Nikki Mael fed her four dogs, Talula, Tito, Tinkerbell, and Tank, with a can of wet dog food, but soon she noticed they start acting weird. After 15 minutes, they began staggering around and swaying, and soon they weren’t able to walk.
Nikki became frantic, so she took all of them to the emergency vet. But, the dogs were already limp when they arrived. They weren’t moving at all, so they were placed in the intensive care unit. One of her dogs, Talula, was dead by the next morning.
The dog food she used was Hunk of Beef products from the pet food company based in Wheeling, Illinois – Evanger.
The cause of Talula’s death was later revealed in the toxicology report. Apparently, the dog food contained a chemical used to euthanize animals – the drug called pentobarbital. The same chemical was found in the dog’s stomach, so it was clearly that this euthanasia agent had caused the dog’s death.
Evanger issued the first recall in its 82-year history. The FDA reports the company has voluntarily recalled all Hunk of Beef products produced that week. These products were sold in 15 states: California, Georgia, Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Washington.
The company reported that there are over a million Hunk and Beef cans consumed by pets nationwide each year. So, by the time they heard about the Talula’s death, there were probably around 200 pets which already consumed the food from cans with the following lot numbers: 1816E13HB, 1816E07HB, 1816E06HB, 1816E04HB, and 1816E03HB. All of these cans were produced in June 2016. However, so far there hasn’t been reported any other case of illness or death caused by these products.
A spokesperson for Evanger reported they don’t know how this chemical entered their raw material supply, so they will keep on investigating. Their meat product suppliers are all USDA approved. Their supplier of beef uses cows slaughtered in a USDA facility.
Via CNN | NBC41 | Washington Post
