Food Recall Alert: Mars Pedigree Dog Food Salmonella Scare
A recall was just announced by Mars Petcare US on some of its products…..
A salmonella scare has forced Mars Petcare US to recall 100 of its 20-pound bags of PEDIGREE Complete Nutrition Small Crunchy Bites sold at some Albertsons in Southern California and Las Vegas, Nevada.
The company also makes Nutro pet food, which scores of consumers nationwide blame for the recent illnesses - and even deaths - of their dog and cats.
Nutro products, however, are not included in this recall.
Mars said a “component” that tested positive for salmonella was inadvertently shipped to its Tracy, California, plant and used in the production of 100 bags of PEDIGREE pet food.
The affected bags have the “best by” dates of July 7, 2009.
“Our primary concern is the safety and welfare of our pet owners and their pets,” the company said in a statement. “Although the finished product tested negative and we have received no reports of illness of pets or their owners, out of an abundance of caution we are issuing a voluntary recall of the limited number of bags of Pedigree Complete Nutrition Small Crunchy Bites containing the component in question.”
The following are tips to help prevent the spread of salmonella poisoning.
Salmonella can cause infections in dogs and cats. It can also be transferred from pets to people who ingest or handle contaminated products. Children, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems are most at risk.
To prevent the spread of salmonella contamination, the FDA said consumers should wash their hands for 20 seconds with hot water and soap before and after handling pet foods and treats.
Consumers should also:• Wash pet food bowls, dishes, and scooping utensils with soap and hot water after each use;
• Not use their pets’ feeding bowl as a scooping utensil. Pet owners should use a clean scoop or spoon;
• Dispose of old or spoiled pet food products in securely tied plastic bags and put them in a covered trash cans.
The FDA’s Web site has additional tips on how to safely handle pet food.
To keep your best friend safe check your dog food to make sure you don’t have one of the affected products.
An old friend called me last week. It seems that her TWO dogs got very ill. Vomiting, diarrhea, listlessness.
Guess what kind of food they were eating? Yup. Pedigree Small Crunch Bites.
Guess what else? She lives in Tennessee not Nevada. The dogs are now off Pedigree. Guess what? No more puking and pooping.
That’s a long way from what Mars is confessing to. Hmmmm….shades of Menu Foods, eh?
I live in TN too and Mommy only feeds me Innova dog food and Merricks Treats.
Why are we not surprised to hear that Mars Pedigree is also made by Nutro???
I hope all dogs affected make a full recovery.
For some reason I am not suprised… : /
I live in Ca. feed pedigree small crunchy to my 3 dogs for years. In the past month 2 of my pets vomited for about ten days ( thought it was the heat ) untill I changed their diet. The large 40lb. bag has an expiration date of july/2009.
Did I read that right? Pedigree makes Nutro too? Like Nutro Max and Small Bites? That is very disturbing…We don’t trust Pedigree to begin with, with all that BHT/BHA crap and low grade bone meal.
I live in Susanville, CA. I recently purchased Pedigree Small Crunch Bites at my local WalMart store. For the last three night my two dogs (mini-dashchunds) have suffered diarrhea. I went to the WalMart store today and asked about any re-call on this dog food. I could not receive any answer from a store employee.
This is scary. I normally buy Pedigree for my 3 dogs, but the last time I went to buy dog food I had a strange urge to try a different brand. Now I’m glad I did.
Funny, i posted a question on here three days ago about my 1 year old doxie with all the symptoms listed on the recall. I live in Northern CA, and the bag i bought is not listed at the stores pedigree has released. The vet didn’t even know what was wrong with my little boy! now i know why! my 4 year old doxie is now sick all of the sudden too. This is getting ridiculous with the pet food recalls!
The only way to guarantee your pets health is to make its food by yourself. I lost my 12yr. old german shepard to that wide spread pet food recall a while back and later lost a puppy to stomach cancer, as the mother dog was eating food that was also recalled. No one can imagine the heartbreak, unless they’ve been there. And I wouldn’t want anyone to ever be there, believe me! I cook fresh vegetables, rice and chicken for my newest dog and make all her treats, bones, you name it, from scratch. She’s very healthy and want her to stay that way!
I live in So. Cal. and just purchased a bag of Pedigree complete nutrition small crunchy bites (8.8 lb) at walmart last weekend. My dog threw up today. I saw something about the recall yesterday. But it said it was only the 20lb bags and only sold at Albertson’s and Costco.
I’m glad I buy Lassie’s Natural WAy for my dogs……..
May I suggest a book that has just been released by Marion Nestle called Pet Food Politics. It tells the story of the melamine recall in great detail and in doing so explains a lot about how the pet food industry works.
Salmonella is a common contaminate of pet food as well as raw meat. Many people feed their dogs/cats raw food and they consume salmonella without complaint but some dogs/cats may meet it for the first time and it makes them very ill. My heart goes out to all of you who have had your kids suffer.
