Article reprinted with permission by Christie Keith, http://budurl.com/ebq2
The Veterinary Information Network (VIN) News Service reported last week that a serious illness in Ainu dogs as well as other dogs may be linked to the food they’ve been eating:
In message board discussions, veterinarians have revealed cases of hypercalcemia secondary to vitamin D toxicosis occurring in dogs that eat a single brand of dry pet food: Blue Buffalo Wilderness Diet, chicken flavor. In each of the cases, veterinarians report that dogs’ conditions have improved after switching brands.
So far, nothing concrete has identified a causal relationship between the food and illnesses in dogs. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), while reportedly alerted to adverse events tied to the food, has not prompted a recall, though the VIN News Service has been unable to reach officials with the regulatory agency directly.
Officials with Wilton, Conn.-based Blue Buffalo report that “tens of thousands of dollars” and hundreds of hours have been spent analyzing various batches of dog food, including samples from bags directly linked to specific cases of Ainu dogs testing positive for hypercalcemia and vitamin D toxicity.
Richard MacLean, vice president of business affairs, says one thing is certain: Test results thus far have shown nothing unusual about the product’s formulation; amounts of calcium and vitamin D, in particular, are within the company’s specifications and well below levels that might be considered toxic.
The company’s focus has been on Blue Buffalo Wilderness Chicken Recipe, manufactured in April 2010 with a best-used-by date of July 2011. Vitamin D toxicity, or hypervitaminosis D, induces bone loss and abnormally high serum calcium levels, which could result in kidney stones and the calcification of organs like the heart and kidneys if left untreated.
As detective stories go, this is a pretty intriguing one. Veterinarians have been putting the pieces together — one vet’s own dog was among those affected.
Blue Buffalo is paying for diagnostic tests on the sick Ainu dogs and other dogs as well as agressively testing the food, for which they’re to be commended. Still, I’d like to see a pre-emptive recall even before the tests are done.
By Christie Keith, http://budurl.com/ebq2
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[...] Blue Buffalo Dog Food May Be Linked To Serious Illness! The Veterinary Information Network (VIN) News Service reported last week that a serious illness in dogs may be linked to the food they’ve been eating. Sorry we know this isn’t strictly cat related, but since the company also makes cat food we wanted to give our cat friends a heads up. They don’t know what is wrong with the food, even after testing it. So at this point we would avoid the brand altogether just to be safe. We also know some of our cat friends have woofies too (like us) so we knew they would want to know. ~Artemis, Fenris, Socks & Scylla ( Fanks so much fur letting us know. Lots of us haf woofies so we like to know about food that affects them, plus iffen them makes cat food, we want to know too. Love & Purrs, KC ) [...]
Hello: I’ve had my miniature schnauzer on Blue Buffalo Dog food for about a year. Today she had surgery for bladder stones. The vet said he has never seen so many bladder stones in a dog. I know it was the food. Do I have any recourse? What do you suggest and how can I get the word out to others. I saw a recall on the Wilderness brand of Blue Buffalo but she wasn’t on that one ever.
Hi Tamara,
I am so sorry to hear about your puppy. Without working with you and your dog directly, I can’t know how best to advise you on the specifics of what’s going wrong. The food is a contributing factor for sure, as is water. But in every dog I’ve worked with on this issue, it’s not the only problem.
For instance, kidney and bladder issues have a lot to do with fear, difficulty coping with stress, resentments, frustrations, among other things. And remember that your dog also mirrors you and is reacting to the stress in your life also.
So, changing the food will help. But you also have to connect the dots with all the other unknown factors as well for a full resolution.
I recommend listening to my interview with Dr Richard Pitcairn and also Dr Arthur Young (search the Dr Doolittle podcast category to find them). That will help get you started.
And when you’re ready, apply for a Complimentary Happy Animal Assessment Session so we can discuss what’s going on and how to resolve this in minutes, not years!
Hugs,
Val