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Illness, Death Dog Nutro Pet Food
Company denies a link to scores
of sudden illness
By Lisa Wade McCormick
June
23, 2008
A series of mysterious illness and
death dogs Nutro pet food. Scores of pet owners report their
animals became ill while eating Nutro products, then recovered
when they were switched to another brand.
At least six dogs have died in the
past two months, according to an analysis of complaints to
ConsumerAffairs.
In related developments,
ConsumerAffairs.
The six dogs that recently died
include two Italian Greyhounds in
The dogs' owners all say their
pets were in good health and they're convinced that Nutro's food
is somehow connected to their animals' deaths. Those concerns
are echoed by pet owners whose dogs and cats have recently
become sick after eating the company's food.
Nutro, however, defends its
products and says the food is 100 percent safe.
But scores of pet owners across
the country -- including longtime Nutro customers -- no longer
feel safe feeding this brand of food to their dogs and cats.
Max and Sophia
They're consumers like Theresa C.
of
"We bought Nutro for the first
time in April," Theresa said. "And within four or five days,
both of our dogs were dead.
"These were healthy dogs that have
never been sick. They were extremely housetrained, but before
they died, they both were urinating everywhere…we were
constantly refilling their water bowl."
Sophia, their four-year-old
Italian Greyhound, showed the first signs of illness.
"On Sunday, April 27, she was
vomiting, acting dizzy, and she became skittish," Theresa said.
"Italian Greyhounds also don't smell, but I noticed Sophia had
an unusual smell before she died. It was almost a sickening
smell; I've never smelled anything like it before."
Sophia's condition quickly
deteriorated.
"She continued to vomit up liquid
and bile into the early hours of Monday, April 28," Theresa
said. "And she became dizzy and almost appeared to be drunk."
Theresa rushed Sophia to the
emergency animal hospital.
"By the time I got her there she
was comatose and in
kidney failure. She had to be
euthanized."
Max, her three-year-old Italian
Greyhound, had started to experience the same problems.
"He began vomiting at 2:30 am, but
was not as ill as Sophia had been," Theresa said. "When I got
him to the vet she found elevated creatinine and BUN (blood urea
nitrogen) levels. She administered an IV and retested later in
the evening on the 28th. The levels were still rising but, she
said he may pull through."
Max's condition, however, did not
improve.
"By the morning of the 29th he had
blood in the whites of his eyes, was vomiting again, and showing
signs of distress," Theresa said. "We again had his blood
checked and the levels were through the roof."
Max's kidneys were failing.
"Our vet told us there is no hope
because he was in renal failure…we decide to euthanize to limit
his suffering."
Losing both dogs -- in such a
short period time -- was heart-wrenching for Theresa, her
husband, and their six children.
"I don't know who cried more – me,
my husband, or my 20-year-old son. I was a mess for a week."
Despite her grief, Theresa vowed
to find the cause of Max and Sophia's sudden deaths. Her vet
suspected antifreeze poisoning.
"But we don't have antifreeze
around our home," Theresa said. "These dogs were never alone.
And we have the same neighbors we've had since Max was a puppy.
I didn't see how it could antifreeze poisoning."
Theresa had autopsies done on her
dogs at
She and her family also contacted
the FDA and Nutro.
"Our 20-year-old son called Nutro
after Sophia died and he asked if there was something wrong with
the food. He said we've already had one dog die and another one
is sick.
"The girl at Nutro said we've had
complaints, but nothing that is a known issue right now."
FDA tests
The FDA immediately investigated
the dogs' deaths.
"An investigator came over to my
home before we had the autopsy results back," Theresa said. "He
took samples of the food and had me file a complaint."
ConsumerAffairs.
Those tests did not find any
toxins in the food.
"Findings were negative for
melamine and its analog, aflatoxins, ethylene glycol and
diethylene glycol, and for salmonella," the lab report stated.
"No significant filth or foreign material was found."
Antifreeze
Theresa is baffled by the FDA's
findings.
"I wonder if there's something in
the food they're not testing for," she said after reviewing the
FDA's report.
Theresa is also puzzled by the
autopsy results on her dogs – and the tests run on their kidney
tissues.
Those examinations revealed Max
and Sophia had high levels of ethylene glycol in their systems,
which indicated the dogs' deaths were consistent with antifreeze
poisoning.
With Theresa's permission,
ConsumerAffairs.