Please consider reading this book and others like it that explain how the pet food industry works. So often when we read this news we pat ourselves on the back for not feeding that food. The problem with that is that so many of these foods are manufactured at the very same places from the very same ingredients. That is why the melamine recall was so far reaching. It affected everything from the cheapest grocery store brand to the more expensive and even prescription brands!
Also consider Whole Dog Journal’s yearly review of pet foods. It is not always the most expensive brands that are the safest so keep yourself informed!
I have one dog, Daisy, that won’t eat anything except for Pedigree small bites and Pedigree canned. I buy the 52lb bag and haven’t had any trouble at all. The rest of my dogs eat Diamond Naturals.
Any factory can have recall issues. Look at all the recalls we’ve had on human food for Salmonella and E-Coli. It’s not only pet food. While I wish it didn’t happen, I think the factory did the right thing by recalling the product even though none of the finished food tested positive. The fact that they do test and they were willing to recall makes me feel safer feeding Pedigree. They could have just ignored it and hoped none got out.
All of my dogs are outside/inside dogs and are probably more resistant to some dangers like Salmonella because as the above poster said, they have probably met it before and have a natural resistance to it. Dogs that are outside for any period of time come in contact with all kinds of things and are probably healthier for it because they build resistance. I’ve seen dogs that live outside all the time (not mine) bury a chicken, dig it up a week later, and eat it and not get sick. Mine don’t do that because they are in a fenced yard but a lot of country dogs that run loose do it all the time with no ill effects. I doubt a little tainted dog food could hurt them the way it would an inside dog that has never been exposed to such.
This is very sad, its crazy when you have to worry about what you can and cant feed your dogs, and all because every time you think you found something good, it has to be recalled. Why cant the makers of the food be more responsible and careful? I mean my dogs are my life, and with always having to be careful its very scary, expecially considering my poodle is very small a 2 pounder and is very open to getting things. I have seriously considered making my own dog food, atleast then I will know what is put in it.
well.. its pedigree i don’t expect much for a food thats 20$ for 40 lbs. A good holistic food does the trick
I live in Las Vegas and heard the recall was the 52 pound bag from Walmart and Cosco. So what is the real story? My babies love it but I bought another brand. I want to buy the Pedigree Brand but am scared like all the others. Jessie obviously doesn’t know the history behind Pedigree and how the Brits treasure this brand. I would like to hear from someone who can tell us the real story behind the recall. Is there really a difference in the 20 pound vs the 52 pound bag… it all came from the same place just packaged differently. Help!
Does anybody know who makes the dog food, Solid Gold and Wellness? I have been feeding my Boxer these foods ever since the massive recall because they were not affected by the recall. Pedigree wasn’t affected either then luckily; as I was feeding Pedigree to my Boxer at the time of the recalls. After reading about the unsafe indregidents in Pedigree, I decided to change dog foods all together. Now I worry about the Solid Gold and Wellness makers. Has anybody had any problems with those foods?
Rufus, my boxer loves them.. I was ordering Amizra but the shipping and handling got so expensive, I travel once a month to a Pet Grocery Store a hour away to buy Wellness and Solid Gold since nobody in town carries a premuimn dog food.
I just had a strange experience involving pedigree complete nutrition small bites. I have always bought pedigree for my dogs, but my 5 year old rottweiler tried to tell me that she did not like it this time, she just pushed it around with her nose and wouldn’t eat. I believed her that something was wrong with it. Maybe Pedigree is not revealing how wide spread this really is, I bought this bag of Pedigree at walmart in Idaho.
Has anyone had any problems with Pedigree can food? My min.poodle eats only chick and rice cans and he has been sick for the past 10 days. He spent the day at the vet yesterday suffering from dehydration. He is home now but taking 3 meds, hopefully will get better.
How come we haven’t heard about this on the news? I just happened to stumble upon this looking for reviews on a dry dog food I just bought.
have your heard the news
b true feed blue
http://www.bluebuff.com
PEOPLE WAKE UP
Nutro is not a quality food. Many of their ingredients are inexpensive fillers just like with Pseudo Science Diet.
When major corporations begin looking for cheaper ways to make dog food in order to make a profit unfortunately the health of the nations dogs are going to deteriorate.
50% of all dogs are being diagnosed with cancer at one point or another in their lives. The scary part is that its been seen in younger and younger dogs on a daily basis. What causes this Overinocculation, bad breeding lines and yes THE BIG ONE - POOR DIET.
Go to AAFCO dot com and look at their definitions for some of the ingredients in your PEts food. You will be surprised.
