Pet owners need to be vigilant as a result of the voluntary recall of a wide range of wet pet foods produced by Menu Foods Income Fund, a Canada-based pet food manufacturer with plants in the United States.
While many of the pet food products which have been associated with kidney failure in pets in the United States and Canada are not sold in Cayman, not all the products of concern have been identified.
The company makes a wide range of supermarket brands, as well as a selected portion of higher-end brands.
‘This problem has been reported officially for a small number of pets in the US, but there appear to me more unofficial reports coming in from veterinarians in the US,’ said Dr. Anne Lichtenwalner, dean of Basic Sciences at the St. Matthew’s University School of Veterinary Medicine.
‘It is indeed worrisome, and we should inspect our local wet foods (cans and pouches) to make sure they don’t have the problem lot numbers,’ she said.
She says it’s a good idea for pet owners to look for specific product code information if they are feeding dogs or cats wet foods.
The product codes now listed for the products can be found at www.menufoods.com/recall
This includes a Purina product, the MightyDog 5.3 ounce pouches, as well as some Hills products, which include the Science Diet brand.
‘Although Hills’ state one should only worry if the products were sold in the US, local users should probably check their cans/pouches for the problem lot numbers,’ said Ms Lichtenwalner.
The few stores carrying the recalled items, including Animal House, have removed them from their shelves.
‘We were informed by Menu Foods of the recall and it only affected a very small fraction of the Science Diet cat food and Eukanuba wet food pouches we carry,’ said Animal House owner Barry Bodden.
‘And it’s important to note that not only has no sickness been reported in animals consuming either of these products, it’s only a couple of flavours out of these product lines affected,’ he said.
Other major pet food suppliers on island such as Pet Pros, Hurley’s and Foster’s do not carry the affected product lines.
While both Cayman Animal Hospital and Island Veterinary Services carry Science Diet, one of the affected brands, none of the products they stock are covered by the recall.
Janice Mercer and Suzanne Lavictoire of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association inspect nutritional values of pet food on a voluntary cooperative basis with the pet food industry. They say that while the company is Canadian, there is only so much that can be done to get to the bottom of the problem, especially since the North American industry is self-regulating and it appears the affected products were produced in the United States.
‘We have not heard anything from them. We won’t know until further tests have been done and the results come back, as new ingredient tests done so far have not been conclusive,’ they said.
Until the culprit is found, avoiding feeding your pet any food in the recall is the only way to prevent illness.
Signs your pet may be in trouble include increased drinking and urinating, as well as general lethargy, says Dr. Lana Watler of the Cayman Animal Hospital.
How to read product code
To read can product codes, refer to the bottom of the can
The first four numbers of the second line are the date code, and the following four numbers indicate the plant code.
For example, if the second line begins with four numbers from 6339 to 7073 followed by the Plant Code 4197, then the product should be recalled.
For foil pouches, the code numbers are located at the lower left hand corner on the back of the pouch. The date and plant codes appear in the third group of numbers, beginning an 11-digit sequence.
Source: www.Iams.com
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