What we know…
- Reports of sick and dying pets continue to come in from pet owners.
- Reports of sick and dying pets continue to be linked to multiple brands and varieties (both wet and dry) of pet foods.
- The symptoms of sick pets remain consistent; diarrhea – often bloody, vomiting – often bloody, in many cases seizures, in too many instances death.
- Reports of pet foods being dumped in landfills continue to come in from pet owners (putting wildlife at risk of illness and death).
- Reports of empty shelves in pet stores continue to come in from pet owners, unavailable brands and/or specific products.
What is being done?
We can share that we have been in contact with FDA.
We can share that multiple individuals have spent countless hours investigating. We are not sitting back waiting for FDA, we are working as hard as we can in order to have evidence that would result in a recall. Unfortunately, these things take time.
The one entity that knows the most, has received many (potentially thousands) of reports from pet owners, has the authority to test pet foods at almost any lab across the US, has the scientists to confirm the contaminant that is responsible…is FDA. And they are not talking.
Multiple individuals have requested through Freedom of Information Act requests information from FDA, no one has received any information (to our knowledge).
Is FDA’s silence a good sign or a bad sign? We just don’t know.
All we know is that this is very real, very serious, and FDA is the only one that can put an end to this by properly investigating.
The only thing pet owners can do – is to keep reporting all illnesses believed to be linked to a pet food to FDA and to your state authority. (Click Here for links to various pet food authorities.) The more information FDA has will (hopefully) help in their investigation. FDA needs proper medical information, which can be provided by your veterinarian. They need the brand names and lot numbers of every pet food potentially involved. Please continue to report all illnesses and pet deaths.
From Dr. Judy Morgan: If pet owners would like to have an necropsy or post-mortem exam performed, please have the veterinarian save the entire animal. Do not just take tissue samples and put them in formalin. Stomach contents must be tested, as this is related to food ingestion, as well as urine samples. The veterinarian can reach out to us if needed.
Pet owners as well can email FDA – AskCVM@fda.hhs.gov – and ask for the agency to update pet owners with a public notice. We absolutely deserve some type of an FDA update.
And we will continue our investigation behind the scenes. As soon as we have evidence, it will be shared with pet owners and regulatory.
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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Marsha
February 29, 2024 at 3:32 pm
I went to get our cat food today. I buy I and Love and You. Walmart doesn’t have it, and the entire shelves are filled with Purina. I have never bought Purina and NEVER will. So I’m going to get the cat food from Chewy.
S. Hillerby
February 29, 2024 at 5:35 pm
Is anything like this happening in Canada? And if not, can that be explained at all? Thank you for all that you are doing.
Lorraine
February 29, 2024 at 6:20 pm
I may be way off here but I’m thinking that no news is bad news. I don’t think the 3 big name brands (Purina, Hills, Royal Canin) would let the FDA hold back IF they had not found something by now. They would want it announced that the investigation was ongoing BUT as of now no problem had been found. Since nothing is being said, I wonder if the FDA is giving companies time to get their damage control in place. I hate to say it but I strongly believe the big brand dog food companies control the FDA when it comes to dog food problems.
Rebecca
March 4, 2024 at 4:08 pm
Hello, I personally spoke with the local FDA consumer complaint agent who took my case. She explained it is a lengthy process and depends on HOW MANY MORE ARE REPORTED IN THE SAME LOCATION.
After, it leaves the complaint departments (from any state FDA coordinator, I was told by them, by law, the decision ultimatum falls on the nex person within the FDA who looks at the complaints and decides whether or not THEY will go forward with the investigation. The more info the better from your experience, bag numbers, symptoms PHOTOS, and again, the more reports the more they are inclined to do a further investigation.
I think at this point, there are so many different dog and cat food companies being reported they’re probably going to be more inclined to consider the mass dog food chain main suppliers of certain ingredients as a possible reason and I’m not sure what THEY are covered by . And sadly there are only a few AND like the processed human food industry, are not listed as commonly known names. I have no question Purina One killed my dog. Until it was so sudden and unexpected that I had no option to save him. I tried so hard but there was just too much damage done at that point.
I only know the info I was told directly from the FDA complaint coordinator on the process… but the rest is just my best guess not knowing much more.
