[hsiw]

I know that there is already a link here about the Pet Food Recall but I am hoping that someone can help me find more information. I have been calling, I have been searching online- and I dont know. Does anyone know if a class action lawsuit has been filed yet? I see online lots of places that are thinking of it. Does anyone know if kidney failure is reversible or the survival rate of severe renal failure? Does anyone know anyone who has gotten a reimbursement for pet bills? Has anyone been called back by Menufoods regarding this issue? I called the FDA, Nutro, & Menufoods and they all were voicemail or took my name to call me back.

I have statistics, but is bloodwork enough to prove this? In october her createnine levels were 1.1 for a normal range of .5-1.7 and NOW they are 9.7! Her BUN/Creatanine levels are 130 in a normal range of 7-27. In October they were 22! Everything was fine at her senior check up, she was in great health. That was before I changed her diet to Nutro. I have spoken to two doctors, I don't know what type of proof or written statement I should get from them. If anything happens to Lucy, I don't know what I will do. Nothing could pay for this.

~~~

Starting yesterday, Lucy has been vomiting and dizzy and not herself. Today I decided to check again the pet recall list. Her food has been added. Last week I was reassured by Petsmart that since her food was not on the list, it was safe.

Tonight, I took her to the emergency clinic and they told me she had renal failure with 85% kidney failure. She is staying the night, I coughed up $500 and will know tomorrow if it is even worth the trouble of a week of diluting her kidney. She will NEVER be back to normal. The best case scenario: a year of her life, with daily injections to flush her kidney out.

She had her senior check up less than a year ago and they said she was in PERFECT condition, no problems at all. She has been eating Nutro Ultra Senior for months now that she has been refusing dry food. Without dilution, she may not last a week. I am so angry at Petsmart whose website insists they have NO customers who have been affected. I am upset at Menufoods who says only 16 customers have been affected. Do the research, look online and you will find thousands of people with DEAD pets. You will find families who have lost ALL their cats and pets at once. And only 3 people are suing and it claims that those three have unrelated deaths. BS! They just have good lawyers that can wiggle out of it.

I have spent hundreds to thousands on Lucy because she likes to eat chocolate, she likes to eat cat poop, she had ear infections with a burst ear drum a few months ago. And what causes her to be sick now? Something I can't control, something that can't be fixed. I spend extra money to make sure she is getting the BEST FOOD I can afford, and it disappoints me that this is what happens. She is the healthiest beagle I have seen at 15 and my vet was shocked at how healthy she was. Wait till he hears tomorrow (he isn't open weekends, so she is at an emergency clinic).

I have left my name and number with both Menufoods, the company who somehow got rat poision into the canned food, and Nutro, the individual company of food she ate. What can be done? No amount of money will EVER pay for Lucy to get better. This really is a shame. I just don't understand. How could something like this happen?

[mrsD]

This is really hard. Older cats and dogs get kidney failure.

I talked to my son this weekend. Here is his timeline for his Aimee:

This is a young cat, found on the street with an abdominal hernia. That was fixed, and he adopted her thru a rescue operation. They did NOT tell him of
her kidney issues.

A couple of months after he took her home she had two urinary tract infections.
Prompting Xrays, blood work, and finally a special ultrasound of her kidneys.

As it turns out she has congenitally malformed kidneys, so then he started feeding her a kidney formula. He gives Eukanuba pouches too, mostly to the other cat, but Aimee eats it sometimes.

So just before Xmas Aimee starts vomiting, and getting very lethargic. He takes her to an ER vet who did kidney tests along with other stuff, and said her kidneys were FINE. Then they say she has bacterial hepatitis. She recovers with IVs for 3 days.

So last week he took both cats to the vet for rabies update shot, and Aimee gets blood work for kidneys and she is back to high levels measured BUN and creatinine. But no higher than the first testings.

So he is puzzled why she showed normal at the ER place. Bad testing? poor diagnosis?

It has to be hard to prove anything. Who keeps the empty cans/pouches for evidence if the damage occurred before the announcement? Cats get renal failure easily/commonly..esp with age. So do small dogs. How to distinguish renal failure that would have come anyway from this incident?

And we don't even know if this issue has been in the works before. Do we have PROOF that this is the first and only shipment from China? NOPE.

You make some very valid points... maybe others here have more to offer?

I really feel for you and other pet owners who are going thru this decision making process. Keep all receipts-- maybe you have the food receipts at least? (we keep all receipts in this house for income tax purposes).

[moose53]

((((((HSIW)))))),

I'm sorry to hear about how sick Lucy has become
.



