[bundy]

hello, sorry for this being so long but i thought the details were important

Mycotoxins in Dog food ? Craig W Dec 2009


On a Sunday evening in July 2009, I was using my computer and my dog, Bundy (a 5 year old Samoyed), came in shaking his head (he had left my room approximately 15 mins earlier). I thought he was bringing me the ball because he wanted to play. He was also pawing at his mouth, so I thought he must have something stuck in his mouth. I had a look but couldn’t see anything. I knew something was seriously wrong so I jumped in the car and raced to the nearest 24 hour vet as fast as I could with Bundy in the back, still acting strangely with his head. Luckily, the roads were empty and there was no one waiting at the vet. As we were led into the examination room, Bundy collapsed on the floor and was trembling all over. I then had to go back to the waiting room while they attended to him in the back. After a wait, I was led to the back where Bundy was in a cage and flailing about uncontrollably, which was very distressing for both him and me. I understand the vet gave him a shot of pentobarbital to knock him out. After another wait, I eventually went home but, obviously, I couldn’t sleep.

The next day, when I visited him, he was lying on a bed with lots of tubes and machines attached. He was unconscious but his paws and face were still twitching. It was tearing me apart to see him like that but I stayed for a few hours and held his paw, because I didn’t think he was going to make it. I don’t think the vets were very optimistic either because he was developing asperatic pneumonia.

I visited him every day and stayed for a few hours but I realised that the nurses have other animals to look after and duties to perform so I didn’t want to get in their way by staying longer. The vets and nurses that treated him gave him the best of care and I’m very grateful.

He remained unconscious for 3 or 4 days which, I’m told, is not usual but not unheard of either. The vets there treated him with a cocktail of drugs to try to control his twitching. They recommended sending him to a specialist centre so, after about 5 days, I drove him in the back of my car. He was still unconscious so a vet nurse sat with him, assisting with the oxygen.

The vets at the specialist centre ran a multitude of generalised tests including MRI and spinal taps but the results were inconclusive. After a day or so, he started to come around, semi conscious, but still twitching. The next day I visited, he was finally awake and when he saw me he started to whine with all the energy his weak body could muster, he could barely move but he still wanted to lick me and it became very emotional for both of us. Within a week, he got more responsive and stronger every day and was then allowed home.

As Bundy is 5 years old, epileptic fits were a possibility but I’m told that they do not last for 3+ days and the MRI brain scan ruled out a brain tumour.
The vets that treated him thought it was likely he had come into contact with a toxin that acted on his nervous system. I wracked my brains as to what that could be as I wanted answers. The day of the episode, we went for a walk (on lead) at about 5 pm then he was shut inside the house and had his food about 6pm. There was no access to the garden and there are no chemicals around the house.

The previous day, I had put a new tick collar on him and noticed a very strong smell coming from it. I assumed that this must be the cause of Bundy’s condition so I didn’t put another back on him.

When he was back home, I was feeding him brand new packets of his usual dry dog food that he likes and has had for years but, before the first episode, I had bought a different brand of food just for a change and added this to his usual food; one that he had never had before (not sure if I can say the brand name, for legal reasons, but possibly the biggest and most popular brand and the name is something to do with a dog’s heritage).
Anyway, after a few weeks of feeding him brand new usual food strait out of the packet, I went back to adding some of his previous food on top. Within that week, he had a serious case of diahorreoa but I thought that could just be down to the drugs he was on.
A few days later (coincidentally, again on a Sunday night and about 2 hours later in the evening than the first episode), I noticed Bundy looking at me strangely and his legs were shaking. I immediately knew what was wrong and I drove him down to the specialist centre where he was again in intensive care for a week or so.

He came home very weak but, today, over six months later he is fit and healthy apart from his legs sometimes shaking when he stands. Obviously, there appears to be some residual nerve damage.
The vets at the specialist centre ran more tests the second time but still nothing was remarkable.
The four different vets that treated him between the two veterinary clinics and both episodes suspected intoxication by organophosphates, metaldehyde,(slug bait) or mycotoxins.
It was after this second occurrence that I realised that this new brand of dog food was the only common factor in both these cases. Perhaps it was contaminated?

I contacted the company that makes the dog food and arranged for an approximate 1kg sample to be sent off (but unfortunately I didn’t have the bag and batch code). The sample I sent did have small amounts of Bundy’s usual dog food mixed in (other brand). I sent it like this because this new food was added on top of his old food in a container and I wanted to know if they would even notice or just throw it away but, surprisingly, they did notice. I think, because of this, they did not run any tests.

