Sick Poodle Leads to Revelation of Pet Food Recall That Should Have Been–But Wasn’t
A few days ago I treated a five-year-old Toy Poodle who had been vomiting and hadn’t eaten for nearly a week. Blood and urine tests were normal. X-rays did not show any irregularities.
The poor dog clearly felt terrible. I wanted him to undergo an ultrasound examination immediately. The facility where I was working did not have an ultrasound machine or an intensive care unit, so I referred him to a specialist.
Fortunately, the ultrasound examination was normal, and the dog made a complete recovery after two days of nursing care. But the specialist’s assessment of the case was disturbing. Here is a quote from a letter that she wrote to me.
In a phone discussion with the owners . . . they reported that their other small breed dogs at home were showing similar clinical signs . . . [at the time the Poodle was discharged from the hospital, the] owners brought with them the chicken jerky treats that they had been feeding prior to onset of [the Poodle's] illness. The treats are manufactured in China and are supposed to be made up of 100% chicken breast. Last year, I saw a number of small breed dogs that ate similar treats (though a different brand), that presented with the same clinical signs of vomiting and prolonged [refusal to eat] after the vomiting resolved . . . A number of veterinarians at other hospitals had seen similar cases as well, presumed to have resulted from ingestion of a variety of brands of chicken jerky treats manufactured in China. Investigation of the products was not successful in identifying the offending substance and, unfortunately, removal of theses products from the market was not made mandatory.
If you have any canine chicken jerky treats at home, I’d recommend throwing them away.
About the photo: Dolly, fortunately, has no reported health problems.
You have questions. 
[...] Barchas recommends throwing any jerky treats away, I’m with him. Please stop by The Vet Blog to read the article in its [...]
What brand were the treats? I have a package of Dogswell “happy hips” duck jerky treats that I’ve been giving my dog for the last few weeks. I looked more closely at the package and see that they were made in China. Should I stop feeding her these?
Chicken jerky treats began making my dogs sick over a year ago, and that’s when I started looking to see where the meat came from. When I looked at every single chicken jerky treat origin that I could find, and they all listed CHINA, that’s when I stopped buying any chicken jerky. When are people going to get wise?
This country (China) beat to death hundreds of thousands of dogs in the streets within the last couple of years. They eat sentient companions, and kill them in the sight of the ones yet to be killed. They skin them alive. They treat trained animals cruelly, with barbaric training methods.
They have now contaminated their own food sources for HUMAN BABIES with melamine! People LOOK at your food sources for you and your animals. China is NOT TO BE TRUSTED for food, and a lot of other things as well, from what I’ve seen. Dyes used on clothing articles that have caused chemical burns that won’t heal, etc., etc.
GET SMART and avoid anything from China, even if it costs more. A cheap price is not always a bargain! China IS communist, isn’t it or am I behind times?
How do you think they can be trusted when they hate democracy?
(Sorry it’s long but I’m fed up with the USA and China’s corrupt business practices.)
It came to my attention accidentally that Dogswell’s chicken/duck/lamb/liver strips come from China. A pet shop owner mentioned she stopped carrying the brand for that very reason. I had just read a horror story in one of the dog magazines about rawhide treats made in China and realized there wasn’t a huge stretch between dehydrating rawhide treats and dehydrating chicken strips.
Dogswell didn’t end well in my house. I have a food dehydrator and I know how to use it. From now on, I make my own jerky and dried sweet potatoes.
I think sometimes companies rely on the fact that we will be lulled into complacency by thinking that higher priced dog food will keep our pets healthy, and out of danger from food-borne diseases.
It ain’t so. I once used a brand that touted its human grade food. Indeed, when you opened a can of chicken thighs, there were chicken thighs inside; same as the beef cans. However, after opening a few cans that smelled funny, not rancid but tinny, with what looked like fish skin bits in it, I decided to switch to the company’s potted meat meals. These contained potted meat and smaller chunks of chicken or beef. When I opened a can of the potted beef that was liquified, I started looking for another brand — one that wasn’t made in China.
