Possible Salmonella Contamination in Pedigree Chicken & Rice Canned Dog Food

[walk_the_walk]

Our wonderful Golden Retriever, Buddy, is currently being hospitalized at the vet's office, where he has been all weekend long, for salmonella poisoning. He got really ill on Friday morning with diarrhea, followed by constant rounds of vomiting, and we rushed him to the vet when it did not clear up - which may have saved his life.

Buddy is stable now, but continues to suffer from bloody stools. His entire small intestine was inflamed on the X-ray, and he did not test positive for any other parasites, such as Giardia, after multiple tests, or for Parvo. Instead, the vet suspects salmonella, and the most likely cause is pet food contamination.

Here’s where it gets interesting:

This past week, we had just started giving Buddy Pedigree Chicken & Rice canned dog food, which we had not used before (OK, don’t lecture me – I should have known better than to feed him that cheap dog food in the first place), which we just bought at our local supermarket. We learned yesterday that the Mars company, which makes Pedigree, has had other recent recalls of their dry dog food and cat food for salmonella contamination. So, we are wondering if the problem we had is related.

(See: Mars Extends Pet Food Recall - Mars Extends Pet Food Recall )

To be clear, Buddy was on this new canned pet food for about one week straight. Buddy ate this food 6-7 times (6-7 days) before he fell ill.

Also, we were surprised to learn that HUMANS can get Salmonellosis from handling pet food that is contaminated, unless you wash your hands in warm water after handling your pet’s food (as we did, thankfully).

We have found a huge number of postings online about Pedigree canned and dry dog food and cat food online and these postings allege that many pets are being sickened by this brand of food.

You can read more here: Update: Recall of Dry Dog and Cat Food Products Associated with Human Salmonella Schwarzengrund Infections --- United States, 2008 .

I am posting this in case anyone else has encountered any problems with this product. But to be fair, this particular Pedigree product is NOT part of any salmonella recall at this time.

Also, I could use any info on labs that will test dog foods for salmonella contamination.

Last, but not least, I am at a loss as to which dog food to buy for this 3.5 year old dog. Most of it seems to be pure crap. I would welcome suggestions on some good dry dog food to use going forward.

Thanks to one and all.

[rannmiller]

I'm sorry about what happened to Buddy, poor guy!

You're right though, Pedigree is cheap junk food and Rachel Ray's food is still pretty much garbage as well. If you must feed kibble, try sticking with the higher quality ones like Innova [Evo], Orijen, Wellness [Core], Blue Buffalo [Wilderness], and maybe Timberwolf too. The ones in brackets are that company's grain-free version of kibble that's a bit higher quality than their regular feeds.

Oh and sorry but I don't know of any labs that test dog food for salmonella, have you tried contacting Pedigree? Sometimes they'll claim that they'll send you a container to send the potentially contaminated food to them for testing. I think you'd be better off finding your own lab though, then maybe you could sue instead of them disposing of the evidence! Please sue Pedigree, that would make me so happy

[walk_the_walk]

Thanks for the support and the info, Rannmiller. Can you tell me if the brands of dog food you are mentioning are available at Petsmart or Petco? Or do I need to visit a specialty dog food shop like the local natural pet food store (which is probably a better place to shop in the first place), or do you buy it online someplace?

After reading about all the recalls and hearing of new salmonella recalls with each passing day (a friend who works in specialty grocery distribution was telling me of a new recall just yesterday), I am quite worried about what to feed Buddy. I certainly don't want to repeat this process.

I hope others will get concerned about this, too. It seems that there is little to no regulation by the FDA on pet food and it is coming back to haunt us now. If we knew the crap that standard brands of pet food was made out of, we would all be horrified. After all, we would never feed our dog chicken beaks or dead cow or pig or chicken carcasses, or renderings from them, but this is where the meat and meat byproducts come from for most dog food. It' s disgusting...

[Postal]

Thanks for the support and the info, Rannmiller. Can you tell me if the brands of dog food you are mentioning are available at Petsmart or Petco? Or do I need to visit a specialty dog food shop like the local natural pet food store (which is probably a better place to shop in the first place), or do you buy it online someplace?

Innova Evo and Orijen I have only found online. Wellness and Blue Buffalo are both sold at Petco. Unfortuneately, Petco doesn't sell Wilderness (or I have yet to find it there), but Petsmart does. So If you want Wellness Core, it's at Petco.. If you want Blue Buffalo Wilderness, it's at Petsmart

[RawFedDogs]

Our wonderful Golden Retriever, Buddy, is currently being hospitalized at the vet's office, where he has been all weekend long, for salmonella poisoning.

I am very soory aobut your pup. It's really rough to have to go through smething like this. However you have written some pretty long posts detailing how your pup has salmonella when you don't even know for sure what his problem is. Your vet made a GUESS that it MAY be salmonella based solely on the fact that he doesn't have a couple of other things.

It is VERY VERY rare for a puppy or dog to get salmonella poisoning. How old is your pup? Has he been checked for Parvo? The symptoms you describe sound very much like Parvo symptoms. To me, they sound more like Parvo symptoms than salmonella symptoms. Has he recently been vaccinated against Parvo? Sometimes the vaccination itself will cause the disease.

You have made some serious accuzations that a dog food caused your dog to get salmonella when in fact you have no proof that your dog actually has salmonella and if he does that he got it from the food. Far be it from me to take up for dog food companies. I don't like them at all. I wish they would all go out of business but I don't like charges with weak back up made against anyone or any company.

I hope you have tests run to confirm exactly what he has. I hope he recovers completely and quickly. Good luck. Welcome to the board.

[rockymtsweetie82]

I agree, they sound more like Parvo. Maybe you could get a second opinion really quick to get your buddy the fastest treatment. Good luck!

[walk_the_walk]

Dear Rawfeed and Rockymt:

Appreciate your feedback, which is why these forums are so invaluable.

Now, I am not a vet, but can share that it is not Parvo. This dog is not a puppy, is almost four years old (see pic in profile) and has had vaccinations for Parvo, plus they checked for that at the vet's office, and even isolated him on arrival, just to be sure.

Many illnesses have similar symptoms. But, the vet seems convinced that it was salmonellosis, not parvo, and not giardia. And, we did change foods to the brand I described only one week prior. Coincidence? Maybe, but this same company has had two recalls for contaminated food products, so judge for yourself.

Still, I appreciate your comments. Buddy is back home now, is on CIPRO and Fast Balance GI, but is still pretty puny. Hopefully, he will be back to his old self in a few days.

Meanwhile, vet's offices are getting lots of notices of salmonella problems, so people need to be on the lookout.

Finally, I did ask if anyone knows a trustyworthy lab I can send samples to. I do have samples and date codes.

[Postal]

Here you go, walk the walk. Lots of tips, advice, links and labs for animal food testing.

Pet Food Products Safety Alliance

[ChattyCathy]

I'm so sorry about your dog. Don't know of any canned foods that are good for your dog as I don't feed canned food I feed usually just kibble.

[Postal]

I think Natural Balance has some pretty good canned food if you want to stick with that. They also have the "deli rolls" that a lot of kibble haters prefer. Look into that