Chicken Jerky from China may be causing Fanconi syndrome in dogs
Related:
IS GLYCERIN THE TOXIN IN CHICKEN JERKY? An intriguing story!
Added October 25, 2011: Even though this story was first published in June of 2011, we are still getting reports coming in of dogs getting sick and the culprit is suspected to be chicken jerky treats manufactured in China. Read through the comments section at the end to get more interesting discussion on this problem.
Added November 4, 2011: I have just filed a report with the FDA and alerted them to read the comments on this blog. I would urge any of you who have a dog who you suspect is ill because of eating tainted chicken jerky to have your vet file a pet food safety report with the FDA.
Added November 18, 2011: The FDA has paid attention! Today they announced a caution against chicken jerkey. You can read it here. There is no official recall yet, but stay tuned. And please leave a comment if you think your pet has gotten sick after eating chicken jerky treats.
Added December 29, 2011: MSNBC is reporting that the FDA has now announced that they are investigating 353 reports of dogs getting sick after eating chicken jerky. The FDA is working hard to determine the reason, but so far has not figured out what the culprit is! Because there is no specific product that can be blamed, the FDA has not issued a recall.
Added Jan 9, 2013: There has been a recall announced on two brands of chicken jerky because of antibiotic residue. However, it is unlikely that this recall is connected to the problems described in this article and comments. Click here to read more about this recall.
Note: The original article was written because some Canadian vets were suspecting that chicken jerky made in China was causing Fanconi syndrome in dogs. However, there may be more than just Fanconi syndrome now. Be sure to read the comments in this article to get the full story.
Original article starts here:
Some Canadian veterinarians are noticing an increase in cases of Fanconi syndrome. The CVMA recently published this warning:
Recently, several veterinarians in Ontario have reported cases of dogs that have been showing signs similar to Fanconi syndrome. All dogs in the reported cases had been fed chicken jerky treats that were manufactured in China.
Signs of Fanconi syndrome can include decreased appetite, decreased activity, vomiting, and increased water consumption and/or increased urination. Blood tests may show increased urea nitrogen and creatinine. Urine tests may indicate Fanconi syndrome (increased glucose). The problem is that this can be confused with diabetes.
Dog eating chicken jerky (photo by Charkrem, Flickr)
What is Fanconi Syndrome?
This is an uncommon condition. It affects the kidneys and causes them to leak glucose (sugar) and other electrolytes into the urine. Dogs that have this condition will usually be very thirsty and will urinate excessive amounts. The most common finding in laboratory tests is that the dog has glucose in the urine, but has a normal blood glucose level.
Some dogs can be born with Fanconi syndrome. But, the latest concern is that there is something in Chicken Jerky strips made in China that is actually causing some dogs to develop this problem. Some dogs can get very sick and even go into renal failure and die. Other dogs will have an increase in thirst and urination and possibly have accidents in the house and then they may go on to have a full recovery within a few weeks of stopping the chicken jerky treats.
What ingredient from China is causing the problem?
At this point we don’t know what exactly is causing the problem. We are seeing more cases of Fanconi syndrome than usual. (I have had two in my practice that I am aware of in the last year, and both had eaten Chicken Jerky treats.) At this point it seems that the increase in cases is mostly being seen in Canada (but still connected to treats imported from China.) We’re not sure if it is happening in the USA as well. Added November, 2011: Judging by the comments on my blog, this is definitely affecting the USA now as well.
In 2007 there were many cases of Fanconi syndrome in the USA. These cases were linked to melamine contamination in treats made in China.
In 2009 there was a rash of cases of dogs with Fanconi syndrome in Australia. These were connected to either chicken treats or dental chews that were made with corn, soy and rice.
Are Waggin Train Chicken Tenders being recalled?
I’ve had several people ask me if there is a recall on Waggin Train Chicken Tenders. At this point, there is no recall for any chicken jerky treats at all. There is simply suspicion that something may be going on. Some of the readers of this blog have commented (see comments section below) that their pets are being treated for an illness and that Waggin Train Chicken Tenders may be involved. Waggin Train treats are made in the USA, but apparently they do use ingredients from China. Added November, 2011: A number of readers have pointed out to me that the bag for Waggin Train states proudly that they are an “American Company”, but in small letters it does say that it is “Made in China”.
The Waggin Train website does not contain any information about a problem with their treats.
Again, so far there is no recall. I have written an email to Waggin Train to ask for an official comment from them about the situation.
Added July 25, 2011:
I just received a reply from Waggin Train and have their permission to post it here:
Dear Dr. Haynes,
Thank you for contacting us regarding Waggin’ Train treats. We apologize for the delay in responding.
You are correct – there is not now, and never has been, a recall of Waggin’ Train products. In 2007, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a notice regarding dog illnesses, but was unable to determine a definitive cause of the illnesses or a direct link to chicken jerky products. To date, extensive testing performed by the FDA has not uncovered a contaminant or specific ingredient as the cause of any illness, including in Waggin’ Train treats.
It is widely accepted that any association between dog illnesses and chicken jerky is likely the result of dogs (primarily small dogs) consuming treats in excess of normal or recommended levels. Chicken jerky products should not be substituted for a balanced diet and are intended to be used occasionally, in small quantities. Consumers should read and follow the feeding guidelines found on Waggin’ Train packages.
We have a comprehensive food safety program in place to ensure the safety of our products. We only use high-quality ingredients in our products, and the production facilities are designed and operated to meet U.S. Department of Agriculture standards. We have a dedicated team of quality control experts on the ground in China – in the plants when Waggin’ Train products are being produced. They monitor various steps of the manufacturing process for safety and quality of the product.
The safety and efficacy of our products is our top priority, and consumers can and should continue to feed Waggin’ Train treats with total confidence.
Sincerely,
Waggin’ Train
Is your pet sick?
If your pet is sick and your vet suspects it is because of chicken jerky treats, please leave a comment below indicating what brand of treats they eat. The more people who comment, the more we may be able to figure out the source of the problem!
What do I do if I think my dog has Fanconi syndrome?
If your dog is drinking and urinating more and he or she has eaten chicken treats from China, then it goes without saying that you should stop giving those treats. The next step is to have your vet examine your dog and do some blood and urine tests. These tests will quickly tell us whether the dog has Fanconi syndrom or whether there is another problem such as diabetes, cushing’s or kidney disease. If there is Fanconi syndrome the vet will tell you whether it looks like there is damage to the kidneys. If so, they may need to give intravenous fluids for a few days. If there is no damage then your dog will likely recover over the next few weeks.
Has your dog been affected?
If you think your dog has been affected by chicken jerky made in China, please let us know! Leave a comment telling us what happened and also, if you can tell us the brand and lot number of the treats this would be very helpful. We will forward this information to the CVMA and FDA to see if we can help determine exactly where the problem is coming from.
Want to file a complaint?
If your dog has been affected PLEASE file a complaint with the FDA. You can do so here.
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About the author
Dr. Marie is a veterinarian treating dogs, cats, and pocket pets. Click here to ask Dr. Marie a question.
My 8 year old Sheltie died in 2005 of kidney failure. I gave him Wagon Train chicken jerky treats which were purchased at Sam’s Club. Later on I heard about problems with some other brands of dog food with ingredients from China. I suspected my dog’s death may have been related to the wagon train dog treats and I never fed my other dogs any food that was made in China. Gulfport, MS
Both of our Cavalier King Charles Puppies got sick in 2007 from the Chicken Jerky treats. They ate the ones from Pets Mart and Costco (Wagon Train). We spent $9,000 trying to save them. In November 2007 our sweet 11 month old Lacie lost her battle and died in our arms. Misty survived. Thank God. Wagon Train has been notified several times, and they just don’t care. It is crazy to suggest that dogs got sick because they ate too much. Our puppies had 2 a day. These new dog food companies ads portray that the treats are made in U.S. kitchens, but in small print it will say manufactured in China. I wish that all the vets and breeders can be warned about these treats.
Barbara, if you’re looking for a Made in America chicken treat for your babies, we started making our own Chicken Jerky after we ran across the FDA warning of 2008 about Chinese chicken treats making dogs sick or killing them. It turned into a cottage business and we now sell our TriPom Chews in 20 stores in the New England area. Our products contain no additives or preservatives. We had to make them super wholesome as our 3 Pomeranians (our babies) taste test almost every batch.
The Tri-Pom chews are terrific. I bought a big bag and my dog would eat them all in one sitting if he could. Knowing they are healthy snacks made in the US means everything.
Hello. Does anyone have the receipe for the tripod chicken treats.
I swear the chinese r trying to kill us & our kids and now our babies .
Really??? The Chinese are purposely making dangerous products in some kind of sinister plot to make us, our kids, and our PETS sick??? Posting ignorant and uninformed comments like that is one sure way to make sure nobody mistakes you for an intelligent person. Are you mentally challenged?
Malgsia,
Don’t pay any attention to Remi for the criticism about your saying they’re out to kill us, etc. Rami must live in a cave with all the stuff from China that has hurt not only our pets, but peoplem too. Rami should grow some common sense and realize you were speaking out of disgust, etc. Who is the unintelligent person here. Surely Rami must be aware of all the pets that got ill and many died from tainted dog food from China. Anybody that has pets knows about this and the massive pet food recall.
Oh, and what about the Chinese drywall that hurt so many people people trying to rebuild their homes and had to get out. Some became extremely ill.
just wondering if I could buy some of your dog treat I would gladly pay for shipping..Iam tring to bring my blk-lab rottie back health after feeding him these chicken treats from waggin tail..as with the rest of the pet owners he is my best friend and saved my life 4yrs ago in a fire..thanks for ur time…Donnie Wood Jr.1-406-978-2939 216 south lake st.Baker, Mt
Do you sell your product? because I am looking for a nourishing , healthy treat with limited ingredients for my lil friend please let me know
terri
I live on Long Island NY where can I order those treats that sound perfect. Your business just may grow and grow
Hi Barbara,
I feel so sad for you. I am having a problem with the Waggin Train treats as well. It started yesterday. I contacted Waggin Train and you are right. They do NOT give a shit. In fact the guy started reading me the “nonconclusive FDA statement” (after I had already read all about it online this morning) and I told him to STOP reading me the PR quote.
Fact is- my dog is extremely SICK from these treats and the Waggin’ Train Rep told me the same thing- that I must have given my dog too much- 1.5 strips!!!
I filed a report with the FDA this morning and also called them. I’m sorry about your dogs.
Vicki
Well I just bought my 11 year old German Pointer Chicken Jerky Treats made by Priority (made in China). Her Birthday was December 23 rd so I thought I’d give her some great treats. So today December 24th I have her one of these treats for the first time and 2 hours later she started whining, so I let her outside and her stool was VERY loose and practically shot out of her! I went out to run errands for a few hours and when I got back she had loose stool piles all over the house! She NEVER goes poop in the house and her stool is always solid. Plus she’s in amazing physical shape with no health issues to date other than a bit of arthritis in her lower back. No digestion issues EVER! Just a coincidence? I don’t think so. Chicken from CHINA? NEVER AGAIN. Nobody has brought up this brand on this forum yet that I can see, but factories over there often make the same products in the same plant and distribute/label/market them differently. Lots of mass production is done that way. She’s resting now and tomorrow is Christmas so I hope that if she’s having issues tomorrow or tonight that I can find a VET to help her. I’m keeping a close eye on her.
Purchased at Safeway in CA December 23, 2011
Lot # G146D2A79 EXP DATE 05 2013
INGREDIENTS: DEHYDRATED CHICKEN BREAST, GLYCEROL AND SALT.
Hello
I had a similar problem too. I fed my dog Milo’s Kitchen brand. Vomiting, bloody diarrhea. Vet first thought it was just plain old gastroenteritis . Sent home with Flagel and a bland diet of chicke and rice. She got worse. Every day at the vet for a week. Blood test, X-rays. They think it’s a food allergy. Well after 2 month, we think it’s chicken. And I think the chicken jerky treats set off her immune system.
My dog just recently has gotten loose stools, real soft and muscus like. She has gone in the house so much we felt something was wrong. I just heard on the news last night about the waggin train chicken jerky, and as I think back, she has gotten sick just about a day after she has had a jerky. I gave her a jerky on Tuesday, and yesterday (Thursday) she had loose stools and gone on the carpets 3 places in the house. I tossed a big bag on them in the trash, and the were made in China. Good riddance.
I make sure to read all ingredients, and based on what you put here, I would not have fed them to my dog (nor eaten them myself). There is no reason to put glycerol in or on the jerky (using dessicant packets or just properly packaging eliminates the need for preservatives, which is what this is functioning as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycerol). Ideally, the only ingredients listed should be chicken and usually salt. You may also have some which have parsley or something similar which is generally not a problem. Vitamin E is also common, but I am a little hesitant as it is a fat soluble vitamin and therefore can cause problems in large quantities. Given the crappy quality control in China, I wouldn’t trust them not to give inappropriate quantities of E in food products.
My 70 pound Golden Retriever has also been having loose, mucus-like stools on and off for 6 months. She would mees the floor in the middle of the night with her diarreah. The only reason I didn’t think it was the Waggin Train Chicken Treats was that my 30 pound Cock-a-poo wasn’t having the same problem and he too had been given the treats. So today I decided to heat the treats in the microwave wrapped in a damp paper towel to kill any germs that might be in them. When I went to get the treats out and opened the microwave door, I was assailed by very strong AMMONIA fumes! They even burned my eyes and nose! That’s when I came to the Internet to research and found this information. Whatever you do, don’t give your dogs these treats. I wonder if it contains ammonia and that is what is giving the dogs the kidney disease. Never again will anything from China go in my dogs’ mouths.
My dog Maggie is a 4 year old healthy peekapoo. She eats 2 waggin treats a day. She is at the vet now for kidney failure. We are being told it is linked to Waggin Train chicken treats. It’s a sad day and I’m upset that nothing was said earlier and that the Major stores continue to sell this product and could care less about the dogs and families affected. It proves that Corp America is genuinely more concerned about their bottom line than the families deeply saddened by the loss of family members(pets).
Dave I read your blog and am sick over it. I have a 5 year old peekapoo who eats these treats constantly. Can you please share with me the symptoms your dog had. I do notice mine is panting alot and seems to be nervous alot. She has a nervous habit of rubbing her paws over certain fabrics. I would appreciate anything you can tell me that was different about your dog. Thank you.
My dogs have been eating these treats on a regular basis for over 6 years. We have had no problems. Common sense would tell you if you eat something dehydrated that it is going to soak up the fluids in your stomach and cause you to be thirsty. Thanks for the warning but I will continue to feed my dogs in moderation their favorite treats!
Don’t be stupid and stick your head in the sand. Do your pet a favor and buy a different type of treat.
You mean feed other treats that may have been the subject of recall years ago or those that might be subject to a recall in the future?
I think it is stupid (your term Fred) to be reactionary and finding cause and effect where there is none demonstrated. Anecdotal stories don’t amount to proof of anything!
It is quite likely that some or even all of these other posters’ dogs that were fed Waggin Train Chicken Jerky died of something that was not related to anything they consumed or even something else they consumed. Maybe a dropped prescription pill or a poisonous house plant to name two examples.