I found one. The new brand contained human grade chicken with peas and potatoes, which my dog loved. It was made in Thailand. Unbelievable.
Another reason to dislike those brands that outsource their product: One sneaky dog food company has the gall to put “distributed in USA” with the abbreviation in large letters. Then as if they are ashamed, they put in small letters that it is made in china. Those who scan labels will see the USA and not look any further, or so they hope.
What I want to know is do these companies ever go to China/Thailand to inspect the manufacturing processes? Review the meat being processed? Test the vegetables for harmful pesticides? You would think that the two toxic scares with poisonous dog food and baby food earlier this year would make ALL food companies review their manufacturing processes. Apparently they have outsourced that as well.
Just had a very expensive emergency visit with our Rocket Boy, a 7 mo. old chihuahua/ shih-tzu mix. He vomited 7 times last night, the final time, he vomited blood. He had been with us all day, and not out of our sight eating anything unusual. The emergency clinic could find nothing. He clearly does not feel well. Saw this article today and realized that yesterday we fed Milkbone Jerky Strips. We have always trusted Milkbone products being as they are part of DelMonte foods in Pittsburgh, but the back of the package says “Distributed by DelMonte”, not “Made by DelMonte.” I’ll be calling in the morning to see where these treats are manufactured.
I am exhausted and exasperated trying to keep our pets (6 of them) safe from commercial pet foods. We’ve switched all their food to Wellness, but tend to vary their treats. It looks like they won’t be getting any more treats that aren’t made at home. It is disgusting that we can’t trust major companies that are supplying food and treats for our pets.
This is really getting to be too much! My 6 canine companions are part of our family and it has gotten to the point of being afraid every time I feed them. I honestly thought Pedigree was a brand I could trust but I was horribly wrong. I lost one of my puppies in August very quickly, vomiting & diahrrea, vet did not know what was going on. A friend found out the next week that there was another pet food recall going on that WAS NOT advertised. Lo & behold, Pedigree Puppy was on that list. I lost my puppy for no good reason, other than company embarassment maybe? AND endangered my other dogs, a few started showing symptoms before I found out what was going on. Other than making our own pet food, who can we trust to provide healthy & safe food for our furry loved ones? Just 2 weeks ago I saw another sign on the shelf at WalMart that there was another cat food recall. How many does that make in the last 2 years? At least the ones we know about anyway. Why isn’t it mandatory that these recalls be made readily available and advertised?? My Little Girl would still be with me if that were the case.
Thanks to your info I checked the package of Chicken Jerky from which I’ve been feeding my westie. Sure enough, “MADE IN CHINA”! Kingdom Pets” is the brand. I’ve been buying this product at Costco for a couple years and felt ok about it as I’ve grown confident over the years that their products are trustworthy. Big letters on the front of the package declare “HEALTHY DOG TREATS”. My dogs health hasn’t been so great lately, now I guess I may know why. It will be interesting to see how Costco reacts to my complaint..
I guess if the Chinese feed melamine to their babies they wouldn’t hesitate to slip it into our dog treats.
When I went to Whole Foods yesterday I noted that all the Dogswell jerky treats had been pulled from the shelves. The displays were there, but no treats to be found. I wonder if there’s a soft recall happening.
Yikes, our cats love those jerky treats (we buy the small pieces). No more! One of the cats projectile vomited today, and they do not normally vomit at all! Chicken treats are going in the trash. We’re going to research and see if we can find an American-made version of these. Thanks, Dr. Barchas, for this article! We’d briefly wondered a while back if we should be concerned with these things coming from China, but we thought, “Why would they need to adulterate dried chicken breast pieces?” We obviously thought wrong! The cats have a semi-annual vet visit this week and we’re going to talk to our vet about this, see if we need to get any special testing done. I wonder if we could get a veterinarian college (UC Davis, Texas A&M) or even just a commercial testing lab to exhaustively test these chicken strips to try to identify the offending substance.