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You might find this information helpful:

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I agree, there's something fishy about the numbers that we're seeing in the news. They're saying that something like 16 animals have died. I know Menu Foods did a trial about a week ago in which 6 or 7 animals died (that's about a 20% death rate, based on the number of animals they tested). Between my local news and the people who lost animals in newsgroups that I belong to, like NeuroTalk, that's a heck of a lot more than "16" -- it's more like thousands.

I did a quick search through Google News, and it looks like there are now about three class action lawsuits started already -- one in Canada and two in the United States. There's a Yahoo-Health Newsgroup that's been formed about the class action lawsuits -- you might want to join that group and see what you can find out.

If you use the link that I posted above (
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, you can find out how to post to an online database (for tracking purposes), how to notify your local branch of the FDA. I would also notify your local Attorney General's Office.

If you have any packaging or labels from the food that you gave, Lucy, keep those. Keep any sales receipts that you might have. Keep any vet bills.

It sounds like people are just now starting to pull together to figure out what to do about this. If you work together with other people that are in the same boat as you, it might help you collect your thoughts and get organized. Oh, I would also send a registered, certified letter to Menu Foods and ask how they intend to reimburse you for vet bills:

Paul Henderson
President and Chief Executive Officer
Menu Foods GenPar Limited
8 Falconer Drive
Mississauga, ON L5M 2C1 Canada

I don't know about the long-term implications of kidney failure. I had an old-old cat -- Fluffy -- that was diagnosed with kidney failure (brought on by old age, not poisoning). He lived for almost 6 years after the diagnosis. I finally put him down a week before his 22nd birthday because he seemed to be suffering too much.

I don't know what the implications are for your Lucy. I would make sure that I had a good, honest, caring vet who will keep me informed about what's best for Lucy. And hookup with as many other people are you can that are going through the same thing that you and Lucy are. Together, the burden is easier. And together, you're all stronger.

I love cats. I had 5 elderly cats up until about 8 years ago. They all died older than 16 years, except for one. I now have 3 brothers that are 8 1/2 years old. I thank God every day that my "bad feelings" about Science Diet foods 9 years ago prompted me to no longer give my pets canned cat food. They've all been eating Purina Urinary Tract dry since they were weaned from their Mother.

I wish you and Lucy the best. I hope Lucy's able to lead a long, productive, healthy life. Hugs for both of you.

Barb

[hsiw]

Thanks for the replies mrs.d & barb. Your advice is so helpful. I have already started a file for all this, keeping all papers as I go. I have asked for copies of the bloodwork from the vet offices (i have seen 2 so far, an emergency and her regular one). Tonight... I got a call back from Nutro!! The woman assigned my case gave me a fax number, took my information down, and asked me to fax her everything I have and said I can fax more as I get more bills. She said they will look over my papers and call me back later. I hope that they can recognize she was fine in October. I started her on Nutro around November because she started to refuse dry food since her teeth are bad (even though I keep getting dental work done on her).

Moose, you really are lucky you switched foods. I keep blaming myself for switching her to Nutro wet food. I should have gone to the vet and asked why she won't eat dry food anymore. I should have tried another brand. Or maybe I should have stuck with Pedigree 3 years ago when I decided to change brands.

Luckily, our vet is great. He was not in tomorrow, and I met the female vet that works with him and she seemed great also. They helped make me feel a little more optimistic and I think I may sleep a little better tonight. Except I won't be able to sleep with Lucy tonight because she is still being observed for the next few days. I am anxious to speak with him, he is always honest.

I will check out that website you mentioned moose, and see what it says. I already contacted the state FDA branch and left a message. I also contacted one of the US class action suits (the one in Wisconsin) and gave them all my information. I am waiting to hear back from the FDA and Menufoods. I also think it would be better to find others in a similar situation so we can work together to find some sort of conclusion.

Luckily for us, we have 10 extra cans of the tainted can food. So I have a bunch of evidence. They want me to send them one for testing. Somehow I see them trying to prove me wrong. Who knows what will happen? I will let you all know.

Mrs.D I am sorry to hear about your sons cat. You did not mention what happened next? Is she alright, going through testing? And thank you moose for giving me some optimisim about Lucy, another 6 years would be wonderful!

[Chemar]

hsiw

I am so sorry to hear about your Lucy
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I do hope you are able to obtain the funds from them as compensation to pay for the expensive treatment Lucy will need

[mrsD]

My son does not know what to think anymore. This cat has been very puzzling.

