Beginning in March, 2007 over 100 brands of dog and cat food were recalled due to melamine contamination. Initially, just “cuts and gravy” type wet foods were affected. More recently, rice protein used in a number of dry foods was also found to be contaminated. Many of the affected brands were grocery store brands, but some mainstream foods such as Eukanuba Chunks and Gravy, Mighty Dog, and Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice Adult were also recalled. A list of recalled foods is available at the Food and Drug Administration website. New foods were added to the list as recently as May 12th, so it’s important to keep checking either this list or your pet food manufacturer’s website.

It’s unknown how many dogs and cats have died or suffered kidney failure from eating contaminated foods–estimates range from Menu Foods reported 26 deaths to around 5000 on self reported web lists. Signs of illness include loss of appetite, lethargy, depression, vomiting, diarrhea, sudden changes in water consumption, or changes in the frequency or amount of urination.

What you can do:

1. Keep checking the list–the information keeps changing.
2. Know what you are feeding your dog. I’m often surprised when meeting with clients to find that they don’t know what brand of dog food they are feeding. Whenever there is a recall, you will need to know not just the brand but also the lot number. Therefore, it’s important to keep the bag. Better yet, keep the food in the bag that it came in. The bag itself is designed to help preserve the food. If you pour the food into a container with the remains of the previous bag, you are likely to have problems with spoilage.
3. Trust your nose and eyes. If a new bag of food looks or smells funny, don’t feed it. The most common cause of pet food recalls in the past have been toxins caused by molds.
4. Listen to your dog. If your dog is normally a good eater but turns up his nose at a new batch of food, don’t try to get him to eat it by adding cheese or gravy. There may be something wrong with the food.
5. Read the ingredient list. Foods made from whole, minimally processed ingredients are less likely to have things go wrong than foods made from fragments (such as wheat gluten) and by-products. Compare the ingredient list for Innova Adult Dog Food with that for Purina Beneful Original Chicken:
   
   Innova: Turkey, Chicken, Chicken Meal, Barley, Brown Rice, Potatoes, Natural Flavors, Rice, Chicken Fat, Herring, Apples, Carrots, Cottage Cheese, Sunflower Oil etc
   
   Purina Beneful: Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), rice flour, beef, soy flour, sugar, sorbitol, tricalcium phosphate, water, animal digest, salt, etc.
   
   For more information about the recall, visit the American Veterinary Medical Association website.