Salmonella trickles down the California food chain to pet food * updated

A few types of Pedigree pet food are targeted in a recall because of concerns about salmonella poisoning, the AP is reporting. Francisco Vara-Orta has details in LA Unleashed, our addictive blog about all things animal:

The California Department of Public Health issued a statement Tuesday pulling certain bags of Pedigree Complete Nutrition Small Crunchy Bites off of the market.

Mars Petcare US of Franklin, Tenn., which makes the pet food, said in a statement that a possibly contaminated component that should have been held back was accidentally shipped to a Pedigree facility in Tracy, Calif.

It was used in about 100 bags of the food, which were shipped to Albertsons supermarkets in Southern California and to Costco stores statewide. The lot codes for bags sold at Albertsons is 830BFCAT02. The bags sold at Costco have lot numbers of 831BFCAT02 and 830DFCAT02. Both have “best by” dates of July 2009.

No reported illness so far. Details about the products recalled are in the full post here. (And while you're on the blog, have you checked out the animal cams? The black-footed ferret has a baby!)

UPDATE: The recall in SoCal was limited to 100 of the 20-pound bags of Pedigree Complete "Small Crunchy Bites", sold in Albertsons.

-- Veronique de Turenne

Photo credit: Getty Images

Comments

[John from Jersey]

Most bagged foods are horrible. i wouldn't feed them to a rat. Pedigree made my dogs very sick so,like many, i switched to Purina. My dogs got sick from the purina also, I personally believe contamination is not the issue in some cases.What these companies are putting in our pets food is the real issue! I have heard/read some horrible stories and fortunately i am one of the lucky ones who's story has a happy ending. I now give my two dogs a cooked meal every night consisting of rice (brown rice is preferred but white rice will do), boiled chicken (breasts or leg quarters) and cooked carrots. I have been feeding them this new diet for three months now and i am happy to say my dogs are as healthy as they were the day i got them. No more diarhea, lathargicness or vomitting, which all can lead to death. Thank god i read some of these articles and comments! I am urging ALL pet owners to switch your pets diet to a healthy one today! If you are feeding them Pedigree or any other cheap food you are slowly killing the pet you love so dearly regardless of what any veterinarian may tell you. As a pet lover i can only hope atleast one person reads this and saves the life of their dog or someone elses. God bless.....

[Donna]

For the past 9 days I have been cleaning up cat vomit and diarrhea. Just prior to my cats getting sick I bought Iams dry food (bag # 270110 27Jan10 82714173 B5 US30940) and Fancy Feast canned food (too many #s to mention) at PetsMart. My oldest and weakest cat got sick first with vomiting, thirst, constipation, lethargy, no appetite and then, bloody vomit and diarrhea and just as I was being told this was probably due to intestinal cancer ($500 to diagnose but most likely untreatable) and I should consider putting him down, one by one, my other 2 cats w/o prior health problems got sick w/ the same symptoms. At my insistence the vet sent stool samples away for testing and I am awaiting results to see if this is salmonella or any other bacterial infection. (apparently can take 5 biz days) I've spent over $500 this past week and while my 2 healthy cats don't seem to be at death's door, my weakest cat is fighting hard. My carpets are ruined and I'm actually beginning to feel nauseous as well! The PetsMart I bought the food from says they have never ever received any complaints on either Iams or Fancy Feast, but nothing else has changed in my house. I will never buy commercial cat food again!!!

[Betsy Kiviat]

My Bernese Mountan Dog started vomiting and having severe diahhrea a little over a week ago. We started him on a rice diet and took him to the vet. The vet said she had seen a rash of these symtoms in the past few weeks and asked if we had recently purchased new dog food, which we had. We feed our dog Wellness chicken dry food and he has always been fine on it, but we did just buy a new bag. The vet suggested we find out whether the company had recently been bought out or had changed their formula. I can't find anything about it - but wondered if anyone out there who feeds their dog Wellness has had any similar problems recently. Thanks.

[Debbie]

I am beginning to get very angry with all these recalls we are having on our dogfood. And in defense to a comment i read about good dogfood.. i believe there isnt a good or best dogfood. I have fed my dogs purina dog food for years and they have been the healthiest dogs ive had. I am a boxer breeder and all my dogs are healthy. My husband works at one of those rendering plants that make the meat by products and ya know what.. the meat by product is healthy for your dogs because its all protein. and its all mostly chicken. I dont know what certain people believe but i know what i know and what i believe, i know the wheat gluton is bad, so i dont buy anything with that.. but ive had dogs for years and i do know whats best for them. but that is all im going to say for now..thanks

[Renee]

Good post Tere! I happen to agree with you. I would be cautious with Royal Canin, because the company is currently being sued for misleading and deceptive advertising (see: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/crazy_for_critters/2008/07/class-action-la.html). Also, I've got 4 cats (one with pancreatitis), and I have done a lot of research on this subject. Specifically, alot of the products not only have by-products, but they also have BHT (linked to stomach & bladder cancer), BHA (also linked to thyroid & bladder cancer) &, and Ethoxyquin (a known carcinogen). Also, while natural food may seem appropriate, excess magnesium could cause animals to develop crystals in their urethra. Ash levels are another concern to be aware about.

