Recall of major brands of dog and cat food in Canada

Menu Foods, a major manufacturer of dog and cat foods in North America, announced a recall of 60 million containers of canned food or food in pouches sold between December 3 and March 6. Menu Foods manufactures pet foods for 17 of the top 20 North American retailers. Kroger, Safeway, Wal-Mart, and Petsmart store brands are involved in the recall. Iams, Eukanuba, Hill's Science Diet, and some Purina brands are participating in a voluntary recall as well.

Pets eating food with the involved lot numbers may be at risk for illness. There have been several reports of acute renal failure (kidney failure) in both cats and dogs. Signs of renal failure include loss of appetite, vomiting, and lethargy. These animals may also have an increased thirst and urinate more than normal. As of today (March 19, 2007) no cause for the kidney disease has been determined.

If your animal has been eating one of the recalled foods we recommend that you have your pet screened for kidney problems. This requires a blood and urine sample. You should screen your pet even if your pet is not currently showing symptoms. Have your pet checked if your pet is showing any of the following symptoms: lethargy, drinking excessively, urinating excessively, vomiting, not eating.

What YOU should do:

1. Check the pet food that you have been feeding your cats and dogs and check the lot numbers against the information provided here.

2. Call us immediately if your pet has been eating any of the recalled foods. Call us immediately if your pet has any of the symptoms listed above, whether s/he has been eating the recalled foods or not.

3. For the moment, stop feeding any non-prescription brand of pouched food. We still do not know what the problem is with these foods, and the list of affected brands has continued to grow since the original recall. DO NOT BE CONCERNED about feeding Medi-Cal/Royal Canin Renal LP in pouches. This food is NOT affected by the recall.

4. If you have been feeding one of the brands affected by the recall, but not one of the recalled batches, stop feeding the food anyway. Why? Because more batches may be added to the recall. Change to a dry food temporarily, or a canned food brand unaffected by the recall. Royal Canin and Medi-Cal are not affected by the recall and are a good choice. DO NOT THROW OUT YOUR CANS. If your pet develops signs of problems, we will need documentation of the brand and batch numbers of the food.

5. If you are having trouble determining whether the food you are feeding is affected by the recall, contact us with the following information:

Brand name (Iams, Nutros, etc)
Type of food (Slices in Gravy, Dinner, Pate, Chunks in Gravy, etc)
Lot number, serial number from the bottom of the can or the pouch

We will try to determine whether you have a need to be worried.


Further Information:

FDA Press Release

List of recalled foods with lot numbers from Menu Foods (PDF documents)
List of recalled cat food brands can be found here (click on a brand for more information)
List of recalled dog food brands can be found here (click on a brand for more information)

IAMs Press Release
List of recalled Iams products here
Directions to read Iams cans for numbers: To read can product codes, refer to the bottom of the can. The first four numbers of the second line of numbers are the date code, and the following four numbers indicate the plant code. For example, if the second line begins with four numbers from 6339 to 7073 followed by the plant code 4197, then the can should be recalled. For foil pouches, the code numbers are located at the lower left hand corner on the back of the pouch. The date and plant codes appear in the third group of numbers, beginning an 11-digit sequence.

Purina Press Release

Hill's Pet Foods Press Release
List of recalled Hill's products here   UPDATE - none of the affected Hill's product entered Canada.

Comprehensive website put together by a concerned pet owner. Contains comprehensive list of brands affected.

Added March 20/07: Cat food brands NOT AFFECTED by the recall: