FDA Confirms Probe of NUTRO Pet Food Deaths, Illnesses

April 20, 2009
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has confirmed that the agency is investigating NUTRO pet food, following a series of unexplained illnesses and deaths. Consumers have been complaining for more than two years that their pets have become ill after eating NUTRO products; many have recovered when they were switched to other foods. The company has steadfastly denied that its food is to blame.

Until now, the FDA has been mum about whether it was actively investigating the company. Today, the FDA’s Division of Freedom of Information confirmed the agency has an ongoing investigation into NUTRO — and said that investigation could be criminal or civil in nature. The office did not elaborate on the nature or focus of that investigation.

The investigation came to light when the FDA denied a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by ConsumerAffairs.com seeking a list of complaints and lab results the agency has collected regarding NUTRO pet food. The agency denied the request and said that releasing the information could hamper “prospective or ongoing” action by law enforcement.

“The document(s) constitute record(s) compiled for law enforcement purposes, the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings,” wrote the FDA’s George A. Strait, Jr., assistant commissioner for public affairs.

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Success Story: Daffodil

Sweet Puggle Daffodil has gone to her forever home!

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Success Story: Gidget (now Tess)

You may remember Gidget who was rescued from an Ohio Puppy Mill in December where she was used to breed over and over again.

We are VERY happy to report that she has now been placed in her forever home!

Gidget was the mother of the 3 black Christmas pups, including Butter. She has been named Tess by her new forever family, a beautiful name for a beautiful girl.

They also sent this picture of Tess along with the following note:

To the folks at CTPR--thank you for sending Tess (formerly known as Gidget) into our lives. She is the perfect addition to our family, and we couldn't imagine life without her. I appreciate your thoughtfulness and thoroughness in making sure we had the perfect match. An extra special thanks to Kristin in Massachusetts--you are an amazing animal advocate!

Sincerely, Laura J., Tess' adoptive parent



We are so happy that this sweet pug is finally getting the life she deserves!

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Butter continues to struggle

Sad news: Butter lost the eye we had performed surgery on 2 times to try to save it from the severe ulceration he had which was not responsive to topical medicine & progressed to the last possible layer of tissue just before rupture.

We had to enucleate his eye on Wed, 4/8/09. The conjunctival graft was healing perfectly but the eye suffered too much trauma, developed glaucoma and was no longer visual. The pressure in that eye was soaring higher by the hour.

Even more so, his remaining eye (which had a superficial ulcer but was originally healing) ruptured that morning and then 3 more times that same night. We rushed to the AMC emergency medical center but were not able to receive care on site. We were beyond lucky that Yasmin who has been working with us on Dr. van der Woerdt's team - was there to help. She helped contact every possible opthomologist in the tri-state area and was prepared TO FLY to North Carolina to help Butter.

Yasmin was able to reach Dr. La Croix of the VMCLI who was on call and came in from home to see Butter. We hopped in Yasmin's car and were in West Islip in the middle of the night.

While performing surgery on the newly ruptured eye, Dr.'s enucleated the other eye suffering from glaucoma. For the surgery on the remaining eye, Dr. La Croix chose to perform a corneal conjunctival graft where she plugged the ruptured site with a piece of his cornea. This is a more aggressive form of graft. He has pulled through his 3rd surgery succesfully...and now we wait. We are doing everything we possibly can to try and retain some vision for this amazing little 14 week old puppy.

More to come when he comes home from the hospital....Please send some good thoughts out for Butter. As always your donations are unbelievably appreciated!

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Success Story: Ivy

Here is Ivy with her new Pug brother, Jake!

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Success Story: Sprinkle (now Archie)

Sprinkle was one of the Black Christmas pugs who was rescued from a puppy mill in December.

Sprinkle has now been named Archie by his new forever family! We hear the little guy is doing well at potty training and is quite the sweet snuggler too. When Artchie is not running around like a little firecracker he just wants to be in his new mama's lap.

Archie has also become good friends with his new pug brother Clark who even lets Archie steal his toys!

Adorable!

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