Did you recently buy Beneful Dog Food and have noticed your dog looks sick? DoggyBling.com is following the current investigation into whether or not some of Purina’s Beneful Dog Food has been tained with toxic mold. Follow this link to the DoggBling.com News page for more information.

Here is where I put in a plug for buying pet food in pet food stores. Any time dog or cat food is kept stored for a long time (as often happens in warehouse stores) there is a much greater possibility that the food can become wet or that anything in the food can cause other problems. I love my warehouse store (Costco) and probably spend way too much there but the one thing I won’t buy there is dog food. Dog treats, dog beds, dog toys — yes. All those things either turn over much quicker or are not subject to potentially lethal molds. Dog food — not on a bet! Other people may have never had problems with it but I’d rather spend a little more and rest assured that my furbabies’ food is a little safer.

Thanks to the K9 Amber Alert List for publicizing this issue. Here is part of the article that ran on their recent email newsletter.

Beneful Dog Food is Suspected of Causing Sickness and Deaths
www.DoggyBling. com

HEALTH ALERT! …..

Discontinue use of Beneful until this is resolved!

Multiple Reports We have received multiple reports of dogs becoming sick or dying after eating Beneful dog food. The first reports were placed in our new forum and was overlooked by DoggyBling.com staff until we received direct emails last week and then another today. After speaking on the phone with the lady who emailed us today, we feel that there is sufficient cause for alarm. Dog lovers make a lot of effort to take good care of their dogs and will want to know if they are feeding them something that could be harmful. Most of the alerts by email, forum and phone cited Beneful dog food that was purchased at Wal Mart around Christmas of 2006.

We spoke with Terri Culp at Beneful this morning and were assured that they are aware of the situation and are researching the problem. We assured them that this won’t go away and we would be alerting our email base of the problem and posting a news item on our site. We also told her that DoggyBling.com visitors and dog lovers everywhere would be evaluating the way the Purina Corporation (Parent to Beneful) handles the potential crisis.

Symptoms
The symptoms reported have been very similar. The reported symptoms include some or all of the following: General weakness or sluggishness, glazed eyes, not interested in food or water, white gums, lack of control of bodily functions. Some of the callers reported dogs that have died and others say they had gotten sick but had recovered. I am inserting the first forum post about a dog that became sick, but didn’t die.

A week before Christmas we bought a bag of Beneful dog food at Wal-Mart, DeFuniak Springs, FL. On 12/23 I noticed a tan mold like growth on the dog food. Our 14 year old Dalmatian mix had been getting weaker by the day and by 12/24 she was near death. Glazed eyes, couldn’t stand, eat, drink or control her functions. Her gums were white. We had to carry her to the yard and hold her up so she could go. The only thing she would eat was ham and turkey scraps. I spoke with a microbiologist and she said the mold growing in the dog food was toxic. It took a week for Sparky to regain her strength. I did notify the manufacturer of Beneful, they were very sorry and are sending coupons. Said it was a rare happening.