Toll from tainted pet food is at least 100, vet group says

ALBANY, N.Y. – At least 471 cases of pet kidney failure have been reported in the 10 days since a nationwide recall of dog and cat food, and about a fifth of those pets have died, a veterinarians information service said Tuesday.

The maker of the recalled pet food has confirmed the deaths of only 16 pets.

Paul Pion, founder of the Veterinary Information Network, which counts 30,000 veterinarians and veterinary students as members, said Tuesday that the number of reported kidney failure cases had already grown higher than the 471, but that he wouldn’t have an updated tally for a few days.

Of the reported cases, he said, 104 animals have died.

Separately, Oregon veterinarians say they suspect 13 pets have died among 47 sickened after eating tainted food.

Pion, a California veterinarian, said only 10 percent to 20 percent of the people who belong to his Web site had responded to a request for information.

“If we’re only getting 10 percent of the veterinarians, you can do the math,” he said.

Scientists at the New York State Food Laboratory last week identified the rodent poison aminopterin as the likely culprit in the scare, which prompted the recall of 95 brands of “cuts and gravy”-style dog and cat food by the maker, Menu Foods of Ontario, Canada.

Some pets that ate the recalled brands suffered kidney failure, and the company has confirmed the deaths of 15 cats and one dog. Aminopterin, a derivative of folic acid that was once used to induce abortions and is now banned as a rodent poison in the United States, can cause kidney damage in dogs and cats.

Scientists so far have offered no theories on how aminopterin got into the products of Menu Foods, which makes pet food for most of North America’s top retailers.