Nutro Dog Food Warning!!!

Food, Fitness and how to keep them healthy.

Postby cheekymunkee » April 17th, 2006, 5:30 pm

Got this off of another baord & apaprantly it IS true.


Original Message-----
From: showboxer-l-bounces@ShowBoxer-L.com
[mailto:showboxer-l-bounces@ShowBoxer-L.com] On Behalf Of Karen McCrory
Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2006 7:32 AM
Subject: [ShowBoxer List] Possible Dog food contamination...please read

I'm posting this for Sil McCall who lives in Texas. She is still too
upset
to be able to post but had sent this to me as I knew her Gunner very
well
and understand her pain. I thought it was important that others know and

she gave me permission to cost post.


Sil writes:

Just wanted to share some news that may prevent someone else from going
through this.

Saturday, March 25 I lost my precious boy Gunner and almost lost my
daughter's Mini Schnauzer to what we believe was commercial dog food
poisoning. That night I opened a new bag of food for the evening feeding

(Nutru Natural Choice Lamb & Rice Adult Formula). I've been feeding this

food for 3+ years with no problems until now. Within 3 hours of feeding
my
dogs Gunner began to seize. Off to the emergency vet we went in a total
state of panic. The doctor saw him right away and began him on some
meds.
After maxing him out on the meds over a 4 hour period he was still not
responding, he was flailing about and paddling horribly. The vet said we

were well past the point of bringing him out of it without substantial
brain
damage if he didn't have a heart attack in the mean time, the seizure
was
very very bad, nothing like any seizure in a dog I have ever seen
before. I
had to have him put down. We just assumed that this was an unfortunate
case
of idiopathic epilepsy and we would never know why.

Then on Monday morning at 5:45 my daughter came screaming into my room
holding her Mini Schnauzer and he was in mid seizure. Off we went once
again to the vet. FORTUNATELY, he came around before we left the
driveway.
However, he has had 5 seizures since and is going to the vet this
afternoon
to be put on medication (phenabarbatol), which he will have to take the
rest
of his life. The vet says that once they have a seizure they are prone
to
have them again and again. I fear the worst will come soon for him if we

don't use the meds as I know the seizures are hard on his heart and
other
internal organs. The downfall to the medication is liver complications.
We
are in a catch 22 situation here.

On the way to the vet that Monday morning with the Schnauzer, it dawned
on
me that the only common thing these 2 dogs shared was their food. Gunner
is
housed in the kennels except for his playtime in the house and they have
a
separate yard. My daughter's dog is kept strictly in the house and never

goes into the kennel area, where there is a separate yard and exercise
area.

Gunner's body was to be picked up that afternoon from the ER Vet for
cremation but I called and asked them to hold his body for necropsy. I
then
transported him to my vet to have his stomach contents sent to MSU for
analysis. When I arrived home, I started making phone calls. I called
the
store where I bought the food to alert them, then I called the dog food
manufacturer.

The consumer affairs manager at Nutro took down all the information and
asked me to send him 4 cups of food, 2 cups each would then be sent to 2

independent labs for analysis. To my surprise, not an hour later I got a

phone call from the dog food company's state rep. who wanted to come by
and
pick up the samples to be sent off. I said sure, come on out.

When he arrived, he said he had been instructed to take the entire bag
and
all the dog food. I told him in no uncertain terms that he could ONLY
have
the 4 cups I was told they needed and that he could have a cutting from
the
bag to have analyzed and I would make a copy of the SKU# and lot number
off
the bag for him. He had a look of bewilderment on his face. I guess he
thought I was an idiot. I may be dumb but I'm not stupid! That bag of
dog
food would have been thrown in the first dumpster he came across on his
way
out of here! As I dipped up the samples for him to take I reached for
Gunner's picture from the shelf and sat it on the counter for him to see
and
said, "This is not about a lawsuit if that's what you are worried about,

this is about my DEAD DOG! AND the fact that if it does turn out to the
dog
food, which I have no doubt that it will, I could have lost all my
babies!!!!" I told him I wanted to get to the bottom of this before this

happened to someone else's dog and that I expected all the food with the

same lot number to be pulled from the shelves or I would be outside the
store where I bought it wearing a sign, and it would not be for
advertising!
I told him I would be checking the store's inventory the next morning
when
they opened. I have also filed a report with AFCO per their
recommendation
after speaking with them.

This past friday I was contacted by Nutro and they wanted to offer me
compensation for the vet bills to date - COMPENSATION, are you kidding
me! I
told them there was not a price tag to be put on my dog OR what my
daughter's dog is going through and that this was NOT about money. I
told
them not to contact me again until we had the test results in on the
food OR
they would be hearing from an attorney! I aked him, are you looking for
a
lawsuit or trying to prevent one? I was livid to say the least!!!!
Absolute
morons!!!!! That's like asking what I would take for my left arm!

Sooo..., I have purchased a commercial grinder and have been feeding RAW
for
2 1/2 weeks now. Everyone is doing great on the new diet, no
complications
at all. I will never never, EVER feed commercial kibble again!!!

Have a great day and hug your babies tight! Boxer hugs and kisses,

I also asked for the SKU# and here it is if you are interested: , 40 lb.

bag, SKU# 7910520143, the info under that reads:

"best if used by 05 May 2007"
01:22 2CR5


Sil McCall
Rockytop Boxers, Conroe, Texas
Last edited by cheekymunkee on April 17th, 2006, 5:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Jenn » April 17th, 2006, 5:43 pm

How absolutely dreadful!! :( What a horrible situation. Can you please keep this updated, as to what the results are when found? So glad that's not what I feed.
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Postby cheekymunkee » April 17th, 2006, 5:46 pm

I will let you know anything I hear. She is awaiting tests that should take about 4-6 weeks.
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Postby pitbullmamaliz » April 17th, 2006, 7:19 pm

I just switched Inara from the Nutro Ultra to Pinnacle Trout and Sweet Potato - glad I switched!
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Postby turtle » April 18th, 2006, 12:38 am

Thanks for posting this. But considering that the food problem happened back on March 25th, I wonder why there has not been more info available about it?

Seems like if a lot more dogs were getting sick on the food that the maker would pull it and issue a warning. How many dogs have to die and suffer when a name brand food has a bad batch? That sucks! Makes raw feeding an even better choice.

Please post any updates to what's happening with the Nutro food. It's scary stuff.
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Postby 04100824 » April 21st, 2006, 11:11 am

Awfully close to home for me - I'm in Houston, very close to Conroe...and I feed Nutro.

Makes me wonder, though...

Food goes out to a lot of places after it leaves to food plant....wouldn't it be possible that the bag was placed on some chemical or that something fell into that partcular bag that damaged it's contents? You'd think more poeple would be complaining of dead dogs if it were an entire lot, and I'd think there'd be a recall. Nutro is a fairly popular brand of food.

:| :| :|


Very unfortunate...
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Postby Gatsu » April 21st, 2006, 11:36 am

nutro really isnt a good food to begin with, there is worse but there's also much better out there!
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Postby SisMorphine » April 21st, 2006, 12:37 pm

Scary as that is one of the foods that we feed to the kennel dogs. I'll have to have the bags checked.
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Postby PittieLove » April 21st, 2006, 7:49 pm

i just switched from that--woah!!! poor peoplz :cry:
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Postby luvmyangels » April 21st, 2006, 8:23 pm

That is really sad. What an unfortunate situation.

I told my mom about it since she feeds her 4 wired haired dachshunds Nutro. I am not sure which version of Nutro though.
I am "The Rat Queen".

Have a great day!! :)

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