After reviewing the reports with a
pathologist in his office, Dr. Hansen said: "The kidney
lesions do not fit with melamine but
are consistent with ethylene glycol. Since ethylene glycol was
confirmed in high concentrations in the kidneys and not in the
diet the diagnosis in this case is clear. Unfortunately, the
dogs did die of antifreeze poisoning."
Theresa, however, still has her
doubts.
"I know these dogs didn't get near
antifreeze…especially in these extreme amounts," said Theresa,
who may hire a private lab to test her Nutro food. "Like I said,
I wonder if there's something in the food that no one is testing
for."
Blue death
Two states away,
another grieving pet owner shares Theresa's concerns about
Nutro's food.
Susi B. of
"I bought that bag at the end of
March, and when I opened it up, it looked like it had little
white bugs all over it," said Susi, a longtime Nutro customer.
"When I picked up the food, it was like a granular substance.
But I didn't think much about it because the food wasn't part of
the recall."
Blue, she said, gradually started
to become sick.
"I'd come home and see where he'd
thrown up. But I didn't think about the food."
When she returned from work on
April 18, Susi found Blue collapsed on the floor.
"Normally, he'd run to the door
and greet me, but when I walked in that day I couldn't find him
right away. He was on the floor and breathing heavy."
Susi immediately took Blue to the
vet.
"But the vet couldn't find
anything except an elevated white count, a low red blood count
(he was anemic), and he had a temperature," Susi said. "They
gave him an antibiotic and vitamins."
Susi also took Blue off his Nutro
food and fed him hamburger and rice.
"And he got better. So over the
next couple of weeks, I slowly reintroduced the Nutro dog food
to him."
Blue's condition worsened again.
"He got to the point that when I
put Nutro in front of him, he refused to eat it," she said. "And
he was a dog who would eat everything. He didn't want to eat
anything except melted ice cream.
"His weight went from 26 pounds to
18 pounds. He was skin and bones. He was lethargic. He became so
weak he could no longer walk outside to use the bathroom or
stand to drink water."
That's when Susi launched her own
investigation.
"I went online and Googled Nutro
and found out (on ConsumerAffairs.
Bare shelves
She also discovered that some of
Nutro's pet foods -- including the variety she'd fed Blue --
were no longer on the shelves at her local pet store.
"There was a note in the store
that said the shortage was due to some manufacturing issues."
Susi immediately called Nutro to
get some answers.
"I was told the reason the food
was not on the shelves was because the company that made the
bags had a machine break, and the company ran out of chicken.
But I was feeding lamb and rice."
What about the complaints
regarding Nutro's food?
"They said they were aware of your
Web site and considered it nothing but a blog," Theresa said.
"They said when one person posted (a complaint) it caused a
panic, and none of those dogs' owner have contacted us."
At Nutro's request, Susi sent the
company four cups of Blue's food for testing.
That was several weeks ago, but
she has not received any results.
"I'm trying to find an independent
lab to test the food, but some say it would be a conflict of
interest to test the food and others say they don't know what to
test for."
Susi said she'll keep digging for
answers until she finds out what caused Blue to suddenly die in
his sleep on May 30th.
"I'm convinced Blue's death is
tied to that food and I won't stop until I prove it," she said,
adding the last test done on her dogs indicated he had a blood
tumor. "If I had listened to my dog, he might be alive today."
The guilt and pain surrounding
Blue's death, she said, is almost unbearable.
"It's devastating. He was my best
friend for more than ten years. He followed me all over the
house. And in a matter of six to eight weeks after we opened
that last bag of food, he'd gotten to the point that I had to
carry him outside and hold him up to go to the bathroom.
"I am 100 percent convinced there
is something in that food that is affecting these animals," she
added. "It's not a coincidence that all these dogs are getting
sick."
Dead puppies
A grieving pet owner in
Birgit H. of Franklinville said
two of her puppies -- from the same litter of seven -- suddenly
died on June 3rd.
The healthy six-week-old German
Shepherds -- Anna and Anja -- had similar symptoms as the other
dogs that died after eating Nutro's food.
"They were vomiting, had
diarrhea, and were lethargic," Birgit
said.
What's so alarming to Birgit is
the speed at which the puppies' health deteriorated.
"We started feeding them Nutro
puppy food on June 2 and they died on June 3," she said. "I
worked in a vet's office for ten years and I've never seen
anything like this before. I've never seen dogs going down so
fast, then get back up, then eat again, and crash. They got so
weak and died so fast."
