Some Expert advice - Page 2

I must admit, I would prefer not to do that at this stage, until we have some test results.  To put their name on a public forum could be very bad news for me if the tests all come back negative.

Also, I suspect the number of people on this forum resident in South Africa to be quite small.  South African readers who are concerned are welcome to message me for more details.

Suffice to say, the parent company has had some "trouble" of their own in the USA very recently, coinciding too closely with my case to be pure coincidence...

- E

Trouble is, I get so emotional trying to talk to people about this on the phone, etc.

He crept so deep into our hearts, that little man 

This is him:

http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/gsd/pedigree/565303.html

- E

 My father always told me that the definition of "expert is that an ex is a hasbeen and a spert is a drip under pressure.

I,m sorry to hear of your loss it,s tuff when they go this way... 

Im so sorry to hear of your loss ...you must be heartbroken

can you send the food off to a lab and get it tested??? I'm not sure how you would do this but it might be worth a try, if it proves that the food was contaminated then i would ask the company to refund my expenses in full plus compensation.

I know that you are still grieving but if the fault lies with the dog food then you deserve compensation for the cost of the pup and vet expenses and pain and suffering you have been through.

believe me i hate the fact people sue for anything and everything but i think in your case (if you can prove it) you are entitled to.

Kind regards and deepest sympathy,

Tracie.

Thanks Tracie - that's exactly the question I'm asking - we will send the food for testing, but given the description of the symptoms, what do we ask the lab to test for?

Or otherwise stated - from my random Google searches of the symptoms, I came up with Aflatoxins - mould in cereals (usually maize) which is highly toxic to dogs.  That's *one* test I can ask for.  What about all the other toxins that I am not aware of?

At the moment, I will ask the lab for the following:

• Salmonella
• E.Coli
• Yeasts and Molds
• Total Microbial Activity

Anything else that should obviously be on the list?  These are basic tests, but they are also the only ones I know about

- E

Interesting thing is that we were feeding the same brand of dog kibble prior to Ansgar getting sick. I don't blame you for not wanting to disclose the name, I don't know how the law protects companies against being discredited in your country. I know that in the states, if what you state is true, it cannot be considered libel or slander, only if you embellish or accuse. I know I did not suspect this kibble as a culprit until I corresponded with  the OP, to find that they had a very similar situation to what happened to Ansgar, only our girl had a much happier outcome. Now, I am not sure what tests should be done on the kibble that was saved, I wish I had saved some of ours, but we fed it about 2&1/2 to 3 weeks prior to Ansgar's illness, I stopped feeding it & discarded what was left in the bag because, although my dogs had been doing well on it, the last bag we had opened Kalie wouldn't eat, flat out turned her nose up at it. And I noticed that the other dogs stools turned a yellow-gold color, not what they had been. No diarrhea, but I now wonder if that wasn't the beginning of Ansgar's saga? I was uneasy about some of the ingredients to begin with, & didn't like who was producing the food. We switched to Innova products, & will go back to Orijen in the spring, when it has been said it will be available nearer to me. So, if you want to know which kibble, pm me. And I send my heart felt sympathy to elenih. I hope we can help you get to the bottom of this. No one understands how painful it is to watch your puppy sicken, it is worse, I think, than with a human, because you can't explain to them what's happening, or that you're trying, praying for them. Poor things they just have to trust us....& it just kills me that unscrulpulous(sp?) merchants/manufacturers take advantage of the trust we place in them! And I think this company has had problems before........jackie harris(& to think I blamed my poor husband!) 

And a PS- the surgeon said to me something like-isn't it funny how these things seem to happen in clusters...'cause he had 3 other dogs with the same problem that week alone. That went right over my head at the time....It never even dawned on me that it could be something like a dog food problem--I was so over-wraught with emotion...jh

Good morning and my condolances for your loss.Its always heartwrenching to learn of things like this.Now,you have stated that the Manufactorer already admitted that there is in fact a mold in the food.What more than this do you need.With the manufactorer admitting this ,you should have no problem in naming the said foodI would think that they do tests on the food before it leaves the factory..Can you imagine how you would feel if someone knew this info and did not make it available for the other unsuspecting consumers to know and then dogs die..There is probably alot more dead or dying dogs and cats out there.Do you know if this manufacturer already pulled it off the shelves after admitting finding a mold?It could very well be aflotoxins which usually occur in foods with corn in it.Anyway the choice in naming this food is yours to make,no one can force you to make it public.If its true that the company has told you about the mold issue,i would try and stop people from feeding it to these poor dogs.Start by notifying the store you bought the food from.Perhaps they keep some sort of records and can IMMEDIATLY notify there clients.

personally i think you should speak with the vet and the lab re what might have caused such  horrific symptoms between them im sure that the will be able to narrow it down..

perhaps get another bag of the same kibble from a different supplier and do a comparison test?? im just guessing here but it might work.

Tracie.

Domenic, I hear you, and it breaks my heart, but I am already so deep in debt after importing this boy, that I cannot afford to make emotional decisions like saying "XXX Brand of food killed my dog".

We sent the food back to the Vet on day 2 (this particular brand of food is not sold in shops, only available from Vets here in South Africa).  The Vet sent it back to the manufacturer for testing on day 3.

After 3 weeks (the day after puppy died) we phone to find out about the results of the tests, to be told that they "cannot find the bag".  After much toy-throwing, the bag is found, forgotten in someone's office...  Now they are saying the mould is due to 3 weeks in someone's office, which is why testing our own (properly sealed and refrigerated) sample becomes so important.

- E

I hope someone on here can help.  I'm sorry, I really don't know what you would ask them to test for.  Has your Vet kept samples from puppy?  How about emailing the BVA in the UK?  If they can't help you, they may know of someone who can.