Chelsea sick from tainted pet food
Chelsea ate one pouch of the tainted pet food the week before the recall  We give her one of these pouches every month or so as a 'treat' on top of her dry food. This was her first one since Christmas. We really wish we hadn't. She is suffering from renal failure as a result. For those of you who do not know her, she is a healthy, athletic, three year old OES, in her prime, and one lousy pouch of food has made her gravely ill. We took her to the ER last night on an instinct my husband and I both had, she was not showing any outward signs of stress, in fact she was her ususal bouncy self and was eating normally, etc. We were almost embarassed that we were being so paranoid. Not any more.
I don't want to cause a panic here but I would like to encourage everyone who thinks their pet may have been exposed to see your vet immedaitely, its worth the couple of hundred bucks (in our case with hospitalization thousands ) to make sure your pet's internal organs aren't failing and slowly deteriorating as a result of exposure. Our normal vet told us to only bring her in if she was showing signs of distress, I called another vet for a second opinion and they said the same thing. In other words we were told to wait.
DON'T WAIT- over -react- you may be glad you did. It's nice to be back.... hugs and kisses to all of our sheepie tribe and I pray for everyone's pets tonight as well as my own. See your vet. Up. |
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| I am so sorry to hear about your sheepie. My best wishes and prayers that she makes a speedy recovery. Please keep us informed on the situation. |
Oh no!! What is Chelsea's prognosis? What can they do to treat her? I am so sorry that you are going through this and so glad you got her to the Vet!! I hope they can help her.  It is just awful to think that something you give as a special indulgence can have such unexpected grave consequences. My sister's dog had some of the tainted food but sh was not worried because he seems fine. I will encourage her to get him tested anyway. |
I'm so sorry Chelsea is ill 
I hope she makes a quick recovery, and I hope there is no lasting damage. Welcome back.... please keep us updated. |
| OMG I'm so sorry and so scared for you, up.
Please give your Chelsea an extra rub for me, and keep us posted. |
| OMG How scary, especially since she was showing no signs.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery. |
| Thanks for the well wishes, we are hoping to get her home tomorrow.
I've just read some more disturbing news at PetConnection.com, independent reporsts from vets accross the country are linking closer to 1,300 total pet deaths, 800 feline, 500 canine. This website is also encouraging people to seek vet care even if your animal shows no outward signs as the damage could already be occuring. PLEASE tell your friends. Up. |
As a sort of humorous aside to all of this, if there is one, you all can relate. Chelsea is in the midst of her summer trim. She's such a pretty pretty princess we have to do the trim in stages. Her head and shoulders, back, and front legs are all trimmed down for the summer, but her rear end and back legs are complete shag dog, she looks like some creature from Lord of The Rings or something, poor dear, has to be at the hospital and out in public looking all 'home made' and rageddy! 
Up. |
| Can you tell us about prognosis for dogs in renal failure because of this poison?
Did the vet tell you that she can recover, or recover completely, or will need special care for life, or anything along those lines? Will bringing your poisoned dog to the vet do any good? Can the vet do anything to prevent further damage, or is it just supportive measures like IV until the body heals itself? Is there any antidote or medications for this poison? I'm looking for info to send to other owners, perhaps to publish. Thanks. |
| I'm so sorry for your Chelsea. It's amazing that you were so on top of things. Keep us posted. |
| Hi,
I'm saddened that Chelsea and her family has to go through this - it must be like a nightmare. Please send Chelsea my love and you'll be in my thoughts. Marianne |
| Well OF COURSE you need, deserve and WILL GET SYMPATHY. How terrible for you all!!!! Hugs for both you and Chelsea!!
I watched a lengthy coverage on the morning news this morning and from the sounds of the report you may be "in luck" well I guess that is not a good way to put it but hopefully if you only fed one pouch to a a dog the size of a sheepie the outcome may be positive. It's hard to know what to belive with all the conflicting news stories. I did hear the CEO of menue foods say on TV that they will be paying for all vet bills. It sounded on the news that dogs were faring b etter than cats and the bigger dogs better. Are they treating Chelsea with IV fluids? PLEASE PLEASE keep us post and know that we are sending all kinds of positive thoughts and juju your way. |
| I am so sorry to hear about your beautiful sheepie chelsea I hope she gets well soon and back home with you. My prayers are with you!