A guy qualified in veterinary science, and who works for the dog food company, dealing with complaints of this nature, sent me a letter saying he had contacted my vet and discussed the causes of ‘tremorgens’ (a group of mycotoxins). These have been associated with Blue cheese, walnuts and compost as well as others and it was unlikely that their product was responsible.
Fortunately, Bundy has not been fed or been near those stated substances.
When I leave the house Bundy stays inside and he is always walked on a lead,, he only goes into the garden if I go into the garden and the last time I saw a slug was about 10 years ago so he has very little chance of ever coming across something I don’t know about.

After a few weeks, I contacted the company’s vet again for the results of the test. I understand the tests didn’t show up anything abnormal.
I wasn’t surprised at the company’s response because no company is ever going to test their own product and say something is wrong with it.
He suggested that it was just one of those unexplained things, which I would have believed for the first episode but it is too coincidental for the second.
I got a bit annoyed with this guy because the way he dismissed my reasoning seemed arrogant.
He said that because they hadn’t had any other complaints, there was obviously nothing wrong with the batch and he also said that was the end of the matter and there was nothing else they would do.

Not being content with this dismissal, I contacted a more senior person at the company and spoke to a technical director and arranged for another sample to be tested (I only had a handful left).
He said it would be sent to Hong Kong, would take about 6 weeks and would cost a bit of money.
While I was waiting for these tests to be performed, I decided to conduct my own research into probable causes (something I should have done earlier) and discovered a few scientific papers freely available on the internet about Mycotoxins affecting dogs.
Roughly speaking, Mycotoxins are a group of toxins that form as a result of mould on numerous organic sources and can be deadly to both humans and animals. They can be found in both cereals and dry dog food; a fact which was omitted from the letter I was sent.
Either the veterinary guy dealing with my complaint has limited knowledge of these potential killers (for someone in his position, this seems very remiss) or he was fully aware of the potential problems but decided to keep quiet so as not to open a can of worms.

continued in part 2

[CorkyMax]

This is one of the many reasons my dogs will never get commercial dog food!!! To me it is like feeding poison! And after 10 or more years of them eating human grade food (raw fed and a little home cooking) I couldn't get them to eat it if I wanted them to, which I certainly DON"T anyhow!! They instinctively know there is no nutrition there let alone all the toxic crap mostly because of moldy grains, etc. and sometimes many different strains of salmonella. --Diseased, dying animals, euthenized pets with the poison injected in them still there and all the non-edible for humans leftovers from food manufacturing. And I assume all the nonfit 'crap' the greedy dog food companies can add and get away with!!! I for the life of me, don't understand how anyone who knows what is in this 'crap' can even feed it to their dogs--unless plain ignorant or want to bury their head in the sand and ignore the facts (Yes, I said FACTS!!!--They are out there!---And so is the untruthful, slick advertising these greedy dog food companies spew! Ignoring the FACTS because it is too much trouble to feed the dogs right or can't afford to do it right!! To be very blunt here----If you can't feed the dog right--give proper nutrition---You shouldn't have a dog!!!! Would you feed your 'human' kids this way!! A dog needs to be raised HEALTHY!!!!! too!!

How many dogs are not as lucky as your dog (above post) and had problems the vets couldn't figure out what was wrong --and the dog died without ever knowing it died from poisonous commercial dog food!! I will bet there are a lot! I've been in this forum over a year now and I wouldn't be surprised from some of the posts asking What is wrong with my dog that this could be/been the answer and the dog died without knowing why!

[bundy]

here is part 2 continued - i couldnt post it all in one go

I did provide an email link to all of the papers (listed below) but it would appear that neither of the people I have been in contact with has read them, as they have subsequently provided no comment.

A number of the cases reported in the papers show clinical symptoms which are nearly identical to Bundy’s condition and, when biological samples from the dogs were analysed, Roquefortine and Penitrem A were detected and suspected as the probable cause.

A few weeks later, I received in the post the results of the sample testing (it had been sent to a lab in Victoria, not Hong Kong). Only four tests were performed: two types of mycotoxin, namely Aflatoxin B1 and Patulin, and also lead and permethrin.

I consider this test to be irrelevant and inconclusive due to the fact the very small sample size was statistically insignificant and they failed to test for any of the mycotoxins that are linked to tremors in dogs.(apparently there are over 30 known)

The dog food company’s sole defence was based around the fact that they apparently hadn’t received complaints of a similar nature and that their quality control is of a very high standard, and perhaps it was the other brand of dog food that caused it?

