can request from my vet?
I took him to my vet and explained these symptoms originally but they did not recommend or perform any screening whatsoever.
October 14th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
I have a 6 month old lab/springer mix that is going through renal failure. He had been eating Iams puppy food. I have the bag in question and need to know where to send it for testing. When my puppy got sick, the vet thought it was congenital. Then, I started feeding the food to my other dog. He, too, started throwing up. I believe now the food is tainted. It does not appear our puppy will make it. If it the food, I need to know. Please help!
October 21st, 2008 at 12:13 am
I have three small dogs. one got sick after eating Ol’ Roy dog food that (i found out today) has been recalled. we switched the food. Now all three of them are sick. The recent bag was Iams healthy naturals with chicken. It hasn’t been recalled yet, but i bet it will too. We are all going to the doctor tomorrow, and i hope we can reverse this. This is sick how no one in charge is doing much, but our animals are dying! Has anyone else had dogs affected by these brands and types? from now on i will be making my dog’s food myself!
October 22nd, 2008 at 2:52 pm
we had a nine year old husky mix that died sunday night very unexpected…died very quickly …
he was fine in the morning nothing different or remarkable, except i had just opened and fed him from a new bag of iams green food…he did not throw up…he did not have diarea , he just looked like he felt bad about two or three hours after eating and then he went in the next room laid down was dead hours later.
anyone have similiar experience with having fed their dog Iams green food lately
this was purchased in ann arbor michigan
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:07 am
We have an eight year old Toy poodle that started having seizures recently. It was getting to the point he was having up to 2 a day, some of them lasting up to 45 minutes. The last couple were really bad. We removed the IAMS green dog food from his diet on Friday and the last couple of days he has been fine.