Pet Food that Kills

2007 was a year of loss and heavy emotion for us. Hanna developed pancreatitis and kidney failure in November 2006, but had recovered (much to every one's surprise, and to our delight)and was maintaining very well after her initial healing. So the early months of 2007 were filled with joy in that Hanna's illness had turned around. In March of 2007, we saw our cat Kearsey begin to deteriorate and refuse her food, which is something she never did. Initially I chalked some of her changes up to the aging process, but I became more concerned when I needed to almost force feed her. As I prepared to take her to the vet one morning, she went into a seizure.

She never had seizures before, and was given a pretty clean bill of health at her last vet visit. She came out of that seizure and when I touched her, she went into another one. We rushed her to the Emergency Vet Clinic to discover she was in kidney failure, which was suspect of eating tainted food. I was furious. I was also upset because I had tried to force feed her the poisoned food. (You can read more about her story on Hanna's site. Parts of her story also appeared in the editorial of Animal Wellness Magazine in 2007) The options were to try to treat her or euthanasia. Of course I opted for treatment.

Now I had two pets being treated for kidney disease. It was like a hospital unit upstairs. Bags of fluids hung from an IV pole. Needles and alcohol swaps nearby. Every day at noon time the subcutaneous drips were administered. First for Hanna as she usually wanted it over quickly so she could move on, and second for Kearsey. Hanna was definitely more tolerant of the treatment while poor Kearsey absolutely hated it. But unfortunately, it was helping to sustain both of them.

Upon purchasing single cans of a prescription diet for Hanna, as opposed to the usual case, I began to notice that she was avoiding this once loved canned food. She ate the dry and anything else in her bowl but she did not want to eat this. I thought this was odd because it was only that one part of her diet. (Again you can read more about this on her site.) I realized that some times animals with kidney disease refused food, but it typically would be all food. I finally had her blood levels drawn and they were the same as before. This was perplexing because I could see her changing, but I kept trying to get her to eat the food "That saved her" before. I took her for another vet check and was told she checked out "good" and there was no need for another blood test as she just had one two weeks prior. I began to suspect the canned food as it did contain an ingredient which was suspect of being tainted, rice protein concentrate. I made several calls to this pet food company and was basically given scant scripted information. Within two weeks of her "good" blood test and 3 weeks of her refusal of the canned food-she became anemic (which she never was), developed crystals in her urine, and went into kidney failure. She was euthanized within three weeks of this entire scenario. I will always believe it was the food, and based on her history no one will ever convince me otherwise. Even though this company never officially recalled this product (can you imagine the devastation to their business and profits if they had to recall a popular prescription diet?), I believe it was tainted. It all happened too fast and way out of context and history for Hanna. Of course, the company would never admit to this because even the smallest amount of toxin fed to an already compromised animal would do more damage, and they can't come forward and admit their food was a problem. They would choose to say "it was the natural course of the pet's illness," and I say "not this time." I know my dog and her medical history and I saw her sudden changes. I just wonder how many other already ill pets fell prey to the alleged lie. I would question any pet with kidney disease, who was eating these products, and died during 2007. Too much coincidence. No matter if fault is ever admitted, it won't bring Hanna back. But it has opened my eyes, I will never use any products from this company again.

So in May of 2007, we laid precious Hanna to rest. Kearsey was still battling, but within a month she lost her eye sight suddenly. She had a difficult time adjusting to this sudden loss. It was sad. In August of 2007 Kearsey died. Five months after her diagnosis. She ate food from the same company as Hanna. In my eyes and heart, that company took something away from me that can never be replaced. Because of their neglect and lack of proper product screening, I will always believe I lost two very precious friends. If all the companies would have been up front and honest, caring about their consumers from the beginning, they might still have my support, but unfortunately, it can only be construed as greed. They took away my ability to give my pets the basic necessities with confidence, and that is unforgivable.