Procter & Gamble, makers of pet foods including Iams and Eukanuba, issued a recall for specific lots of dry dog and cat foods last week due to potential salmonella contamination. The August 14 press release states:
No Salmonella-related illnesses have been reported to date in association with these product lots.
On August 15, the Fox affiliate in Cincinnati reported that six dogs who played at a local daycare and ate one of the P & G recalled foods had become very ill. Three of those dogs died. Test results on the dogs are pending:
MedVet, a pet hospital in Madisonville, is waiting on test results to confirm that the illness that caused the deaths and illness of those dogs was HGE. Results were expected Friday but may not be available until sometime next week.
Hemorrhagic gastroenteritis (HGE) is a disease of dogs characterized by sudden vomiting and bloody diarrhea. The symptoms are usually severe, and HGE can be fatal if not treated. HGE is most common in young adult dogs of any breed, but especially small dogs. It’s not contagious.
The article does not mention if any of the food left in the bag(s) these dogs were fed from has been submitted for testing. I hope that has been done and that an independent lab was utilized, as opposed to sending the food to P & G for analysis. I would think P & G would be all over this but as of this morning, both the Iams and Eukanuba websites have not been updated and still contain the August 14 “no illnesses reported to date” verbiage.
I will update this post if any significant developments occur today.
UPDATE, added August 20, 2013 from FOX19 in Cincinnati:
UPDATE: New information has been revealed on the investigation of three local dogs who died after coming down with a sudden illness.
According to the dogs’ owners, the Norwood pet care facility where they stayed and veterinarians, none of the local dogs ate food recently put on a voluntary recall list by Procter & Gamble.
This represents a reversal, at least on 3 of the 6 dogs who were affected, on FOX19’s claim that all 6 ate a recalled food. I will update if developments warrant.