The veterinarians who treated the
puppies couldn't explain their sudden deaths.
"They were puzzled because the
puppies did fine in the morning, but that afternoon, they just
died," Birgit said. "One died at home and one died at the vet's
office.
"Everyone is puzzled by this. The
first thing you think of with puppies is Parvo (a viral
illness). But there weren't symptoms of Parvo. And if one dog
has Parvo, they all have it. There's no way that happened. These
puppies were healthy before we put them on Nutro."
The other five puppies in the
litter -- and the mother dog -- also showed signs of illness.
"All the other puppies had started
throwing up," Birgit said. "Then I received a phone call from
another breeder and he asked me if I had recently switched to
Nutro food. He told me about all the other dogs that had gotten
sick on the food.
"That night, my husband and I put
the dogs back on their old food and everyone is fine again."
Her friend's call, she said, saved
her dogs' lives.
"I would have killed all my dogs
because I would have kept feeding them that food."
Nutro not alarmed
Birgit contacted Nutro, but said
the company didn't seem alarmed by the loss of her dogs.
"I've been on the phone with Nutro
three times and they're blowing me off. I told them they need to
take the food off the shelf and test it. But the person I talked
to said the company won't do that; they said they have quality
food."
In another call to Nutro – in
which she waited for an hour to talk to someone -- the company
"finally took a report."
"But they didn't ask me for a lot
number on the bag or the date of purchase," Birgit said. "All
they gave me was a customer number. That's it. They really
disappointed me."
Nutro also wanted the rest of
Birgit's puppy food.
"I told them 'no. I'm not sending
you all my food.' They didn't like that. I'm thinking of getting
it tested somewhere else." She also plans to contact the FDA and
the ASPCA's
Nutro, however, did offer Birgit
an explanation for the sudden deaths of her puppies – and the
recent illnesses in pets nationwide that have eaten the
company's food.
"They said it was a coincidence."
Birgit doesn't buy that
explanation.
"Maybe one or two cases could be a
coincidence. But it can't be a coincidence with so many cases.
And it can't be a coincidence that once you take the dogs off
the food they're fine.
"I'm not one to point fingers, but
as soon as I took the puppies off the Nutro food, we didn't have
any more vomiting, diarrhea, or lethargy. They are now all doing
great. So is their mom. Nutro needs to take this food off the
shelves and test it."
Until that happens, this
professional dog breeder will not recommend Nutro to her
clients.
"I always thought it was a good
food, but now, I wouldn't feed Nutro to my worst enemy."
McGee
Neither will a grieving pet owner
in
Peter B. of
McGee ate Nutro, too.
And his symptoms mirror those of
the other dogs that have recently died after eating Nutro's
food.
"He was a healthy Doberman…he was
fine before," Peter said. That all changed on April 27.
"I came home around 6pm and was
outside watering my lawn," Peter said. "I noticed McGee was on
the ground and had thrown up. He was also shaking."
As the night progressed, McGee's
condition took a turn for the worse. He threw up again.
"And it looked like more food that
I'd given him," Peter said. "He was also thirsty. He just wasn't
himself."
Later that evening, Peter noticed
McGee had started breathing heavily.
"And he kept getting water. He
then started shaking again…he just wasn't right.
"McGee went back outside at 2 am,"
Peter continued. "When he came back in, he got some water and
then he was sitting in the hallway."
A short time later, McGee came
back into Peter's bedroom.
"He flopped down and he was
breathing heavily, he was shaking, and crying."
Peter rushed to get McGee
immediate medical attention.
"We tried to get him in our SUV
and all of the sudden, he collapsed. I put him in the back and
probably did 100 mph going to the vet."
But McGee died on the way.
"He was gone when we got there.
They tried CPR, but he was gone."
The veterinarian wasn't sure what
caused McGee's sudden death. "He was pretty generic," Peter
said. "But he said it might have been some type of heart
arrhythmia.
"In hindsight, I wish I would have
gotten an autopsy, but it was such a shocker."
Peter, however, started
researching possible causes for McGee's sudden death.
"I put in some of the symptoms he
had and Googled them," he said. "And Nutro kept showing up. I
thought that was scary because that's what I've always fed him.
But I noticed that these problems seemed to be a lot more
recent…they were new problems."
Peter contacted Nutro about
McGee's death.
"I've sent them three e-mails, but
they haven't responded. I tried the 800-number, but it kept
ringing and ringing."