Strength, |
| Again - many thanks for the good wishes.
Ron- Here's what I know and how I am understanding this- *** OBVIOUS DICLAIMER***: Call your own vet and talk to a doctor, I'm just a concerned mum. That website I mentioned above, petconnection.com was a very good resource, it expalined renal failure in general and what you could expect. Apparently your kidney tissue does not repair itself so dependent upon the extent of the damage done by the toxin, your ongoing treatments and follow up will vary. As I mentioned above, Chelsea was showing no outward signs, and she consumed a relatively small amount of the food for her size. Her prognosis is looking good in the sense that after this intial hospital stay with the IV fluids pumped into her, the hope is that she will see a complete 'flush' of her system and will return to normal with the possibility of a lingering, yet marginal loss of some function (all of us lose some function as we age). As of yet the vet hasn't mentioned follow up meds, I took her to an emergency hospital so she has yet to see her regular vet, I'll be quite honest, none of the doctors have REALLY known what to make of all of this, they are treating symptoms, but not providing concrete solutions. She will have follow up vet visits every two weeks for at least six months
I will keep everyone posted, but I really can't urge you enough to get your animals checked, even if the exposure level was small, get them checked, I DO NOT believe they are disemenating accurate information in the news, mainly because they just don't know enough yet, err on the side of caution. BTW - spoke with the hospital a little while ago and Chelsea is up and around, she is eating and drinking, meanwhile they continue to pump her full of fluids. So it would seem at this point she is 'okay'. Poor little princess, she doesn't like to pee infront of strangers, proof that the hospital is just as embarassing and humiliating for our furry friends as it is for us human types. Up. |
 Thanks for the update! |
| Wow - I hope Chelsea continues to improve. It's so scary! |
| So sorry about your baby. Hope she is okay...You are one smart Mommy!
What tests did they do to find this out? I assume blood work? I'm asking because my little four month old, who did not have any of the food mentioned so far, was suffering the last few weeks with this "mysterious" illness. Symptoms - vomitting his food, diarrear and fever...Test upon test was done but nothing came up...we assume he had a food intolerance to of all things wheat gluten! After being on boiled chicken and rice for over a week, he has now been reintroduced to Wellness Puppy ( no wheat gluten) and so far so good...it's been about ten days and we are still weaning in the regular food... But after this recall, I am wondering....if the food was tainted at the manufacturing plant, why just the wet food at risk???Isn't the dry made at the same Plant and using the same source for the ingredients??? Just wondering what tests they did to find this out in case we missed one. Thanks. |
| Oh my! I'm so sorry you are going through this. It was very wise to get her to the vet. This all is so terrible. We are thinking of you and hope that Chelsea continues to get well. XOXO |
| Hugs for you princess, sorry to hear what happened and so glad she is hopefully going to be alright. |
| Ashley:
The first blood test they do is for liver function. Liver enzymes rise as soon as there is damage to the liver. The particular poisen kills the liver first. Apparently the rat poisen was found in the "meat cuts" used in the wet food only. These are not really "meat" but a meat product made with meat by products wheat gluten etc. |
| Hi everyone-
Thanks so much for the well wishes! I don't know much more today, but we were able to bring Chelsea home late last night- so that's great! Ron- the E.R. was super busy (some people/pets have much bigger problems than we do and it was very sad  ) So we didn't get much time with the doctor when they discharged Chelsea. What I do know is that they released her because after the I.V. flush all of her 'levels' returned to normal within about 12 hours. IF the toxin is still in her system those levels will again rise, so she is being re-tested for everything in 3 days time, IF the toxin has been successfully flushed she will remain at normal levels and continue to do so.