Addressing this statement, my research has indicated that detection and confirmation of mycotoxin poisoning has been grossly under diagnosed and, as far as I am aware, the specialist centre that treated Bundy did not test for this possibility. (I’m not even sure there is a commercial laboratory in Australia that tests for most of the different types).

In my case, it was only after the second episode that I realised that this brand of dog food was the only common factor that was likely to be responsible and it is possible that many dogs that have a single episode of unexplained acute toxicoses unfortunately die or have to be euthanized due to excessive trauma, poor prognosis and/or lack of financial resources so a confirmed diagnosis and connection to the dog food is not made and hence it is not reported back to the company.

While I’m confident that their quality control is of a high standard, it is unlikely that it is one hundred percent reliable and variations in the materials and process can be expected in any product.

After doing my research I discovered a Uni in the USA (Iowa State) that specialises in veterinary medicine and also test for the two mycotoxins I’m interested in, namely Roquefortine and Penitrem A, so I sent a 1kg sample of his other brand to be tested at my own expense, the test came back negative so I can be fairly confident that it wasn’t the other brand to blame which I believed was the case anyway. THIS IS WHAT THE COMPANY SHOULD HAVE TESTED FOR!

This whole incident has caused me a great deal of stress, and some days I couldn’t eat or sleep properly.

I feel that the company didn’t take my claims seriously and underestimated two important factors:

1. When I think I am right, I don’t give in.
2. I won’t let anyone hurt my dog and get away with it.

I spent most of my college fund on Bundy’s vet bills and, as he means everything in the world to me, I will do whatever it takes to protect and look after him.

I am convinced that this brand is responsible and I want them to reimburse my vet bills and make it up to Bundy somehow but I realise that posting this statement and contacting the media in other ways will effectively put an end to any chances of financial restitution. However, I will take some comfort in the hope that this might provide an explanation and quicker diagnosis to future apparent toxic poisonings.

I also feel I have been very fair and patient with the company in question and gave them every opportunity to do the right thing but, at every stage, they have seemed intent on absolving themselves from any responsibility. I can only conclude that from the irrelevant sample tests that either the company is grossly incompetent or they deliberately tried to mislead me.
If my dog had died as a result of this, I would probably be standing outside the company’s headquarters with a placard saying that their food was responsible for poisoning my dog.

My advice would be that, if your dog exhibits any acute tremors or seizure symptoms, like Bundy had, then get the vet to check for Mycotoxins (though this might be difficult in some countries) and to keep the dog food bags for future evidence if need be.

If anyone cannot work out the name of the company please mail me and I will provide it, I am also considering legal advice as to whether I can name it publically.

As Bundy is a Samoyed and they are not common here, perhaps he could be more genetically pre-disposed to toxins that other breeds?
If anyone has had a similar experience or can offer a different explanation, I would welcome a response.

References;

wont let me post references or a pic!

[bundy]

I decided to contact consumer affairs and they passed me onto the Pet Food Industry Association of Australia (P.F.I.A .A) and spoke to the executive manager. I provided him with Bundy’s history and my concerns and he contacted the company and said he was satisfied with their response.
It was only after I explored their website that I read their Statement of Purpose
#1 “To promote the prepared pet food industry in general and the interests of the members of the association.”
So this guy had a conflict of interest to do anything about it as I understand the association is funded by its members.

A few days later I contacted the company again and put a few questions to the guy I spoke to many times before (manager, veterinary services).
I asked him, how many people have to complain about a product before they admit responsibility.
Unsurprisingly he failed to specifically answer
I also asked why he failed to test for Tremorgenic Mycotoxins in the samples I provided.
His response was that they only had a small sample and they wanted to test for as wide range as possible? (a wide range of the toxins that don’t cause tremors?)
When I pointed out that I had spoken to and expert and had the other brand properly tested for tremorgenic mycotoxins he didn’t want to know and said it was irrelevant and rudely concluded our conversation.
Thanks to other forum members I can see that in other countries they have had serious problems with contamination of their dog food products with salmonella and melamine. where is the quality assurance there? Anyone would have to be crazy to feed their dog this companies products.
Anyone with more than half a brain would conclude that the dog food is responsible and the company has done nothing to prove otherwise.