Pick any random group of dead dogs (or even people) and I’ll bet you can find correlating events that group them together but those aren’t necessarily CAUSAL events.
Finally Fred, I think it shows great hubris for you to assert that someone is stupid just because they don’t agree with you. Calling people names and flinging insults is plainly rude and inflammatory and does nothing to further the discussion. Maybe you’ll consider making comments that can be considered thoughtful and intelligent in the future.
wow. That has to be the most foolish response to what you claim to be a foolish response. It is very likely that most or all……the over 200 people who have responded to this…..incidents had nothing to do with the ONE factor they all had in common? I have two questions. The first. how much is Purina paying you to try and derail a honest effort to get them to take accountability for their poor choices? And second….if you are not hired by Purina…then what other common factor could possibly be found that would have a more likely explanation? The chicken treats mentioned are made in china……the recall involved Chinese chicken treats….right…that’s actually all that needs to be said.
Maybe you should take the facts into consideration , it’s small minded people like you that don’t think before you open your mouth! Chicken jerky, china, and mainly small dogs that become ill. Those are the most important things your small mind, need absorb.With that in mind, these wagon treats made in china are causing small dogs to become ill, how many people does it take to post, after eating wagon chicken jerky dog treats, made in china, their smalldog has become ill. are you not seeing?perhaps! if In fact, you were forced to eat enough of them, that your ass started to fall out,and you started pissing uncontrolably you would be a little more reseptive.And you might possibly take the facts to heart. There are animals being harmed by these treats ,made by a company ,that sent jobs over seas to people not being payed enough to care about our pets, witch in turn falls back on the company, wich undoughtly doesnt care about our pets to even consider a recall.If there are any other small minded people out there that think like this, I wish your pet the best of luck because thyer going to need it living with someone like him!
barry, how long have you worked for waggin train or it’s parent company nestle-purina? too many posts of dogs getting sick or dying after eating this product.our darling molly had to be put down last friday.renal failure after feeding her this crap.she had been getting 2 or three a week for about a year. for the last month she got one per day. she was a 25 pound dog and according to the manufacturer’s reccomendations this was less than they recommened.read all the posts elswhere on the internet also . this is no coincidence.
There are now more than 700 cases reported since January 2012 and they all have one thing in common: chicken jerky treats made in China. Of these cases around 95% of them involve Waggin Train.
Barry Exactly what type of law do you practice?
My friend just lost her dog to total renal failure, after he had been getting these treats for about a year. My little dog has an appointment because there is something going on with her. I have taken the treats away. Too bad they love them so much. My solution has been to buy chicken breasts, slice them thin and bake them at 200 degrees for 2 hours. I store them in the refrigerator. She has learned to accept the change but still occasionally goes to the cupboard where the others were kept. I will never put anything in front of her from China again!
About 5 months ago my very healthy athletic dog was hospitalized with extremely high liver enzymes. We had no idea what could have caused it. She’s not the kind of dog that gets into things, but that was the only thing we could think of. Now reading this, her symptoms are almost identical. She has thankfully since stabilized.
I urge you to not give your dog these treats, even if they love them (my dog does). It was so much heartache as well as over $2000 in hospital costs. It isn’t worth it.
We desperately need your help Andrew! My Jack Russell Terrier Gauge has been deathly ill for the past 3 wks! My vet is stumped! His liver enzymes are around 2000,he has been flushed out ,given fluids,had a biopsy of his liver taken & is now on Denosyl daily. He had just polished of a bag of “Milo’s Kitchen” chicken jerky treats in record time. I have him home with me now & he hardly eats & is up & down as far as improvements go. I am desperate! My doc wants to test him for Cushings but I don’t want to put him through it. What healed your pup? Please help!
Gina, our milos kitchen treats were made in USA, chicken meatball. We haven’t opened them yet, as our 8 month old boxer bull mastiff has plenty Of other treats opened. Perhaps the chicken jerky are made in china? Or it was still made in usa ut uour sweetie still got sick?
Our Duke has not been sick from any treats (thankfully, and hopefully never will!). We only give him treats which have been broken up into small pieces, never a whole one at a time. We don’t buy the long jerky, however. I know the packaging on some treats specifies a certain limit is ok, but it always seems very high to me, so we let Duke have “tastes” while training and Every now and then a slightly larger one. Generally never a whole piece at once.
Incidentally: china has just quaranteened chickens due to H1N1 being found. Could this be a cause? We try always to buy American, but sometimes provenance is difficult to ascertain.
The Milos treats I’ve seen are made in China. Be careful. Read the small print – they hide it sometimes!
I also have been giving these treats to my four Weimaraners for the past few years and have had no issues. Has anyone stopped to think that perhaps the increase in thirst might be due to the amount on protein in the treats? I believe if you research higher protein dry kibble, you will find that increased thirst can be attributed to that. I’m not denying that it’s possible that these treats have caused all the pain and suffering these dogs and humans have gone through but until it becomes fact, and since I have seen no side effects in my dogs, I will continue to give them each their one piece a day (sorry – they love them).
Oh no….I have been giving my dogs these treats for years. It is the only treat they like. What do I replace it with?
BIXBI Dog Treats – 100% USA Sourced & Made
I can’t believe you’d play russian roulette with your dog’s life. Make your own – it’s cheaper than the Waggin Train chicken jerky and is safe. Keep in the freezer. Your dogs lives are worth saving…
I agree with Fred, Pull your head out of wherever it is, and realize what is happening! Same thing with Ol’ Roy dog foods…I would NEVER feed my dogs that garbage!! The jerky treats are contaminated with something, and NO ONE CARES!! So what if a few hundred dogs die? THEIR OWNER’S!! I hope for your dogs sake, you wake up before it’s too late! And if not? I hope you are charged with neglect of your animals!
Just shut up.Good for you that you’re dog is ok.Everyone elses dog is suffering.Why don’t you eat one!!!!!!
Judy- after more years than I can count of feeding my dogs jerky treats they are both showing signs of Fanconi syndrome. If I had known about it previously, I would have weened them off of the treats. As the care taker of your pet you have a responsiblity to keep them safe from known issues. http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/NewsEvents/CVMUpdates/ucm280586.htm
My dog (Aust.Sheppard) loves Wagon Train Chicken Treats
and if I could find them I would still get them for my dog.
He never had a reacti0on to them at all. They were his favorite treat.
Pebbles my Shar pei is dieing of Kidney failure I have been giving her treat from Costco Kingdom Pets chicken Jerkys lot # G147F2A31 just baught these November 14th her bun is 66mg/dl her creaton 4.6mg/dl her Glob is 5.0 g/dl she is drinking bowls or water more atnight then during the day I take her with me every where to work and shopping she is always with me. She drinks tons ow water afer she eats these Jerky treats but I have been giving these to her for years but this package has shown that it has been killing her. Pebbles peed on my couch and felt upset that she did so Shat pei don’t like to have accendents in the house and they get up set, she is almost 7 she did not want to drink water 11/29/11 so I took her to her vet. I hope someone can tell me what to do I don’t want to loose her. I’m killing my dog with Chicken Jerky Treats from China Kingdom Pets!
Her urine has be all water no yellow in it.
My 13 year old and 14 year old dog got really sick and we thought it was because of old age. However, our 7 year old dog was also becoming sick…simultaneously. We fed them Wagon Train for years and thanks to the articles that have been circulating; we think that it was from these chicken jerky treats that our beloved 14 year old died. The others survived thankfully. They all showed the symptoms described not only in this article, but others such as this one: http://www.examiner.com/pet-news-in-national/fda-warning-dog-treats-may-cause-illness-death. “Pets who are adversely affected will show specific signs and symptoms. These include decreased appetite, decreased activity, vomiting, increased water consumption, and/or increased urination.” I know that with having old dogs that people would say I’m stupid in thinking it caused my dog’s death, but these were the EXACT symptoms my dog showed before he died. He was very healthy before that too! The vet was shocked by his age and vitality–walked every day, only gave him the best foods, and etc. It wasn’t til we started feeding these treats that they ALL became sick.
There is a NEW article on MSNBC which reports that the FDA is now saying that 353 dogs have gotten sick or died from eating Chinese chicken treats this year. The link is: http://on.msnbc.com/vKKHKK
Personally, I think the number of dogs sick this year is well over one thousand from the number of websites I’ve visited where I have seen dogs that are ill or that have died being discussed. I am almost certain it is something the Chinese are feeding the poultry used for their treats.
Did you know, according to Wikipedia and a New York Times article, that the Chinese fed Melamine to livestock? Melamine, as you may know, was the non-listed ingredient responsible for the pet food recall a few years ago. If you haven’t, you should search for “Melamine” on Wikipedia and read the article.
Melamine is a principal ingredient in making Formica countertops and causes kidney failure if eaten. The Chinese were also caught putting Melamine into kids’ milk and infant formula.
The only truly safe treat is one that you make yourself or that you buy from a company you trust. We make and sell our own chicken jerky, TriPom Chews, and only buy from other “Mom & Pop” sized treat makers that we have met or spoke with.
Naunie, I gave my 9 mo. old cavapoo the chicken jerky 2 nights ago for the 1st time. A couple hours later she started with the runs and chock like coughing. It lasted for 1 day, she seems fine now but the jerky just went to the garbage! It certainly makes sense to me. I love my little Sara too much for the sacrifice. Pet Stores don’t care and either do Dog food product makers.
Our Maggie, a toy rat terrier, 8 years old, has eaten these for years. She has 25% kidney function. I am convinced these treats are the cause. The vet says she has about a year left. This news is devastating to us. I feel horrible and terribly guilty. If only I had known…..
To Betsy that posted in December 2011- we have a toy rat terrier named Maggie too. I pray that your Maggie is still with you. Our 3 year old chihuahua died almost a week ago from eating those treats. We want justice and for not one more family to go through what we have gone through. My prayers are with you and all of the other pet owners that have gone through this tragedy!
At the end of April my dachshund got severely ill after eating boots and Barkley chicken treats from target. He is 13, granted somewhat old. His first symptoms were diarrhea and vomiting. Our other year old dog became sick on the same day. We quit feeding their kibble and the treats. After two days the young dog recovered but the dachshund kept getting sicker until he was anorexic and almost lifeless. He had elevated bun/urea, creatine and phosphorous . The vet felt he had severe tooth infection. He had iv fluids and antibiotics. We continued subq fluids at home. You could tell he needed to flush the poison out. I through the bag of treats in trash but retrieved them. After Internet research called FDA. They picked up the treats for testing after conferring with our vet. If it was just a bad tooth infection why did both dogs get sick within hours of each other? The amount of treats fed over a month was a quarter bag at best for both dogs, though had fed more than usual in the previous days. I would not trust chicken treat anything. If treat mixed in USA with Chinese ingredient it will be labeled made in USA. We resumed feeding our usual kibble without any problems made by small local company that does not import ingredients. My dachshund will probably have permanent kidney problems. Treats were never big part of his diet. I actually cut treats in halves and quarters when we used the treats to train the yearling 65 pound dog.
My Oripei was loving Chicken Treat until this bag that I picked up at Sams. He has been refusing to eat them and has had a decreased appetite and not acting like his old self. I checked the bag tonight and sure enough, distributed out of NJ but made in China! I have learned my lesson in regard to reading labels on everything! I hope Walle Moe is okay.
My dog became very ill after eating 1/2 strip. Please check out and join our Facebook site : Animal Parents Against Pet Treats Made in China!”
To all of you loving pet owners who have written here, our collie died after eating the Menu foods, canned food from our local Giant. She battled what I suppose they now call Fanconi syndrome. She suffered for almost 2 years.
Remember, the 91 brands of food were made in America, New Jersey to be exact. The secret poisonous ingredient came from China, and did not need to be disclosed until the law suits started.
Do yourselves a favor- stop feeding your beloved pets ANYTHING that comes in a bag, box or can. We now have a Choc Lab, he is 4 yrs old and he has NEVER been fed anything but chicken, rice, venison, our own eggs and vegetables.
If you love your pets, feed them as you would your own children and stop feeding them the garbage that the FDA approves. In the end they really DO NOT CARE about you or your pets.
I have to comment here that you need to take caution if preparing your own dog’s food. It is very difficult to balance a dog food.
My “poi” dog – Honopu has been on IV’s since 3.1-12 – Still throwing up and with bloody diarrhea – His pancreatic enzymes were over 10 times high normal – and his liver and renal blood values were also horrible — Don’t know yet what the outcome will be, but taking it day by day – He has been getting several (maybe 4(Chicken Jerky Treats – Mostly Waggin Train – but he only gets them once a week when he and his dog buddy have their weekly walk and play time – Have been doing this for 2 to 3 yrs. – Am devestated to find out that I might have contributed to his illness – Watching him suffer is awful – Hopefully his spunky spirit will enable him to fight this off – A little over a yr ago I lost a dear 7 yr heeler mix to spleenic cancer – This is too much for one owner to take – now I wonder if the “secret” ingredient could have contributed to an earlier onset of the cancer ???
My dog’s name is Daisy and she is a 11 year old Beagle. I gave her waggin train treats for about 1 year now.
She was healthy now she has lost weight down to 22 lbs and always drinking water its like she can’t get enough she just now started eating a little more. Did not know about the wagging train treats until 2 days ago with a article on msn. Now it all make sence she has the Fanconi Syndrome due to eating these treats. Why Thats my question??? They are made in China.
We bought Waggin’ Train Chicken Jerky tenders for our dog, Dorey, last year. She has some grain allergies so we are very careful about the food and treats she gets. Everything on the back of the bag sounded great, healthy, nutritional. Also, on the back of the bag is a very large, colorful box stating that Waggin” Train is an American owned company and they are in Anderson, South Carolina. Too bad I missed the plain black lettering on the other side of the bag that said Made in China.
Dorey had to have a cyst removed from under her armpit last fall. Our vet ordered some presurgery tests. Her urinary tests came back with some concerning numbers. We discussed what they could mean, and retested her again a few months later. Her latest test came back with an unexplained improvement. We had stopped giving her the treats in January. We can only hope and pray that permanent damage wasn’t done, and that something won’t creep up again at a later time.
The lot # is W1NJ129A The expiration date is 021513
Shame on this company for continuing to sell and kill American pets!
I lost my 16 year old schnauzer two years ago. I thought I could never love another pet so much!! I was wrong. Three times wrong!! Two Yorkies and a mixed Jack Russel. Their “first thing in the morning–get up & go”; has always been Waggin Train Chicken jerky tenders. Over the past few months they have all had vomiting, diarrhea and just that look like: “Mommy I don’t feel so well”. They’ve all had regular vet visits…..still this comes and goes. Could this be the chicken jerky treats? If you’ve ever lost a pet, you have to understand my concern. For now, we have been leaving off the treats…but they still go to the pantry for them. I would like some answers!!!!!
my 6yr old maltese was diagonested with diabetes in december and i have been giving her waggin trains chicken jerky treats for a long time in fact she gets them every time she gets her insulin shot as a reward. Every time i do a urine check her glucose level are always high even when she gets her shots. she was hospitalized for a week in december and she had many blood tests and glucose curves. I am going to contact my vet first thing monday morning but I cant understand why my vet wouldnt ask about what she is eating. and another thing i noticed is that my dogs are pee pee pad trained and if any pee gets on the flood no matter how hard i clean it always feel sticky.
