Dog and cat treats recalled!

http://www.nbc4.tv/family/4587825/detail.html

Dog, Cat Treats Recalled After Humans Infected

POSTED: 4:30 am PDT June 9, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Six types of dog and cat treats marketed by TW Enterprises of Ferndale, Wash., were recalled Wednesday after reports of infections in humans of an illness called "Salmonella Thompson."

The items were distributed in the United States and Canada under the TW Enterprises and the Aron Pet Food names.

In a statement distributed by the federal Food and Drug Administration, TW Enterprises says five cases of infection developed among people who handled the pet treats -- three in Canada and two in the United States.

The company said consumers should not feed the treats to their pets but should instead dispose of them.

The organism can cause serious infections in small children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy people may suffer only short-term symptoms, such as high fever, severe headache, vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, but long-term complications can include arthritis.

The company identified the recalled products as:

Salmon Snackers 100% Salmon Treats for Dogs; package size 50 grams; UPC code 8 33234 00100 6.
Salmon Snackers 100% Salmon Treats for Cats; package size 50 grams; UPC code 8 33234 00101 3.
Shrimp Snackers 100% Shrimp Treats for Cats; package size 28 grams; UPC code 8 33234 00104 4.
Shrimp Snackers 100% Shrimp Treats for Dogs; package size 28 grams; UPC code 8 33234 00103 7.
Healthy K9 Beef Jerkey 100% Natural Dog Treats; package size 70 grams; UPC code 7 76626 53898 1.
Healthy K9 Beef Heart 100% Natural Dog Treats; package size 70 grams; UPC code 7 76626 53897 4.
Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Pretty scary. I never thought about getting sick just by handling pet food.

Originally Posted by coaster

Pretty scary. I never thought about getting sick just by handling pet food.

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If people are getting sick by just handling the food, what about poor dogs and cats? The article says nothing of what had happened to them.

Actually, cats and dogs are not as susceptible to salmonella as humans are. I can't speak for this particular strain, though, and I don't know if any of the pets fed these treats got sick. But the salmonella that's in raw chicken usually doesn't make a cat or dog sick. I googled on this topic, but couldn't find an answer to your question. The article does say about the human cases:

The organism can cause serious infections in small children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy people may suffer only short-term symptoms, such as high fever, severe headache, vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, but long-term complications can include arthritis.

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Now if it's going to cause illness in only that subset of the population, I suspect it's a fairly weak disease organism and my guess is that the animals weren't affected. If anybody reading this knows for sure, please let us know!!

Originally Posted by coaster

Actually, cats and dogs are not as susceptible to salmonella as humans are. I can't speak for this particular strain, though, and I don't know if any of the pets fed these treats got sick. But the salmonella that's in raw chicken usually doesn't make a cat or dog sick. I googled on this topic, but couldn't find an answer to your question. The article does say about the human cases:Now if it's going to cause illness in only that subset of the population, I suspect it's a fairly weak disease organism and my guess is that the animals weren't affected. If anybody reading this knows for sure, please let us know!!

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Well, thank heaven for that. That article made me angry because they didn't mention what had happened to cats and dogs that ate these things. It sounded as if the makers of these things didn't even cared.

Thank you so much for informing us!

Originally Posted by elizwithcat

Well, thank heaven for that. That article made me angry because they didn't mention what had happened to cats and dogs that ate these things. It sounded as if the makers of these things didn't even cared.

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Yeah, I thought that was strange, too. I saw this link on another board and wanted to let TCS'ers know!

Thank you so much