October 22, 2007
Please be aware that many Chicken Jerky treat brands that are manufactured in China have been making dogs very ill. To see this alert from the American Veterinarian Medical Association go to www.avma.org/ click on Pet Food Alert line and then click on Chicken Jerky Treat alert.) Our two adorable Cavalier King Charles puppies have been eating Smoke House Chicken Jerky treats from Petsmart on a daily basis. Which made them very ill and they have suffered with acute kidney failure. Our vet told us that our little ten month old will probably not even live a year. We have spent close to $8,000 to save our puppies. We of course are willing to go into debt if it will save our sweet puppy. We have written this email to make puppy lovers aware of this threat. You can still buy these treats from China in many stores including Petsmart and Costco. Those are the stores where we bought our puppies treats.
For more info, please read the following more detailed email.
Sincerely,
Barbara Fafard
My husband and I own two female King Charles Cavalier puppies. One is six months old and one is ten months old. They are the most precious little dogs.
We believe our puppies have become chronically ill from the chicken jerky treats that they have been eating on a regular basis. Our ten-month-old puppy is especially ill. Our vet, Dr Wu from Banfield Hospital believes because of this mysterious illness that has caused acute kidney failure, she will die within a year.
Please let me explain how all of this came about.
Before we brought our first puppy home on Feb. 13th 2007, we went to Petsmart in Newport Beach, Ca. to buy supplies and ask advise. One of their trainers helped point out what we should buy. One of the things that she suggested was the Chicken Jerky treats. She said that they were a healthy treat because they were 100% chicken breast.
So every night we would treat our new puppy Lacie, to two chicken jerkys as suggested on the package. We continued to buy them from Pets Mart and Costco (Costco was a different brand).
A couple weeks after we started giving our puppy Lacie, the jerky treats, she started having problems with diarrhea and was very finicky about eating, she also got dehydrated and had to be given fluids, and seemed lethargic. She remained very finicky, but other symptoms seemed to get better with treatment. So we thought the illness was due to the vaccines she was getting
On June 10th we picked up our second puppy Misty, from the airport. At that time she was 10 weeks old, three weeks later on July 7th our little Misty got very ill. Dr Wu thought at first that it was diabetes because of glucose in the urine. Test showed negative for diabetes.
The following week our other puppy Lacie became very ill with the same symptoms. She was then seven months old.
Dr Wu was perplexed, because she had never seen a puppy with kidney disease, let alone two puppies from different parents having it. So she consulted with other vets in the area, to no avail, they too had no idea what was causing our puppies illness. They shared with Dr. Wu that they knew of two other young dogs in our area, that were suffering with the same symptoms,
When our dogs got sick they refused to eat anything except the chicken jerky treats, which they got very excited about. In July, I asked Dr. Wu if it was okay to continue to give them these treats, and if she thought there was any chance that they were causing this illness. She had not heard anything about the chicken treats being bad for dogs, so she told us it was okay to continue to give them the chicken jerky. Three weeks ago, I asked the same question and our vet still thought they were okay to eat.
Throughout July and August Lacie and Misty continually got worse.
Two weeks ago, I went to Pets Mart to buy the Chicken Jerky treats and was told that the store pulled them off the shelves because of complaints from customers that they were making their dogs sick. Even one of the trainers at the store said her 70lb. dog got sick after eating them. Needless to say, I stopped giving them to Lacie and Misty immediately.
Our youngest puppy Misty still will not eat unless we hand feed her, but she is doing much better and has gained 2lbs. She now weights 10.3lbs.
Our little ten-month-old puppy Lacie has taken a turn for the worse. Last Wednesday we had new blood test done. Her test results were poor and it also showed that she is now anemic. This is when Dr. Wu said that Lacie had Chronic Kidney disease and she would be surprised if she lives a year.
Lacie will not eat anything unless it is forced down her throat. But she appears hungry. She will sniff at the food as if she is hungry, but refuses to eat it. When she got sick she weighed 9.4 lbs. She now weighs 8.1lbs. At this time Lacie appears gaunt and skinny.
My husband and I are devastated. We are empty nesters and these puppies are like our babies. They are wonderful loving dogs. And have brought so much love into our lives.
On Saturday, Dr. Wu alerted us about the AVMA article on Chicken Jerky treats of various brands from China. (To see this alert from the American Veterinarian Medical Association go to www.avma.org/ click on Pet Food Alert line and then click on Chicken Jerky Treat alert.)
We are sending you this email; because we believe the chicken jerky treats have caused our precious puppies illness.
We are afraid that our little Lacie will die from this. My husband and I have spent $8,000 in vet bills since our puppies got sick. But are willing to go into debt to save our precious puppies
We recently found out a beagle puppy in South Orange County that was gravely ill at the time our puppies became ill, had the same symptoms as our puppies and its owner said that she had been feeding their puppy the jerky treats and that she had gotten to a point that it was the only thing that she would eat. She too suffered from severe kidney damage.
Please forward this email to any puppy lover that you know of. Maybe it will prevent another dog and owner from going through the pain and torment that our puppies and we have gone through in the last three months.
What makes us so sad is that we went to Costco today, and they are still selling the chicken jerky treats.
If you know anyone who has a dog that has become very ill and has been eating these treats, could you please email me. I am in contact with a FDA inspector and she is trying to find out how many more dogs have become ill from ingesting these jerky treats.
If you need more information, please feel free to email us or call us at (949) 766-0140 or (949) 887-2574.
Thank you,
Barbara Fafard
Email: fafardre@sbcglobal.net