BE TRUE FEED BLUE
We feed our 3 dogs Pedigree Complete Nutrition small crunchy bites. After opening a new bag and feeding the dogs from it, within 24 hours they all had diarrhea. We took them off their food and put them on boiled chicken and rice for a couple days. They got better. Put them back on the Pedigree and again withing 24 hours, diarrhea!! We went through this for two weeks. I then had my daughter get online and do some searching and sure enough, we found the info in the “small” recall in CA and NV. Guess what!! We live in NC, 3000 miles away. I did call Mars Brand, they took all of the information and were very nice, but DID remind me that the recall was contained to a very small number of bags, and only in CA and NV. These companies need to be responsible and make a nationwide announcement!! I am just thankful that our dogs were healthy enough to fight this off, and that we spend enough time around them to notice and take them right back off the food. I just wish I had thought to look online before putting them throught it 3 or 4 times!!
It is not just Pedigree that is having problems - go to rateitall.com and read about Wellness now. They were purchased by an investor group and are going big box store - that means ramped up production and profit margins - some dogs there ended up on IVs! Pass the word!
Samples of the food were sent back and tested negative but the diarrhea and vomiting are telling a different story!
I agree with Dave. NUTRO is AWFUL! I fed Crunch Nutro until he was about 3-4 months old and everytime he was done eating he layed on the floor panting as if he just finished running a marathon, and then the boxes of treats sealed with plastic but full of bugs.. you can’t blame that on Petco Mars Company! Talk about GUILT I pretty much made him eat Nutro productes even though he was turning his nose up at them I was thinking he just wanted me to mix something in with it like I did when he was younger. We have NOT had any problems after switching over to Natural Balance kibble and rolls.
I am really upset about this….My dogs eat Ol Roy brand from Walmart….My female boxer suddenly became ill, lost 12lbs. and was in the vet for days….The vet finally determined that she was poisoned, but believed her to be poisoned by something like anti-freeze….Now I wonder if it wasn’t salmonella. She stayed in our yard and we live in the country….We couldn’t find anti-freeze or anything….What are the symptoms of salmonella poisoning? We, in the end, had to put my 4 year old female boxer down because her kidneys started shutting down. We cried for days. I still can’t believe it! Also, my other boxer was determined to be poisoned, but was treatable.
I am sadly, but relatively sure that I now know why I found my Frazier, a Great Pyranese 5 years old who had been perfectly healthy, dead in the front yard. We had always bought our food from a local farmer’s co-op because of all the scares and recalls but the dogs got tired of the food so we tried some others. We also live in TN and buy from Costco and Wal-mart and started trying Pedigree small crunchy bites and canned. They liked it for a while and then in July he became a little less active and his appetitie decreased and we thought it was just the heat. I really think it is the food. Our other dogs have stopped on their own accord stopped eating it Thank God. So tell anyone you know not to take any chances with this stuff because I have a Saint Bernard also that I rescued who would eat your arm if you gave if to her. She’s left it in the bowl the last two days. She’s a smart dog. We also have an old collie who has been having diarhea and we and the vet thought it was age. Wrong I think the pedigree can be blamed for this one too. Wow I feel So bad you think you could trust a company such as this.
I just wanted to add not to trust the canned food either. I gave my dog a can of Pedigree beef stew last night and he know has noxious severe diarrhea. I also saw where he vomited outdoors today. I have mixed this food with his prescription food in the past and had no problem. My Bailey is 16 and is a diabetic. This is really rough on him though he looks better this afternoon. I am babysitting my sisters dog who at Iams naturals only yesterday and he is fine.
Anyone else noticing issues with Pedigree canned food?
I switched to pedigree about 2 weeks ago and my dog is pooping diahrea and blood. Yest I switched her back to Iams and no more blood in the stool. I dont know if it had anything to do with the recall or the change in her diet. I have a whole bag of dog food and dont know if I should give it to someone or throw it away. Its not part of the recall.
Its the Health Life Nutrition. Im in Tn.
I was feeding both pedigree canned and purina one. In early august all three of my dogs got severe diareaha. I took them off the food and started boiled chicken and rice. I actaully had to get them on a pill to clear it up.
All 6 of my dogs were on pedigree canned, they ALL got diarrhea, what a mess.
I’ve started them on home made chicken and rice and hope this problem ceases.
I do not feed pedigree dry, I only used Solid Gold dry, but stopped both canned and dry when this problem occurred.
Perhaps I’ll put out a bit of the dry and see how things go.
Good luck to all.
I’m in Southern California.
I believe Mars is either lying or uninformed, because wet/canned Pedigree made our dog very sick. Our 3 year old collie/shepard mix (very healthy) vomited and pooped (diahrea) all over our house in August. A friend house-sitting suspected the can of wet Pedigree. I came home and (stupid) fed him another can the next day, thinking surely I could trust Pedigree. Repeat of previous day! We took three cases of canned Pedigree back to Walmart and told the manager they should pull the pet food. I immediately called Mars’ consumer affairs and reported the issue. They offered coupons! I said “No, thanks. I just want you to investigate and protect pets! I asked if they were part of the infamous Menu Foods. I asked if they received product from China like Menu Foods.” They claimed they had no problem with Pedigree. I told them they needed to report my call. Then, today I read the news alert of their recall today! I called Mars again today. I was informed the canned Pedigree is not part of the recall, etc. (The house was covered in poop and vomit!) The call center rep. said I could deal with their insurance company if I wanted. I said perhaps I should just call the news media, since they are so calloused. I said the main thing I want is for them to admit their canned Pedigree is also a problem. Spread the word. Is IS a problem!
