More dogs sick as FDA steps up scrutiny of chicken jerky pet treats

[n2doc]

Government health officials have received more than 500 reports since November of illnesses in dogs who ate chicken jerky pet treats.

By JoNel Aleccia

Amid reports of more than 500 dogs sickened by chicken jerky pet treats imported from China, government health officials are ramping up border inspections for dangerous toxins.

Food and Drug Administration officials have begun collecting and testing chicken jerky treats upon import, analyzing samples for evidence of melamine and melamine analogs and diethylene glycol, chemicals used in plastics and resins, a spokeswoman said.

Melamine-tainted imported pet food sickened and killed thousands of dogs and cats in the U.S. in 2007, leading to massive recalls and criminal indictments of Chinese and American pet food executives.

So far, FDA officials have found no evidence of harmful levels of melamine or other substances in the chicken jerky treats, said spokeswoman Tamara Ward. But the agency has increased its surveillance of the products, even as repeated chemical and microbial tests have failed to reveal a source for illnesses that continue to mount.


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http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/10/10375637-more-dogs-sick-as-fda-steps-up-scrutiny-of-chicken-jerky-pet-treats

[kestrel91316]

1. Don't eat ANYTHING imported from China. And don't feed your pets anything

imported from China,either.

[Kablooie]

7. How do you know?

The dog snacks in question only indicate an American company.

There is nothing on the package indicating its from China.
Even researching on the Internet the company says nothing about buying materials from China.

I found one company that admitted the jerky came from China but only as a reply to a series of complaints. (and of course THEIR chicken jerky was safe, according to them.)

[kestrel91316]

8. Well, for one thing, I can READ:

".......Amid reports of more than 500 dogs sickened by chicken jerky pet treats imported from China......."

Based on this report, and the whole melamine/fake wheat gluten from China kerfuffle, that's my considered PROFESSIONAL advice: avoid feeding your pets anything from CHINA.

Your question, BTW, is nonsensical. How do I "know" what?? I rendered advice.

Remedial English might be in order.

[Kablooie]

15. The snacks said they were made in Torrance California ...

And they were sold in a high end pet food stores.

How would you know they were actually from China?

[DeschutesRiver]

10. You never can know for sure, which is why

I don't give anything like that to my dogs.

I give carrots, diced chicken, etc, or in the past, I've made my own liver treats - those freeze well, so I just make a big batch, put into small ziplocks and pull out as needed for "treats". They go wild over any of these homemade treats, and I know exactly who made them and what was put into them, which are ingredients that we'd eat ourselves.

Safer, costs less, and really not time consuming at all - about the same amount of time it would take to drive to the pet store, wait in line, and drive back home.

Note: two of my dogs had issues from their food back during the pet food recall in 2007, and so having lived through that, I am just on the cautious side now. And when I see how much they like their "not store bought" treats, I am glad to do it.

[Bozita]

2. Sent your post to my daughter. Here's her reply...

Omg -- billy bought a small but $25 bag of chicken jerky for mollie and she had mucous nonstop diahrrea for 2 days after just 2 treats. I told him I thought it was those treats because she never gets sick. Wow

[a la izquierda]

3. I only get treats made by a special ed class in one of the high schools...

failing that, I make them.

[Raine]

4. THANKS for posting this

I try to be really careful about the food. This shows you can never ever let your guard down.

[BattyDem]

5. Make your own. It's cheaper and safer.

I bought a food dehydrator. Making chicken jerky for my dog is easy. I roast boneless, skinless chicken breasts (the chicken has to be fully cooked before dehydrating it), then I slice it and dehydrate for a few hours. I do it once a month and freeze it in a vacuum-sealed bag. Each week, I take some out of the freezer and store it in an air-tight container. He LOVES it! I've also done sweet potatoes and some mixed veggie treats.

I started making dehydrated treats because he kept getting a rash and skin infections. He was already on a homemade diet because I didn't want to take any chances with contaminated dog food, so it was pretty easy to rule out his diet as a cause. I realized it seemed to flare up after certain "store-bought" treats and/or dog biscuits. Since I've been making his treats, the skin infections have disappeared! The only store-bought treats he gets are "Greenies" and an occasional rawhide bone or bully stick because they don't cause any problems for him.

If anyone's interested, I bought the Nesco FD-75PR 700-Watt Food Dehydrator and I love it!


Nesco also makes a "Pet Treat Maker" which is just a food dehydrator with pet-safe seasoning packets for jerky and treat recipes, but I don't use the seasoning packets (my dog has a sensitive stomach) and the manual with the recipes is available for download on their website. The standard dehydrator comes with jerky seasoning packets (not the pet-safe seasonings) and the manual has a few pet treat recipes, but the instructions and recipes are for fruits, veggies, meats, herbs, etc. For me, it made more sense to buy the standard dehydrator and download the Pet Treat Maker manual for the recipes.

[pacalo]

6. Thank you for this. Try ham, also. :)

[BattyDem]

12. I have to try other meats.

He goes crazy for the chicken so I haven't really bothered to try any other kinds of meat, but I want to. I think he would like a little variety.

[DeschutesRiver]

11. So glad you posted that!

As I mentioned above, I make my own dog treats, have since the pet food recall of 2007.

But I never thought about making them dehydrated treats - I have a Nesco dehydrater, and will try it for that purpose now. My dogs have always loved sweet potatoes, as I put them in the food I make for them, and I bet they'd just chow down on dehydrated sweet p treats. And same for the chicken - I just cook it now, dice and freeze it, but I could easily dehydrate it so that I could take it along on hiking trips.

Thanks!

[BattyDem]

13. No problem! :)

I bake dog biscuits, too. His faves are peanut butter and Martha Stewart's blueberry dog biscuits.

Since the recall, I've avoided all pet food. Treats were always a bit more difficult to replace. I made biscuits, but other stuff like jerky or meat-flavored treats were tougher to replace. Since treats are given in much smaller quantities than food, I figured he'd be okay as long as I took precautions: I avoided stuff from China and I was sure not to give him more than one treat a day or the same treat two days in a row. It wasn't until I realized that store-bought treats were causing his allergies and skin problems that I discovered the wonderful world of dehydrated pet treats!


Some advice on the sweet potatoes ... peel and slice a raw sweet potato. Boil the slices for about 2-3 minutes. You don't want them mushy, just slightly tender. Take them out of the pot and soak them in ice water to stop the cooking. Dry them and put them in the dehydrator. I've heard that if you don't boil them first, they turn black a couple of days after dehydrating. I honestly don't know if that's true or not - I got that info from a pet forum. Several people insisted they turn black if they aren't cooked before dehydration. Since they all seemed to know a lot about dehydrating food, I took their word for it.

[DeschutesRiver]

16. Thanks for that tip!

To be on the safe side, that is how I'll do the sweet potatoes, too - certainly can't hurt.

And thx for the recipe link - am always on the lookout for new biscuit recipes. The worst thing about the pet food recall is that until then, it had never occurred to me that I might be feeding my dogs something that could kill them. And so now I am as careful about what I feed them as I am about what I feed me

[RebelOne]

9. I have been feeding the Waggin Train brand

of chicken jerky sticks and the duck jerky treats for years. According to the package, they are manufactured in Anderson, South Carolina. My dogs have had no ill effects from these treats.

[UTUSN]

14. Better not be "Pup-peroni" - package says "DISTRIBUTED" (not "manufactured") by Del Monte, San F CA

The customer service line is not available till Monday.