Dear Purina Pet Food,
It is disheartening that you continue to insult pet owners by improperly labeling the many consumer reports of sick and dead pets linked to your pet foods and multiple other brands as “rumors”. As Purina Pet Food is well aware, adverse events linked to a pet food (any pet food) is properly termed as a “report” – specifically an “adverse event report” – they are NEVER termed a rumor.
Per the FDA website, pet owners “can report complaints about a pet food product” through the “Safety REPORTING Portal”. This government system is NOT classified as the ‘Safety RUMOR Portal’.
The proper term – that you are VERY aware of – is adverse event reports. Pet owners are providing you adverse event reports, pet owners are providing FDA adverse event reports, and pet owners are providing social media and advocates adverse event reports.
Adverse event reports. That is what they are.
They are not rumors.
Some adverse events reported:
If your pet becomes ill you believe is linked to any pet food, please report the issue to FDA. For more information Click Here.
Personal note: I was supposed to be at AAFCO meetings right now, I decided that working on this current concern in pet food was significantly more important – and I did not attend as planned. To every worried pet owner, please know that we are working as swiftly as we can. We are turning over every stone.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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Sandy M.
January 24, 2024 at 7:40 pm
Thank you Susan for ALL you do and of the light that you shed on this matter. I just sent an e-mail to the Purina website challenging them on this. After all, the language that we use in this world matters. It’s an issue of respect.
Dianne & pets
January 24, 2024 at 7:53 pm
The days are long gone when you could count on unaware consumers. I wonder how the Facebook group that will not brook any adverse comment about Purina is doing. Lol.
Lane Gustafson
January 24, 2024 at 8:02 pm
I can appreciate you warning of potential problems, but there is no hard evidence here at all. Has anyone analyzed the food. The second video indicates that more than just one kind has problems.
Kitterkat
January 25, 2024 at 11:34 am
So when people report a food having made their pet sick, everyone should keep feeding it until the FDA decides to test that food? I’d stop feeding until I had proof there was NOT a problem with the food, not keep feeding and hope these were all “rumors”.
Donna DeBonis,DVM, MSFS, PCQI-Animal Feed
January 25, 2024 at 12:15 pm
I am a veterinarian (CSU ’83) and I have my Masters in Food Safety with my Project on Pet Food Recalls. In addition, I am Certified to write Pet Food Safety Plans for pet food companies. These pet food remarks on social media are not rumors. They are an outcry by pet parents whose veterinarians are not listening and working up the concerns. The biggest recall in 2021 on aflatoxins was precipitated by a VETERINARIAN! He LISTENED to his pet owner when they brought in the hunting dogs who were dying, he took food samples of the bag of pet food, and sent it to a Toxicology Lab where they reported aflatoxins present. Then this info was sent to the FDA. The VETERINARIAN proactively submitted the sample to an independent lab so he could get the results ASAP so he could treat his patients.
Sure the pet owner had been feeding that food for YEARS without a problem–until there was a problem and his dogs were dying.
Right now there are veterinarians in the group Saving Pets One Pet @ A Time and they are sending samples in to be tested. They are LISTENING. Note these two points: 1) Reports are that multiple pets in a household are vomiting right after they were fed, and 2) Pets are recovering when removed from that pet food AND when some owners tried to reintroduce the food, the pets got sick again.
I will close with a final question: How would you like it if you went to the doctor and tried to explain that the medicine they prescribed made you violently sick every time you took it, but your doctor didn’t LISTEN to you?
Rachel Llewellyn
January 26, 2024 at 4:42 am
Yes the food samples, toxicology and necropsy reports are being being reported and investigated …. This takes time and money. What we need is independent investigations as purina may be biased in these investigations.
It is under way but it takes time it’s not a quick process
https://www.youtube.com/live/-SNw8RT1zuU?si=C3hBSqokauyyfpez
Kitty
January 24, 2024 at 9:56 pm
Thank you for your dedication and hard work!!!
Stoverman
January 24, 2024 at 10:21 pm
Has anyone tested the food they believe caused issues with their pets? Are their results available?
Xeyla
January 26, 2024 at 12:28 pm
results take a few weeks after testing
Donna DeBonis, DVM, MF Food Safety, PCQI-Animal Feed
January 24, 2024 at 10:53 pm
These pet food remarks on social media are not rumors. They are an outcry by pet parents whose veterinarians are not listening and working up the concerns. The biggest recall in 2021 on aflatoxins was precipitated by a VETERINARIAN! He LISTENED to his pet owner when they brought in the hunting dogs who were dying, he took food samples of the bag of pet food, and sent it to a Toxicology Lab where they reported aflatoxins present. Then this info was sent to the FDA. The VETERINARIAN proactively submitted the sample to an independent lab so he could get the results ASAP so he could treat his patients.
Sure the pet owner had been feeding that food for YEARS without a problem–until there was a problem and his dogs were dying.
I will close with a final question: How would you like it if you went to the doctor and tried to explain that the medicine they prescribed made you violently sick every time you took it?