My dachshund Layla was getting sick in January of 2010 she was showing signs of excessive thirst and excessive urination and finally got so sick she quit eating and drinking anything. I took her to the vet and she told me that Layla was in full kidney failure and my only option was to have her put to sleep which I did. I held her in my arms while she slowly slipped away from this world as my heart broke in two. The vet had no explanation at the time of why Layla was in kidney failure and she had asked me at the time if it were possible for her to be poisoned in which I quickly replied “no” as Layla was with me all the time. A few short months ago I was reading a post on Facebook about Waggin Train treats and I had recognized these treats as something I used to buy and give to Layla, she did love her treats. I do believe that this is the reason she is gone today and no one will ever tell me any different! Something needs to be done to rid our shelves of these treats so this stops and no other dog has to suffer the way Layla did! I loved her with all my heart and I feel if it weren’t for those treats she would still be sitting here with me today! 🙁
My dog, Pappy, died in August 2011. He drank a lot and urinated gallons. I don’t know if it is one of the symptoms or not, but in the last few days, his urine was so yellow it looked neon green. One morning he wouldn’t go out, and later came looking for me, then laid down at the foot of the bed. I heard him making noises, which he often did when he was sleeping, so i looked over at him, and I thought, he doesn’t look like he is sleeping. And i went over to him and spoke his name and he raised his head back to look at me and he looked so scared as he started to seize. He seized for about a minute and died. My heart went with him. I fed him at least one and sometimes two Wagon Train chicken jerky every day.
My cousins dog ate these and wound up with Fanconi Syndrome. Unfortunately the poor dog was misdiagnosed with diabetes and had to be put down. I watched and heared about the poor dog suffering. Worst part about it was it all happened in a matter of weeks. 🙁
I have spent the last 2 days cleaning up and caring for my 3 dogs. It was so weird to see all 3 dogs mowing the grass. they looked like sheep and then one after the other constant vomiting followed by eating more grass. All 3 are passed out from exaustion, I cant keep their water bowel filled.
red diarrhea is what the children in Vietnam died from with the defoilent Agent Orange. only our puppies died just like those in vietnam, my daughter spent $1500.00 to try and save just one, it did not test for parvovirus, all there puppies ate the same dog food, they were 3 months, 6 months and 9 months, they all ate the same dog food. the 3 other adult dogs over one year did not even get sick. the 3 month old died first, then the 6 month old and then the 9 month old. I was told it was the wheat gluten put in to soften the dog food, anyway,
there were a list of different brands that filled two pages on the internet of recalled dog food.
I’m thinking it is linked to the Genetically modified corn and wheat that the chickens eat, and the wheat and corn that is genetically modified that is filler in dog food,
we need to learn a lesson from this that we have to take responsibility for our own food instead of putting it in the hands of someone who is making money and does not want to waste money and throwing out a harmful food, i have tried to feed my animals just plain food that i know is not GMO.
My 4 year old cock a poo is in Acute Renal Failure , because he is young and ARF is not common in dogs his age he has been tested for leptospirosis and tick borne illness.Today the vet asked if we had given him any dog treats,and yes he has had Milo’s kitchen and Waggin train jerky treats.my bigger dog has had them and is okay , just my small dog is dying.
Iam very angry these products promote them as healthy treats for dos , and what the hell is wrong with the FDA for not issuing a recall , or releasing there investigation of the plants where these products are made.
Happy Hips Chicken Jerky Too?
I just picked my {almost} 2 year old flatcoat retriever from the hospital after a 3 day emergency stay for pancreatititis. After finishing a second bag of Happy Hips Chicken Jerky – at 1 bag a week, my 65 pound pup had terrible loose stoole all day – out of the blue! Could not stop pooping all day. Next day, he would not stop vomiting. He eats Farmstand Selects kibble, and cheese and carrots. I am more than careful about where he goes and what he eats, and this has NEVER happened before. I CAN NOT say for sure that the jerky is the cause, but after plenty of reading; I am now gonna learn how to make my own dog snacks… seems like what we thought was always safe is now a crapshoot. Not worth my boy’s life… Funny though, I thought I could trust Milkbone and Beggin Strips and bought them for him after I brought him home. Then I started reading. Returning everything now.
Currently have a 14 yr old dog fighting for his life on IV’s at the vets – it doesn’t look good that he’ll make it. It all seems to point back to the Waggin Train chicken treats we’ve given too him promoting kidney failure. His cretinine is about 7X above normal. Even vets are having trouble learning about possible treatment regimens to try and treat this. There needs to be more information published online, and more public information passed out about the risks of chicken treats from china. There have been several cases in my town in the last week or so.
14 with kidney failure doesn’t seem that mysterious. Instead of torturing your beloved pet for your emotional needs, why not put him down to his rest and get another pet to love?
“HORRIBLE”, you say! No . . . I call it love for another. I tortured two cats; one by not being willing to put an obviously sick and suffering animal down and another by pumping fluids in him for two years before putting him down.
I suffered and they suffered and I swore I’d never do it again. Currently, I have a 20 year old cat whose only real problem is being scrawny because she is finicky. As long as she can scoot up and down the stairs to stay ahead of the 2 yr old cat and find her way to the box (most of the time), I’m good and she’s good.
To all of you other selfish people dragging an old pet through painful treatments, prove you love them more than yourself and let them go. There are many other animals that need good homes and loving masters.
Maybe instead of bashing people and telling them to just euthanize their geriatric pet, we could focus on finding out if there is an actual problem with these treats so that other animals can stay healthy and safe. If it’s not the treats, then so be it, but why risk it and why be nasty to the people making their comments here?
If there is toxic or poisonous dog food or treats causing illness and death…I want to know about it and so does the FDA because it is the law that a company cannot harm it’s consumers. What is in chicken strips that can be fatal? I thought they were only chicken?
To all the people saying “just euthanize” your pet, go jump in a lake. Would you want someone to pull the plug on you or would you want every second of this ONE life you’ve been given? Exactly. Treat your faithful, loving animal the same way.
When my puppy is getting up there in years, if a vet suggest KILLING him – let’s not sugar coat it by calling it EUTHANIZING, you’re KILLING an animal – time to find a new vet.
Perhaps you really do hate animals? Depending on the breed 14 is NOT an extreme age. I have had 4 small mixed breeds that all lived to be over 20 years old with the oldest getting to be 24. maybe you like to just murder your pets as soon as they get sick.
But others actually care about theirs.
Wow! 24, thats a long life! I don’t think he hates pets, i think he has had a few bad experiences, that he feels bad about, and is projecting that onto others experiences. I had to get a dog put down a few months shy of her 13th birthday and it messed with me for years wondering if I made her suffer too long. That is awesome you have had your dogs live so long! You must be an awesome pet owner what kind of dogs?
Since there has been no official recall, no one can prove it yet. HOWEVER, if there is even the slightest chance that giving those treats will harm my precious dog, she will not get them. I would rather boil fresh chicken for her as a treat. She was affected by the dog food recall when she was a puppy. The amount of money obtained by the class action lawsuit didn’t even cover my vet bills, let alone the anxiety from almost losing my beloved girl. I just won’t chance it. I have been giving both of my dogs the Wagon Train treats for about 6 months now. I can’t say that I have seen any changes in either of them, but I am just not willing to chance it. I made homemade dog food for a long time, and I can make homemade treats as well!
Gee Barry, have a heart. I sure hope when you’re 80 (plus years) no one says, “oh, Barry lived a good life…..he’s sick, let’s unplug the machines and let him go”
Dear Barry. Your comment concerning the decision to put a beloved friend to sleep is right on the money. When a pet dies, we weep for ourselves, not for them. If a pet is that ill, we need to do for them the last kindness that we can ever do. If they could speak, I’m sure they would choose to go on to the rainbow bridge. When that time comes, prove your love by letting them go. Geo
Geo, your comment would be valid if that was the only point he was making. However, you seem to have missed or rather dismissed the main point of him advocating killing your pet rather than allow them to be sick and recover, which is what we are all hoping for in this instance. All living beings suffer just by being alive–think about the days you have not been well. Did you, the doctors or your family give up and try to kill you?
What a horribly tacky and insensitive person you are…My dog is not an old dog nor are a lot of others who have been talked about here so your pointless guilt ridden diatribe has no bearing on our reality. If you are feeling so guilty about killing your animal instead of caring for it that is your deal. You have to live with your guilt. WE WON’T. The LAST thing I would do is kill my dog because it was too hard to care for her. Tell me, would you kill your child and have another one if the first was sick? Do you advocate setting our seniors adrift on ice floes?
You, sir, give pet owners a bad name….and leave a bad taste in the mouth.
I have been reading this because I have 2 small dogs and have been feeding them the Waggin’ Train treats for about a year now. My dogs too love them. I worry about them becoming ill. I would not willingly cause my dog to go into renal failure. But, if my dogs are older, over age 10, we do not know how much longer they could live a healthy, happy life. I am not a selfish person. I would not put my dogs through life on machines and medical torture. As pet owners we know we will most likely outlive our animals. To say things to a human like you hope they would turn off his machines or that he would die is the horrible statement. Let’s face it, even though we love them as members of our families they are not human.
Now should your pet be younger and easily bounce back, yes treat them with whatever. If you feel your older dog can bounce back it is your choice, but do not be angry because someone does not feel the same way you do. They may feel that it is the more loving way to not have their beloved pet to suffer. Go ahead and jump on me.
I think you are all losing fact that we need to be writing to our people in Washington to do more about the things they are allowing China and other places to send into our country. There is where you should focus your anger. Not at other pet owners, just because they do not feel the same way as you.
I have a 4 year old dog, She was in the hospital for 6 days has severe actue renal failure and severe pancreatits. she’s not just a dog she a child to me. I brought her home and she has not eaten have to force feed her. today she had a seziure, and blood from rectum, So someone tell why there is no recall on china’s chick jery treats. The only reason I even gave her the treats is because her mate died exactly one month to date.
My dog received i piece of a treat November 18, 2011. After 12 days of liver at a reduced function and pancreatitus, he was too weak to support himself sitting up. Ihad to do the only thing I could, he suffered enough. 1 Waggin’ Train Treat caused his death. It could not possibly have been anything else!
Another case of melamine “contamination”?
My chihuahua was poisoned at the end of 2007 by Chinese chicken jerky treats – Waggin Train! These were the only ones that I fed her and not in excess! My vet had no clue what it was. I did extensive digging on the internet and found out about acquired Fanconi Syndrome. It is not just a matter of intravenous fluids – if your dog has Fanconi Syndrome symptoms – excess drinking, excessing peeing then get your vet to test for sugar in the urine! If there is excess then you dog has acquired Fanconi Syndrome. Please search Dr. Gonto on the internet. He is the doc that has developed a protocol for dogs with Fanconi Syndrome (Basenjis get this through heredity). You dog will need certain vitamins and supplements to help the kidneys to function and will need a blood gas test so that the level of the different supplements and vitamins can be established. Dr. Gonto will work with you and tell you what your dog needs. Don’t delay. Most vets do not know how to treat this!
Judy in Philly
My dashound 8 yrs and healthy ate one Cannon Creek Ranch Chicken Veggie Bites recipe treat made in China and awoke with severe stomache pain and barely able to stand or sit on Wednesday, July 20, 2011. Lot no. p1ca3916a best before 022213 and
UPC # 8 07020 84601 0. She went to the vet 7.20.11 and had a water infusion, pepcid pills and special canned food for two days. On Friday I fed her the regular food that she ate for the past 7 years and she again had stomache pain and could barley walk. I called the vet and he prescribed more pepcid and vet canned food on Friday. She rested Friday and Saturday. I walked her Sunday morning and she again went into pain on the way back from a two block walk. Her head was down and she walked in slow motion until she came home. Monday I brought her to the vet. This time xray and blood work. She had an elevated liver enzyme 12oo and no other problems . He wants me to call Monday. She is on Pepcid and Tramadel and special dog food. The xray was fine. He is treating for perhaps a pinched nerve as the daschounds have long backs. I feel it is the China chicken. I will alert him to these blogs on Monday and the possiblity of acquired Fanconi Syndrome.
Can anyone tell me if this includes Canyon Creek products as well. They appear to be the same company, but different names. The product lines and packaging are very similar. They appear to be the same product sold in different outlets. Thank you for your help.
Yes, Canyon Creek Ranch products have been officially identified as produced by Waggin Train, LLC. Apparently, the name change is intended to give a ‘more American’ feel to the name, and to disassociate it with the concerns about Chinese-made chicken products. CCR products are also made in China (look for tiny print on back of bag). Same stuff-same problems, nothing’s changed.
It still going on!. On August 10, s011 we purchased 1 package of Dogswell Happy Hip Chicken Breast Treats from a reputable organic market in Tustin, CA ,where both of our Pomeranians became ill with vomiting and diarrhea within 3 days of ingesting these dog treats. My daughter and I are furious, and have contacted the Store, as well as theDogswell Company, and have filed a complaint with the FDA. Please Please pass this information o to all pet owners. Thank you
YES! I just filed a report with the FDA # 1023080. On 11/15/2011. I purchased Dogswell brand chicken breast happy hip strips. My 70 lb Siberian/Shepard Mix of 12 yrs was fine running with me that morning. Within 2 hrs. vomiting drinking lots of water and died at the vet within 12 hrs! After x rays and blood work while IV’d through up yet more orange remnants of the chicken chews and went into cardiac arrest. I wish I had known about this.
It is true that Dogswell does obtain their chicken from China but they test their chicken extensively for contaminants, E.coli, Salmonella and melamine. In fact, you can find the latest independent laboratory batch test results (all negative for contaminants, melamine, etc…) on their website under quality assurance…They have never had any recalled products. They are a reputable company with good products.
Recently purchased (mid Aug 2011) Dogswell Happy Hip Duck breast. This is the only treat I feed my dog. He got a blood + urine test before anesthesia for dental work. His blood sugar was normal, but they found glucose in the urine. We retested with the same results.
My dog is a 70 lb malamute, and I fear he may have have kidney issues now.
Thanks for letting us know about this. Hopefully your dog will recover quickly now that the treats have stopped!
Update: I’ve removed the Happy Hips Duck Jerky from my malamute’s diet. (Only change to his diet) and his urine has tested clean of glucose.
I’m happy that we happened to catch this before any permanent damage.
is the duck jerky a problem too?? Lolly did the chicken and I have not seen her get sick, but we switched to duck 6 mo. ago.she loves them.
there were times i would give her a chicken treat and she would smell it and turn away,which i thought was very strange .maybe she smell it wasn’t right, who knows what goes on in a dog head…. but i would really like to find out…lol
Dr. Marie — To your knowledge, have any of the vets that you’ve consulted about this performed tests for heavy metals in any of the affected animals? I assume we’d be looking for the knee-jerk reaction of melamine contamination after 2007, but what about the possibility of lead, mercury, chromium, cadmium?
It sounds to me like the FDA is trying desperately to find the culprit but can’t. In many cases the only ingredient is chicken. So is something wrong with the chickens? Who knows?
