Pet Food Recall

"Some of the 60 million cans and pouches of food have been blamed for kidney failure in scores of animals and killed at least 16 pets" (AP)

Dr. Lisa Moses, veterinarian for Emergency and Critical Care section of the Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston, Mass., was online Thursday, March 22, at 1 p.m. ET to address the pet food recall crisis facing the nation.

A transcript follows.

____________________

Dr. Lisa Moses: Good Afternoon,

My name is Dr. Lisa Moses and I am an Emergency and Critical Care Medicine veterinarian at Angell AMC in Boston. We've been handling lots of questions and visits from worried pet owners since the large pet food recall was announced last Friday. If you need more information about the recall or our hospital you can visit our website through the link provided and I can answer your questions live here.

_______________________

Rockville, Md.: It used to be almost an urban legend that older people in the USA had to eat pet food to get by and the evidence was large retirement apartments which did not allow pets yet sold lots of canned food normally used for pets. Are any people at risk or getting ill from this problem? How would we know? Does anyone check on this?

Dr. Lisa Moses: This is a good question and one that people have been asking. I don't know of anyone officially keeping track of this, but I hope it's being done. Hard to say if people are affected because we don't yet know what the toxin is.

_______________________

Arlington, Va.: Hi, thanks for taking my question. Is there any sort of geographic breakdown as to the deaths of pets? Also, which are affected more -- dogs or cats? Thankfully, my cat does not eat ANY of the foods on the list.

Dr. Lisa Moses: There doesn't yet seem to be a geographical pattern to the affected animals, probably because the brands are so numerous and widely distributed. Cats appear to be much more commonly affected than dogs but there are some reports of dog cases.

_______________________

Anonymous: My 7-year-old Siamese will eat nothing but dry food (Purina One Natural Chicken and Oatmeal or Fancy Feast Gourmet Gold). Strangest of all, she turns up her nose at "human" food like canned and fresh tuna, chicken, roast beef. Is there anything to cause concern about her current diet?

Dr. Lisa Moses: My animals all only eat dry food, too and it's nutritionally sound. The only reason it would be a problem is if your vet wanted her on a special or prescription diet.

_______________________

Annandale, Va.: I usually feed my cats Friskies wet food, but 1-2 months ago they had a couple of cans of Safeway's house brand. I'm not sure if these were among the recalled types. If the cats were going to be affected, would it have happened by now, or do I need to take them in for a check?

Dr. Lisa Moses: First off, you can find out for sure if the Safeway brand was one of the recalled types by looking on the Menu Foods website. It lists all brands and lot numbers. We think that most affected animals would be showing signs of illness within a short period of time, but sometimes kidney disease is silent. If you are worried, see your doctor for a simple blood and urine test.

_______________________

Odenton, Md.: Would you recommend that pet owners stop feeding their pet dry food from the recalled brands? If investigators can't identify the problem how can they be sure it's not in dry food as well?

Dr. Lisa Moses: From what we are seeing and what we know about the manufacturing process for the affected foods, we don't see any reason to worry if your animal only eats dry food.

_______________________

Arlington, Va.: I've seen some vets on TV suggesting that canned pet food is a scam and that pet owners would be better off feeding their pets dry food only in the future. At least for cats, that sounds counter to what I've been reading about current thinking among veterinary nutritionists and researchers. Would you comment?

Dr. Lisa Moses: In general, for most animals, dry commercial pet food is nutritionally sound and all that's necessary. That what I feed my dogs and cats. Some particular cases do need special diets or wet food that contains more moisture, but your vet will tell you that if needed.

_______________________

washingtonpost.com: Menu Foods

_______________________

Baltimore, Md.: Should we worry if we feed our animals the same type of food that was recalled (essentially chunks in gravy) if we do not use any of the listed brands? This is my cat's favorite type of food, but I am thinking of switching to all dry until they figure this out.

Dr. Lisa Moses: From all the info available currently, the recall list is inclusive of all affected types. So, I don't think you have to worry if your brand isn't made by Menu Foods.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: I have a puppy who ate the food affected by the recall, as recently as last week. He 'seems' fine, but what should I do to be sure?

Dr. Lisa Moses: To be sure, call your veterinarian and have them do a blood and urine test to make sure your puppy's kidneys are working normally. Chances are, if he's not acting sick he's fine, but the tests will tell you for sure. Good luck!

_______________________

Waldorf, Md..: What do you think the actual number of pet deaths will be?

My parents had their cat put to sleep Tuesday night -- he was suffering from renal failure. He was less than two years old. The doctor couldn't say for sure that the food caused the death (he ate one of the recalled foods). Right now, his death is not counted in the sixteen, even though my parents are certain that's what caused it. Since no one knows what exactly is causing the animals to get sick, are we ever going to have any idea of the actual scope damage done?