i recently went to my local walmart in harrisonburg va & my regular dog food (purina) was sold out ,so i got what i thought was the next best thing pedigree cruncy bites 40 lb bag i have 2 adult dogs 2 (7month old puppies up for adoption) ,& a new pure breed siberian husky puppy that have all been eating it juno the husky has had the direaha for going on 3 days now ,i just found out about the recall today on my own ,i called the local vet & he said he didnt know anything about a recall . my dogs are like family to me . maybe it was a accident but they stated that they stopped making the food on july 29th so why didnt they post it then it still is not on our local news , my friend just had a husky die without knowing they had been feeding her the same food also , all the signs she showed was like she had a tummy ache , dogs become part of a family fast i dont wanna loose them because someone didnt want to have a bad rep it should have been posted a month ago so i feel they was wrong by waiting
I stopped feeding my 5 year old chow chow crunchy small bites but I still continue to buy and feed my best friend the canned chopped beef food. Is the canned food on recall as well? Has anyone out there had a problem with pedigree canned dog food? I hope not and I’m so sorry for the pets and owners that are affected by this un called for recall once again!
I just want to say Iam FURIOUS! My nephew lost a dog due to this tainted food! We had NO CLUE of this recall until this morning- She died suddenly and we had no Idea what happened….well eating Pedigree is the problem! The day she died she was MISERABLE! This needs to be in the National News- I have emailed my local TV station and they are spreading the word! I have also emailed every pet group I can think of- We are the only voices for our pets…they count on us to defend them! My best-friend has a VERY sick Puppy on her hands and to no suprise guess what food she was feeding her-PEDIGREE! The poor puppy has had explosive Diareaha for 3 days and she finally quit eating the food…Thank-God! Hopefully we can save her in time! This should have been made PUBLIC Long ago- RIDICULOUS I SAY!
Now I am questioning the supposed truth, as I too have called Pedigree’s 800 number and they said that the large cans of Chunks Chicken & Rice were not on their list; but I have noticed that my beagle, who is a senior in years, has been turning her nose up at eating Purina One Chicken & Rice mixed with the PEDIGREE CHICKEN AND RICE. I have had to throw her food away often. My maltese has no problems eating the same mixture. Please help us find an answer to this problem; can’t they investigate the company that produces PEDIGREE? I do not want to lose my dogs.
I feed my danes pedigree large breed. We feed them wet and dry food. I checked all packages, they do not say where they were manufactured at only the distribuation center which is out of Tennessee. Very concerned. Is the recall nation wide?
hello,
well, I had a problem a few months ago. My husky, Annie, had diarhea and vomiting, I wrote to pedigree and was assured that the food was safe and after buying another bag the problem went away. Well a few weeks ago, still feeding my dog Pedigree small bites my dog started vomiting and had a three day bout with diarhea. I talked to my son who also feeds his loved 7 year old pit bull and was told his dog was having the same problem. I have since changed brands and my dog is happy and no more vomiting and diahrea. I will not go back to Pedigree. Nor will my son. Its a shame that this is monitored more closely.
We also feed our dogs pedigree small crunchy bites. We also had a bout of diarrhea and vomitting in the last few weeks with our german shephards. The mutt dogs were not affected. I love my Maggie May who is a mutt and couldn’t be more loved and spoiled but the germans had a hard time of it. It took several days of antibiotics and pepto to clear Max and Bogan of the diarrhea. Hope it is not the pedigree because that is all they have ever eaten. Will try something else for now and hope that this does not cause problems.
We recently got a 16 week old minature dashchund and she started having bloody diarrhea and throwing up after having her first round of shots. Thought this was the problem but I learned today about this recall and highly suspect this may be the cause. We’re feeding her Purina Beneful for Puppies. She has all the symptoms for Salmonella. Going to the vet tomorrow and get tested. I can see something really bad happening if she doesn’t get better soon.
What is frustrating is that the recall was not announced until Sep. 12. They closed the plant July 29 - all this food had already been sold by Sep. 12. How many dogs have died because of Mar’s lack of judgement?