This is where I am serious about everyone spreading the word, had we NOT taken our girl in those levels very well could have continued to rise until a fair amount of damage to the kidney system and tissue had already been done. The flushing not only spared her life (BIG picture) but having it done early may prevented her from dealing chronic kidney disease. Also- it should be noted, Chelsea didn't recieve 'unusual' treatment, this is how the hospital would have treated a number of different poision or toxin problems. I still really don't think they have a lot of clear cut answers on how to solve this problem, there is no antidote, there is no prevention, except to not eat the food. Whew. That sums it up. Needless to say- I thought I was feeding her premium pet food. WRONG. I've decided to start making her a lot of stuff myself (the first thing my mom said was "I'm retired- I can figure out how to make home made kibble in the oven!- sign me up!" - she loves her granddog). Does anyone have any good recipes for homemade dog food? I found a great website called balanceIT.com, they have recipes you can purchase, I also read that Rachel Ray makes her own dog food and has published some recipes, of course I wouldn't eat what she makes for people- so I'm a little suspect. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Again- thanks you guys for the support- BUT PLEASE- make sure all the folks in your world know they need to get their animals tested, if for nothing else - to rule out the possibility- don't wait until its too late. Up. |
| That is great news about Chelsea. So glad she seems to be doing better. Please give her a big hug from me.
I don't have any experience with cooking for dogs but what I will do sometimes is if there is gravy left over from for example: mash potatoes and gravy, I will poor a little of the gravy over their food as a treat. But I do that very rarely as we have one that has allergies and I don't want to throw her system out of balance. Good luck and please keep us updated on her condition. |
| We have used only dry dog food for Tasker but Ty has always gotten some wet but mostly dry. After this scare (thank goodness even though we fed Science diet Ty is fine) I've stopped all prepared wet and although I am sticking with the dry any "wet" he gets will be homemade.
Ty loves vegatables and salmon. Yesterday I cooked a salmon filet, mixed it with vegies and alittle rice and froze small portions in paper cups. One filet made enough "wet" for a couple weeks. Luckily he is only 6 lbs and doesn't eat much. I think it would be difficult to do that for a large dog. |
| Well since we hadn't made up our minds about food yet, I bought a boatload of brown rice, barley and ground meat yesterday- so Chlesea came home to brown rice, beef, barley, and cooked carrots for dinner.
It looked nasty- but she thought it was quite yummy! Up. |
I hope your Chelsea continues to get better.  I would just be in a panic. |
| Many, many sites on the web for cooking for your dog. Meat, fish, veggies, whole grains are the basics. I know you are a bit skiddish about dog foods, but check out http://www.TheHonestKitchen.com if for nothing else than ideas for what Grandma can make. Also look into the raw food diet......for the supplements suggested.
I sure hope your sheepie is past his crisis and she goes on to a long and healthy life. |
| Poor Chelsea! What a scary thing. I'm glad to hear that she's home with you and will keep my fingers crossed for her three day checkup. |
| Wow, so glad you were a quick thinker and got her in there. Good job. So happy she will be all right! Sorry you went through that! |
uppetybup wrote: Needless to say- I thought I was feeding her premium pet food. WRONG. I've decided to start making her a lot of stuff myself (the first thing my mom said was "I'm retired- I can figure out how to make home made kibble in the oven!- sign me up!" - she loves her granddog). I'm really glad to hear that Chelsea is doing better. Thank God you got her to the vet before any long term serious damage was done. Just shows you were right to trust your instincts in spite of the vets telling you to "wait and see". Your Mom's quote brought tears to my eyes- what a great grandmother. |
| I am glad that Chelsea is on the mend. I have heard that Menu Foods is willing to pay all vet costs associated with dogs eating their tainted food. There is also a class action suit happening. |
| I am so glad your sweet Chelsea is home. Such a scary ordeal.