Dr. Lisa Moses: I'm so sorry to hear about your parent's cat. Your story mirrors lots of ones we hear about. I can't even guess what the actual number of deaths will be, but the largest message board for veterinarians in North America has posts listing about 150 cases reported across the country. I hope it isn't much more than that, but we will probably never no for sure since most died before the recall was announced.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: What are some other manufacturers of this type of food besides Menu Foods? Should we all consult can/pouch labels?

Dr. Lisa Moses: Because this type of food requires very specialized manufacturing equipment, I don't think many other companies make it. That's apparently why Menu foods made it for so very many brands. I haven't seen any information about who the supplier of the suspected ingredient is, so don't know if there is any reason to worry about other brands. So far, there isn't any evidence that it's more widespread than announced.

_______________________

Annapolis, Md.: How soon could I expect to see symptoms of kidney failure after my dog ate this food? Or when can I assume I am in the clear that my dog did not eat from a contaminated batch?

Dr. Lisa Moses: This is a really tough question to answer since we don't yet know what the toxin is, only that it directly damages the kidneys. One pet food company believes that the signs are being seen within 24 hours of eating the food, but veterinarians experiences suggest that it may be longer. My best recommendation is to see your vet if your dog is showing any signs of illness.

_______________________

Rockville, Md.: Dr. Moses, thanks for doing this. Have the manufacturers changed anything about the food they're making now? What are they doing to ensure this doesnt happen again?

Dr. Lisa Moses: I haven't heard any information about about changes in manufacturing process, but that's probably because we first need to identify the toxin or contaminant and then figure out how it got in the food in the first place. I hope that information will be forthcoming soon.

_______________________

Tampa, Fla.: My cat vomited after eating some of the recalled food. He has subsequently been fine. I was debating whether to take him in for testing, but it seems to me if he does developed renal failure, not much can be done anyway. Is this true?

Dr. Lisa Moses: I would strongly recommend that you see your veterinarian as soon as possible for testing. Many cases do recover with appropriate treatment, but the sooner treatment starts, the better the prognosis may be. Hopefully, the vomiting was unconnected to the food, but I would check to make sure.

_______________________

23112: Don't the symptoms for the animals eating the tainted food match up with what happens to animals that ingest antifreeze?

Dr. Lisa Moses: Great question. Yes, antifreeze does cause acute kidney failure and we know that the damage to the kidneys looks similar, but not exactly the same on a microscopic level. Veterinarians believe that it is NOT antifreeze that is causing this problem and the FDA has also said that it is not antifreeze. Anti-freeze poisoning has some very characteristic signs before the animals are critically ill that we are not seeing with these cases.

_______________________

Chantilly, Va.: Dr. Moses,

I am curious about your statement "Chances are, if he's not acting sick he's fine." Is it not frequently the case with kidney problems that they are quite far advanced before the animal does start acting sick?

Dr. Lisa Moses: Yes, it is true that in cases of CHRONIC kidney failure, where the disease starts slowly and progressively worsens, there are sometime no signs until it's very far advanced. For this kind of a toxin related kidney failure, the signs generally occur very quickly after the toxin is ingested and are more serious right at the beginning of the illness. The gray zone occurs in cases where ther was kidney damage on a minor scale and then a slower long term disease begins. Unfortunately, it's impossible to say for sure if an animal really is "fine" without blood and urine tests.

_______________________

Rockville, Md.: Renal failure seems to be the main condition associated with the problem pet food. What warning signs should we look for from our pets?

Dr. Lisa Moses: Renal or Kidney failure is the main cause of illness with the tainted food. The most common signs are: extreme lethargy, vomiting, loss of appetite, changes in water intake (either more or less) and changes in urination habits. All of these signs can be seen with many other illnesses as well, so tests are needed to make sure it's kidney disease.

_______________________

Fairfax, Va.: Aren't cats and dogs carnivores? So is dry food enough for them? Is it cheating them out of what they would naturally eat by not feeding them wet food?

Dr. Lisa Moses: Dogs and Cats are carnivores, but dry food is nutritionally balanced for each species if it carries a label that says "AAFCO Feeding Trial" certified. Of course, dry food isn't what they would eat if they were not domesticated, but we also know that nutritionally balanced pet food and preventative has dramatically extended the life span of petdogs and cats

_______________________

Vienna, Va.: What is your opinion of the raw diet? I will be getting a puppy from a breeder who feeds your dogs raw meats. I have heard good things about this type of diet. But I have also seen some not so good comments on the diet.

Dr. Lisa Moses: I consider raw food diets to be dangerous for the same reasons that it would be dangerous to feed raw meet and bones to people. Freezing and refrigerating the raw meet doesn't kill bacteria and viruses, so infectious diseases like E.coli and Salmonella are real concerns. Additionally, I have seen cases of dogs with intestinal perforation from the ground up bones in the raw diets.

_______________________

Dates on pouches: About half of the Nurto pouches we had for our cat were affected by the recall but I don't trust the others. How can we know that the ones not listed in the recall aren't actually affected by the tainted ingredient?