You just have to wonder if there’s a nexus with the recent action against Roxarsone use in poultry. The FDA has just recently taken action to begin the ban of the use of Roxarsone in the USA because it causes a measurable accumulation of inorganic Arsenic in the livers of broiler chickens. China happens to be one of the largest suppliers of Arsenic-based product (including raw materials for Roxarsone), so its use in Chinese chicken production is not far-fetched. So, whether there could be accumulations that might provoke Fanconi Syndrome symptoms in muscle tissue is an interesting question — however long the shot is.
Dr. Marie,
Could it possibly be rat feces in these Chinese factories? Possibly the Chinese are trying to poison the rats, and they are becoming immune to the poison., still running around in the factories.
Wasn’t typhus caused in the early 1900 ‘s from rat feces?
Your input will be appreciated
People do not seem to be considering the real ( I would bet on it actually ) possibility that the company explanation is correct. That is that the problems linked to the chicken jerky are caused by owners not following the guidelines and feeding dogs too much of it too frequently for their size.
I also think now that it has been in the news everyone with a dog that has a health problem that coincidentally ate the treats will blame it on the treats.
Our dogs have been eating the chicken jerky treats for several years but never more than one per day . No problems at all from my experience if you follow the guidelines but many misguided owners feed dogs as much as they want and they love these treats.
To me the whole thing is typical hysteria response similar to the sudden acceleration claims against Audi 5000. Audi kept claiming it was inadvertent slamming of the accelerator rather than the brake but “victims” we’re certain they were on the brake. Since the solution of putting in a lock to disallow people from putting the car in gear without pressing the brake eliminated all the incidents, the company was proven right all along. But that fact never made the news. So the hysteria belief persists that the cars were shifting themselves and accelerating without human interaction.
When there is a tragedy people want a culprit to blame and they are incapable of blaming themselves for simply doing something stupid, like feeding excessive amounts of a treat.
There will be no scientific resolution because there is nothing to find IMO. There will forever be anecdotal evidence but nothing that stands up to scientific scrutiny.
I adopted a lab mixed in late April from a local shelter. I’ve been feeding my little dog this chicken treat for years now. So I also started giving my new dog the same treats too. Now that I look back, my lab sure drank a lot of water. He also urinated a lot and had accidents in the house. I have stopped feeding my dogs these chicken jerkies for a month now and noticed that my lab no longer drinks water excessively. He doesn’t urinate a high volume either and has had no accidents in the house.
I have a friend at the dog park and his Aussie is dying of kidney failure. He suspects that its the jerky treats from Costco, same as the kind I feed my dog.
I can’t believe Costco would not pull the treats off the shelf even after my friend formally complained.
Does anyone know if there could be potential long term health issues that could show up later on?
I also had an older dog that died two months ago. He had all symptoms similar to Fanconi Syndrome. He got sick and within four days I had to humanely euthanize him. The condition progressive quickly and there was nothing that could of saved him. He was a healthy 13 year old dog with no medical issues ever.
Thanks for sharing. If a dog had Fanconi’s for a while it can indeed cause lasting kidney disease. One of the problems though is that there are a number of things that can case kidney problems. So, it wouldn’t be enough to say, “My dog ate this treat and then he got kidney disease”. If there was bloodwork indicating that there was glucose in the urine but not in the blood then there is a little more connection. But unfortunately these things are hard to prove, which is why we’re trying desperately to find out which treats are doing this!
I just called Waggin Train. They said their brand of chicken jerkies are not the ones in question. Their product only has chicken, natural chicken flavoring. I asked what they feed the chickens and the representatives does not know.
Does anyone know if I should have my small dog, which ate chicken jerkies for years now or my lab taken to the Vet to get a thorough checkup? Can effects show up years from now?
I don’t know if there’s a connection but it’s better to be safe then sorry. If there’s any question as to treats, dog food harming dogs, I will take precautions.
A dog with Fanconi’s syndrome will have an increase in thirst and urination. If your dog doesn’t have any clinical symptoms of disease then a vet check really shouldn’t be necessary.
I noticed my dog was not well today, I’m trying to get him to the vet tomorrow (he is completely booked). His lower abdomen is very tender, he hasn’t eaten today (except for some cheese), he has been drinking his water. When I told the vet’s office I gave him chicken jerky treats they became concerned. I had no idea that there were any problems with these treats!!
I am sure my dog got sick from Waggin Train Chicken Jerky treats. I took her to the VET and it took two courses of two different antibiotics to make her better. I do not give her any chicken jerky anymore and she is now better with no symptoms of any illness. I called the company and they denied that anything was wrong with their treats. What concerns me is this: No one ever asks for a sample of the chicken jerky so that it can be tested. I gave my dog a treat the same night that I gave a friend’s dog the same treat and they both got sick! Now, doesn’t that say something? The garbage that Waggin Train comes up with about eating too many treats doesn’t hold water. I did not give the other dog more than a small piece of the jerky and it threw up the next day!
I have been purchasing the waggintrain rawhide twists for my two German Shepherds for some time now. Last weekend I decided to change things up and purchased the Chicken jerky treats instead. 3 days ago my 3 year old male began having loose stool…he has a sensitive belly so i didnt think much of it. Then later that evening he showed no interest in his food. Later he had diarrhea and vomiting in his crate. The following morning his bowl movements were completely liquid with a little bit of blood around his anus. After two days of only chicken broth he is just now starting back on solid food. He hasnt showed any signs of fatigue, no fever, and his gums are nice and pink so Im doubtful that he had a virus. While my 7 year old female hasnt shown any noticable symptoms i am convinced these treats are dangerous if not deadly. I will keep them in the closet in case there is in fact a recall or my dog develops any new symptoms but they will never eat another bite. The reviews tell it all however i made the connection immediately. Thank goodness it wasnt too late.
I have 3 Yorkies and one Silky. I purchased the Waggin’Train Wholesome Chicken Jerky Tenders at WalMart. I started giving these “Natural Chicken Fillets” after adopting a Yorkie from a rescue organization that has only 2 teeth and has to hand feed her right now. I gave these fillets to my 2 Yorkies and Silky to keep them busy while I hand fed the new Yorkie as it took them a while to eat them and it gave me one on one time with the new Yorkie to feed her. I started this on Sunday, October 16, 2011. After 4 days I noticed something was not quite right with my Silky. The food dishes had not been filled since I had filled them the previous Friday. Unusual as we generally filled them every 2-3 days. On Thursday, October 20, 2011 she would just stand in one spot and would look at me in a puzzling manner. She refused to go off of the deck in the back yard and would just stand still. It took some coaxing to get her down the steps. I had no idea what as going on with her. I at first thought maybe she was constipated and maybe had poop stuck to her, but after checking this out I found that was not it. She slept that night ok and on the morning of October 21, 2011 she seemed a little better and ate her breakfast as usual. She did not go outside once again and just stood staring at me. Her eyes were trying to tell me something, but I could not figure it out. Once again I checked to see if she had poop stuck to her, but she did not. I did talk to our Vet’s assistant to tell her that Kuhlee was not feeling good and to let our Vet know in case we would need him on the weekend. On Friday when we returned from work @ 6 p.m. she did have poop stuck to her so we thought that was the problem. We washed her up, but she still did not seem herself. That evening @ 10 p.m. she started having some rapid respirations and her body temperature seemed cool which was out of the ordinary. At 3 a.m. Saturday, October 22, 2011 she was having difficulty breathing and we tried getting ahold of our Vet and had to leave a message. She calmed down after giving her half of a pain pill and she was able to rest after about 2 hours, of which she stood most of. Our Vet called @ 8:15 a.m. and I immediately took her in. Her temperature had dropped and the roof of her mouth and gums were white. She had severe anemia and was toxic. She was in shock. After some testing they found that she was getting fluid built up around her lungs so he drained some of it off and she seemed to breathe a little better. The fluid that he drained was blood tinged. The Vet gave her a steroid shot, an antibiotic, vitamin K, and vitamin C. He said it was like she had eaten rat poison, but we have no poison around. I left her there telling her I was sorry, but that she would be okay. She kissed me as if to tell me not to worry. When I got home my Vet called to ask me some more questions. What kind of food she was eating and what kind of treats she was eating? The only thing different was the Waggin’Train Jerky Tenders. He asked if they were made in China? He said that there is an ingredient in treats that are made in China that can cause a blood disorder. Of course I immediately got the bag and turned it over only to see first “Waggin’Train is an American owned company.” I thought “whew!” only to look over to the left and see “Made in China!” My heart sank. Why had I not known about this I wondered???? My Vet gave me an update about every 3 hours or so. First call @ 11:10 a.m. she was not any worse, but not any better. 2nd call @ 2:45 p.m she was a little better, she even met him at the front of the kennel and licked him as she wagged her tail. 3rd call @ 5:25 p.m. she had gotten worse and he removed more fluid off of her lungs. 4th and final call 8:29 p.m. SILENCE…I have some bad news for you! Kuhlee died @ 8 p.m.! Lots of crying followed. Kuhlee was a kind and gentle spirit. She loved life. She was 11 years 8 months and 4 days. She loved my daughter who saved her…being held like a baby and getting her tummy rubbed…bananas (she could hear one being opened from the other end of the house)…any treat…giving kisses (we all got an abundance)…the grandchildren…her furry sisters…being a mother (she loved her babies and fostered babies. She was an awesome mom!)…lying in the sun…and pretty much just being alive and with us! Why is this company still selling a product that kills our precious pets? I promised Kuhlee that I will not let her death be of no purpose! I will fight for her in her honor to get this and other products like it off of the shelves and to educate pet owners. I did contact Waggin’Train tonight Monday, October 24, 2011 @ 6:35 p.m. and talked to a representative which I am sure was following a script. I asked him what the ingredients in this product were? to which he replied “Chicken”! I said, “What else?” He said “nothing just chicken!” I said, “Okay right here on the ingredient portion of the package it says chicken, vegetable glycerin and natural flavor!” “What ingredients make up the natural flavor?” To which he replied “I can’t tell you that as I don’t know!” Wow!!! I said “here’s the deal” and explained my above story. He said he was sorry for my loss and asked if he could file a report. I said “Sure!” He asked if I still had the product and he asked for the codes on the back of the package. He asked if he sent a prepaid envelope if I would send them a few of the treats from the bag and also asked if they could call my Vet? I said I would let them know. I told him that I worked in customer service and I know what can happen if just one person starts talking bad about a product, pretty soon one person tells another person that tells another person that tells another person and so on! It’s a snowball effect. He said he had pets and he knows how I feel. I said to him “Well I hope you are not feeding your pets these treats!” Overall the representative was polite, but I know he was just doing his job. I am upset and rightfully so. I am on a mission for Kuhlee and you won’t find me backing down soon. I know that all I have to back this up is the above timelined story and the treats themselves, but I believe that the Chinese ingredient, which is some form of sugar, is in some way responsible for Kuhlees unexpected death. Kuhlee’s death happened so fast. Blood could not be drawn because she was anemic and we did not want an autopsy performed because she had endured enough. We wanted to bring our little girl home as the beauty that she was. And we did. I now have a new passion and it’s fighting companies like Waggin’ Train to provide our pets with SAFE, HEALTHY, AMERICAN MADE treats!
Oh, I am so sorry to hear of this bad news. This is the first I’ve heard of treats from China causing any sort of bleeding issue. The main concern so far has been with Fanconi syndrome which causes glucose in the urine. I’m going to keep an eye out for more issues like you’ve described though.
My Vet said he was recently at a meeting where the speaker told them about the treats from China and how they can cause blood disorders. It’s something to do with making the phosphorus level drop in the blood. I went to WalMart tonight and talked to the manager. I took a copy of everything on your site and handed it to him. He said they have heard nothing about this and he assured me that he would contact the corporate headquarters. While I was explaining the issue with him a lady came over and told us that her sister’s dog had almost died from these products. My question is WHY aren’t they pulling these products off of the market? The only answer can be greed!
Interesting. I can’t find any information on blood disorders and a connection to Chinese treats. If anyone has any literature they can share, then please do.
Thank you Lisa. Yes, Greed and ? All this procedural BS. My vet has to file with the FDA. My vet has to send out for a toxicology analysis? I was trying to find a lab and that is what another vet online told me. Why does my vet have to do it. I should be able to
find a lab that I can pay and send it to. When I called my vets office they just said call the manufacturer and the FDA. I am not going to call the manufacturer I did not vote to have the regulatory agencies bound and the merchants monitoring themselves. You see how well that has been going. The gulf oil example and how many more of our pets have to suffer before it is enough for someone to give a rat?
OMG! I am so blown away. This is just so similar to what just happened to me days ago. 11/15/2011. My dog was fine ran with me in the am. At night I had given her 2 chicken jerky’s by Dogswell not knowing anything about this and within 12 hrs she died at the vets and same symptoms as yours internal bleeding and into cardiac arrest. My vet has been (NOT) responsive to my inquiry even though they suspected poisoning. They seem to be clueless about this chicken strip warning. We have been so devastated and shocked with this abrupt loss of our beloved baby. Now the thought that from my ignorance and shame on the health food stores carry this, to find it “made in china”. I never knowingly buy made in China pet products because you never know whose pet it may be made from. my heartfelt sympathy to u as well for loosing your poochy. I hope we can save others from this tragedy. I filed with the FDA, but with out under-regulated agencies this is what is common business practice at our loss.
My German shepherd has been very sick too after giving him wagon train chicken tenders. I can’t believe Costco would sell these treats. I would never have given him these treats knowing what I have found out recently. It makes me sick that they would sell these after all the information out there. What is wrong with this company? I am furious and hope that my Duke has not suffered Permanent damage.
Lisa, Our sheltie had to be put to sleep in September, 2011. He had all of the same symptoms as your dog had. He was anemic and he was drinking alot and urinating alot. He kept getting worse. The doctor had him on antibiotics and steroid and he got worse. His red blood cells were being attacked. They had asked us if he could have got into some kind of poisin. We knew he hadn’t. We have been feeding our two dogs beneful dog food. Our other dog has been starting to breathe harder than usual, so we are worried about him too. My daughter had given both of them a chicken jerky treat about a week before Rusty had been sick. Let me know what kind of dog food you have been feeding your dogs. Thanks.
Not going to weigh in on the possible causes of what appear to be various symptoms with these dogs… but Beneful is one of the worst dog food to feed your pet. Look into this website and please find a decent dog food for your dog. They list Beneful as a one star dog food with multiple suspicious ingredients. I won’t feed my dogs below a four star food.
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/
Lisa Wand all that have lost a pet for any reason, I am so sorry. I currently have two pupies I rescued. Lily is less than one year and Olive is less than than two years old. I used to feed the Waggin Train Chicken Jerkey, but heard about all of this and the dogs getting sick, so I stopped and tried other brands. Within the last 3 days, both of my dogs have had diahhrea with mucusy blood and when we wiped their butt the tisue had bright red blood on it. Olive has not had it since Sunday, but Lily started today. I looked at the brand of jerkey treats I bought from Walgreens “Petshope” brand and it says MADE IN CHINA!! So Ilooked at the other treats they like and they are ALL MADE IN CHINA!! This includes Vegi Soft Chews by PAWS Premium. Mini DINGO rawhide bones, Dentleys raw hide bones and Petshoppe pork skin twists. ALL MADE IN CHINA. So, I went to our local small pet store to see if they had anything that WASN’Tmade in china and they only had one brand from “Pet Center”. It is made in the USA, but my dogs don’t like it that much. And since Lily had the diahharea tonight, I am just ging to stop giving them any kind of treats at all. They also love chewing on rawhide, but I could not find ANY that were made in the USA. I am praying to God that my pups will be ok and that permanent damage has not been done. I love them so muchand feel like I gave birth to them. My advice is that you read the labels and search the packaging very thouroughly to make sure they are made in the USA and NOT CHINA! Good luck to everyone.
