Pet-food crisis: DVMs swamped with calls, visits after recall

NATIONAL REPORT - 04/1/07 - Worried pet owners nationwide flooded veterinary practices with calls last month, after nearly 1 percent of the pet food sold in the United States was recalled and later reported to have been contaminated with a rodent-killing toxin.

New York State Food Laboratory scientists identified aminopterin, used as rat poison in some countries but illegal for use in the United States, as the toxin present in tested food samples from Ontario-based Menu Foods, Inc., which produced the 95 brands of cat and dog food recalled on March 16.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed that at least 16 pet deaths were linked to the recalled foods by press time, but had not determined that aminopterin was the cause, exactly how it came into contact with pet foods or whether it was the only contaminant.

DVMs reported a spike in laboratory tests, treated some patients for signs of renal failure and directed most clients to the Menu Foods Web site, www.menufoods.com/recall, where all the affected brands and information codes are listed.

For more details, read the full story in the April edition of DVM Newsmagazine.