On New Year’s Eve in 2016, Nikki Mael’s life drastically changed forever. Within minutes of giving her five dogs a can of Evanger’s pet food, she had to race one of them to the emergency vet.
The vet couldn’t explain why her pets were falling over, running into the walls, convulsing or lifeless, as was the case with Talula, but hours later the vet told her Talula wasn’t going to make it.
The family sent the remainder of the food to a specialized lab and took Talulah’s body to a veterinary pathologist for a postmortem. The results? Poison. But not just any poison, it was the lethal drug pentobarbital.
The drug, most commonly used to euthanize dogs, cats and some horses is a deadly toxin that is NEVER PERMITTED TO kill animals that are part of the food supply. In fact, it’s a violation of federal law. But according to pet food consumer advocate Susan Thixton, no one is watching out for our pets:
“Pet food violates federal law, is openly allowed by the FDA to violate federal law, billion dollar a year companies are making profit selling illegal adulterated products to unknowing consumers in the U.S. every day.”1
And the thing about those adulterated ingredients (defined partly as: “an animal which has died otherwise than by slaughter”2) that are illegal in all human and animal food, is that the FDA is willingly violating the law, “pet food consisting of material from diseased animals or animals which have died otherwise than by slaughter, which is in violation of 402(a)(5) …will be considered fit for animal consumption.”3
Essentially, just as Thixton said, the FDA just tells the industry “Sure, it’s illegal but go ahead, we won’t do a thing” (when WJLA asked the FDA to explain they declined). Those illegal adulterated ingredients are coming from the carcasses of dogs, cats, and horses from farms, animal shelters, and other facilities and then blended into our pets food.
But again, under federal law, these are adulterated ingredients and therefore ILLEGAL.
After finding out about the Mael family tragedy, WJLA tested 62 samples of wet dog food, in more than two-dozen brands, for pentobarbital and after months of tests and re-tests, one brand repeatedly came back positive for pentobarbital: Gravy Train.
Gravy Train is made by Big Heart Pet Foods and owned by Smucker’s. And Big Heart also makes Meow Mix, Milk Bone, Kibbles’n Bits, 9 Lives, Natural Balance, Pup-Peroni, Gravy Train, Nature’s Recipe, Canine Carry Outs, Milo’s Kitchen, Alley Cat, Jerky Treats, Meaty Bone, Pounce, and Snausages.4
When Smucker’s and the FDA were asked to answer a couple questions on what WJLA found, they both declined. Although Smucker’s did say they were looking into things.
If you’d like to contact the FDA, Smucker’s or Big Heart Brands regarding this issue, please call them at one of the numbers below:
FDA: 888-463-6332
Smucker’s: 888-550-9555
Big Heart Brands: 415-247-3000
If you are currently feeding your animal(s) one of the brands above it might be time to rethink that. But don’t worry, there are plenty of good options out there from brands who care about what the furry members of our families are eating.