Our 12 year old poodle has become sick and has been in the hospital for 6 days on IVs and antibiotics. She didn’t eat for 5 days and vomiting prior to admitting to the vet. The internal medicine vet suspects the cause is the “Waggin Train Chicken Jerky Treats.” She has a high BUN and creatnine levels are both at high levels. The bag of treats says this is an American owned company with products made in China and was bought in Sam’s Club. Arkansas.
Our dog is SO ill right now, and there is information out there about these chicken jerky treats that are irradiated and from China………our last dog died from kidney failure, and our new puppy, at 1 year old, is having the EXACT same symptoms, after eating Chicken Jerky treats from China!!!!!!!! Dr. Marie, get a grip and offer to do some testing, not telling people you can’t ‘find’ anything. How could you, you’re not looking are you!???
I’m very sorry to hear that your dog is not well. I can understand your frustration, but what exactly is it that you want me to do?
What we have here is a page of testimonials of people who are suspicious that Chicken Jerky from China have made their dogs sick. These cases need to be reported to the FDA by the veterinarians involved in the case.
Dr. Marie,
you are incorrect. A Consumer can file a report. The FDA Rep I called even gave me a direct link. Here it is: http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/SafetyHealth/ReportaProblem/ucm182403.htm
Thanks for that. Whenever possible it’s best to get your vet to report the case. Thus way they can relay the medical information such as kidney enzymes, etc. But if your vet isn’t willing to report this then a consumer complaint still counts for something!
I submitted a report to the FDA today. Heres the link
http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/SafetyHealth/ReportaProblem/ucm182403.htm
My dog, Cricket, a 1.5 year old Shih Tsu, is extremely ill. He had severe diarrhea, vomiting and now has blood in his stool.
Waggin’ Train doesn’t give a crap but I am 100% positive that it is these treats that caused Cricket’s sickness
I’m not sure if it will help at all, but I have filed a report with the FDA and invited them to read the comments here on the blog. Again, if any of you who are reading this post think that your dog is sick because of eating chicken jerky it is very important that you have your vet report this to the FDA. They can’t act on speculation or on comments left on a blog. But, if they start getting reports from veterinarians involved in these cases then something can be done.
We had a wonderful Akita named Nikki who we had always given chicken jerky treats to since she seemed to absolutely love them.
A few months ago the pet store didn’t have our regular brand so we decided to try a new brand (Canyon Creek Ranch) that they had on the shelves. Shortly after starting with the new brand of treats she seemed to be getting sick. We assumed it was just a minor sickness since we had just taken her to the vet a few weeks prior and she was in outstanding condition and was very active. We stopped giving her the new treats because we thought that the new brand of treats could be upsetting her stomach. But she continued to get worse. It started with her vomiting usually at least once per day. We took her in to the vet again and initially they ran some blood tests and did an ultrasound, the vet said that he wasn’t sure what the cause was but thought that it could be pancreatitis or something with the liver because her enzymes (forget which ones but still have all documents) were elevated. Her condition continued to decline until she became so lethargic that she didn’t want to get up and go outside any longer or even eat; although she didn’t want to eat she did seem extremely thirsty, even to the point where we had to regulate the water she had in order to ensure she didn’t have too much.
After a few trips to the vet he finally referred us to the Animal Hospital and we took her there for a few visits and still didn’t get a concrete answer as to what the problem was. At the end she was admitted to the Hospital so that she could be placed on an IV and monitored she stayed overnight for two nights. We went to visit her both nights, but on the second night she was so bad that she couldn’t move on her own power. Normally she would get excited to see us and jump up to greet us but the last night she could barely move… We were counseled that we may have to make the decision to euthanize her. Sadly she passed away the following morning. We’re still not sure we could have made that horrible decision….
We had told ourselves that maybe she was just old and got sick… but this came on way to quick especially since she had been given an outstanding bill of health just a few weeks earlier. This literally seemed to happen almost overnight.
All three of mine were very ill in September and I had just purchased a bag of Milo’s Kitchen chicken jerky – and they are labelled as Made in China. The oldest died -18 yo – very painfully. The 12 yo showed signs of kidney and liver failure and we (Vet and me) put her on a Hill’s K/D and very strict diet – the puppy was only ill for a couple of days and was fine. I have not fed them anything out of this bag since. I just retrieved it from the fridge to check. I am going to seal it and save it – let me know if you want me to mail it to you. Email me and I will give you a phone number.
I’m so sorry to hear this. Your best bet is to get your vet to report this to the FDA. They can take note if the lot number and may want to do some testing. At this point the problem is that we don’t know what to test for!
I also gave my Carolina Dog “Milo’s Kitchen” chicken jerky treats about 3 months ago. Later in the day after having just 2 earlier, she was vomiting and lethargic. The vomit was like a yellow bile and there were chunks of the jerky in it – almost as if her body could not digest it. I did not give her anymore after that and have gone back to all natural treats only – baby carrots and baked liver treats. I told the store where I bought them and they did nothing. She is fine now…her breed is very hardy anyways due to very little human intervention and breeding, but after reading through this article and all the comments – please spread the word to fellow dog owners!!! Making your own homemade liver treats is actually cheaper than buying this Chinese poison and baby carrots are usually accepted by any dog. Maybe we should stop buying bagged treats all together…I mean really – some of that stuff must sit on the shelf for ages – full of preservitives and who knows what else!!! Didn’t we have a problem with Colgate toothpaste coming out of China that had some sort of poison in it??? Boycott everything from foreign countries…help our economy and pay a little extra for Made in the USA…or make it yourself.
I saw an article earlier today, can’t find it again, but it said a sugar subsitute has been added and is causing the problem, chemical name started with “x” or “z”
Oh! If you can find the article please let me know!
Ah, I see that MSNBC had an article about the chicken jerky problem and then followed it with an article about xylitol toxicity in dogs who ate halloween candy. Is this what you were thinking of? These are two separate issues. Really, the chicken jerky is not sweetened at all as far as I know.
Hello,
Yesterday, November 20th 2011, I fed my dogs Chicken jerky treats, made in China, brand is Happy Hips, purchased in NYC.
Both my dogs have SEVERE diarrhea, vomiting, extremely dehydrated. They seem to be on the mend – thank goodness I only gave them one each – this is the only non-homemade food we give them, so I was concerned it could have been something from my homemade food – but highly doubted this as every ingredient is organic, thoroughly washed of all dirt and sand. A good friend heard our dogs were sick and asked is we ever fed them chicken jerky – enough said.
I am going to alert any and everyone I know (regardless of whether they have a dog, cat or any other animal!).
Tomorrow, I’m calling my vet and MAKING them file a complaint.
Sugar is included in the ingredients for some of the products, just a thought on my part, yes that is the article I read earlier.
I saw this issue come up on MSNBC and have been hitting every article I can. Abotu a month ago my beagle suddenly (within a few hours of being fine) lost bladder control and the urine was full of blood. I took him to the emergency vet clinic on a Saturday night. They were unable to find any kidney stones and the initial lab tests didn’t show any infections. They gave him antibiotics and on Monday we went back to our regular vet. At this time he was losing about a cup of urine with blood every hour. I was certain he was dying. I was told it could be kidney, prostate or bladder cancer and then kidney & prostate were eliminated. I was told it could be an infection, but they could not grow any bacteria on the culture. No stones were ever found. They kept him on pain pills for comfort and strong antibiotics. It was one of the scariest weeks of my life, but eventually he did get better. During this I changed his diet to all natural, no preservative foods. I did not know their was a problem with chicken jerky and he had been having Wagon Train chicken jerky as his bedtime treat for the entire week before this medical crisis. I am photographing the bag and it’s dates to send to my vet and hope he will add the information to the FDA report.
What is it going to take for this country to protect our pets;puppy mills,dog fighting,and abuse. Didnt we learn our lesson from china’s tainted products last time. I know there are alot of things going on in this world, but remember this, there always the first to say hello when you come and the first to say goodbye when you leave. COME ON FDA THE LAWSUITS WILL ONLY GROW THE LONGER YOU WAIT. DUMASS,DUMASS
I BOUGHT A $30 BAG OF “HAPPY HIPS” chicken breasts (cage free chicken at that) on 11/14……………………all no added hormones, no antibiotics, No fillers, blah blah, thinking finally a healthy chicken treat w/ “added vitamin E” etc etc………………well
a few days later my 14yr old maltese/pom started having weird slimey small and more often poops, and now they have become
bloody.! Thank God (I hope) he’s still very peppy and I’ve only given him small amts. Then after reading all the above blogs, OMG…………I just pray he doesn’t get the kidney stuff; I will definitely report this to my VET in the morning!! And call the feed store I purchased these in and send out warnings via every means I can!!! Catalina & Buddy
Waggin train is not made in the USA as you stated. It is made in China.
I buy a brand from Costco, Kingdom pets , made in China.
Do you know anything on this brand.
Stay away from them. I just put up a post and I am at least concerned that it may be due to the KP treats from Costco. I am returing them this weekend and asking them to pay my vet bills from the past 3 weeks.
I actually am acquainted with the family who owns Kingdom Pets and they give us their products as there are 4 dogs that circulate in the family- i don’t think they would give us poisoned products as they are like family to us. That’s all I can say. I love dogs so I understand the worry.
I have an 18 month old shih chi. She’s always had a very healthy appetite. Funny thing is she would never eat ANY dog treats. While trying to train her basic commands (sit stay come) I found beef jerky was the only thing she would work for. A friend of mine gave her a waggin train chicken jerky and she loved it so I immediately went to walmart and purchased the biggest bag they had! With in a couple of days I noticed gucci had stopped eating her dog food. I stopped the treats thinking she was being stubborn and was just trying to get more treats (which she likes to do with chicken breast) she slowly started eating her food again and so I slowly started giving her the chicken jerky again. She immediately stopped eating again. I just heatrd about the jerky I’m very concerned she still isn’t eating not even her fav grilled chicken breast I took her to the vet to get spayed and her pre surgery blood work came back normal I don’t know what to do she really needs to b eating she only weighs 12lbs. Any suggestions???
I had been buying Dogswell Mellow Mut for almost two years now. My rescue dog who had severe digestive issues when I got him loved them and it resolved his digestive issues and allowed him to gain weight. UNTIL — this last week that is. I had just purchased a new bag of Dogwell Mellow Mut chicken treats and HE WILL NOT TOUCH THEM.
Both my husband and I noticed they have a very funny odor – not like normal. We know because we have gone through alot of theses treats over the past two years.
I plan on returning all of them, filing a complaint with the store, Dogswell Distributor in CA and FDA.
I just pray that we caught it before it makes him too sick.
I only feed my dog grain free food and I thought these Waggin Train chicken jerky treats would be great for her. She is a 2 yr old Boxer/pit mix rescue from the pound and an amazing member of the family. She has had runny stools and eating grass periodically for a couple months. That is how long ago we started feeding her these treats which she would kill for. She also acts like she is going to throw up about once per week but does not. I will be stopping the use of these treats as of today. I am keeping the bag as another person suggested incase of a health problem. I will be visiting the vet as well.
Good luck to all and thanks for the info.
Thank you for the information. Four weeks ago I purchased Waggin Train Chicken jerky and immediately noticed an increase in drinking and urination. After reading this information, I have taken them away. They were given only as a reward. I have and 8 or 9 year “Beagle X” from the shelter (got him 6 years ago, 45 pounds. I will watch him closely to see if he returns to normal. He just had an excellent Vet visit 4 months ago.
My dog got very sick when I started giving him Chicken Nibbles from PCI Brand out of Los Angeles, California. I spent probably a half hour checking all of the snacks so that I could get him treats that were grain and sugar free and NOT made in China-but this company hides the fact that these are made in China by printing it on the bottom of the bag by the UPC code. Shame on you, PCI. When I contacted the company, they claimed their products are fully tested and they’ve had no complaints/recalls. Nevertheless, I returned the unopened bags and got Wellness, instead.
China has been killing our pets for a long time now. They have very little regulation, if any at all. They never suffer any consequence for any consequences for their actions. Our pets suffer horribly. Renal failure is an extremely Painful disease and very expensive. Most people cannot not even afford the treatment. The pain the pets and their owners suffer is inexcusable. I never buy anything “edible” from China. The label is sometimes is so small you can not find it easily. Some say “made by an American company ” Manufactured in China. Labels need to beto be a larger and placed in a top corner of the package. MADE IN THE USA [American flag]. The FDA needs to get on the ball! Best ultimately the responsibility is the pet owners. These jerky treats have been killing since 2007. Made in China = made of poison.
my sweet 5-yr-old girl has been sick for almost 3 months now & is scheduled to be “put to sleep” this Saturday! I swear if it’s due to Waggin’ Train chicken jerky treats, someone will pay…
I have a 9 year old Jack Russell , he loves Waggin Train Chicken Jerky treats, I bought a Large bag at Sam’s club He ate two or three a day. then he started drinking 4 liters of water a day and soaking 6 pad’s then he started throwing up and couldn’t keep anything down, Went to the vet and he did blood work and gave me pills to help him. Well I’d give him the pills and he would throw them up, so to the Emergency Vet’s office. they gave him a shot and he could keep the pills down for the night. next day back to the vet’s office, they kept him over the weekend on an IV of antibiotics he seemed better, pick him up Monday and took him home only to find out that his Kidneys were not working, we have been to the vet’s office for over a month and half, still on antibiotics but we are going in the right direction, he is getting better, but it’s been over $2500.00 in vet bills and still going back to the vet’s the reading are starting to get back to normal, I just found out about the bad Jerky treats from China, I’ll never feed him another one of those. Thanks for letting me vent I’m mad and think all pet treats should be safe and Not from CHINA let’s stop selling these treats.
I have been giving my german shepherd dog the Canyon Creek and the Waggin Train chicken jerky most of his almost five years. My husband heard on the news today about the link to dogs dying, possibly because of Xylitol in the product.
My dog and I played the other day with a rag. I knot it and he grabs it and he normally has great fun grabbing it with his teeth and shaking it. This weekend there was inexplicably blood on the towel. He wouldn’t play with it anymore, he smelled it I then noticed a little blood and I wondered how it got there, whether I got cut or he did, because that has never happened before.
He just fell down our circular staircase almost the whole way. I ran down the stairs terrified he was injured (it was a terrible fall for him) and when I got there, he was upright with no discernable injuries. I have a call in to the vet and am waiting for a call back. 🙁
As far as I know, xylitol is not the concern here. It’s confusing because MSNBC ran a story about chicken jerky and then also ran a story about dogs getting sick from eating Halloween candy with xylitol in it. The symptoms don’t match xylitol. Dogs with xylitol toxicity get severe liver disease and low blood sugar. The dogs who are getting sick with the chicken jerky seem to be having gastrointestinal and kidney symptoms.
http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm092802.htm
Might want to check the above FDA website. My rat terrier was very sick last week. Fortunately she only had a small amount of Canyon Creek tenders. We were out of town but took her to a vet who gave her an injection for nausea to be followed with 2 – 3 days of tablets. It took her at least four days to get back her appetite, energy, and normal bowel movements. Happy to report that she is doing fine now, but had to use the canned version of her Natural Choice Lamb and Rice for several days to get her to eat anything at all.
