Pet owners' calls over tainted food overwhelm FDA
Web sites have reported thousands of pet deaths believed caused by contaminated food.
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- On March 11, Reba stopped eating. Five days later, the black Labrador dog was dead.
The next day, March 17, Reba's owner, retired high school teacher Dennis Mullins of Ballwin, Mo., read in the newspaper of a massive nationwide recall of pet food.
Gay Brown of Troy, Mo., watched her cat, Killer, become disoriented and die from what her veterinarian diagnosed as kidney failure, a month before the recall.
In Brentwood, Mo., a 120-pound chocolate Labrador named Meshach Valentino had a complete physical this month. He was pronounced in tip-top shape, owner Fred Rauch recalled. The dog died nine days later, on March 11.
The Food and Drug Administration does not count these three deaths among the 16 attributed to contaminated pet food. The FDA says it has been unable even to count the sheer number of calls it is getting from pet owners reporting sick or dead cats and dogs.
What's likely
But veterinary and consumer groups are pointing to mounting evidence that the actual total of dead and sick pets may number in the hundreds -- or even the thousands. Pet owners, meanwhile, are desperate for answers.
The government has not responded to the allegations. The FDA also will not answer questions about why it never inspected the plant in Emporia, Kan., suspected as the source of contamination, until after animals began dying. An FDA spokesman said in an e-mail Wednesday that the agency had no comment on its investigation.
The contaminated food is 95 brands of "cuts and gravy" style dog and cat food manufactured by Menu Foods. The manufacturer blames rat poison from an unidentified source, and says all dry food and the wet food still in stores is safe.
This week, members of Congress, including Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., demanded answers from the FDA within 15 days.
Meanwhile:
Veterinarians across the country reported at least 471 cases of kidney failure among cats and dogs, the Veterinary Information Network, a Web site for 30,000 veterinarians and students, said this week. The veterinarians suspect the contaminated food was to blame. Of the 471, 104 died and 59 were undergoing treatment.
The PetConnection, an online database (petconnection.com/blog), reported Wednesday that pet owners had reported 2,237 dead pets (1,257 cats, 980 dogs) that they attributed to contaminated food.
The ASPCA Animal Control Center in Urbana, Ill., said clinical signs in cats affected by the contaminated foods were not fully consistent with the ingestion of rat poison containing aminopterin, a chemical which Menu Foods says is at the root of the contamination.
What's urged
The ASPCA strongly recommended that government and other investigators continue to search for additional contaminants.
"Only continued rigorous testing will uncover the real reason or reasons for this crisis among our pet population," said Dr. Stephen Hansen, a veterinary toxicologist and senior vice president of the ASPCA who manages its poison control center.
The FDA urges pet owners to report sick or dead cats and dogs. Mullins said he had repeatedly called the FDA to report his suspicion that contaminated food had caused Reba's death.
"It rang and rang and rang," he said. "Finally a recording said to leave a message."
Mullins said he wasn't angry. But he misses his friend.
"She never left my side in the four years I've been retired," he said.
Kerstin Adelt of Bridgeton, an MBA student at Lindenwood University, worries about her 4-year-old Beagle, Maggie. Maggie became violently sick last year, and Adelt blames the food, asking: "How do I know that the next can I buy is not infected?"
"As a dog owner," she said, "you expect your food to be safe, to be good and to be healthy."