For my cats, I've been feeding them the Holistic Select cat food with a little Halo dried chicken on top. I also give them the Halo dry food for sensitive stomachs... I am also trying the felidae cat food for my senior with pancreatitis. I'm not too worried about it having herring in it either, because that fish tends to have low mercury levels anyway(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080909205559.htm). I also recommend looking at Dr. Michael W. Fox's website... he gives some good advice regarding the current pet food situation:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/07/31/DI2008073101842.html
http://tedeboy.tripod.com/drmichaelwfox/index.html

Yours Truly,
Renee

[Tere]

While I agree that the organic, natural foods are a better choice for your pets, I have to disagree with the statement made that "they are never involved in any recalls and are always safe?" This is not true, Royal Canin recalled many of their dry and canned foods in 2007 due to melamine contamination from tainted rice protein concentrate purchased from China. Wellness Dog foods also voluntarily recalled many canned foods due to melamine contamination. Quite a few of the "all natural, organic brands" did have recalls in 2007 due to the fact they purchase ingredients outside the USA. I myself feed Canidae, which is made in the USA, all ingredients used are made in the USA, and so far I've not had any trouble with their foods. I do have friends that lost pets from feeding the Wellness canned foods, made by the Menu Foods Company, and have friends whose pets died from the tainted Royal Canin Foods, tainted Innova foods, etc., so quite frankly no 'Commercial Dog Food is completely safe from contamination" I myself just lost a 17 year old cat, who died from old age and heart problems. He'd been eating Felidae Cat Food his entire life, so I feel pretty safe with the Canidae/Felidae foods for now. I also had a 15 yr. old rottweiler that passed away from old age. They say rotties life spans are 8 years, so I feel the Canidae proved it's point as he lived to be 15. Even so I still have to wonder if at some point there will be any commercial foods at all that can be considered "safe" I do feed my pets a lot of home cooked meals, using the Canidae/Felidae as more of a snack than anything else. I truly believe had my pets been on a 100% commercial dog food diet, they would not have lived to be the ages they were. I still have 1 rottweiller and 4 cats at the present time that are all in perfect health. I definitely do not contribute their health, life spans, etc. to any commercial foods. I watched helplessly as many of my friends lost pets during these food recalls from both the "cheap commercial brands" as well as the so called "Safe, all natural brands" I'm sure my pets would have suffered as well if they'd been on a 100% commercial food diet. I however discovered the horrors of commercial foods years ago when I lost 2 rotties to cancer, brought on by commercial dog food. People should take the time to investigate these foods, see where the ingredients come from, where the foods are processed and made, and trust me you will be totally disgusted with most of what you find, I know I was.

yours truly,
Tere

[Emma]

BETTER FOODS TO FEED YOUR PETS AND WHY
If your dog has diarrhea mixing rice with their food and even some unflavored Metamucil helps to firm up stool. Pedigree is really not a very good food to begin with. Neither is IAMs Beneful Purina or any of the other foods you have usually heard of. The first several ingredients are usually corn (we know what happens when our body gets corn, we poop it out and don’t use it, same with dogs) meat by products (the take the meat off of whatever it is and you get the bones, feathers, coat, feet, beaks, etc) and white or brewers rice (no nutritional value, just a filler) because of this our dogs need to eat more to get the nutrients they need and poop a lot more too. Also...science diet and eukanuba are not very good foods either. They used to be but they were bought out by other companies who, to save money, changed the ingredients to fillers and by products. These foods cost about the same as the all naturals foods and you are getting pedigree quality food. You can check all the ingredients yourself. Stay away from the first 3 ingredients being corn, by products of any kind, and white or brewer’s rice. Go for foods with chicken, chicken meal, or any meats that don’t have by product after them, and BROWN rice. These are good foods. Try going to a specialty pet store and ask about a better food. Precise, Royal Canin, and Verus are all really good foods. When you look at the ingredients they will be along the lines of Chicken, brown rice (the only rice with nutritional value for dogs), and usually another protein source such as chicken meal (chicken meal is just dehydrated chicken, very good) your dogs will eat much less of the food so even though it cost a bit more you go through less food and it ends up saving you money. They also poop less, live longer, and are overall healthier. I have four shih tzus and I feed them Royal Canin dry food. 10lbs of that food last us over a month. 4 adults dogs eating only 10lbs of food between the 4 of them is pretty good! These foods are also all natural and organic so they are never involved in any recalls; you know your food is always safe. Go to your local pet store and ask about these brands (Precise, Royal Canin, Verus, Wellness, California Natural, Innova, Canidae, Merrik) many stores, such as Pets Plus, will even give you your money back for the dog food if your dog doesn’t like it and has programs such as buy 10 bags get your 11th free. It's worth a try and trust me your dogs will love it.