Shame on the companies who reject efforts to investigate these problems.
Thanks for the link. This is the warning that the FDA put out in 2008 but still applies today. The latest warning can be found at http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/NewsEvents/CVMUpdates/ucm280586.htm.
I bought my dog American Kennel Club Chicken Poppers. According to the feeding suggestions it says to give him 10-18 pieces. The first day I gave him 4. He vomited once in the middle of the night. Didn’t really concern me because he does that once in a while. Gave him 2 the next two days. Again he vomited in the middle of the night. But only once. So it didn’t really concern me. He was eating, playing and acting normal. So I gave him 2 the next two days. Again he got sick in the middle of the night, but this time with the diarrhea. The next morning the diarrhea continued along with vomiting. He had the diarrhea at least 12 times and vomited at least 30 times. I took him to the Pet Emergency Hospital. By the time he got there he began having blood in his diarrhea. He spent 3 days in the hospital on IV Fluids, Antibiotics, and medicine to calm his stomach. He seems to be fine now, but after reading this I looked at the back of the bag and sure enough it says “Manufactured in China”. I would have thought American Kennel Club products would be safe. It may have not been the chicken treats, but I am not taking any chances. He won’t be eating ANYTHING that is made in China EVER again!
Dear Dr. Marie :
Wagon Train chicken jerky treats which were purchased at Sam’s Club possibly made my chihuahua very sick – at some point we need to stop saying “maybe”, “possibly” and arrive at a definitive conclusion as to the cause.
Just returned from the emergency Vet and they ruled out the chicken jerky treats but I find it a too huge coincidence that my chihuahua is almost dead after two days of eating these treats.
Please add my comments and experience with this issue to your database.
I believe a class action lawsuit needs to be initiated – how many more pets need to die before we acknowledge a problem?
Thank you,
Martin
We have an 11 year old Golden Retriever. He had his tail cut off in March due to cancer. About 3 weeks ago he lost his appetite, his energy, and we figured he was nearing the end of a good life. We got him tested, had x-rays and MRIs. Only thing they found was a low red blood cell count. He was given an IV and B vitamin injection, and got better. A week later he started coughing and the vet diagnosed him wtih bronchitis. More meds, and a little better. Further blood tests showed he now had high white blood cell count. Two days on IVs and other at the vets, and I am happy to say he appears to be doing much better. Why am I writing this? We have a bag of Kingdom Pet Chicken Jerky in our pantry, from Costco, that was made in China. Calling vet tomorrow to ask if the dog’s sugar level in his urine was high. Thanks to everyone for their notes.
I’ve been giving my Chihua-Jack and Rat Terrier Waggin Train chicken jerky treats for a few years. They sporadically would have loose stool and attributed it to sensitive stomachs, after taking them to the vet and no known cause could be detected. Recently, the Chihua- Jack stopped eating for 3 days and had loose stool, once again. he wouldn’t even eat the chicken jerky. I’m so glad that the report was on CNN this morning, otherwise I wouldn’t have suspected it was the chicken jerky, since its only ingredient is chicken. My rat terrier drinks a lot of water, but does not have accidents indoors. They’re both eating OK now and I will never give them these treats again. I just hope that they haven’t sustained any permanent damage. Any suggestions? Should I have them examined by the vet? If so, what specific tests should I request? Also, any suggestions on similar treats that are made in the USA? Thanks!!
If your dogs are eating well I wouldn’t be too worried. If there was kidney damage done, now that the treats are stopped there should be no further damage. It’s never a bad idea to have the kidney enzymes checked though just to be sure.
Does this pertain to the Waggin Train Chicken Bisquits and Peanut Butter w/chicken? They both have chicken wrapped around them which look like the dehydrated “chicken”.
Two maybe three years ago I bought a bag of Chicken Jerky at Cost-Co thinking it would be a healthy treat for my Pug, after eating these treats I noticed he Mugsy would drink water like he could not get enough…Then one night he kept coming to me with his ears laid back and hanging with a look in his eye that I knew something was wrong, went to my daughters house as she is really into dogs and hoping she could figure it out, well she noticed he could not pee no matter how much he tried, so rushed him to the vet, thank God, had I waited he would have died as his bladder was full of crystals and was near rupturing, anyway the vet catheterized him after putting him under anesthesia as it was so painful, after all was said and done and $1,ooo.oo later, he ended up on a special diet which we kept him on for well over a year… decided to try a good, but less expensive dog food, had his urine checked and he was doing fine…I believe it was the chicken jerky and the salt content, but of course I cannot be sure and I do not remember the brand…Thankfully he has had no more occurrences, needless to say he does not get chicken jerky anymore and definitely nothing from China at least not that I know of.
Thanks, Barbara
Thanks for your comment Barbara. So far, this type of issue has not been associated with eating chicken jerky. Pugs can be prone to urinary stones or crystals. Even still, I’ll publish your comment as the whole idea of this discussion is to find some pattern and see if we can figure out what the problem is.
I have a 7 month old pom/shelti mix that we got from a rescue in July. She has been healthy, fully vaccinated and was spayed last month. She was started on IAMS puppy food as soon as we brought her home and has never had abnormal stool until approx. 5 days ago. I thought the orange mucas and soft to runny stool might be because she had injested small peice of plastic from a toy she was chewing on. But know, after ready this and numerous other articles, I went and checked the newest treats we have bought for her and low and behold the AKC Sweet Potato and Chicken Jerky treats I started giving her about 6 days ago are manufactured in China and package states”treated by irradiation”. Luckily we have only given her 4 of these over the past week and diarrrhea seems to be the only symptom she as at the moment. She is scheduled to go into boarding tomorrow for 2 days while we visit family for Thanksgiving, and I will inform them of what I have been reading and have them watch her closely to make sure no other symptoms accure. I will also hold onto package of treats to see if these may show up on a future recall. Thakfully she is eating regular and active, so maybe due to only a few treats being given she will be ok.
My dogs used to eat Waggin Train treats untill they started getting sick and my vet told us to stop feeding them because they are realy made in China. Since we have stopped and the have been treated they have all recovered after weeks of meds and fluids, I feel for anyone whos dogs have been affected and I hope the cause is found and corrected soon. BTW Milos Kitchen Treats are made in China too!
Only the chicken jerky sold by Milo’s Kitchen are made in China. The other three are produced here in the U.S. Per conversation with a Milo’s rep.
Waggin Train is absolutely made in China. I have a bag of chiken jerky and a very sick pomeranian in my arms right now.
I was wondering if the Blur Buffalo Healthy hips chicken jerky treats are safe?? Online it says the chixs are raised in the us and manufactored in the us. Thanks
Angela,
I found those treats on a recall list also to having problem with the chicken.
I caught the end of this subject on the radio and didn’t see it on television news, so I Googled it to find out the whole story. After reading all of these comments, the common theme here is that the treats are made in China and given to dogs several days in a row. I have been giving my 4 dogs (Shepherd-Rottweiler-Labrador mixed breeds all over 50 lbs, one is aged 12, three are aged 7) Waggin Train Chicken Jerky treats for 7 years. I only give them the treats when I return from being away for a few hours to reward them for being good & getting along with each other. I break about 8 of them into smaller pieces and feed the pieces to them one at a time because my dogs eat them too fast and I’m concerned that the sharp/hard pieces will not be digested if they swallow them quickly. I have been retired for 7 years and therefore I am at home with my dogs most of the time. So they probably only get the treats 2 times a week. After reading these comments, I realized that one of my dogs has exhibited increased thirst and urination. I will take him to the Vet to have him checked out. I was just about to buy some more of these treats because I am running low. Now, I will not buy them anymore or give my dogs the rest of the treats. My heart goes out to all whose pets have suffered. Thanks for the warnings.
My little dog Bella died Nov. 3 of kidney failure I rescued her from Los Angeles North shelter on Dec. 6 2009 I had fed her Waggin Trail chicken treats since I got her. She alwyas drank and peeped alot, but always seemed happy and ate her food. On oct 1 she stopped eating Vet informed me her kidneys were failing. We started the fluid injections every day She just went down hill. On Nov. 1 her tounge started to die and by the 3 I had no choice but to put her down My heart is broken.
It saddens me deeply to read about what these products that we so lovingly buy for our “kids” have done to so many of them. Both of my girls (ages 5 and 3) have been fed these treats on and off over the past several years. My five year old shepherd/keeshond mix developed increased urination symptoms during the moist food recall (Nutro). Her kidney function was fine and she was put on antibiotics for a urinary infection (at the time she was only 6 months old). Nearly 2 years ago at the age of almost 4 she required emergency surgery to remove a large amount of stones from her bladder, including one that had blocked the urethra making it impossible for her to urinate. Over $1300 later she has been doing well on a prescription diet, but it took over a year for her to return to her normal energetic self. I now wonder if her problems were caused by a combination of the moist food and chicken jerky. As fate would have it, the Sam’s club that we normally bought the treats at did not have them for a period of at least 6 months. I just got a bag, but had not opened it – and after everything I have read they are being returned.
I consider myself very fortunate to still have my girls; the thought of losing either one would be absolutely devistating. My heart goes out to all of you who have lost your four-legged kids, as well as those of you who have made it through the vet care and long days and nights wondering if they would survive.
I just heard about this today. My pekingese is my child substitute and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I have been feeding her chicken wrapped dried banana slices made by Waggin’ train. I am worried sick about her. I thought they were American made! The label is deceiving. She eats the same thing we eat since I am afraid of manufactured pet food since my cat became sick after eating contaminated cat food several years ago. This is the only dog food she eats! We feed her mostly chicken breast. I was fooled into thinking this was a safe natural product. If anything happens to her I will be devastated.
You are certainly right about these labels being deceiving. My bag of chicken jerky says it is manufactured for and by an American company, but the small print says “made in China”. The list of ingredients lists 3 items. I thought these must be really healthy treats for my dog; “all natural”. Now I am afraid these treats have made him ill.
Talked to our vet today about the potential connection between the Chicken Jerky and our Golden’s recent unexplained illness. He had researched it, but felt since Gordy didn’t have kidney failure (just about the only symptom he didn’t exhibit) it likely wasn’t the CRAPPY product from China. I disagree, but respect his opinion. Gordy has gone from being on his death bed to being his old self since the vet put him on meds and he has stopped eating the CRAP product from China. Coincidence or our prayers?? Maybe both. Wold welcome your thoughts Doc.
Our two year old Labrador had his renal carcinoma and kidney removed yesterday. We have not yet discussed potential causes of the cancer with the vet. Interestingly, we have fed him Kingdom Pets chicken jerky treats. Whether his cancer is from the treats or not, going forward, we will only purchase treats made in America.
I have been feeding my 10 year old Schip the Waggin Train products – chicken, chicken and biscuits and duck and just recently heard of the problem. I purchased the products at Costco in Okotoks, Alberta and just bought 2 large bags – they are now in the garbage and I will have to find something else for Teddy and will advise others of this issue. The above information and comments have been very very helpful.
I have 2 Shih Tzus and have been giving them these Chicken Jerky treats for a couple years. I give them 1 when I leave for work, never for anything else..and they love them. In September, my female, Coco, who weighed about 10lbs at the time, started acting odd..just “standing there”, or pacing around the house, which usually meant she had to “go”.. I left for work, after trying to get her to eat..my daughter called me as soon as I got there.. She said that Coco was having diarreha and it was really bloody. I can still remember that smell.. she stayed at the vet for 2 days on iv fluids and special food. They got her better, and she was good for about a week..then it started all over again. They couldn’t find out what was wrong with her, or what caused it, but her temp was so low, they were really concerned. This time she had to stay for 3 days. I stopped giving her the treats, to see if that was it..and she has not had an issue since. My other dog is about 22lbs, and he’s never had an issue.. they need to get these off the market, or make them in the USA!!
I have two extremely healthy dogs-a 7 year old Jack Russell and a five year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. I have occasionally fed them the Canyon Country Jerky Treats and have noticed almost immediate reactions to these treats. One dog will have loss of appetite and constipation and the other dog will have bloody stools. The vet has checked stool samples on these dogs and found nothing in the tests. I intuitively felt that the chicken treats were the cause and noticed that by not feeding the treats the symptoms stopped. My dogs will never eat any dehydrated chicken treats again. I am also contacting PetSmart and Costco and ask them to remove these treats from their stores. My heart goes out to all of the pet owners who lost their beloved animals because of these treats.
Hello All,
I currently have an amstaff mix who loves the Costco chicken jerky treats. She broke out in hives roughly a week ago and we took her to the vet who suggested an allergy. As a result she was put on a combination steroid and anti-histamine. Last night we had to take her back to the vet as she has become listless, is urinating frequently and actually leaking urine at times. She is also drinking a huge amount of water. I understand the steroids may have been the reason for her thirst and frequent urination and incontinence, but as soon as I get home this evening the chicken jerky treats are going in the trash.
I’d like to thank everyone for sharing their story as it may prevent my lovely little Honeybee from a serious illness. I’m also wondering if anyone here is from Nova Scotia and would consider speaking with me to share their story. I am a reporter and as a dog owner am outraged and shocked that these treats are still on the market, even if there is no concrete evidence. I’m willing to bet if there was any correlation between say, poptarts and children’s deaths, poptarts would be recalled immediately. I believe our pets deserve justice.
Please contact me on twitter @mandersoncooper if you are from Nova Scotia and would like to share your story, even if you’d prefer it to be done anonymously and in confidence.
My dog lives for chicken chips we buy from Trader Joes, but they’re all getting thrown away at our house. I refuse to take the chance and I suggest most of you do the same
I just heard on Fox News that 70 dogs have died from eating chicken jerky treats. Someone is going to pay for this!
I think there may be some confusion here. The FDA has said that there were 70 reported cases this year of dogs that may have gotten sick after eating chicken jerky treats. I don’t believe anyone knows how many dogs have died. The problem is that right now no one can prove that their dog’s illness is actually caused by eating chicken jerky.
Dr. Marie,
NO, there were 70 reported cases of 95 dogs. And mine today makes 96.
dear susan 71 now .we put our daling molly down friday as she lost 75% of her kidney function.i’m sure it was the waggin train jerky treats
I have been giving Waggin Train Chicken Jerky and Chik’n Biscuits treats to my two Huskies for the past couple of years. One of my Huskies has become very very ill. She is now being treated for diabetes but I now believe she might have Fanconi Syndrome. After much research into this I stopped giving these treats about three weeks ago. If she does have Fanconi Syndrome how long does it take to show signs recovery? She has lost so much weight and I am looking for good healthy food and treats, what can I feed my two huskies.
Dogs with Fanconi syndrome will have glucose (sugar) in their urine but have normal blood glucose levels. If your dog has high blood sugar then this is likely diabetes and probably not connected with eating chicken jerky treats. As far as treats go, cut up veggies like carrots are a good idea. I also recommend feeding your dog’s regular food kibbles as treats as well. Often they don’t know the difference.
