Pet Health - Toxins in the Food?

This week is already starting out to be a hectic week for people who love animals and those of us who also try to keep the facts straight in the face of chaotic news. So far this week (its only Tuesday):



21 Polo Ponies Die at US Open Match



FDA Admits Probe of Nutro Foods



EPA Reviewing "Spot-On" Insecticides

I will cover the polo ponies and the insecticides later in the week as we know more, but I think the FDA probe of Nutro deserves some mention now.

For those of you who are unaware of the situation, ConsumerAffairs.com has reported several times over the last two years about pets becoming ill and even dying after eating Nutro foods. The company has repeatedly denied any problems and even has set up a special FAQ section on it's website. However, when a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act was denied by the FDA, ConsumerAffairs asked for more information and found out that any release of information could jeopardize an on-going investigation. This information was published on Sunday, April 19th, 2009 on the ConsumerAffairs.com website.

I do feel sad for any pets who have become sick or even died, but I think it is a little early to be casting blame on the company. First, in two years, ConsumerAffairs has 500 consumer complaints about Nutro. That's about 1 complaint for every 130,000 dogs in the US. ConsumerAffairs says that the only thing the cases have in common is the fact that the owners fed Nutro food. I have a little difficulty believing that, especially since in at least one case that ConsumerAffairs cites, the dogs were shown to have anti-freeze in their system. The owner claimed that no antifreeze was kept on premise, but we have no idea whether these dogs ran loose (probably not, they were Italian Greyhounds) or any other aspects of the dogs' environment.

ConsumerAffairs also states that "all dogs had sudden and recurring bouts of diarrhea, vomiting and other digestive problems." Those symptoms are a little vague and could be caused by a variety of issues. After all, who among us doesn't know (or own) a dog that will eat almost anything if given a chance. I would be interested in finding out over a 2 year period of time, how many dogs show up at their veterinarian for vomiting/diarrhea...I bet it's in the millions! So, 500 dogs that just happened to eat the same type of food is really a small number.

The final point of ConsumerAffairs is that many of the dogs got better after stopping the food. Well, guess what...that is a common protocol for any vomiting dog. Stop feeding, allow the GI tract to calm down and things often get better.

Before blaming Nutro, shouldn't we know how healthy all of these pets were prior to their illnesses or deaths? Shouldn't some labwork/medical records/necropsy results be reviewed to find common denominators there? I can tell you from experience, pet owners are famous for saying "but he was perfectly fine last night" all while bringing the pet in with a maggot infested wound. Without some sound scientific data, I don't think it's fair to be slinging mud at a company until proof of wrongdoing is certain.

Don't forget the "me too" mentality. I don't know if these food complaints were found in clusters across the US or even if there were many connections among the complaintants, but I do know that people love to talk bad about products and many more people will just follow along without finding out the right information.

Now, I may be removing my foot from my mouth later this week if the FDA finds any problems at Nutro, but from my experience in the trenches and from my contacts in the veterinary world, I am not sure we should be jumping to a conclusion of wrong-doing by Nutro right now. Even the chief toxicologist at the ASPCA is unsure that these cases had a food connection.

Check back later this week...I hope we know more!