Vet: No Local Pets Sickened By Toxins in Food

Mar 26, 11:24 PM

Current Headlines: By K.E. Casey, The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Ind.

Mar. 26--Fort Wayne appears to have missed the worst of the pet food contamination scare that prompted a nationwide recall and caused the illness and death of many beloved pets across the country, according to local veterinarian officials.

"I think we've been pretty fortunate here in town," said Jason Matthew, a veterinarian with Northeast Indiana Veterinary Emergency Hospital, 5818 Maplecrest Road.

Matthew said he hadn't seen any patients with a "confirmed connection" to the contaminated food at his hospital as of Saturday evening.

"I hope we're going to continue to stay that lucky," he said.

According to The Associated Press, a toxin found its way into 95 "cuts and gravy"-style dog and cat foods packaged between Dec. 3 and March 6 by pet food manufacturer Menu Foods. On Saturday, Menu had confirmed the deaths of at least 16 cats and dogs from the toxic food, which causes kidney failure in animals.

On Friday, the New York State Department of Agriculture and Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine identified the toxin Aminopterin as the culprit in the contamination, according to a news release from Menu Foods. Aminopterin is a cancer drug that once was used to induce abortions in the United States and is still used to kill rats in some other countries, but not in the United States.

It is still unclear just how the rodent poison made its way into the food. Menu Foods, based in Ontario, Canada, produces more than 1 billion containers of wet pet food a year, according to the news release from the company. Only wet food packaged between Dec. 3 and March 6 is affected by the recall, The Associated Press said.

Menu Foods said it would take responsibility for pet medical expenses incurred as a result of the tainted food.

Deedra Wynkoop, a receptionist at Banfield, The Pet Hospital, 1760 Apple Glen Blvd., said Saturday evening that she has seen only a few customers bring in their pets in regards to the contamination scare, but those cases were precautionary measures rather than a case of kidney failure.

The hospital has had "more phone calls than anything else," she said.

The contamination caused fear in pet owners about the pet food they have at home, according to Bethany Kugler, sales associate at Petco , 315 E. Coliseum Blvd.

"The day after it happened, our phone was ringing off the hook," she said. Customers called the store to find out if their pet's food was part of the tainted batch.

Kugler described a "kind of chaos the first four or five days." Now, it's become more "organized," she said, adding she still fields nearly 50 questions a day from worried customers.

Kugler said the store is keeping a list of all the affected products at the register to help customers who have questions.

"I think we're getting past the critical part here," Matthew said.

But some vets aren't so sure there won't be more cases reported in the future. According to a story appearing in the Washington Post on the weekend, there are two kinds of kidney failure: chronic, which is slow-acting, and acute. Both can be fatal. Acute kidney failure is a sudden, major loss of kidney function, resulting in a very sick animal in a very short time period. Symptoms are vomiting, refusal to eat, lethargy and increased drinking or urination.

Chronic kidney failure is slower damage, with a slower decline. Symptoms are subtle: gradual weight loss and occasional vomiting.

KIDNEY FAILURE: Worried your pet might have eaten some of the contaminated food? Check out the symptoms and treatment options below:

Symptoms

--Dehydration

--Little or no urine

--Can progress to chronic kidney failure, marked by excessive thirst and urination, loss of appetite, diarrhea and vomiting

Treatment

--See pet's vet immediately; acute kidney failure may be fatal

--Usually treated with diet, fluids, drugs; can require dialysis.

SOURCE: McClatchy-Tribune

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