No Nutro
Peter also stopped by the local
pet store where he bought McGee's food.
"The shelves that contained Nutro
Natural Choice were almost bare. That never has happened."
He asked a Nutro representative --
who was working in the same aisle -- about the shortage.
"He stated that no recall was in
effect, and Nutro just happened to shut down a few plants
producing what he termed 'not as tasty food,' and the 'quality'
was not up to par."
That explanation didn't make sense
to Peter.
"Seeing that a dog can't talk, I
asked him how the company would know if the food was not
'tasty.' It seemed far more plausible that a company whose main
product is dog food would not shut down a plant -- and have no
product -- unless some very extreme situations were coming to
light."
Peter then told the Nutro
representative about McGee's sudden death.
The representative called it a
"coincidence."
But Peter is certain something is
wrong with Nutro's food. He plans to hire a private lab to test
the food and prove his theory.
"I'm doing this because something
has truly happened. I don't have any evidence now, but based on
my dog's symptoms and all the complaints I've read, the logical
deduction is the food probably got some dogs sick, and in my
case, caused my dog's death.
He added: "I will not let this be
swept under the rug and hopefully will get the confirmation I am
looking for by testing the pet food I still have."
Scores sickened
During our investigation, we found
that scores of pets -- primarily dogs -- continue to become
seriously ill after eating Nutro's food.
Consider what happened to a
healthy, three-year-old Chocolate Lab named Choco.
His owner, Sharon A., of
He never had any problems eating
the food until April.
"That's when he suddenly got
sick," she said. "He started vomiting, had loose bowel movements
(diarrhea) and was very lethargic. It really worried me so I
took him to the vet.
"He even threw up at the vet's
office."
The veterinarian diagnosed Choco
with pancreatitis (an
inflammation of the pancreas).
"They put him on IV's, gave him
some antibiotics and Pepcid, and kept him hospitalized for three
days,"
The vet also switched Choco to a
prescription dog food.
"They told me when he was done
with that food he could go back to Nutro. But when I put him
back on Nutro, he got sick again – with the same symptoms."
Her vet ran additional tests on
Choco.
"This time, they said he did not
have pancreatitis, but they gave him antibiotics anyway."
Choco's condition, however, did
not improve.
"He got sick again and I took him
to the vet for a third time,"
Like other pet owners,
"I couldn't believe all those
people on your Web site whose dogs had the same symptoms as
mine,"
Does she think it's a coincidence
that so many pets have become sick after eating Nutro's food?
No way.
"They get sick when they're eating
Nutro – they have vomiting, diarrhea, and they're lethargic,"
said
Overseas complaints
Our investigation also found that
some dogs overseas are now experiencing similar health problems
after eating Nutro's food.
We learned that two healthy
Italian Greyhounds, who live on a
Their owner, Michelle M.,
purchased their Nutro food at the base's commissary.
"I thought the yard started to
smell funny after they had been on Nutro for a couple of weeks,"
she said. "I noticed that they threw up regularly, particularly
the nine-month old."
His condition worsened last week.
"He woke up and started to whine
for no reason," she said. "He was clearly in pain, if he stood
up his back legs shook, then he would go lie down. He has been
lethargic all day and has passed four bloody/mucus-
Michelle desperately searched for
answers.
She ran an online search of Nutro
and was shocked to learn that scores of other dogs -- eating the
same brand of food -- had experienced similar problems.
"I am detached from all of the
press stateside and am very upset that no effort has been made
to alert military families overseas of a possible problem (with
the food.)"
Michelle stopped feeding her dogs
Nutro and is now cooking chicken and rice for them.
"I'm hoping there will not be any
long-term health consequences for my boys. They are both members
of my family and my children and I love them immensely."
She added: "I'm glad we caught
this in time, unlike some of the others who have reported very
serious illnesses or even death associated with this brand of
dog food. If the FDA is examining Nutro, they need to move
quickly -- it is hard to tell how many people at overseas
military bases are feeding this (food) to their dogs and
possibly killing them."
Ex-Nutro employee
Michelle's complaint -- and the
scores of others we received about Nutro food -- don't surprise
a former pet nutrition specialist for the company.
"I would say that about 20 people
in the last six months came up to me and said their pets were
having similar problems with Nutro's food," the former employee
told us. "They said their dogs and cats were vomiting, they were
lethargic, had diarrhea, and were drinking lots of water."
The former employee, who asked not
to be identified, reported those complaints to her boss. But her
concerns, she said, fell on deaf ears.
