Pets Are Family Too

Just when you think it’s safe to go back to the pet food shelves for your dog’s favorite dog food, contaminated dog food makes an unwelcome appearance! Pedigree is pulling bags of Pedigree Complete Nutrition Small Crunchy Bites off of store shelves due to possible salmonella contamination!

Mars Petcare US of Frankilin, Tn. who makes this brand of Pedigree Dog Food, stated that a component used to make the dog food which tested positive, was accidentally shipped to a Pedigree facility in Tracy, Ca. Supposedly, only about 100 bags of the Pedigree Complete Nutrition Small Crunchy Bites contained the suspected salmonella contaminant and limited to Southern California Albertson’s stores and Costco Stores statewide. According to the California Department of Public Health, be on the lookout for the following Pedigree bags;

sold in Albertsons in Southern California in 20-pound bags with Lot Code No. 830BFCAT02 and Best By Date of 07/2009 and at Costco stores in Northern California in 52-pound bags with Lot Code Nos. 831BFCAT02 and 830DFCAT02 and Best By Date of 07/2009. The lot code is located on the back of the bag

Check your Pedigree bags for the Best By Date of 07/2009 and the lot numbers.

Read the rest of this entry »

Menu Foods of Ontario, Canada have received their preliminary approval of settlement offer for it’s contaminated pet food of the April 2007 pet food recall that harmed or killed hundreds of dogs and cats in the U.S. and Canada.

On May 30, 2008, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey gave the green light to Menu Foods to settle pet food recall lawsuits with a preliminary approval of the settlement agreement. The approval of the agreement in this stage allows the appointment of a claims administrator who is responsible for receiving and processing of the claims filed by pet owners who purchased or obtained recalled pet food, or whose pet consumed or used the tainted Menu Foods Pet Food of the massive April 2007 pet food recall. The Menu Foods Settlement Agreement has a Settlement Fund of US$24 million that may allow recovery of up to 100% of all economic damages incurred by pet owners,subject to certain limitations, and is expected to settle over 100 class action lawsuits filed in U.S. and Canadian courts. Specifically, these claims are “made available to persons in the United States and Canada who purchased or obtained, or whose pets used or consumed, recalled pet food.”

As an update to the Menu Foods Pet Food Recall Settlement Agreement, a Claims Administrator has been appointed and listed as follows,

In re Pet Food Products Liability Litigation
Claims Administrator
c/o Heffler, Radetich & Saitta LLP
P.O. Box 890
Philadelphia, PA 19105-0890
1-800-392-7785
www.petfoodsettlement.com

Menu Foods requests that all claims be made to the Administrator listed above, and Not to Contact them directly regarding claims. At the time of writing, the website www.petfoodsettlement.com is currently under construction, but plans to be up no later than June 16, 2008.

Menu Foods, one of the largest pet food manufacturers involved in the massive pet food recall of 2007, is a step closer to paying settlement claims to pet owners. The Ontario, Canada based Menu Foods who makes over 90 brands of pet food products, announced an update on the settlement of claims for pet owners whose dogs and cats were harmed or killed from eating their contaminated pet food products recalled in 2007 in the United States and Canada.

According to Menu Foods,

The Settlement Agreement will create a Settlement Fund of US$24 million that will
allow a potential recovery of up to 100% of all economic damages related to the pet food
recall that were incurred by pet owners and persons who purchased recalled pet food in
the United States and in Canada, subject to several limitations. The Settlement Fund will
be administered by a neutral third party claims administrator appointed by the court.

A hearing is scheduled for the U.S. on May 30, 2008 in Camden, New Jersey to approve the preliminary settlement agreement. Menu Foods is asking pet owners to read their website for the claims process instead of contacting them directly since the administration of the claims will be conducted by a neutral third party. Read the rest of this entry »

In the massive pet food recall of 2007, many of the major pet food distributors and suppliers had to remove tons of name brand dog and cat food from store shelves due to pet food contamination. Many of the contaminated pet foods removed store shelves contained wheat gluten tainted with melamine, a toxic chemical used in plastics, imported from China. The tainted dog and cat foods were responsible for many deaths of dogs and cats as well serious injuries for others.

Now almost a year later, Menu Foods, of Ontario, Canada, one of the largest pet food suppliers have agreed in principle to settlement of claims over their contaminated pet food in the pet food recall disaster of 2007. According to the agreement of the settlement, Menu Foods is awaiting for more conditions to be met before accepting claims from consumers whose pets were affected by their toxic pet food. The estimated settlement amount is around 55 million Canadian Dollars when the terms of the settlement are expected to be finalized and approved after a hearing on May 14, 2008. After, approval of a claims process for consumers, notifications will go out to consumers on how, when and where to file their claims for recalled pet food. Read the rest of this entry »

On Friday September 14, 2007, The AVMA, American Veterinary Medical Association, issued a statement that they have received complaints from pet owners and veterinarians, that multiple brands of jerky treats made in China have been causing their dogs to become ill. Symptoms reported include vomiting, diarrhea and lethargy according to the AVMA, but so far there is no knowledge of deaths from eating the treats.

PetSmart as precautionary action have decided to remove the Smokehouse Brand Dog Treats from their store shelves. PetSmart has taken this action because of reports that some dogs have become ill after eating the treats. There have not been a formal recall of the Smokehouse brand, yet. Read the rest of this entry »

Many pet owners may hear about the pet food recall in bits and pieces due to work or other everyday tasks. In this blog, we try to present as much information about the pet food recall to allow friends and family members to keep one another on top of the tainted pet food that can kill our dogs, cats and other pet family members.

To my surprise, a neighbor’s cat became ill about two weeks ago. She found Khufu lying in a puddle of blood and immediately took her to the vet. The first veterinary hospital almost immediately diagnosed with “cancer” and written off. After protests about having her put down, Khufu was prescribed antibiotics and a different brand of “cat food”.

Khufu lives in a household with another cat, and three dogs. Until a few months ago, there were only two dogs, and they stayed outside while the cats stayed indoors. Prior to the latest dog coming into the household, the outdoor dogs were fed Ol’ Roy dog food, almost exclusively, outside. The cats were rarely exposed to the dog food bowls. Read the rest of this entry »

Do not let down your guards yet, against poisonous pet food! Wal-Mart has quietly removed two types of dog treats made in China from it’s store shelves, even though the products have not been issued an official recall.

This latest pet food recall appears to have stemmed from some complaints that the jerky treats made in China, causes fatal kidney failure in dogs. Wal-Mart quietly pulled from store shelves, Chicken Jerky Strips from Import-Pingyang Pet Product Co. and Chicken Jerky from Shanghai Bestro Trading on July 26, spokeswoman Deisha Galberth said late Monday. Wal-Mart does not know if these products are sold in all stores, but they have taken extra measures to prevent the sales of these jerky treats.

“When we took it off shelves at the end of July, we pulled it based on the customer feedback so we could do testing prior to announcing anything publicly,” Galberth said. “That’s why did not make a public announcement — it was still going through the testing process.”

One complaint by a La Porte, Indiana woman , Sherri Shelton who had to put her 7-yr old terrier down after feeding her dogs Bestro’s Chicken jerky Treats from Wal-Mart. Shelton had taken her dog, Sheba to the vet in early July and was given a clean bill of health at that time. Shortly after the vet visit, Sheba began behaving oddly and on a couple of occasions, was found lying in her own urine. Read the rest of this entry »