If your dog has dirrea mixing rice with their food and even some unflavored metamucil helps to firm up stool. Pedigree is really not a very good food to begin with. Neither is IAMs Beneful Purina or any of the other foods you have usually heard of. The first several ingrediants are usually corn (we know what happens when our body gets corn, we poop it out and dont use it, same with dogs) meat by products (the take the meat off of whatever it is and you get the bones, feathers, coat, feet, beaks, etc) and white or brewers rice (no nutritional value, just a filler) because of this our dogs need to eat more to get the nutrients they need and poop a lot more too. also…science diet and eukanuba are not every good foods either. they used to be but they were bought out by other companies who, to save money, changed the ingrediants to fillers and by products. these foods cost about the same as the all naturals foods and you are getting pedigree quality food. you can check all the ingrediants yourself. stay away from the first 3 ingrediants being corn, by products of any kind, and white or brewers rice. go for foods with chicken, chicken meal, or any meats that dont have by procuct after them, and BROWN rice. these are good foods. Try going to a specialty pet store and ask about a better food. Precise, Royal Canin, and Verus are all really good foods. When you look at the ingrediants they will be along the lines of Chicken, brown rice (the only rice with nutritional value for dogs), and usually another protein source such as chicken meal (chicken meal is just dehydrated chicken, very good) your dogs will eat much less of the food so even though it cost a bit more you go through less food and it ends up saving you money. they also poop less, live longer, and are overall more healthy. I have four shih tzus and I feed them Royal Canin dry food. 10lbs of that food last us over a month. 4 adults dogs eating only 10lbs of food between the 4 of them is pretty good! These foods are also all natural and organic so they are never involved in any recalls, you know your food is always safe. Go to your local pet store and ask about these brands (Precise, Royal Canin, Verus, Wellness, California Natural, Innova, Canidae, Merrik) many stores, such as Pets Plus, will even give you your money back for the dog food if your dog doesnt like it and has programs such as buy 10 bags get your 11th free. It’s worth a try and trust me your dogs will love it.
My dogs have had the runs for over a week. Had their blood and stool tested and everything came back normal. They eat Wellness (fish & sweet potato) dry food. They have started to feel a bit better being on a bland diet, but when I attempted to switch them back to their dry food, it seems like their stool was going back to being runny. Sorry to be specific, but their stool went from normal, to looking like mud to then looking like gooey bright yellow stuff that smelled very bad. It’s now back to the mud stage. I’m worried that it’s the Wellness food since we can’t find the source of the issue. We had just opened a new bag up. Anyone else having issues with Wellness?
your dog could have worms, it could have nothing to do with the food they are eating. certin worms cause blood in stool and certin worms cause runny stool, and some cause mucusy stool. call your vet and take a stool sample. the pet store i work at sees this with puppies all the time. some clavamox or albon clears it right up. id suggest staying with your natural food and giving your vet a call. a stool test and wormer shouldnt be too expensive
sorry its late and i didnt read you went to the vet already! that is strange then, try the brown rice and plain metamucil mixed in a different kind of food? i havent heard any customers complain about the wellness though, sorry i can’t be of more help. good luck
I just lost my very healthy 5 year German Shepherd in August My vet has no answers because there was no reason for her unexplained death. On Saturday, 9/21/08, I received a letter in the mail from Sam’s Club, that the dog food I was feeding Heidi, had Salmonella. That’s all we fed her and we always bought her dogfood at Sam’s! I am sickened by this and can not believe that I have lost my beloved dog because of it.
We have lost two dogs this year from unexplained deaths, one in April and the other in May, 2008. Our Vet could not find anything wrong with them and then they just died. And like Barbara, we received a letter from Sam’s Club informing us of a recall on 09/21/08. A little late now!
I am so angry!!!
I had the same experience as Mary. My healthy German Shepherd died on 9/4/08. We buy Members Mark Complete Nutrition from Sam’s Club in Wilkes Barre, PA. I just received the letter dated Sept 12th, about the recall saying that I purchased that product. Caesar was a great dog. The food company should be held responsible.
My story is the same as Jennifer’s, Mary’s and Barbara’s.
My 5 year old Pit-bull / Lab mysteriously died.
I had an appointment made at the vet for the day she passed because she was very lethargic for a few days before. The vet had to put her down, while my son cried!
Is Mars Petcare accepting LEGAL responsibility for this?
Who do I need to contact?
Talk about IRRESPONSIBLE!
We feed our 4 dogs Costco’s Kirkland Brand small bites because the first ingredient is meat or chicken. I feel so bad for those of you that have lost your babies to this craziness! We also feed Pedigreed “freudian slip” canned intermittently, and haven’t had any problems. We do make turkey, parsley garlic and rice to mix in with their dry food, so maybe that helps. I think Mars should be held responsible, anyone thought about a class action motion against them? Also the media would be very interested in this, I think. I send my prayers to all of you who have been dealing with this. I’m in Hercules, CA (about 28 miles no west of SF).
