History Repeating Itself Again and Again

Thanks to Kohl Harrington (producer of the pet food documentary Pet Fooled), we have been provided with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) documents from the FDA. The documents are adverse event reports submitted by pet food consumers and veterinarians.

These reports date from 7/1/24 through 1/1/25.

In the 260 pages (both documents), you will find reports of pet deaths, serious pet illnesses, and reports of mold, rancid products, and bug infested pet foods. An unfortunate issue we find in all of these reports, is history continuing to repeat itself (with nothing done by regulatory).

Such as reports of bugs in Purina products…

From the newly received FOIA reports, report EON-602073, dated 1/7/25.
“I purchased a 37 lb bag of Purina Pro Plan 27/17 Chicken and Rice Formula from PetCo on January 4, 2025. Upon opening the bag on January 5^th, I noticed several live larvae and dozens of cocoon remnants in the dog food bag. I contacted both Purina and PetCo. To my surprise, PetCo states that this is unfortunately extremely common with Purina Pro Plan, and they have contacted Purina themselves multiple times, with no resolution. If the food is so contaminated to contain dozens of live larvae and unknown amounts of deceased insects, what other unknown things have contaminated the food.”

Back in 2019, we share this Tweet from a pet owner to Purina evidencing the same problem:

In other words, Purina has had bug issues for at least six years with no action taken by regulatory authorities.

We also found numerous reports of sick pets that consumed Purina Pet Foods in the newly received FOIA documents, such as this one…

EON-603243, 1/18/25
“I purchased the Purina One Chicken & Rice Formula for my dog from Target on a Saturday night. On Sunday morning, after consuming the dog food the night before, he began having diarrhea and vomiting in multiple episodes. At one point, his diarrhea was bloody. He continued to experience excessive diarrhea and occasional vomiting for 4 more days (until Thursday). We did not think it was the food initially because he has had Purina previously; however, after completely stopping the dog food he immediately stopped having diarrhea and was back to normal. I strongly believe that the food was contaminated or the formula significantly changed.”

Numerous reports in the FOIA documents were eerily similar to reports of sick pets linked to Purina products one year earlier. In January 2024, the FDA received 1,184 reports of sick pets involving vomiting, diarrhea, seizures, and lethargy all involving Purina products. Many of the 2024 adverse events reported the illness started just after opening a new bag of Purina pet food, just as the 2025 example above shared.

The FOIA documents also provide multiple complaints of illness and death linked to various brands of jerky treats. Illness and death linked to jerky treats is something we have seen in pets since 2006 (with the cause NEVER determined by FDA).

Click Here and Here to view the FOIA documents.

Of concern, we did not notice any adverse event reports (though we did not closely read every report in the 260 pages) that were linked to any recall during this same time frame.

Recalls from 7/1/24 through 6/29/25:

1/27/24 – Viva Raw Pet Food – raw – Salmonella.

5/20/24 – Mars Petcare Pedigree Dog Food – dry – metal pieces.

6/21/24 – TDBBS – raw tripe – metal pieces.

7/1/24 – Viva Raw Pet Food – raw – Listeria.

1/3/25 – Blue Ridge Beef – raw – Salmonella.

1/31/25 – Blue Ridge Beef – raw – Salmonella.

3/3/25 – Wild Coast – raw – Avian Bird Flu.

3/14/25 – Savage Cat Food – raw – Avian Bird Flu.

4/4/25 – Supercan Pig Ear Slivers – treats – Salmonella.

4/7/25 – Zesty Paws – treat – Salmonella.

4/12/25 – Blue Ridge Beef Puppy and Kitten Mix – raw – Salmonella and Listeria.

Sadly it appears that the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine took NO ACTION on any of the 260 pages of pet owner and veterinarian complaints, including the one below…

EON-608777, 3/20/25
“Blue Buffalo Wilderness Chicken recipe dry cat food”
“We had two cats affected. They lived in separate households, were indoor cats with no exposure to outside animals. [Redacted] became symptomatic in the evening, we took him to the vet and they found a severely enlarged liver. He was rushed to an overnight clinic and died 24 hours after symptoms began. He was a healthy 4 year old tabby. [Redacted] was a healthy 4 year old shorthair who became symptomatic [redacted]. He was taken to the vet and they found a severe infection in his abdomen. He was given IV antibiotics and pain medication. He was to stay overnight at the hospital. We received a call at 12:30 am that he had passed. He had no symptoms leading up to this. The only commonality is the dry cat food. It is Blue Buffalo dry cat food.”

Lack of proper investigations by FDA in order to protect our pets is all too familiar.


Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food

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