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By Linda Franz, Sentinel Reporter, March 22, 2007

Last updated: Friday, March 23, 2007 8:55 AM EDT

At least three dogs in Cumberland County have died from kidney failure after eating dog food that was later recalled.

Denis and Ann Dumm of Carlisle say they had their two dogs put down Sunday. Denis Dumm said their dogs, Benny, a 5-year-old Bichon, and Abby, a 12-year-old Shih Tzu, were “under very intense treatment for three weeks.”

But it wasn’t until the Menu recall was announced Friday that the Dumms and their veterinarian realized what was probably causing the dogs’ kidney failure. By that time, Benny and Abby were too sick to recover.

“During the three weeks of intense treatment, I kept feeding them the same food,” Dumm says. Benny “lost half of his body weight.”

Dumm thinks the early treatment could have been enough to save his dogs, if he hadn’t kept feeding them the food products that were later recalled.

“It was kind of extra, extra sad that it could have been prevented if I hadn’t fed that food,” he said.

He typically purchased 5.3-ounce pouches of Ol’ Roy, a wet-type dog food, from Wal-Mart in Carlisle and fed a packet to each dog once a day in addition to dry dog food.

“It’s not Wal-Mart’s fault,” Dumm said. “It was one of their vendors.”

The wet-style pet food was made by Menu Foods, an Ontario, Canada-based company. Menu Foods told the FDA it received the first complaints from pet owners of kidney failure and deaths among cats and dogs on Feb. 20. It began tests on Feb. 27.

A federal investigation is focusing on wheat gluten as the likely source of contamination that sparked a recall last Friday of 60 million cans and pouches of the suspect food, said Stephen F. Sundlof, the Food and Drug Administration’s top veterinarian.

93 named foods on list

Audrey Gottshall of Carlisle said she, too, purchased Ol’ Roy products at Wal-Mart, carefully selecting the chicken, turkey and filet mignon flavors that she thought Teddy, the small dog she had taken in two years ago, would enjoy.

“He loved those foods,” she recalled. After almost a year of eating the Ol’ Roy products, Teddy began to vomit repeatedly last Thursday.

On Sunday, after a trip to the emergency veterinarian, Gottshall learned Teddy was suffering from kidney attacks. By Monday, he was dead.

The sudden loss of her beloved dog has left Gottshall in shock.

“He was just such a doll-baby,” she said. “I’m very, very down right now. It’s like a roller-coaster of emotions.”

Ol’ Roy is one of 51 named dog foods which have products that have been recalled.

Only wet food sold in cans or pouches is affected. An additional 42 cat food brands are on the recall list, which can be seen at www.menufoods.com/recall.Customers also can call Menu for information at 866-463-6738 or 866-895-2708.

After calling the Menu hotline herself, Gottshall learned code numbers on one of the packets she had been feeding Teddy matched the products that were being recalled. Although she was promised a call from corporate headquarters, “I haven’t heard from them yet,” she said on Tuesday.

Gottshall also has thoughts of joining a class-action lawsuit if she can find enough local people around her who also have lost their pets. In the meantime, she’d like Menu to reimburse her the $518 she spent in caring for Teddy during his last days.

“No amount of money will bring Teddy back, but I’d at least like to recoup my expenses,” she said.

Check kidney function

Dumm and his wife also are lamenting the loss of their dogs.

“It’s not normal going home to a household without them,” he said. “It’s a huge void. It’s just not easy.”

Dr. Eugene Hoefert treated Benny and Abby at Northside Veterinary Clinic.

“These dogs, they were pampered dogs, well taken care of,” Hoefert says. “The younger one got sick first. About a week later, the older one got sick. In one household with no apparent cause, it was very unusual to see that turning up.”

Both dogs had very high levels of the enzyme creatinine, which indicates kidney malfunction or failure, Hoefert says.

“We didn’t know what was going on,” Hoefert says, until the recall was announced.

Gottshall added that Teddy, who was approximately 7 years old at the time of his death, never had more than the typical seasonal flea problems before he went into kidney failure.

Check pets

Hoefert recommends that people who are concerned their pets may be having a problem to have their animals checked for kidney function.

Since the products were recalled, Lisa Errion, a veterinary technician, said the Holly Pike Animal Hospital has received several phone calls from concerned pet owners either expressing fear that their animal might be harmed or recalling incidents where their pets have died, possibly as a result of eating the tainted food.

Just last week, Errion said, the clinic had to euthanize a 6-year-old cat when its kidneys failed. Now, she can’t help but wonder if it was a result of a Menu product, or natural causes. Kidney failure is common in cats, according to her.

“But you always wonder what made a cat have a problem like that,” she said.

Shelf inspections planned

The Dumms took their cats for a checkup Tuesday. Even though they don’t think their cats are affected, the Dumms had been feeding them Special Kitty, which is also on the recall list.

Dumm said he and his wife shopped Sunday for pet food at a local retail outlet and found certain foods on the recall list that were still on the shelves. They alerted store workers.

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture will conduct random inspections of pet food inventories at more than 100 facilities in Pennsylvania to make sure that recalled pet food is removed from shelves, Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff said Monday.

He urged pet owners to check the labels of their pets’ food and to call their veterinarians with any signs of illness. Symptoms include loss of appetite, lethargy or vomiting.

Vets getting calls

Boiling Springs Animal Hospital receptionist Cathy Kessler said she’s gotten 50 to 75 calls in the last two days about the food.

“People have scheduled a lot of lab work,” she said, noting that many of the callers were extremely concerned because their pets were drinking or urinating a lot.

Mindy Beidel, a veterinary technician at Newville Animal Hospital, said the hospital got more than a hundred calls about the food Monday. So far, she said, they have not seen any seriously ill animals, just a lot of concerned people.

“I would tell people to just make sure and call the 800 number that’s listed on their package of food,” she said, noting that people should be able to locate the manufacturers’ customer satisfaction number.

“They can tell them right away from the manufacturer, ‘Yes that is an infected food’ or ‘No, that is not an infected food,’” she said.

Kira Alexander, a receptionist at Mechanicsburg Veterinary Clinic, also reported getting a lot of calls on the subject, but said that not many people have scheduled lab work. Most of them just wanted to know if their pets’ food was affected, she said.

Nes supplier

A Menu spokeswoman told the Associated Press the recalled products were made using wheat gluten purchased from a new supplier, which has since been dropped. Gluten is commonly used as a filler.

Because wheat gluten itself would not cause kidney failure, FDA investigators suspect contamination by other substances, including heavy metals such as cadmium and lead or fungal toxins. Aflatoxin, a corn fungus, sparked a 2005 dog food recall.

The company said it makes pet food for 17 of the top 20 North American retailers. It is also a contract manufacturer for the top branded pet food companies.

Staff Writers Jessica Bruni and Heather Stauffer and The Associated Press contributed to this story.