[Jan]

I bought pedigree adult small bites from Costco, after 3 days of eating the food my two dogs started showing signs of tainted food. Vomit, panting and lethary, both the dogs wouldn't eat all their food and were not acting normal.
I check the date code and it didn't match but I did find the product code. When I took it back to Costco they told me the information they received was their food was ok. I explained to them about what it did to my dogs.
Product code: 2310005110
Date: 09/2009
#836BVkkr01 08:06
I will never buy this food for my dogs ever again.

[Virginia D.]

Just found out lastnight on the local news that Pedigree was recalled. My doggie who is 14 yrs old has been sick for over a month. He was eating the Pedigree Adult small bites. After a call to the vet I started giving him just rice until his appointment tomorrow. After eating canned Pedigree he ran outside and vomited with diarrhea. I SHOULD HAVE KNOW IT WAS THE DOG FOOD!! I kept thinking it was something else.

A friend of mine who is in the "know" told me that both dry and canned dog food is nothing but filth...FILTH. There is not one I will fee him again, ever!

[small dog owner]

My dog is currently severely ill after eating Goodlife Wholesome Bone, a Mars product. Anybody else heard of this?

[h.w.]

It's important to remember when you are feeding your dog a home-made diet rather than commercially prepared, that dogs (unlike cats) are not pure carnivores, nor will they get all the nutrition they need from steak type meat (neither will your cat). You should carefully research an appropriate diet to feed your pet, and speak to your vet about it!

What is good for man is not always best for beast.

[Doggie Luvver]

STOP FEEDING WHEAT BASED FOOD TO YOUR CANINES, PEOPLE!

Jeeeeeez.

Freakin' people. Don't deserve to own dogs!

[Jennifer H.]

Just so you know Brooklyn, feeding your dog raw meat is actually very bad for them. They are not getting a balanced diet plus they can pick up many diseases that way. I am a technician in an animal hospital. I have seen it many times. As for Pedigree and any other types of commercially prepared food such as food from Hills and Iams, many of these foods contain a very balanced diet for dogs and cats. You just have to read the ingredients. I think people should talk to their vets before feeding their pets certain things. When it comes to the best nutrition for animals, I think they would know more than the average person would.

[Xandra]

Mars Pet Foods is just as bad as Menu Foods. Greedy and lying. I contacted them in August to let them know our 3 year old Collie/Shepard dog became ill after eating their CANNED Pedigree dog food. They said they had no issue & offered coupons. I said, "No way. My dog will never eat Pedigree again." I had our carpets cleaned due to "Boy's" violent vomiting & diarrhea. I took 3 cases of canned food back to Walmart/Texas & told the manager he should pull the Pedigree. Today, I called Mars back & reminded them of my complaint. They are smug & insistent the canned food is not part of the Salmonella issue I got on pet websites tonight & found many blogs from other dog lovers; their dogs also got sick on Pedigree CANNED food. Mars is either lying or inept. I found on the CDC website that Mars had a Salmonella issue at the same Pennsylvania plant a year or so ago; what is the problem there? My dog will never eat manufactured dog food again. Dog food companies are killing pets. I have a feeling the drugs the vets give our pets are also bad, as well as outrageously priced. Pet lovers need to wake up!

[Brooklyn]

I agree with you scott. I only feed my dog raw meat with some peas and an occasional seving of rice. He doesn't like the canned crap and he is small enought that is is cheaper to feed him the good stuff. And besides it is a ton better for him. he throws up alot less and has the runs alot less and is over all more energetic.

[james]

not all pet foods use wheat you dig dong read the ingrident panels frist

[Ashleigh T]

That's sad because some people still feed their dogs tainted dog foods

[Linda Corpe]

Thanks for getting this information out so quickly. The FDA just announced it today. Perhaps you have saved some pets by announcing this right away. Good job.

[Scott M]

Any commercially prepared dog food is CRAP, contrary to what the maufacturers tell you. No matter if it is Iams or Ol Roy. The number one ingredient is always a wheat product, which is nothing more than a cheap filler to boost their profits. When was the last time you saw a dog grazing in a wheat field? Dogs are carnivores, period. They need real meat, not chicken feet or beaks.

[Cindy Kay]

I'm still continually shocked that people even consider feedin their pets Pedigree which is CRAP FOOD!