Deadly Dog Treats From China

In a striking piece of corporate theater, the owner of a Chinese dog treat factory ate one of his own treats to prove how safe they are. But maybe he shouldn’t have? The FDA has been investigating Chinese-made dog jerky since 2007, when they first received reports of canine gastrointestinal and liver disease, kidney and urinary disease, and Fanconi syndrome (typically quite obscure).

The dog treats in question are branded as jerky and typically contain chicken, duck and sweet potato. Particular brand names have not been singled out — essentially we’re told to just avoid China-sourced jerky. This can be tricky, as global ingredient tracking is often opaque; products labeled “Made in the USA” may contain foreign additives.

They’ve performed a battery of assessments on the treats, including analysis for rodenticide, salmonella, heavy metals, radiation and mold.

That said, some companies — e.g., Nestle and Del Monte — are now promising their dog jerky is free of Chinese ingredients; the FDA’s PR blitz has clearly had an effect. Luke Qin, the factory owner who scarfed down a doggie snack, told NBC News his export business is way down since the FDA first sounded the jerky alarm. He says four of his five factories are now closed.

In its extensive review of these treats, the FDA has turned up a couple of undesirable additives: a low level of antibiotics and an antiviral drug called amantadine. The agency is not drawing a correlation between amantadine and the sick dogs, however — the symptoms are wrong. FDA spokeswoman Megan Bensette says they’ve performed a battery of other assessments on the treats, including analysis for rodenticide, salmonella, heavy metals, radiation and mold.

Results have been inconclusive, even after necropsies were performed on 26 dead dogs who ate jerky treats. In half the dogs, analysts found seemingly unrelated causes of death: cancer, Cushing’s disease, mushroom toxicity, abscess and internal bleeding secondary to trauma. The remaining 13 dogs seemed likely to have died from jerky, though the link is uncertain.

Frustrated by the lack of conclusive evidence, the FDA has now turned to their (typically human-focused) colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC is helping compare the diets of sick dogs to a control group of healthy dogs.

[mf_list_sidebar layout=”basic” bordertop=”yes” title=”Symptoms to Watch” separator=”no”]
[mf_list_sidebar_item]Ӣ decreased appetite[/mf_list_sidebar_item]
[mf_list_sidebar_item]Ӣ decreased activity[/mf_list_sidebar_item]
[mf_list_sidebar_item]Ӣ vomiting[/mf_list_sidebar_item]
[mf_list_sidebar_item]Ӣ diarrhea, sometimes with blood[/mf_list_sidebar_item]
[mf_list_sidebar_item]Ӣ increased water consumption[/mf_list_sidebar_item]
[mf_list_sidebar_item]Ӣ increased urination[/mf_list_sidebar_item]
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Naturally, the more publicity the government gives to this situation, the more false positives are reported. Every time the FDA has issued a warning, they’ve received a spike in reports from dog owners and vets. Just in the period since last October, when they issued the last update, they’ve received 1,800 new reports. Even this article will likely add a few false alarms. Separating them from the truly suspicious cases is a chore.

For the general public, the safest bet is probably just to avoid dog jerky unless you’re totally confident of its origins. The FDA points out that even in the best-case scenario, it isn’t the healthiest stuff to feed your pooch. You can certainly find other ways to reward good behavior.

As far as the three humans possibly sickened by jerky, two were toddlers shoving things in their mouths — one was diagnosed with salmonella poisoning while the other is having kidney issues. The third was an adult who, for causes unknown, ate dog treats. This individual reported nausea and a headache.