I purchased Dogwell Happy Hips for my dog after reassurrance from pet shop owner that the company was extremely reputable and the products had extensive testing. Prior to this I had not purchased ANYTHING made in China for the last few years. She started to refuse all her regular food and wanted to eat just the chicken jerky (I would not give her more than 2-3 pieces a day). She then developed severe bloody diarreah, was drinking a excessive amount of water and when I brought her to the vet I was told that she was displaying the classic symptoms associated with Chinese chicken jerky treats.
All the information about chicken jerky from China is correct and the labels can be very misleading. Please check out Kona’s Chips for human grade 100% USDA chicken jerky for dogs Made in the USA. There is also a lot of helpful information on the site.
http://www.konaschips.com
Laciessite.org is dedicated to honoring the dogs who have died after
eating toxic treats, to prevent illness in those who still are alive and to give moral support to the families and let them share their stories.
If you have had a problem with various brands of jerky or other protein treats, go to laciessite. org for more information.
laciessite volunteer
You can also find our website address on http://www.konaschips.com
I’m usually extremely cautious about what I feed my dog. I spent a long time picking the right food for her and I go to a top end pet shop to pick up food and treats. I was given a false sense of security when I picked out a bag of chicken treats: Dogswell Vitality chicken treats with Flaxseed. It states that it is organic, no antibiotics, free range, etc. At first glance, it appeared that it was made by a company based in California. They even sell this brand at the organic food store that I shop at! I thought nothing of it and started feeding my 15 lb Westie one treat a day. She was eating these treats for at least 2 weeks.
Last Friday, she was due for her annual vet visit and I get a blood panel done every year. The vet called me on Monday to tell me that she was concerned because one of my dog’s kidney values was a little higher than normal, and we should do a urinalysis. I was freaked! My dog is 4 years old! She is too young to have kidney problems. I searched the web and saw the FDA warnings and ran to the bag to see “MADE IN CHINA” in really small print. I immediately stopped giving her the treats, but I had been feeding her the treats for a few more days since she had gotten her blood drawn.
I am so upset. I got the urine sample from my dog and I noticed some white particles in her urine. The vet said her urine was good – no sign of infection and the concentration is good so far. She is at a loss to what is wrong. She is not denying that the treats could be the cause of the problem – she is not saying it is either. I just don’t know what else it could be. I am praying that my dog’s kidneys recover. I have to retest her blood in 2 weeks to see what change may have occurred.
I am so terribly upset – why isn’t more being done???? I search the web and see tons and tons of reports of sickened dogs – many who have died. This is absolutely heartbreaking!!!!!!!
There are a couple of posters with some questions whether chicken treats made in China is the cause of illness…here’s the link..
http://itchmoforums.com/news-recall-related/dogswellcatswell-and-yantai-china-pet-foodswanpy-t7372.0.html;msg121901#msg121901
and to GMC is your vet looking for melamine crystals in the urine do you know?
safefoodnow:
That’s my post in that link (westiegirl). My dog’s bloodwork came back normal 2 weeks after stopping the treats. I am currently getting the treats tested, but have no results as of yet. The vet lab wasn’t looking for melamine crystals, unfortunately, so it wasn’t found in the urine. At the time, I don’t think the vet thought the treats could be a problem. I think she is suspecting now, along with me….
I start feeding my 1-1/2 year old cockapoo Dogswell Happy Hips Dog treats recently. After a week or so she started vomiting and stopped eating. I brought her to the Vet, but they couldn’t determine what was making her sick. I brought her home and she did fine for 3 days with only the Vets food she gave me. She Seemed to be back to normal and she loves treats so I fed her a part of one. She threw up within a few minutes and has refused to eat today. I finally looked at the package to find out it was made in China. I think these dog treats are making her sick and should be recalled!
Please add this to the comment above. She had to spend three days at the Vets receiving fluids to get her back @ a cost of over $500 dollars.