The story of the death of one dog and the serious illness of three others after they ate dog food containing a large quantity of a pentobarbital, an animal euthanasia drug, should be of great concern to pet owners. The Humane Society of the United States considers an injection of sodium pentobarbital to be the only humane way to kill shelter animals.
It is shocking news because it once again throws up a lot of doubt and uncertainty about the quality of pet food. It also confirms what many of us have feared, namely that euthanised shelter animals are discreetly shipped to pet food manufacturers for rendering as an ingredient of pet food.
When I read the story on the truth about pet food website my immediate concern was: how many pet foods contained this euthanasia drug; perhaps none? Perhaps this was a one off event. Do pet food manufacturers incorporate a system which eliminates the drug from dead animals? I suspect the rendering process normally does that. So what happened in this instance?
I’ll outline the story. Three pug dogs quickly became ill on New Years Eve 2016. They had eaten Evangers Pet Food. They were taken to a vet in a limp state. Three recovered, one died. The dead dog’s body was sent to Oregon State Uni for necropsy (autopsy).
The manufacturer suspended sale of the product (Lot Number is 1816E06HB13). The product was tested and found to be all clear to a range of toxins.
However a report back from Michigan State University Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health (DCPAH) found the presence of a large amount of pentobarbital. They said:
“If this sample came directly from a can, this is an urgent matter and needs to be reported to the FDA…”
[note: I am not sure how Michigan State University became involved]
The FDA is investigating but they are slow as usual.
“The FDA has received and is investigating adverse event reports related to this issue and cannot share anything further at this time.”
What do you think? I guess we have to wait for more information. Were gas chambers used in the past because they avoided leaving toxic drugs in shelter animal corpses? I am being provocative but the thought came to my mind.
The question really is why any lethal drug would be incorporated into any pet food. And, no, I don’t find that lacing pet food with pentobarbital to be a humane means of euthanising.
I have yet to contact a company whose customer rep has refused to talk to me. There is only one reason phenobarbital could be in our pets food no matter how small the amount.
My pleasure. For me it is another story which makes me less confident in cat food. I’d like the opposite to happen.
very interesting article! I will keep this in mind for sure. I feed my *kids* a mixture of Iams, Science Diet and Purina Pro Plan. Thanks for this info Michael. . . ♥♥♥
Great to hear from you Zach. And many thanks for your valued input.
There can be “some” pentobarbital in cat and dog food from time to time but it is usually so insignificant that it will not quantify for much. There was a discussion in one of our classes recently about this… they actually have changed a lot of euthanization laws in regards to some farm species as there used to be trace residues in human food but it came back so insignificant that it would never cause any harm either.
The amount of pentobarbital to euthanize a pug is probably around 2 cc or 2 ml (60 drops) of this drug which is concerning if there is that much in any food because of its nature of being so controlled, addictive, and lethal.
Would definitely be interesting to see what results of this and what information will pop up going forward for this food. Hopefully just a one time case if it is true.