Will Falconer, DVM
January 25, 2024 at 12:27 am
First video is telling: one sick dog, high liver enzymes and symptoms of vomiting, then dying even after liver enzymes returned to normal. But the acid test: two other dogs in the same family, “treated” with the same food (that they normally didn’t eat), ALSO became sick.
Second video: are we to assume these pets are all dead or only sickened? It would have been far more helpful if the pictures were prefaced with that info. We all know where assumptions get us…
Janice
January 25, 2024 at 2:07 am
The reports are reports. The rumors are of the connection between the food and the sickness. So it’s fair to use that word in some contexts.
Susan Thixton
January 25, 2024 at 7:48 am
I disagree. The use of the term adverse event report does not equate to a confirmed problem. The confirmed problem would be a recall. The term rumor on the other hand insinuates the information provided is false, made-up.
Stoverman
January 25, 2024 at 11:56 am
I politely disagree.
A rumor, by definition, is unverified information (usually spread by word of mouth, and these days social media). A rumor is
hearsay until proven true.
I am not a fan of kibble, I’ve fed a species appropriate diet/raw for over a dozen years, but rumors are unsubstantiated and facts are proven. I’m following this closely and anxiously await the test results.
I feel this is a slippery slope, by condemning all kibble without proof is going to end with someone in hot water.
Susan Thixton
January 26, 2024 at 9:55 am
In pet food regulatory terms – ‘reports’ of sick pets are never referred to as rumors. And I’m not condemning any style of food, I just want all styles to be safe and abide by regulations.
Lynne Fracassi
January 26, 2024 at 10:37 am
Do you know when will the results be in?
Dawn
January 27, 2024 at 3:09 pm
Susan, while you may not be condemning any style of food; the group you are now aligned and affiliated with repeats over and over to stop feeding kibble. Those of us that continue to do so or those of us that have fed PPP or PO are shamed and labeled as bad pet parents even when we ask for a better kibble alternative. Initially it was looking like a witch hunt with direction to feed small brands that certain members had developed. (That has since slowed as people were noticing.) While i understand ingredients are sourced at the same place many times (2021 aflatoxin) sometimes it’s not the food. Old dogs die, it’s sad but true. My concern is the bandwagon jumping when (just take for example) it’s a large breed that’s been fine on PPP but is 14-15-16… Now granted there’s young ones that are having bad reactions, but some of it can be everything from back yard breeding to genetic flaws.
The group you are affiliated with S.O.P.A.A.T. is certainly anti kibble and niche brands.
Susan Thixton
January 27, 2024 at 5:18 pm
Everyone has a right to their opinion. I represent all pet owners, no matter what style of pet food they give their pets. I have heard from many pet owners directly, who don’t have Facebook and are not members of the Saving Pets One Pet @ a Time group.
You are entitled to your opinion, but so are they.
Liz
January 25, 2024 at 1:02 pm
For everyone asking “where is the evidence?” “Did pet parents test the food?” “Where are the results?”
To test a food first of all it’s super expensive, and you don’t even know specifically what you are testing for to begin with. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack, because it could be so many things in that food that are causing illness. I know people are still taking it upon themselves to test it which is amazing, because obviously Purina or FDA isn’t doing it!
And it takes weeks and weeks to get results! So everyone needs to have common sense and it’s not a “rumor” that thousands of pet parents who don’t know each other all of a sudden are experiencing horrible reactions with their pets!
Susan thank you for everything that you do! You’re a warrior!
Peter Sun
January 25, 2024 at 3:27 pm
My pet had 2 diarrhea and vomiting episodes caused by Purina canned formula in the past 2 years. This is surely not a rumor for me. It’s dead serious and costly (Vet visit and med are far from cheap).
Sandy Thompson
January 26, 2024 at 6:03 am
Thank you for the continued help and efforts to educate pet owners and advocating for the safety of our beloved animals. I appreciate you.
Kitty.litterally
January 27, 2024 at 4:53 pm
Thank you for your diligence and work in this area!
Judy
January 28, 2024 at 5:44 pm
My concern is that the FB group has added more and more food brands and will not give any info as to how many claims were made. If one or two people report a brand, is it added to the list, or even just a dozen? Could it not be that people rushed to stop feeding Purina and did not properly transition their dogs over to the new food.
I do NOT doubt for one minute that Purina is horrible food, nor do i doubt that it has been making dogs sick, but, when pet parents are panicking because there are so few brands left to try, I need more info. This has turned into a chaotic mess on FB, and they will not even allow legitimate questions about the foods. My post was declined saying i needed to do my own research. THEY initiated the testing, and bravo for them, but let us know how many claims for each food you have had before just adding them to the bad list, I can research forever and not find that info because only they know
Susan Porter
January 30, 2024 at 7:22 pm
A lot of people can only think in terms of black and white and lack the intellect to understand that there are shades of grey. For example, I am seeing a lot of owners claim that they have always fed PPPlan and have never had a problem as if that is proof that there could never be a problem. It is like they fail to comprehend that a current batch could accidentally contain aflatoxin despite the fact that there was not a significant amount of that deadly contaminant in previous batches. My heart aches for dogs who are owned by these owners.