A few weeks ago, I purchased the same brand/flavor Nutro dog food that I always buy for Tony (my cocker spaniel)-a few days after using the new bag of food, Tony became severely ill. He had vomiting and severe BLOODY diarrhea for 2 weeks. He would not eat nor drink anything. I rushed him to the vet twice in less then a week. The vet ran several tests, but could not find the cause of Tony’s illness. The vet stated that he had recently seen tons of dogs in his office for the same reason. While I was there I also saw several other owners w/their pets w/the same symptoms. The next day, I saw an obscure news article about Pedigree dog food being recalled for salmonella (Pedigree and Nutro are both owned by Mars Corp). I realized that his dog food was causing his illness. The independent Pet Food Products Safety Alliance test was on the same flavor and lot # off the bag I recently purchased. According to the 9/17 statement from the Nutro company, they stated that the sick dogs must be “sensitive” to the ingredients. I find it hard to believe that Tony suddenly became “sensitive”, after eating the same dog food for 4 years!!! When he was sick and not eating, he started to get a little better (b/c he wouldn’t eat the contaminated food). But once he felt better and tried to eat, he would get sick all over again. That was when I realized it was the food, and not viral. Several dogs have died eating the same brand/flavor he eats, and hundreds more became ill. If you use any of the Mars company owned brands (especially Nutro), please, STOP using it immediately! Tony is now just starting to get better, but b/c Nutro will not take responsibility, no one is sure what exactly it is that is contaminating the food (they have some ideas though)-I do not know what the long term effects will be. I contacted both Nutro and FDA, and am sending samples to both for testing.
I just saw the recall info on the news about Pedigree dog food. I feed both my dogs that food and recently my one dog as become very ill and had to stay in the hospital, he was diagnosed with addison’s disease.The news said to look for PAE or UPC starting with 17. Does anyone know where to find the PAE located on the bag? I’ve been feeding by boys this food for 8 years and never had a problem until recently. I had a cat that just died n April at 3 years old and was told it was crones disease ( Was it?). My dogs are my children and my life, very upset and frustrated.
For anyone else looking to find the PAE, go to….http://petcare.mars.com/200809_pedigree_tool.html, it shows where it is. That’s from my updated article, Mars Petcare Recall Update, posted on September 16th. If you missed the article, it’s worth taking a minute to read.
On AUGUST 17TH My 8 year old dog was euthanized. I opened a new bag of Pedigree about 1 week prior. After he became ill I stopped foor for 24 hours,then gave chicken and rice home cooked for 2 -3 more days. During this time my other 4 stopped eating i changed food IMMEDIATELY it took 3 weeks for my other 3 to be right. I told my friends right away, there dogs were not eating either (However supposedly they did not have a recalled bag) I DID HOWEVER (and still have it in a safe place) I did not find out about the recall till they expanded it I think It was September 12 or13. Last week while going though some paperwork I found several UPC codes and dates from pedigree bags I had cut out for a “dogs rule” t shirt promotion but never sent them in. They are all the recalled bags also. So they were all eating it back several months! I also had an 8 year old cat die suddenly in May.(Had NO health problems known at the time) he snuck pieces of dog food often So now I wonder. I have tried to contact Pedigree they wont return my calls or emails. I get more angry every day. Its how this has all been handled. I contacted the FDA, last week when i spoke with them they had no death reports yet to all of you suspicious of the food please call the FDA the VET division Kevin Morrow 1-410-779-5414 (direct line) Call your media, call or Email NBC in New York SOOOOOO many people do not know about this recall and how poorly it is being handled , complete lack of rather. this recall goes back many many months and it is going to take time for all of them to hear about it. And put together that there animal could have died from this.
Yes recalls happen. With people and animals. However when a company waits as long as they do to announce it or refuses to address it when dogs are sick or dead that is what I have a problem with. This is not ordinary Salmonella,there are mnay different forms. Salmonella Swartengrund is antibiotic resistant. This is no run of the mill salmonella. An animal can get it and die,they can become carriers and spread it to other animals or people. I have 3 dogs and 9 cats that really need to be tested. I also found out they would have to be tested several times due to the fact false negatives are high. I dont know about you guys but I have had with the outsourcing of products and the crap they are putting in all of our food enough is enough
I had 2 dogs that were on Pedigree Small Bites. My Yorkie, Prissy,which is 12 has been on Pedigree all her life. She wasn’t eating a lot of the last bag I got. Normally I get the 20 or 40lb, but this time it was the small one. Now I have a Brindle Boxer puppy and he would eat Prissy’s food. Everytime he did, he would have an upset stomach. I just thought at first it was the difference in the food, since his was puppy food. I happened to go to Walmart one night to get some more and 3 of the employees were standing in front of the Pedigree talking. I asked what was wrong with it cause that was what I was fixing to buy. They told me about the possible recall and even though all the numbers were not on their sheet, they pulled them all just to be safe. Needless to say it was not Pedigree I bought that night, but Kibbles and Bits Fresh Bites. They both love it. Sure am glad I went to Walmart that night, cause it was the first I had heard of the recall. This was around the 1st of August. My Yorkie has been through enough in her life. She had surgery for liver shunt, got her shots just before this past Christmas and had a reaction to one of the shots. Since getting her, we have spent about $5000 on her, but my husband or I would not take a million for her. You can’t touch my husband if he’s holding her, that’s HER DADDY!
She doesn’t even want Earnhart Jr., my Boxer near him.
I sure hope this recall problem doesn’t spread to other foods. To everyone who has lost a precious pet, I am truely sorry. And I hope the ones who are sick, recover soon with no problems. My pets are my kids, my babies and there’s NOTHING I wouldn’t do for them.
Our Family had just buried a big part of our Family!..My Husbands Best Friend s name was Lexxus..She was our collie-Shepard….As I sit here and try to write this ..Mars contacted me ..to ask ..WHAT DO I WANT..!!!!!We want our Girl back ..She was the most Hyper frisky ..Frisbee Cathin $-Wheeler chasin ..never stoppin Love of our lives ..My husband went to Sams Club ..and we always buy Beef and More …well he didnt look and since they were out of it @ the time He bought The big yellow bag of pedigree with small crunchy bites ..well within a week or sooner or longer ..i dont know anymore ..but she started alittle vomiting but I thought this will pass She started to really slow down ..and within one week started having seizures..Grand Mal I guess We knew she was older 12 yrs.and never thought the dog food !!by the time the next am ..I got hold of the vet and we knew the only difference was the change in FOOD.We buried her on April 22 2008.. with tennis balls and a frisbee as her Cross..Mars told me when I first called them in april after her first seizures ..that they dont have any problems and we will gladly refund your money..I told them it has to be their food ..cuz there have never been any changes in any of our other pets until we accidentally bought THE BAG!!!Now a rep called 2 weeks ago and said they are sorry for what happened!!!THEY are sorry !!And what do we want !!!You cant bring her back ..We were not thru with being her family..What is the standard going rate..for the loss ..Devastating loss of a part of your family..We have been thru so much devastation in the last 2 yrs and this did us in!!They knowingly told me they had no knowledge of any issues ..I know Lexxus is still chasing Frisbees and catchin tennis balls and barking after everything ..I just wished we could have had time to Give God a warning ..And to tell her how much she has done for us .So Yes Mars co ..We want you to be held accountable for taking her from us ..We love and Miss you Lexxus ..The purple flowers are blooming over your grave as I write this ..God Bless all who own rescue and just love our girls!!. I dont know how to grieve when I feel at fault!
We have a large family of rescued dogs which include Mixed Breeds, Rotties, Dachshunds, Labs, & Chihuahuas. I used to feed Iams for many years. We switched to Pedigree because we have so many and the cost of feeding was overwhelming us. Never really had any problems while feeding Iams. My dogs are on a regular schedule, we feed them twice a day. About 3 weeks ago we started noticing strange behavior from them. They are all very good eaters normally. In the last 3 weeks they would randomly push their bowls away and refuse to eat? Then when then finally would eat we would had several bouts of vomiting & diarhea. It has gotten bad..I’ve had to give them meds to calm their stomachs & intestinal tracts. Reading these posts has been like a light bulb going off in my head. We started thinking someone might be throwing something over the fence to them while they were outside playing because we couldn’t come up with a culprit. I think this must be what’s going on with them. I will be switching foods. Can anyone recommend a safe food than won’t break the bank? I’ve heard good things about Canidae? Is it expensive? I’m so glad I saw this page before we lost one of them-i can’t imagine the terrible loss some of you have gone through.
I bought a can of Pedigree w/chicken at WalMart in central OK. two days ago. I have a very small Pom puppy 1.5 lb and today he is vomiting, dirreaha and seizures and he has only eaten about 2 T of the product. I didn’t even think of recalls until he got so ill. That is going to be the most expensive $1.00 I have ever spent.!!!!
Hi me again…well my bouncy tiny 1.5 lb 20 week old little Pom boy didn’t make it. He died last night despite all I could do for him. I am going to get the can of Pedigree that I bought at WalMart tested to make sure that was the culpert and inform both Pedigree and Wal Mart what they have . Guess you can’t trust anyone anymore.
I’ve had my 13 year old Aussie/Queensland cross to the vet twice in the last 5 days. He was having sever runny stools, lethargic, no appetite, in fact so weak by Friday I had to lift him in & out of the car. He would stumble when walking. Talk about heart breaking. He’s on 2 antibiotics now, with a pain killer. I started feeding him boiled chicken breasts or trimmed beef, 100% fat free chicken or beef broth and a cup of rice. He was starving. By the 4th time I started to feed him when I opened the back door he “almost: trotted to the back gate. We use Pedigree Small and Crunchy Bites I bought at Tractor Supply. Is there a chance this is the contaminated food?