Hope she contiues to get better. |
| What a horrible ordeal for you and your girl A couple of things my dogs love: sweet potato, salmon, chicken, green beans, liver of any kind, apples. You can cook the chicken, potato, and apples in a crockpot, add some brown rice if you want to. |
Holly - didn't you make the dried sweet potatoes as treats? How do you do that? Just slice them and put them in a food dehydrator?  |
| I make dehydrated sweet potatoes, the boys LOVE them. Just slice them and put them on a cookie sheet @300 till they reach the proper texture. I don't have a food dehydrator. The thicker you slice them the longer it takes. |
| What's the proper texture look like, Ginny? I'm not sure I'd recognize it. |
| Depends on your dogs preference. If you slice them thin they get crispy. Thicker (about 1/4-1/2 inch) they are chewey. My dogs prefer chewy to crispy. They do turn dark. |
Thanks! I'm gonna try it. I think they'd like them. I probably will, too.  |
| Tammy. if you do them in a dehydrator microwave them whole for about 6 minutes, then slice. It's easier to cut and they dry faster. They are also much easier to slice on a mandoline if you want skinny fries.
If Beau ad Gen like tomatoes they may like this: spread a small can of tomato paste (I use Muir Glen) on the fruit roll up thing that comes with the dehydrator, spread it evenly and dry; it takes quite a while. Then watch your fingers when you give it to them 
My next experiment will be liver roll ups  . My guys adore liver but the odor might kill me. |
| We are happy to hear that she's one the mend as well-
Her dinner sounded almost like homemade stew--- yummy! Holly |
| I am VERY sorry to hear that happened to Chelsea and I hope she recovers quickly. well wishes to your girl.
This just comes to show you that it's NEVER wrong to take your animal to the vet when you feel something, perhaps, may not be 100%. Some of my friends think I'm "crazy, and a little weird upstairs" when it comes to my "babies".....I'd rather my friends think I'm a little off when I talk about my pets as my kids....that is what they are, and I can see that a lot of people on the forum feel the same way. I had a similar situation a few years back when my mother's rescue OES was taken to the emergency (at the time mom was visiting me out of state). I suspected she was suffering from bloat and we just took her right in. We were told later on that night if we hadn't taken her within the hour that we had, the likelyhood of her prognosis would've been GRIM. UP, you are absolutely right!!! OVER-REACT!!! Feel better Chelsea - xoxoxo |
| Hi everyone-
Just wanted to say thanks ago for all the good sheepie prayers and well wishes. Chelsea is on the mend and this food recall thing has only become more grim and a bit more scarry. I was like an apolplectic vigilante last we talked, but I was reeling with concern for everyone's animals, as well as my own. We fed Chelsea home made food, tried to wean her to a premium brand of kibble, but no luck, she had gas so bad for the few days we could stand it. She didn't look comfortable either (we usually fight over who gets to sleep with Chelsea at our house, when she was all gassy from the food, it was all ' oh, go ahead- you take her to your room....'- poor dear). We've now found another brand of kibble that our groomer recommended (yes- you heard that right- we've actually found a groomer that didn't kick her little furry butt out of the shop) and so far so good- her coat and clarity of her eyes are improving. Thanks for all the great recipes for home made food everyone- I saw several new threads dedicated to making food at home. We are going to keep alternating for her until this food scare is completely over. Thanks again guys! Up. |
| Glad to hear Chelsea is continuing to do well!
What kind of food did your groomer recommend? I am just curious. . . |
| We are having lots of success with 'Canidae'- its all human grade ingredients and nothing that isn't grown here in the U.S.A.- I'm pretty steamed at the Chinese company (or companies) who have possibly spiked the gluten (both wheat and rice) with melamine- for profit. Who are now avoiding FDA inspectors. If all this proves to be true I'm going to pay more attention to anything shipped from overseas- they've been telling us for years that fruits and vegetables that we eat from other countries may have pesitcides on/in them that have been outlawed here.
It really makes you think. I guess "buy local" is my new motto, and more than ever I am checking the ingredient lists for both my sheepie and my family. Up. |
| Hi,
Very happy to hear Chelsea is on the mend!!! I haven't been online lately due to my computer crashing but I was thinking of you daily. Marianne and the boys |
| So glad your sweetie is on the mend. What a horrible thing to go through. Glad you were proactive in taking her for diagnosis.
Lori |
| Very happy to hear Chelsea is feeling better, best of wishes to you and her |
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