He says she is doing fine--actually getting FAT, since the kidney formula is high in fat to replace some of the protein. He is only feeding dry right now.
I've encouraged him to start making some chicken food for them since he
likes to cook. But so far he hasn't tried that.

Aimee has such complex issues, it would be impossible to link the food to her
kidney situation. I use this as an example of how hard it would be for some people to prove. (when his own vets have had trouble diagnosing her even).

It appears that the most straightforward presentations would be the easiest.
That is an animal who had just had a check up...and then suddenly becomes ill.

I am really sad to read that you are going thru all of this. It is very stressful.

[hsiw]

I got sad news tonight. Tomorrow I will have to make a decision of what I should do. The vet said the newest bloodwork is showing INCREASES in her levels and since they are not decreasing like they should, that means the damage is permanent. It means she is basically on life support, can not survive without the IVs and pain killers. She also has ulcers inside her making her vomit a few times every day. Based on this, it would be a waste of money and lead her only to suffering to keep her alive -unless there is some miraculous miracle, which I doubt.

I am very angry. I am devastated. I can not believe. I can't help feeling guilty. I should have stopped the food last week when I first heard of the recall. Even if it was not on the list & even though the Petsmart manager said it was safe... which it was not and was added this weekend to the list as proof. Bf's mom told me to stop giving her the food, I didn't listen when I should have.

We are thinking of filing a lawsuit. I wish I could fly straight to the White House and camp out in a tent outside, i am so upset. HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN? I just dont understand- if it was baby food, that would be a whole different story, wouldn't it? So, about the lawsuit- do you think that if we euthanize her tomorrow, they will say that the food did not lead to her death? That *I* led to her death since I chose to end it? Does that mean I need to make her suffer (which of course I will not)? Do I need a necropsy to be completed (does anyone know how this differs from an autopsy?)?

I am going to try and get my vet to help me out and write a letter for proof, but when I asked him if he thinks the food led directly to her renal failure, he said that he doesn't see any other explanation and would like to connect the dots and put two and two together based on the recent recall situation. It sounds as though he doesn't want to outright admit it and say yes. He did say it was acute renal failure, which if it were chronic Menufoods would say that it wasn't caused by the food.

I am flabbergasted how the reported deaths are still so low! 15 cats and 1 dog? Yeah right. If you go on yahoo and search for the class action group you will see THOUSANDS of people mourning their pets, some lost MULTIPLE pets at the same time. I am lucky Charley eats another food, even though I am now skeptical about dry food since many unofficial reports of Iams Dry Food are surfacing.

I think I went on enough of a
.
for tonight. I just love my Lucy so much and I want them to pay for what they have done to us. I don't understand how they can get away with this. And if I have anything to do about it, they definitely won't.

[moose53]

((((((Wish)))))),

I wish there were something I could say to make it easier...

I know how hard it is to put animals down because of old age combined with illness ... what you're having to face is an obscenity.

I listened to the news tonight and they're still reporting that very low number but "the experts" are all saying that that number is gonna grow into the thousands. I think it already has
.


Wish, never doubt that the care that you have given Lucy and the love were the best. Without you, she would have been lost. You trusted that a company that's been providing a product that was necessary FOR LIFE would be made with the same quality and care that you would have made the product. It's a hard, painful lesson to learn.

Follow through with everything as far as you can -- education, lawsuits -- until you feel peace in your heart. Little Lucy's gonna become one of the angels that's gonna prevent thousands and thousands more animals from dying. Lucy's a very special little soul.

BIG HUGS (and love).

Barb
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[~KELLWANTSANSWERS~]

{{{{{{{{wish}}}}}}}}}
I am so very sorry to hear this sad news about your lucy.

I hope you can find a way to make them pay for all her medical bills and such.
Take care~

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[mrsD]

I am sorry you have to do this final solution. I've been there 3 times, and know it hurts terribly.
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It really is much harder knowing you are the instrument leading to the decision, even tho it is not your fault the food was tainted.
All of us feed our pets, and those pets in turn trust us. It is very very hard accepting this accident because of those feelings.

Yes, I would get the necropsy...get proof of the lesions in the GI tract, and other evidence.

I am really upset about the public management of this issue. While horrible things do happen in our food chain, or even with air conditioners (Legionaire's infections), and even cruises...this one seems to be obviously minimized in the media. The denial that seems to hover over this is making people more angry and will backfire I suspect. The more they lie, the more I suspect other contamination.

Just goes to show how inadequate our FDA is.