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In 1995, Nature's Recipe pulled thousands of tins of dog food off the shelves after reports came in that dogs were vomiting and would lose their appetite after consuming the food. The fungus in this product was vomitoxin, caused by mouldy wheat used in the food. Although not a deadly toxin, it can cause serious illness in nate In 1995, Nature's Recipe pulled thousands of tins of dog food _ dogs face if they ingest sodium pentobarbital in pet food. For off the shelves after reports came in that dogs were vomiting and —_ eight weeks, an undisclosed number of dogs was given various would lose their appetite after consuming the food. The fungus in _ levels of this drug, and it was found that: "Dogs who received this product was vomitoxin, caused by mouldy wheat used in the 150 and 500 micrograms of pentobarbital once daily for eight food. Although not a deadly toxin, it can cause serious illness in weeks had statistically higher liver weights (relative to their body pets. weights) than the animals in the control groups. Increased liver In late 1998, Doane Products, the manufacturer of a large weights are associated with the increased production by the liver number of private-label foods including Ol' Roy, recalled over 50 of cytochrome P450 enzymes." The report concluded that the lev- lines of foods it produces. The deaths of approximately 25 dogs els of exposure to sodium pentobarbital which the animal might were attributed to aflatoxin, a deadly toxin that was found in the _ receive through food are "unlikely to cause them any adverse corn Doane had used in its products. health effect". The FDA/CVM has admitted that if these levels— We have to wonder how many other pets have become ill or _any levels for that matter—of sodium pentobarbital were found in died from eating contaminated pet food. If owners are unaware of | human foods, those products would be pulled from the shelves other cases, they may never question the illness or death of a pet. immediately. In a letter dated March 22, 2002, from Stephen Sundlof, SODIUM PENTOBARBITAL RESIDUES IN PET FOOD Director of FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, regarding my In the first edition of Food Pets Die query about this drug and the fact that For, 1 wrote about the studies under- under the Code of Federal Regulations taken by the University of Minnesota it states, "Do not use in animals intend- and the fact that its research showed ed for food", he writes: "A euthanasia that the euthanising drug, sodium pen- solution such as pentobarbital cannot tobarbital, withstood the rendering Are we slowly killing have a withdrawal time and its mecha- rocess without degrading. This drug . nism of action results in tissue reside, is used primarily to euthanise dogs and our pets each time we feed so it could not be used to euthanize cats. Animals euthanised with this them commercial pet foods? animals intended for human or animal drug were ending up in pet foods, but food." It is not allowed for use in either human or animal food, yet the FDA does not plan to take any steps to pre- vent or prohibit the presence of this drug in pet food. no one could be sure from batch to atch how much of this drug was actu- ally in the finished product. In early 1999, while researching another aspect of the pet food industry, I came across a note in a report from the United States Animal Are we slowly killing our pets each time we feed them com- Health Association (USAHA): "Over the years, the Center for mercial pet foods? Veterinary Medicine has received sporadic reports of tolerance to Although the FDA/CVM tested a number of pet foods, we do entobarbital in dogs. In 1996, the CVM developed and validated not know if the food we are feeding our pets contains this drug; a method to detect pentobarbital in dry dog food and a prelimi- —_ nor do we know what the long-term effects of ingesting this drug nary survey of 10 samples found low levels in 2 samples. CVM __ will be. Each batch of rendered material, meat meal, is different. ad collected 75 representative dry dog food samples and were in the process of analyzing these for pentobarbital lev- els." "A SIGN THAT A POWERFUL AND SELF- At hat point in ume, festins a been ongoing for three | INTERESTED SPECIES MAY BE PLAP MING years. It was clear from the onset that the wou. ON ov LAYET WITH THE not provide me with the test results. In May 2001, I filed a TO OVER Run RP fer : : oe : a StP>GULAR NOTIOnW OF SUBTUGATING Ard request under the Freedom of Information Act for all docu- € XPLO/;TING A HAPLESS, WEAK mentation relating to the testing of dry commercial dog foods. _ a Humans MD. p Again the waiting began, and again I enquired numerous times \\ ~S - —— as to the status of my request. a = In September 2001, I did receive a reply from the Office of & 4) a Communications for the FDA: "We request you wait until the evaluation process is complete, at which time we will send the full results to you." They expected these to be ready in January 2002. It had been well over two years since I first requested the information, five years from the time they had begun testing these foods. Finally, in early March 2002, the results were published. In the 74 samples analysed, over half contained residues of this drug at levels ranging up to 32.0 parts per billion (ppb). Inan _— earlier study done in 1998, the FDA found other products con- taining this drug, although the amounts were not listed in its report. Results of both studies can be viewed at the FDA/CVM website, http://www.fda.gov/cvim/efoi/dfchart.htm. The FDA/CVM also undertook an assessment of the risk pets. In late 1998, Doane Products, the manufacturer of a large number of private-label foods including Ol' Roy, recalled over 50 lines of foods it produces. The deaths of approximately 25 dogs were attributed to aflatoxin, a deadly toxin that was found in the corn Doane had used in its products. We have to wonder how many other pets have become ill or died from eating contaminated pet food. If owners are unaware of other cases, they may never question the illness or death of a pet. Are we slowly killing our ur pets each time | we feed - 2 NEXUS ¢ 13 them commercial pet foods? —_—_—_————_—-caea ss AUGUST — SEPTEMBER 2003 www.nexusmagazine.com