❤️🪽🐕RIP my best buddy… I miss you every day… Life isn’t the same and never will be without you 🪽🐕❤️
Lorraine
March 5, 2024 at 2:30 pm
I am so sorry for your loss. I lost one of my dogs in the 2007 Melamine recall. After reading your comment, it made me think of the grain free & DCM issue that happened not too long ago. The FDA sure didn’t do their due diligence in that issue. They jumped right on it without any data backing up the claims. They went to the point of sending out a notice listing 16 of the names of dog food they said was mentioned in the complaint reports. They did this BEFORE they even investigated and ended up with mud on their face when it turned out that absolutely no connection between grain free dog food & DCM could be found. Again, the big 3 dog foods were involved in the data that the FDA received. This tells me that the big 3 dog food companies are pulling the strings.
B Lear
February 29, 2024 at 8:25 pm
Thank you for your update and all you’re doing behind the scenes!
Sally
February 29, 2024 at 8:36 pm
For another perspective regarding the serious failures of the FDA, today’s New York Times “The Daily” podcast mentions melamine and the animals that died, plus the ongoing consumer protection neglect by this
government agency.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/29/podcasts/the-daily/applesauce-fda.html
Summer Hawkins
March 3, 2024 at 5:50 pm
As of this morning, I myself have lost 2 of 9 dogs due to a specific brand of dog food. It caused them to holler out and immediately go into convulsions with seizures following. One of them passed away very quickly within a few hours the other had multiple seizures all night long and eventually passed after 14 hours. This brand has only ever had one recall and we’ve been using them for 10+ years now.
sue rayfield
March 8, 2024 at 5:43 pm
Could you please let us know what brand, to save us from worrying that we may be feeding it to our dogs?
Laura
February 29, 2024 at 9:18 pm
What about contacting representatives, senators, and even the White House? If all pet owners sent letters, emails, calls, then maybe there would be more pressure on FDA to respond.
Miss retta
March 1, 2024 at 2:09 am
Pet owners can have their food tested in a lab, you don’t have to be FDA to do this.
Lorraine
March 5, 2024 at 2:09 pm
It’s very costly to have any food tested in a lab, plus a pet owner really has no clue what to test it for. Back in 2007, what pet parent would have thought to test the dog food for Melamine poisoning? I had never even heard of Melamine before that recall. FDA is required to investigate once a certain number of same complaints are received. Even the FDA doesn’t know what exactly to test for so it had to do multiple test looking for anything that might be causing the issues people are having.
trina
March 1, 2024 at 12:58 pm
I contacted FDA in the email you listed and got this response today….
Thank you for contacting FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM). We’re not entirely sure we know what you are referring to with your below comments. All pet food (just as is the case with food for humans) is considered safe until otherwise – information on recalls can be found at: https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/safety-health/recalls-withdrawals. In addition, if you have concerns about the pet food you’re feeding your pet, we would always suggest discussing with your veterinarian and/or contacting the manufacturer.
You mention you’re aware of ” reports of sick and dead dogs and animals with no real reason as to why other than potential food issues “. If so, we would encourage you and any pet owners or their veterinarians to submit reports of illness or other adverse events associated with pet food directly to FDA by following the instructions on this page: https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/report-problem/how-report-pet-food-complaint.
Additional information on how pet food is regulated can be found at: https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-food-feeds/pet-food.
Sincerely,
CVM Compliance
my email:
hello
i am aware of reports of sick and dead dogs and animals with no real reason as to why other than potential food issues. as a pet parent i urge you to be transparent with us pet parents and share what you know so far and what you are doing. you should also release numbers of how many people have reached out to you with sick or dead pets.
as a pet parent i beg you to help save additional lives of our pets by being forthcoming with your investigation. even if it is inconclusive at this point. every bit of information can help pet parents make informed decisions.
thank you so much.
Rox
March 2, 2024 at 11:54 am
This is 2007-2008 all over again. Only this time, people are so frightened of Big Corporation retaliation (defamation lawsuits, arrest, prosecution) that they usually won’t come right out and name NAMES. And the usual apologists are claiming that the FDA isn’t “slow” it’s just doing its “due diligence.” As IF the FDA was ever “diligent” in protecting humans OR animals, nope, the FDA is only interested in protecting the profits of large corporations and, increasingly, private equity firms which have even less accountability and oversight than mega-corporations.