At Great Oaks Animal Hospital, we are committed to bringing you the most up-to-the-minute information about pet health. You may be hearing news about the current recall of pet foods.
During the manufacturing process there was contamination of one or more of the ingredients used to make many different canned and pouched "chunks and gravy" style pet foods. It is not yet known how or when this happened; however, all the affected foods appear to contain an ingredient supplied by the distributor Menufoods.
The contaminant causes kidney damage, and in some cases kidney failure and death. It can also cause gastrointestinal upset. Symptoms of kidney failure are increased thirst and urination, decreased appetite, lethargy and vomiting. If your pet has symptoms of renal failure, make an appointment to bring your pet in immediately. In cases where the toxicity is caught early and treated aggressively, pets have recovered.
This recall does not involve dry food. If you are feeding only dry food, no change is necessary.
Foods involved are: cuts and gravy style canned and foil pouch dog and cat foods. There are many brands involved including Eukanuba, Iams, Hill Country Fare, Nutro and NutroMax, Ol Roy, and numerous store brands. There have been reports of problems from every region of the US and Canada.
A list of affected brands and links to specific lot or serial numbers and/or UPCs can be found at www.fda.gov and at www.menufoods.com. If you need our assistance in determining whether your food is on the list, we will be glad to try to help you. However, due to the magnitude of this problem, we cannot promise to respond to each phone call immediately, so we encourage you to research if your product is on the recall list on your own.
If you can confirm that you have fed a product whose serial or lot number or UPC is on the list:
save all unopened cans or pouches. Find any empty cans or pouches that may still be in your garbage and save them in plastic bags. Make an immediate appointment to have your pet examined and kidney function evaluated via laboratory testing.
If you have been feeding one of the foods on the list but have different serial or lot numbers or UPCs, we advise not continuing to feed these foods since the recall list may be expanded to include batches of food not originally recalled. Please save these foods in case they are added to the recall, so that they may be submitted for analysis if indicated.
If you pet has been eating one of the types of foods on the recall list, but you don't know if they have ever eaten one of the known affected batches, we advise that you make an appointment to have laboratory evaluation of kidney function performed. This appointment should be immediate if there are any signs of kidney problems, even if you cannot confirm lot or serial numbers as being in the current recall.
At this time we do not know what, if any, costs of diagnostic testing or treatment will be reimbursed by the manufacturer. We require payment at the time of services and recommend that all receipts and product packaging be saved, and associated costs documented. We will cooperate fully in collecting any and all evidence that may be necessary in detecting any link between a pet's illness and this terrible incident.
Please call us at 388-4551 if you have a question regarding the pet food recall.