I have been feeding my dogs Wagon Train chicken jerkt for a year as a treat. I just received an email about this being very harmful and even deaths in dogs. No more of this food for me. I hope it isn’t to late. How can they get away with this?
My name is Mechelle Clark, We purchased Canyon River Treats for my dogs on November 4th for my younger dogs Birthday. By November 16th my 13 year old Rottweiler Mariah was dead. and my 4 yr old was throwing up. We stopped giving the treats a few days prior because it was apparent they were having a bad effect on them. Mariah stopped throwing up over the weekend then by Tues she was very sick and by wed early morning she passed away. On Oct 21 we took her to the vet for a check up he was impressed by how well Mariah was doing. Within a couple weeks she was gone. Mariah ate cooked raw food only. We purchase from our butcher here locally. We never give them treats but this was a birthday special treat. It is the only change in Mariahs diet. I immediatly called Canyon creek and of course they denied having heard any other problems and even the 2007 problem was never proven. I put it aside until the FDA called and informed me that they reissued a new warning on Friday (I was not aware of) and asked me many questions.. They say they will be contacting me again soon. My mission is to make sure as many people know about these Chicken treats an to also make sure people do not think Canyon Creek are the only treats that are suspected. If your feeding a treat and in small writing on the back (Mine is under the UPC code) made in china STOP feeding it now.. If you have any new information in this please contace me at Kindredcrows@aol.com .
Mechelle Clark
Oh Mechelle, I am so sorry to hear about your dogs. Thank you for taking the time to report this. I am pleased that the FDA contacted you and is trying to get to the bottom of this. Hopefully more and more people will report the issue and we can figure out what is happening.
Thank you, I cannot tell you the guilt I have had since last week finding this out. My husband did not want to purchase or give them so I alone treated them. Mariah was my side kick for 13 yeasr we protected her from everything feeding the very best food taking care in what toys we purchase,and one mistake and she is gone. She died a horrible death and that will be with me always. My blood pressure has been out of control since all of this.. My guilt is overwhelming. Im reasonable enough to know that I could not have known this would happen if I fed treats. But it does not change the fact I fed by baby poison and now she is gone forever.. Thank YOU for making people aware of what is happening. I have been trying with all I have to get the word out. The FDA told me that they cannot recall them until they find what ingredient is doing the damage. At this point all they can do by law is warn us that things have happened.. Im not obligated to not tell my story so If I can make a difference and not one more person has to go through what we are going through I will do whatever it takes..
Mechelle Clark
Please know that this is not your fault. It’s not like you were buying junk food for your babies. This is a snack that really should be healthy. I just hope that more people read this and think to have their vets report their cases to the FDA. For everyone reading this, if you think your pet has been sickened by chicken jerky, please save the treats in case the FDA can use them to test to figure out what is going on.
Thank you for all you are doing…
Mechelle
I should add I took my 4 yrs old in to the Vet the on monday to have complete blood work up. (She had one in the end of Oct) and it was at this time clear.. Thank god for that…
Barry Williams sounds like an employee of Waggin’ Train doing damage control by attacking concerned pet owners.
I currently have a 70 pound Aussie who has eaten this brand of treats and has recently become sick with prolonged vomiting and diarehha, and increased urination. She gets (got) two of these treats per day, well below what the packaging (which does say Made in China) says is an approriate amount for her.
We see the Vet on Monday, and needless to say I am beyond pi$$ed at the fact that her illness may be from something I fed her…
My small dog has been getting these treats for years with no problem. Considering these comments, I will no longer feed these to her. My question is this, is it tainted lots of the jerky or all the jerky? I have an unfinished bag. Should I discard the remaining jerky?
The problem is that we don’t know what the cause is! The FDA is investigating several cases. A lot of the bags of chicken jerky have no other ingredients other than chicken so we really can’t blame something like gluten that was the issue with the melamine issue. As soon as we know the cause I will post it though so stay tuned!
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have two poodles and a bichon (all 7 yrs old) that I believe were made sick with the Waggin Train Jerky Treats purchased at Costco.
The poodles got bad diarrhea, we took them to the vet and got antibiotics and a few days later they were fine. The bichon got very ill and has had very obscure symptoms that we could not put together the cause until we read this article. His symptoms would come and go and were very hard to explain. He would lose his zest for life and didn’t care about his usual triggers. He would get listless and not be interested in food or play. He would also yelp when you picked him up as if his tummy was sore. He also drank lots of water.
He is usually a very active dog so this was very out of the ordinary for him to be listless. His whole personality changed. We described him as being “wonky”. He cared little about his surroundings and wouldn’t even get excited to see his favorite people come and go. He stayed in his crate and slept most of the day. We knew there was something wrong with him but we couldn’t figure out what could be the cause. He was treated with these chicken treats off and on and not on a regular basis. He would be sick for a few days and then he was just fine.
We took him to the vet and she ran a series of blood and urine tests, but couldn’t explain his strange behavior. She did find crystals in his urine so he was put on a special diet. I printed this article off and left it for the vet to look at to see if the test results were similar to what has been described here. We never really associated the treats with his illness until I saw the recent warnings.
When the dogs got diarrhea, we wondered if it could be from the Waggin Train chicken jerky treats, so we did not feed them anymore. I still have the bag, just about full and will gladly send it away for testing. It is marked Lot No W1CA4284A I am not sure if the first letter is a “W” as it is very hard to read.
I have been feeding my bichon Waggin Train chicken jerky tenders for a few years. He eats one each day. He has been vomiting several times a week for about a year. I am so glad I found this information. I hope that by eliminating these treats from his diet, the vomiting will end.
I just wanted to add that since he has been on the vet recommended special diet and the vet stressed, absolutely NO TREATS, he has been very active and very much himself. No treats, no symptoms.
My dog was hospitalized with hemorrhagic gastroenteritis after my friend watched her and gave her Waggin Train chicken tenders. Thankfully she survived. She eats no other commercial/processed foods and Therefore I believe that this was entirely due to these “treats”. After reading the MANY similar stories here, it seems that there can be no doubt as to what caused her illness. Is anyone really naive enough to believe that these are all coincidences? If you plan on still giving your dogs these treats, ask yourself is it worth his or her life? I am trying A Dog’s Life chicken tenders which are made in the US ( I have no affiliation with the company). I would advise anyone to try to find treats which are produced entirely in the US.
Dr. Marie: I have always been concerned about how fast my dogs eat chicken jerky treats, sometimes swallowing without even chewing them. That is why I broke it into smaller pieces when I fed the chicken jerky to my dogs. Could swallowing the jerky treats in large pieces be causing these deaths & illnesses? I am not an expert on the anatomy of dogs, but could there be some kind of obstruction in the esophagus, stomach, intestines, or other area of the body that leads to the problems?
It’s a good thought Thomas, but I think there’s something more to it. Most of the sick dogs have had signs of kidney failure or Fanconi syndrome. Neither of these would be caused by an obstruction. It’s true that kidney enzymes could be elevated due to dehydration which could certainly happen from the vomiting and diarrhea that would accompany an obstruction. But, if the cases had kidney failure then the urine concentration would be able to help the vets distinguish between kidney failure and dehydration. Also, Fanconi syndrome causes glucose in the urine but no increase in blood glucose. This wouldn’t happen because of an obstruction.
I GAVE MY POOR DOG THESE TREATS. She started acting really weird..not eating..not doing anything but sleeping. I went on vacation and left her with my grandma. I get a call thursday that she is bleeding everywhere and they took her to the vet…she died..from those damn treats. Please get these off the shelf!!!!!!!!!!!
First off in your article you state that Waggin Train treats are made in the US, then why on the back of the bag clear as day does it say MADE IN CHINA!?
I guess the confusion is that the bag says that Waggin Train is an American company, but then in small letters it says “Made in China”. I’ll amend my article.
On my bag, the “Made in China” is in a pretty big font. Large enough for an old person to read.
I have a 5 year old beagle n a 4 year old beagle terrier tht are like my kids well aer my kids an I bought a bag of wagen trail chicken jerky treats… I was on my facebook the other night and saw somebody had posted about a chicken jerky dog treat killing over 70 dogs in our area I then starded to freak then I saw about china makung them si I flew out ti my kutchen and checked to see whear mase at ect..ect.. Come to find out their made in china si I freaked some more…just earlier that day me and my husband took notice to how our 5yo was acting strange si I stoped giving them to her our 4 yo is fine n still is….today is 3 days later after stoping use to china made treats and on our normal 15 min walk turned ti a 45min walk to get her to poty came back home and she was at the door wumpering si took her back out she started puking up eecki yello stinky stuff also the past 3 days she cant seam to become comfertable shell just sit and stare at us and when we come home she use to get all excited now she hasnt been 🙁 im so scared and after reading this makes me even more scared si im calling the vet in am ….IM CHECKING LABLES ON EVERYTHING POSSABLE AND IF EVEN HAS CHINA WRITEN ON IT ANYWHEAR ITS GOUNG TO SIT ON THE SHELF AND ROTT…ALL I GOT TO SAY IS IF I LODE MY BABY I WILL GO INSANE AND SOMEBODY WILL PAY 4ALL COSTS IF EVERYTHING BC THEURS NO REPLACUNG HER SHES THE FIRST WELL MANNERED N WELL BEHAVED DIG IVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE AND A TRILLION BUCKS CANT EVEN REPLACE HER…….i wish all luck wjos going thro all if this ince fund out from ver whats up will pise for those conserened..ill keep all urs pets un my prayers and mat god watch over and heal thise in need and watch over these hooeless sick pets/our other part of familys lord help salv these issues and put a stop to this issue help make this all known also lord heal tjose whos has lost their beloved pet lord thank you amen…..god bless all happy holidays h io e your christmas cimes n cg oes with lots of joy and peice
Good luck. I didn’t have mine attended to by a DR that knew what the heck was happening and I lost my two babies. Get them to the vet.
I think China has proven that they are unwilling or unable to produce safe pet food…or people food for that matter. I read that in 2008 they were cited because melamine was found in INFANT FORMULA! Another thought, is maybe it is what they are feeding the chickens that are used for these treats that is causing the problem? If the chickens are being fed tainted feed, it will get into the end product. Or could this possibly be and effect of using GMO corn in the feed? Either way, the problem definetely deserves more investigating.
I was very nervous about giving my dogs their treats today, you see I lost two dogs when this happened in 2007-2008. Nobody knew what was happening to my pups. Now it is here again and we have more pups dying? Why? Can anyone tell me why the most vunerable part of our family is not protested? If this was happening to human babies you bet that there would be world wide outrage that would shake the heavens!
My dog had diarrhea for a week before I figured out the cause was the chicken jerky treats I bought online — Cadet is the brand name. Off those, and now using Smokehouse – made in the U.S. Will be buying a dehydrator soon and making my own.
Can’t trust anyone these days. Most Dogswell treats are also made in China….
I have Experinced some of the throwing up when I tried the Waggin Train Chicken Tender…I have a 5 year old Boxer,And when he’d eat his dog food it would come right back up!! So I tried a chicken rice diet and that didn’t even help!!! Now this coud have been the problem..I had ran out ..And he hasn’t had one for a while and I just purchased 3 bags that will now go in the trash!!! Thanks soo much for the information…Sorry for all the pet losses…Think I caught this soon enough…Thank God!!
I have had my puppy for about 5 months now. I have been feeding him the duck treats for awhile and everything was fine. Then I decided to try the chicken variety pack of two of the canyon creeks. About 2 weeks ago my puppy began to vomit. Four or five times a day for about two days before I could get him into the vet. There they gave me a hydration shot, two antibiotics, some pills and told me to feed him a chicken breast and rice diet. He stopped puking later that day. However a week ago I began to feed him his treats again and once more he began throwing up. However only one or two a day.. I didn’t know what to think so I stopped feeding him that specific treat. Then for the past few days he has been throwing up, not as often but once a day. So I went onto petmd to see about his symptoms. It seemed strange to me because he acted like normal, was still eating his bland diet, because it seemed to be the only thing that he could eat and keep down. On this web site I found the warning about the chicken jerky treats and it clicked. I had fed him out of the canyon creek variety pack every night that he had thrown up! I am very confident that by taking away these treats that my little guy is going to start feeling better, any day now..
This is on waggin trains website. Lots of sad stories though. Probably stop giving them to him just to be on the safe side.
Q: Why did the FDA issue a statement cautioning consumers about chicken jerky?
A: As dog owners and dog lovers, we applaud the FDA for issuing a preemptive health notification and we hope the FDA’s comments will bring attention and education to consumers who may be overusing dog treats.
It has been widely accepted that dog illnesses and any association with chicken jerky is likely the result of dogs (mostly small) consuming treats in excess of normal or recommended levels. Extensive testing performed by public and private laboratories has not uncovered a contaminant or specific ingredient as the cause of illness. Other factors identified as possibly contributing to signs of illness include sudden alteration of diet or imbalances in total nutrition.
Thank you! I will add this update to the article.
I can’t believe what I am hearing, I just found out about the jerky treats. I have been giving my chihuahua/schipperke mix Dogswell Breathies, which are dried chicken breast strips with mint and parsley..MADE IN CHINA. I bought this treat at Whole Foods and didn’t bother to read the label. ALWAYS READ the LABEL! I would never have bought them had I known. I don’t care how Dogswell spins their propaganda, if they are sourcing out of and producing in China, I want nothing to do with it. I will need to have him tested to be sure of no sugar in his urine. This makes me so ill! I sent them nasty email and I intend to post on Facebook as well as complain to Whole Foods. AlWAYS read the labels folks, that goes for pet food as well as people food.
We just had an episode that jives with everything that is discussed here. We have two bullmastiffs and we feed the Canyon Creek treats as supplements for glucosamine and chondroitin. We also feed Eukanuba large breed dog food and have only fed this from birth. The oldest of our two pups, Angus, is five years old and 150lbs. Three days ago Angus began to get sick, peed in the house twice (he never does that) was very lethargic, was drooling more than normal and all in all…just not right. The next day a friend of ours posted about Chinese dog treats on facebook and I never thought too much about it until we were preparing to give our pup his daily supplement. The memory jogger could not have happened at a better time. As we were reading this article all the symptoms seemed to be lining up… PANIC! We take him in to see the vet within two hours and the vet does a full work up on him. He didn’t know what Fanconi Synrome was and had to do some reading. Ultimately what was discovered was that Angus did not have any extra glucose in his urine though there was blood in there. He tested positive for Erlichiosis (very light positive) and his red blood cells tested positive for aglutination (sp?) a very serious blood disorder. Now, I cant say he got sick from these treats for sure, but two months ago his blood work was normal and now it is not. He is on high doses of steroids and antibiotics for the blood disorder and erlichiosis. (shots and pills). We have a long road ahead for things to get right with our Angus but we seem to have caught this pretty early. I guess the only thing to ask is what do we do with the 10 bags of Canyon Creek treats that we have in the house? (yams, chicken/bacon wraps, chicken jerky).
Sorry to hear about Angus. While it’s possible that the treats made him sick they definitely didn’t give him ehrlichiosis. This condition comes from ticks.