"Every time I brought it up the
chain, my concerns were brushed off. All I kept hearing about
was the wonderful quality controls Nutro has."
Frustrated by the company's lack
of response – and worried about the safety of pets nationwide --
the employee left Nutro and agreed to share her concerns with
us.
"I do not feel comfortable
promoting a product that is currently showing a very strong
correlation with causing pet illness or death," said the
employee, who is also a certified veterinary technician. "For 82
years Nutro had stood on its own as a leader in pet specialty.
This past year, Nutro has lost consumer confidence and shaken my
confidence as well. Something is wrong."
News of the recent deaths possibly
linked to Nutro's food is especially troubling to this former
employee.
"On my last day, one of the
managers of a store I worked with came to me and reported a very
recent death of a young dog. The dog's owner and its vet highly
suspect it was caused by Nutro Lamb and Rice (small bites).
"I sure hope that it wasn't the
Nutro food, but due to some of these sudden death incidents it
makes me fearful that it is," the former employee said.
She wondered if these health
problems could be related to the way Nutro's food is stored and
transported on trucks.
"Are there
pesticides on those trucks?" she asked.
"The bags are not covered in plastics when they arrive at the
stores. They're in paper bags. Could something be leaching into
the bags? Is something happening during the transport? It's just
a theory.
"I think that further testing
needs to be done with the food."
'Hearsay'
We contacted Nutro about the
complaints we've received regarding its food.
A company spokesperson, who
resigned last week, directed us to
Nutro's Web site.
The company posted new information
after we started asking questions about Nutro's food and its
possible connection to the illnesses and deaths of pets
nationwide.
"All NUTRO products are 100
percent safe and conform to the standards set by the FDA, USDA,
and AAFCO," the Web site states. "NUTRO pet foods undergo
rigorous quality assurance testing, beginning with raw
ingredients and ending with testing all finished products. This
includes testing to confirm that no melamine, mold toxins, or
pathogenic bacteria are detected in any NUTRO pet foods."
The company said the complaints
we've received are "isolated reports of inaccurate information
posted online."
"Many blogs and Internet sites can
be a repository for misinformation and hearsay regarding many
topics," the company wrote.
Nutro said the recent shortages of
some of its foods are supply issues – and have nothing to do
with any safety concerns.
"Over the past several months,
suppliers of key ingredients used in select products have been
unable to meet Nutro's volume needs," the company stated. "We
have secured additional high quality supply sources and while
availability will vary by marketplace, we can now say that
supply issues are being resolved."
The company said its Natural
Choice Venison Meal and Brown Rice, and Natural Choice Herring
Meal, Rice and Potato foods should arrive in stores later this
month.
Nutro denied reports that any of
its plants are closing.
Formulas changed
The company also confirmed that it
recently changed some of its formulas.
"MAX Dog and MAX Cat foods have
been improved with the addition of more chicken and/or salmon,"
the company stated. "MAX Large Breed Puppy and MAX Large Breed
Adult are now being made with chicken meal rather than beef meal
because preference testing has shown that dogs prefer the taste
of the chicken product."
The company said it rarely
receives complaints about its products, but takes all concerns
seriously. Customers can contact Nutro's Consumer Service line
at 1-800-833-5330.
"In the rare instance when a
consumer does have a concern with any of our products, an
in-depth review of the consumer-provided samples is performed to
determine if an issue does exist," the company stated.
We asked Nutro if it had recently
tested its foods for possible toxins. The company did not
respond to that question.
Meanwhile, some loyal Nutro
customers warn pet owners not to jump to conclusions based on
what they call unsubstantiated claims posted on the Internet.
Veterinarians also told us it's
not uncommon for pets to have sudden bouts of vomiting,
diarrhea, and other
gastrointestinal problems.
They said a number of factors --
pet food,
stress, or a viral infection-- could be
the culprit.
But Dr. Hansen with the ASPCA
agreed that additional testing and research should be done in
these cases.
He encouraged pet owners to report
any problems with Nutro to the FDA, his organization'
Still a mystery
For now, the recent illnesses and
deaths in many pets that have eaten Nutro remains a mystery.
Even to pet owners like Theresa,
who still believes that Nutro played a role in the deaths of her
Italian Greyhounds.
"I have a gut feeling something in
that food is making dogs sick and killing others. And I truly
believe it is what killed both my dogs…I just wish we could
prove it."
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