[Lunareclipse]

My dog, Luna has genetic epilepsy. It is a common ailment in saint bernards. But I have found that a certain brand of dog food does trigger seizures. I had to go out of town for far a while and I was going to get dog food on the way back. It took longer than I expected and the store was closed where we get her dog food. So I stopped off at Wal-Mart and bought some there. For the next two days she had cluster seizures that no medicine seemed to help, even though we went and bought her her regular brand. I did contact the dog food company and they said that the seizures could be caused from anything. I swear these companies care more about money than they do our pets. I can understand what you went through. I cannot stress stongly enough about buying cheap store-brand dog food for your dog. I should have bought some raw turkey wings and necks and went back the very next day to get her kibble.

[bundy]

i doubt its cluster seisures as dog has been fine for upto 5 years then 2 episodes withing a month then fine for nearly 7 months later
the seisures were also accompanied by the tremoring that lasted for a week

the food in question is dry dog food brought in 3 kgs packets its a middle of the range product
he currently has a top of the range dry product but he doesnt like it much

[CorkyMax]

Originally Posted by bundy

the food in question is dry dog food brought in 3 kgs packets its a middle of the range product
he currently has a top of the range dry product but he doesnt like it much

When he was back home, I was feeding him brand new packets of his usual dry dog food that he likes and has had for years but, before the first episode, I had bought a different brand of food just for a change and added this to his usual food; one that he had never had before (not sure if I can say the brand name, for legal reasons, but possibly the biggest and most popular brand and the name is something to do with a dog’s heritage).[/quote]

You must be talking about the brand--Pedigree! I have never used this or any other brand of commercial dog food except for Puppy Chow when I 1st got my pup and didn't know any better. I have been feeding home cooking and also raw for the past 11 yrs or so!

[bundy]

Corky,

I have taken legal advice and i cannot comfirm or deny the brand from risk of a deformation lawsuit except to say that i will not be feeding my dog that particular brand

when a big multinational company does something wrong there really is very little you can do except for tell other people in the hope that they will no longer buy their products

while bundy now has top of the range dry food, this is only his base food as he gets some of mine most of the time and he gets steak quite often (he has his own 0.5kg one at christmas)

[bundy]

A few weeks ago there was a national million paws walk and i thought it would be a great opportunity to meet other dog owners.

but before i went i had a t shirt made up with a altered version of the nasty dog food companies rosette logo and i told anyone that was interested in it bundys story ( i took along a pic of him unconcious at the vets too for more impact)

unfortunately the brand in question did not sponsor the event and had no stall there (i was going to stand outside and put their customers off)
but another brand that makes much better food had a stall and was very interested in my t shirt and took a photo of it.

im sure i can get some more use out of my t shirt in future.

I even put someone off buying their food in the supermarket the other week

[Todd]

Originally Posted by bundy

A few weeks ago there was a national million paws walk and i thought it would be a great opportunity to meet other dog owners.

but before i went i had a t shirt made up with a altered version of the nasty dog food companies rosette logo and i told anyone that was interested in it bundys story ( i took along a pic of him unconcious at the vets too for more impact)

unfortunately the brand in question did not sponsor the event and had no stall there (i was going to stand outside and put their customers off)
but another brand that makes much better food had a stall and was very interested in my t shirt and took a photo of it.

im sure i can get some more use out of my t shirt in future.

I even put someone off buying their food in the supermarket the other week

Good for you!

I believe these pet food companies are in it all for the money too. At least all the ones you see on T.V. and sold in random supermarkets. There are so many crappy contents in these foods I am not surprised in the very least that these mycotoxins in dog foods are causing these problems. Anywhere you can purchase of view these T-Shirts of yours? Sounds very interesting.

Luna, was the food you bough at Walmart 'Ole Roy by chance? It is a very common Walmart brand and I know someone who feeds his dog this and she suffers from epilepsy (vertigo).

[bundy]

yes you are right, the company makes a big deal on its ads and website about caring for your dog, but really its only just in it for the money! it certainly didnt care about my dog!


there is no view of me wearing the t shirt (other than what the company took) but i have the jpeg and Psd file that was blown up to a4 size for the t- shirt that i can send you if you want to further play around with it,

send me a message that should work?
and anyone else that wants it can have a copy too?

its funny - the company in question thought they would tell me a load of bullshit, i would accept that or get bored and go away - WRONG!

[gambler-girl]

If it is pedigree then I am not that surprised. I think about 5 years ago they added a new shape of kibble, squares I think, then lots of dogs got diarrea and others would not eat it.... I would reallly like to know what they are doing about quality control there?

GG