A dog food company recalled its products, but these grieving pet owners say it's too late

[douglas9]

When Laura Freeman’s 4-year-old dog, Mocha, was diagnosed with gastroenteritis in late October, antibiotics and other medication didn’t help.

X-rays and blood tests indicated the dog was in good health, but Mocha wasn’t eating. About a week later, in hopes of increasing Mocha’s appetite, a veterinarian recommended Hill’s Pet Nutrition “Prescription Diet i/d dog food,” formulated to help dogs with digestive issues.

“This is gentle on their stomach and dogs normally like the taste of it,” Freeman recalled hearing from the veterinarian, who told her that things would be okay. Within days, the Texas woman said Mocha’s condition rapidly deteriorated without explanation. The dog became lethargic, threw up bile, drooled incessantly and had diarrhea. An overnight stay at the vet turned into a trip to an animal hospital for even more testing as doctors scrambled to figure out what was wrong.

On Nov. 9, Freeman got a 12:45 a.m. call from the animal hospital — Mocha had suffered a fatal heart attack, and the vet couldn’t provide an explanation for her death. Freeman learned later, however, that the canned dog food prescribed by the veterinarian was included in a voluntary recall by its manufacturer because of excessive levels of vitamin D.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/02/05/dog-food-company-recalled-its-products-these-grieving-pet-owners-say-its-too-late/?tid=pm_national_pop

[Sancho]

1. Thank you! We may have this problem...

...one of our dogs was put on ID and was throwing up, and would not eat. Been to the vet a couple times. We have stopped this food, and will talk to the vet today.

[democratisphere]

2. Hill's prescription dog foods can not be trusted. How does this kind of thing happen?

[samnsara]

3. i had my vet offer this to my dog as well when we discussed pooping issues...

….I remember trying to feed it to my cats and they hated it.....and its expensive. I told her I would keep my little dog on his turkey and rice diet. Now that I think of it there was a huge donation of this to the food bank. I unloaded it when I was volunteering there last week. I hope they are up on recalls.

[billcantdeal]

4. My dogs only eat food I make for years

Because of all the recalls and deaths from tainted dog food, I turned to making all their food myself. I get big packages of bone in, skin on chicken thighs, bake then boil them. About 8 lbs before removing the bones. With that, I mix in 1.5 - 2 lbs pasta and 1.5 - 2 lbs mixed frozen veggies. They've been on that diet for years, are healthy and love it. It costs about as much as manufactured dog food and requires more work but I think it's more than worth it.

[exboyfil]

5. I notice they said their supplier would be more careful in the future

Begs the question why did they keep this supplier?

[atreides1]

6. Why????

I'll give you a hint:

$$$$$$$$$$$

That's why!

[Sucha NastyWoman]

7. And at the bottom of the page

There are links to two other stories about Whole Foods baby spinach and Jenny-O turkey being recalled because of salmonella

[iscooterliberally]

8. When my dogs have digestive issues I use a brand called Wellness.

I usually get the lamb canned dog food. I used to use the Science Diet prescription food years ago at my old vet's office. I didn't realize you needed a prescription for dog food until I tried to buy it in a PetsMart once. I went to a small mom and pop pet store (remember those?) and the owner told me about Wellness. He said it was a great non prescription alternative and now that's my go to food for when they get upset tummies. It's really expensive though, so I don't feed it to them all the time. They do love it when they don't feel good and turn their noses up at their regular food. It's great for when you have to give them medicine. It's an easy way to sneak it right past them.