Dr. Lisa Moses: The information from the FDA and the company suggests that the problem began when they started using wheat gluten from a new supplier. So, since they know exactly when that occured, the recall is based on when the switch in ingredients happened. That does seem to be holding up to be true so far.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: Can just the smallest amount cause death?

Dr. Lisa Moses: We don't know the answer to this yet, because the identity of the toxin or contaminant isn't yet known. We need this piece of information to figure out how much an individual animal would have to eat to get sick.

_______________________

Austin, Tex.: The breadth of the recall staggers me! I had never realized we have so little diversity in food sources for our pets.

I'm thinking of switching my 8-year-old cat, who eats both dry and "slices in gravy" style food (thankfully not a recalled brand) to human food. Would baby food meats be a resonable substitute for cat food?

Dr. Lisa Moses: Absolutely not! Meat Baby food is acutally quite nutrionally poor and is no where near a balanced diet for cats. Although cats are carnivores and require specific proteins, they also have just as wide a range of nutritional needs as people and need lots of other nutrients.

_______________________

Alexandria, Va.: My 10 month old puppy may have eaten about 3 to 5 pouches of tainted food over the course of the last 3 months. It was mixed in with his dry food as a 'treat.' Should I be concerned? He's been fine with the exception of vomiting once or twice but I believe it was from the fact that we recently changed over to adult food.

Dr. Lisa Moses: Chances are your puppy is fine, especially since dogs don't seem to be as likely to be affected. BUT: Don't hesitate to see your veterinarian to have them check him out to make sure, though.

_______________________

NoVa: My oldest cat can't eat dry food. He is allergic to corn. He had digestive problems last summer and we put him strictly on Iams wet food and he's been better. But I'm concerned because some of the Iams food he eats was recalled. We currently did not have any of the flavors that were recalled. Is it still safe to feed him the Iams flavors that were not recalled?

Dr. Lisa Moses: I think it is still safe because the manufacturing process for the affect cuts in gravy style is so different from other types of food that there doesn't appear to be any overlap to other kinds of food.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: How long do you think it will be before the identify the toxin, if that's what it is?

And how significant is this news? How would you rank it in importance? Is this the biggest animal story to come along in a while?

Dr. Lisa Moses: From the talk in the veterinary community, I hope the toxin will be identified very shortly, if it hasn't already been. I am a bit worried that it won't be, but I hope that's wrong. We really need that info to advise people.

It's a very big story because it is rightly causing such worry. Fortunately, I think the extensive coverage really helped saved lives.

_______________________

San Rafael, Calif.: two weeks ago, on two separate occasions, my cat threw up after eating Iams Flakes with Salmon in a can (it was only after eating what was left in the large can after three days or so). But, she seems fine now.

Do I need to worry? How long does it take for the symptoms of kidney failure or other contamination ailment to show?

Thank you in advance.

Dr. Lisa Moses: Do you know if the can was one of the recalled lots? I would consult your vet and consider testing her kidney function. If she was only mildly affected, you may not see the dramatic signs that other cases show. But, the sooner you figure out if she was affected and start treatment, the better her chances for recovery may be.

_______________________

Baltimore, Md.: If a dog or cat is diagnosed with renal failure is that pretty much a death sentence and it's just a matter of time? Or can renal failure be stopped and the pet get better?

Dr. Lisa Moses: Renal failure isn't always a death sentence; it really depends on both the cause and how much of the kidneys function was damaged. Fortunately, the kidneys can lose a fair bit of their function without causing death. There are treatments available, but their success depends upon how quickly they are started and how much damage has been done.

_______________________

Fairfax Station, Va.: We have two 1-year-old dogs; 15 pounds(Spaniel/poodle mix) and 7 pounds (Maltese/poodle mix). We split a packet of wet food between the dogs and mix that with dry food for feedings. Last week, the larger dog threw up and got diarrhea. We switched him to a bland chicken and rice diet, and the symptoms disappeared. The smaller dog had no symptoms. The wet food was one of the suspect packets. Do we need to take either or both dogs to the vet?

Dr. Lisa Moses: I would have them checked to make sure they do not have signs of kidney disease, especially if the vomiting occured after feeding the implicated food.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: My long-haired cat has been vomiting a lot lately but has no other symptoms and has not been fed any of those brands (other than Nutro dry food). Should we just assume that it's hairballs? He often vomits at this time of year, but I don't want to assume that it's my imagination that he seems to be doing it more.

Dr. Lisa Moses: It could be hairballs, but that is sometimes connected to a more serious GI illness. I would have your veterinarian check him for intestinal problems. At least I don't think you have to worry about the food.

_______________________

Dr. Lisa Moses: Thanks everyone for your questions. I hope you got some good information. If you want more, see www.mspca.org

Thanks,

Dr. Lisa Moses

_______________________

Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.