I have recently lost two dogs in a little over two days which did eat the Pedigree Chopped Beef can food. I just put my Maltese Pekepoo down on 10/31/08 and my chihuahua died over night on 11/3/08. Mars which makes Pedigree is sending me some packages to return some unopen dog food cans to test and I have reported it the FDA just incase they determine the cans were bad. I did buy my dog food on 10/22/08 at a Walmart in Savannah, Ga. Walmart where I bought the cans from has been notified also just incase the food was bad. My maltese (Moca) was old so I did take him to the vet and they said he had some other problems on the inside. So they advised me to put him to sleep. It was horrible but I thought I was doing the right thing for him since his back legs would not hold him up on 10/30/08. I was taking him the the vet on Monday 11/03 but he died over night. Both dogs showed severe thirst problems. I assumed that Pedro was grieving over Moca since they always slept together. Pedro starting throwing up on 11/02/08, he was wobbly, and very depressed looking. I thought he confused about Moca not coming home. Both were inside dogs. Now I feel guilty putting Moca down and letting Pedro suffer if it was because of the food. I will wait to hear from Mars (Pedigree) to see what the food showed. I hope others will be careful of the canned food just in case it comes back bad.
I have been giving my two dogs pedigree for quite some time now when all of a sudden they both got gravely ill. I did a google search and came across this web page along with about 45 others, i must have read 200 stories of food suspected food poisoning and out of them i’d have to estimate 30-40 of the stories told of their dogs dying. Since finding all this info about this widespread problem i have taken my dogs off of this poison and now feed them boiled chicken with brown rice and carrots and they love it and very fortunate for them they did bounce back to great health. This is just rediculous, how can one company make such a mistake which costs these animals their lives and not initiate a total recall? Thank god for google and informal sites like this one and the countless others i have read. Without this i would have not known what was wrong with my dogs who’s lives are now spared. For that i thank you.
John from Jersey
hello everyone,
I have a black lab named Kobe and I’ve been feeding him pedigree adult and he has started dry heaving. Do you guys think this is due to the food?
Rafael151
please what ever you do,do not feed your dog pedigree i have lost 5 sweet lovable dogs behind that dreadful food.
Oh my god, my dog became ill Nov. 10. I rushed her to the vet and the vet could not pin point what was making her ill. I feed her canned pedigree chopped chicken. Has anyone had any incidents with this food.
Jesus, Pedigree canned dog food is definitedly contaminated with this samonella outbreak. I just remembered how my 7 year old son who feeds the dog started complaining about abdominal pains after handling the food that made my dog sick. I thought there was something going around and now that I think about this I strongly believe this food is contaminated.
I have fed my two month old stray pup Pedigree crunchies available in India & he had diariehea & is unable to walk now his vet has put him on Royal canin starter.Is it possible that The salmonella problem is in Indian Pedigree food as well.
Any dog food made by large multi-corporations will always have dire results from contaminated food, either by melanine or some other imported by product or simply the ingredients. ITS ALL JUST GROUND CORN with a bit of by-product and preservatives…why does the public not understand??? READ THE INGREDIENT list on any pet food you buy. Think about what these ingredients are…corn? for a carnivore? Even if the front of the bag says a meat is the #1 ingredient…check where corn is. It’s horrible for dogs…aflotoxin can occur in corn based foods. That’s just one problem with corn…its sugar…its junk food.
BUY US MADE PET FOOD (OR CANADIAN like Acana or Orijen) These small companies(not corporations) care about your pet, unlike Mars, Proctor and Gamble, Menu, etc…PLEASE research your pet food and what is really in the food. Try something with meat…Innova, EVO, Halo, Natural Balance, Canidae, Solid Gold, Orijen/Acana, etc. It will change your pet’s life; I guarantee it. I rescue dogs and researched and researched…I have studied nutrition…its all very simple; stay away from the multi-corp manufacturers. It will save your pet’s life.
I live in NC, I have been feeding my dog Berkley and Jensen’s brand dog food, Small bites and bones. My dog became extremely sick about a month ago. Throwing up, diarrhea, bloody diarrhea, listless, extreme weight loss. She was found to have a bacteria in the same family as Salmonella. She was treated for that but she progressively got worse. She stopped eating, continued with the bloody diarrhea, throwing up. She had to be hospitalized and put on IV fluids. Even after the bacteria was under control, she has had resulting health problems that will be with her the rest of her life. While she was back home and recovering, she was starting to eat real dog food again and guess what we gave her… the BJ brand food. She started getting worse again, throwing up. She is so thin she cannot afford to throw up. I never knew anything about the recall in relation to the food I buy. I went to the store yesterday to get more dog food since I was low and there was no BJ brand dog food at all. I went to customer service to ask and the women had no info for me, all she could say is that the BJ brand dog food I have been buying for years is no longer listed, another one is listed but is shown as discontinued. No one said anything about a recall, no sign posted nothing. My husband just happened to google the dog food just to see why it was no longer available and saw the recall. We stopped feeding her the food immediately and she is not throwing up anymore. I called the food recall number. They told me that no dog food was reported as being contaminated, it was the cat food and they voluntarily recalled all food from the plant. I no longer had my bag as I dump it into a container when I buy it. They told me they couldn’t confirm if my particular bag was part of the recall but they are sending me a container to send in a sample to be tested. They are also contacting my vet for info. I am going to keep some of the food so when they come back and say it was fine I can have it tested myself. My completely healthy dog gets deathly ill out of the blue for no reason, I don’t think so.