Our dog (60 pounds Humane Society Special) has eaten small amounts of chicken jerky treats for years. However he was given many Dogswell vitality chicken breat with flaxseed and vitamins during one week recently. He has had diarrhea and very little appetite for three weeks since. We just had an ultrasound done and have inconclusive results on a biopsy from a mass in his stomach. He is still drinking, but will only eat very, very small amounts. He has been given antibiotics, fluids and anti-diarrheal and vomiting medications. If anyone has ideas about further treatment, please post. Thanks.
I too began to suspect the wagon trail chicken treats when my healthy 145 lb dog suddenly fell ill and sadly died after eating them. I had the vet do an autopsy to find the reason and it came back kidney failure melamine poisoning. I returned the treats to Sams Club where I stated these killed my dog . I also added they should be pulled from the shelves and taken off the market. I warned all my dog loving friends.This was 6 years ago and they are still on the shelves and dogs are dying as owners do not know the risks of these tasty and I might add expensive treats. I feel like printing warning posters and taping them to the product on the shelves. Surely if there was a sign” if you buy this product your dog may die” would discourage sales and perhaps force the retailer to stop putting this product on their shelves. Likely resulting in legal issues for me. Even though warned pet owners continue to buy these products from China. Just last week a friend of mine dog died because of just one of these treats. The public needs to be warned of any treat from China even though they might be a US company they are only the distributors for the China product. I also question any treat from Mexico and South America. USA companies that are distributing under several names can be found in any grocery and oddly enough most pet stores. Wait until a child tastes his doggies treat( we all ate milk bones when we were little didn’t we)? Will it tragically take a child’s death to bring this to light? Us doggy mommies have lost enough , when will it stop?
My dog was a 3-4 year old Jack Russel. I adopted her this past April. She passed away this Thanksgiving due to renal failure. It didn’t hit me until today that I had given her Canyon Creek Chicken Jerky wrapped apple treats… I always put treats in a container and throw the bags out. I looked up the product and sure enough they’re made in China. Of course I’ll never be completely positive that the treats were the culprit… but unless it’s a major coincidence, I believe they were the cause.
A friend of mine gave me her bag of Kingdom Pets – “Chicken & Sweet Potato” dog treats (lot# TRKPJT03029)after she noticed her dog was getting sick after giving them to her dog. She assumed it was just her dog being sensitive, so she gave the bag of treats to me to give to my two dogs. I started giving my dogs these treats and noticed over the past few days they were drinking a lot of water….I’ve never had to fill their bowls as much before ever. I stopped giving them those treats because I started getting a bad feeling. The bag has just been up on my fridge the past couple of months after I stopped using it…..and than yesterday, a Facebook friend posted this article on her wall:
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/11/22/fda-warns-chicken-jerky-dog-treat-may-be-dangerous/
I’m glad I stopped! Now moving forward I don’t plan on buying ANY dog treats made in China.
I fed a Milo’s Kitchen chicken jerky (made in China) to my 11 year old greyhound on 11/17 and then again on the morning of 11/19. On the afternoon of 11/19 she became vey ill and threw up a yellow gooey substance. From that evening through 11/22 she was listless, weak, would not eat normally. I took her to the vets on the evening of 11/22 and a blood test showed acute renal failure. Since going to the vet’s she has been on an i.v. but blood chemistry has not improved. The vet performed a sonogram this morning which showed an enlarged kidney. She is now displaying weakness and pain in her hind quarters. It appears that we will need to put her down later today. Chelsea – thank you for 8 great years. You were a good dog!!!
I have four pugs that have been eating these treats for years without showing any signs – although one of my pugs did have a struvite bladder stone about 9 months ago and I now wonder if that could be partially responsible. Any thoughts?
With the continued problems of products manufactured in China (for animals as well as people) for the past several years, WHY are people still buying stuff made there? It really boggles my mind.
My dog recently got sick and was drinking more. Vet could not find any cause. I had recently started giving her Waggin Train chicken treats and am now discontinuing all Waggin Train products and will not buy anything from them again.
My dogs have always been sensative so I really dont purchase alot of treats for them. I make my own. I bought a dehydrator, chicken breast, marinate in some spices and olive oil and for $5.96 I make 4 pounds of jerky for them. I know whats in it and how it was made so very safe, and the cost effectiveness is an added bonus. I dont trust anything made in China, at this point it isnt dejavue (started in 2007 with the tainted treats from China) anymore its malicious.
Our Alaskan Klee Kai ferris had a Waggin Train Apple/chicken jerky treat and a piece of milo’s kitchen chicken jerky and became ill and vomited for a week straight and cost us over $500 at the vet. Our vet is aware and filling a report, I will stick to blue buffalo from now on…I am just sick thinking I gave him something that made hiim ill!!
I have a Golden Retriever who will be 8 next week. I have been giving her chicken jerky strips since she was 1 year old. I have always bought the treats from Costco. The current brand they sell is “Kingdom Pets” and is made in China. About 1 month ago, I noticed Samantha was not eating like she normally does. I feed her once a day in the mornings and she would empty her bowl. Oddly, she was only eating about half her food. She was becoming lethargic and her stools were like “cow paddies”. She had moments where she seened to act like her old self but then revert back to being lethargic. I was giving Samantha 4-5 chicken jerky strips daily as a treat. I could not determine what was causing my normally highly energetic dog to act this way. My focus turned to the chicken jerky as a starting point. I researched on the computer and found this site as well as a number of others focusing on a suspected problem concerning chicken jerky strips made in China for dogs. When I saw the brand name “Kingdom Pets” mentioned it scared me silly! I discovered this information on 11-21-2011. I immediately stopped giving Samantha the chicken jerky strips and made an appointment with my Vet for a check up. The Vet check found no problems with Samantha after blood work, etc. I made sure my Vet is informed of this issue. Within 3 days, Samantha was acting more like herself. Her appetite fully returned and by the 5th day her stooles were normal and firm. I am convinced the problem with my dog was caused by the chicken jerky. I returned the unused portion of the “Kingdom Pets” treats to Costco and filled out a product claim report with them.
Thank you for sharing! A case like this is one that should definitely be reported to the FDA!
We have experienced the EXACT SAME THING with our 11 year old golden, as mentioned in a previous post. I am starting to think that the medical community is in a bit of denail as too many dogs are exhibiting too many similar symptoms due to chicken jerky treats made in China. If it smells like a duck (chicken) talks like a duck (chicken)……. Dr. MArie, when does apparently strong anecdotal data start to suffice as good data to take a harder stand on this issue?
On August 9, 2011 my mom woke up to find our dog acting “unusual”, he was not interested in his food and just sat around, completely off balance. I picked him up that evening as he was staying at my house for the weekend and he didn’t seem right. I bundled him up and brought him back to my house where he lay in the same spot all night, hardly the Rocky I knew. On August 10, 2011 I woke up to find him completely lethargic and unwilling to even move. I carried him outside so he could go do his thing when I noticed that his urine was not urine, but blood. I immediately rushed Rocky to the vet not knowing what was going on. By 5:00 p.m. that night I was told by my vet that there was nothing they could do and was forced to put my little boy to sleep. After months of going crazy wondering what would make this happen, a friend of mine alerted me to this article, knowing it was a treat we fed him on a daily basis, and I knew, as soon as I read this article, it was the chicken strips. I am forever without my favorite boy and my mother is forever without her companion. The scariest part, I have been feeding these to my dog for months. More attention needs to be brought to this issue. I will be throwing away any remaining strips and urging everyone I know to discontinue purchasing any similar products.
I have a 3 year old Wire-haired Fox Terrier who has been eating the Waggin-Train chicken treats. I purchased these treats at Sam’s Club. My dog is very energetic and athletic. About a month ago she became lethargic and was running a high temperature. She had a urinary tract infection and the vet suspected kidney stones due to the contents in her urine. He prescribed antibotics and she seems to have recovered. She has not had any further episodes, and does not have any kidney stones. I now wonder if the chicken treats are to blame. I have never given her an entire treat at one time, just a small piece of the treat. I intend to stop feeding the chicken treats all together.
Wow.. cannot believe what i am reading. Last year around Feb. our chihuaha began peeing blood. After numerous tests, urine and blood, as well as a sonogram for kidney stones and kidney failure.. nothing could be found wrong with our 2 yr old dog. He is not “fixed” and the vet came to the conclusion that neuturing him might solve the problem since nothing else could be determined. We did not want to do the surgery with him so sick, so declined. I immediately stopped feeding him Waggin Trails chicken “steaks” and the blood in his urine stopped immediately. Since then, we have not given him anymore of this brand and has NEVER had a problem with him health since. We have given him the Milo’s brand jerkey and chicken meatballs with absolutely no problem (but will not buy anymore jerkey after reading this, just in case) I truly believe it was the Waggin Trails brand that made him ill. Please, anyone who reads this, do not by this brand of dog treats.
My 8 year old rottie, Sierra has been having accidents in the house for a few days. This is highly unlike her. She has been lethargic and not looking well. I took her to the vet Wednesday night and they advised me to take her to the doggie ER after finding a great deal of fluid in her belly. She has been diagnosed w kidney and liver disease. She absolutely loves the Kingdom Pets chicken jerky from Costco and eats about 6-10 per day. She always seems thirsty and has lost about 20 pounds in a year. The ER vet wanted her to stay overnight to the tune of $3000 to put her on IV’s but I refused saying I’d bring her home to be comfortable if she were about to pass. I am in shock! My vet is getting a call pronto, I am going to Costco in the am and this bs company that makes these poisonous treats will be sued. I am just sick over this. My 6 year old 175 lb rottie, Tank seems a bit ill as well constantly salivating. The vet actually asked me if they had gotten into any Tylenol that would have affected their liver! The treats we buy are from Costco and we have purchased them for years. Now my once so healthy rotties are very sick. This is not fair!
I have two dogs that love the kingdom pets brand of chicken treats from Costco. We recently stopped giving our one dog the treats because he would always get sick and throw up(They are medium size dogs and given treats 2 times a day) The other dog does have an increased thirst and at times drinks alot of water that would cause me to wonder if something was wrong. She recently had blood work done and everything was good but her protein was low. Would there be any relationship to a low protein and the glucose in the urine? These symptoms may not necessarily be related to the treats from China but I thank you for bringing this to our attention. There are many kinds of treats that we can easily avoid these chicken treats until more studies have been done.
I purchased Masters Best Friend All Naturals Chicken Jerky and gave it to my 4yr old Bichon. He started becoming lethargic and had diarrhea which was black (from blood in the stool). I told the vet that the only different food I gave him was the chicken jerky. After hearing about the issue with the chicken jerky I read the bag and the product is imported by MBF Concord in Ontario from China. It’s been 2 weeks now and he has good and bad days. I’m hoping that whatever is in the product has not caused permanent damage
My 11 year old maltese/terrier mix has been eating Waggin Train chicken jerky and duck jerky treats cut up in his food for several years. He is a diabetic and won’t eat it any other way. I had also recently changed to Milo’s Kitchen chicken jerky treats, which I see on the bag are also made in China. He has periodic episodes of increased thirst, urinating in the house, frequent urination as well as not eating, vomiting and diarrhea, which passes when I take him off his food and give him chicken and rice for a few days. I have not given him the chicken jerky treats in his food since the last episode 2 weeks ago. But he is still having frequent thirst and urination and his blood sugar is running higher than normal. I have not taken him to the vet yet, as it cleared up. Now I am wondering if it has been caused by the jerky treats I fed him! he was getting them twice a day.
I had a 5 year old yellow lab had all the sytems as listed above died in a week after leaving the vets I fed him chicken jerky bought at myers did not know of the danger product from china should be checked out thanks f osmulski
I have been feeding my 6 year old Cocker spaniel these Waggon Train Chicken Jerky treats for about 6 months. I have not fed her more than the suggested amount on the bag and she has really loved them, until Nov8, 2011 when I pulled her out from under the bed in a full blown grand mal seizure. I thought she was a goner. Ran her to the vet right away. They kept her on IV’s and gave her antibiotics, steroids, etc and I brought her home that night against their wishes because I felt I could help her more being awake with her 24 hours solid. I brought her back there every day for 4 days and in the meantime she was having accidents in the house, which is not like her at all. She was drinking a lot and eating a lot. I attributed that to the steroids she was on, but I don’t think all of it was from that. Her bloodwork has been messed up for 3 weeks. At first her platelets were wt only 15 which means she could had bled to death. Her white cells were elevated which denoted infection. They have had her on prednisone and doxycycline for the whole time. Thank the good lord she is getting better, but I think if I had not found her when I did she would not have been with us now. I do blame these treats for the problems that we have had. She also had some kind of kidney failure and is still getting over that because she is still having accidents in the house. I thought I was getting a healthy treat because it was supposed to be all natural, but I’ll tell you I have learned a $700 lesson to check everything on the bag and find if it was made in china or not. Health SHmelthy that was a a real crock.
My daughter’s pug just got sick from Waggin Train Chicken jerky treats. Lot # P1CA675A, purchased from Costco in California. Thank you for reporting this.
Correction to Lot #. My daughter’s pug just got sick after eating Waggin Train Chicken jerky treats. Lot # P1CA4675A, purchased from Costco in California. Thank you for reporting this.
I gave my terrier mix Milos kitchen chicken jerky treats twice. The first time I notiuce he had diarria after eating them. About a month later I thought I would try them again – bvecause he really loves them. Well he had diarria again. After seeing the FDA warning – he will not have them anymore. My heart goes out to the dogs who were more seriously effected.
I have 2 9 year old dogs who now have permanent liver and kidney issues. I June 2011, one dog became visibly ill – lack of appetite, lethargy, followed by diarrhea then vomit with mucus and blood. As soon as the vomiting began I imediately took her to the vet. She was gravely ill – very dehydrated and her stomach lining and colon were grossly inflamed. My vet questioned me about chicken jerky made in China. I was appalled – we do our due diligence to not purchase foreign food products for out pets, but we HAD recently purchased jerky – we thought – from a US manufacturer. They ultimately proved to be a US owned company selling Chinese products. We were the 3rd patients presenting these symptoms to my vet in 10 days – one of the other dogs died. The only thing the dogs had in common other than the same symptoms was the jerky. I had a CBC run on my other dog only to find that, even though she was not visibly ill, her liver enzymes were through the roof and her kidney funtions were compromised. I contacted the company – not expecting them to cover the $1200 in ICU bills, but at least some compassion and concern – I recd, neither. Now, I am pounding the pavement – I don’t just want a recall, I want these products banned.
YES Me TOO! This was first reported in Sept, 2007 what could take this long? probably incompetence.
My 9-yr-old Black Lab became very ill about a month ago. Symptoms were: no appetite (very unusual), increased drinking, and urinating in the house (also very unusual), lethargy (unusual). Bloodwork at the vet showed a slight increase in liver enzymes. The vet was stumped and put him on an antibiotic. After a few days he seemed better and started eating and acting normal. One thing he ate each day was a Waggon Train chicken jerkey. Within a few days he had a relapse with the same symptoms, plus vomiting. After not eating for a few days, he got better, then sick again. This time he threw up a chicken jerky which was not digested. I have stopped giving him those, and he has been fine ever since. Then I read about the FDA warning on the chicken jerky make in China. I sent e-mails to all my friends and posted it on Facebook.
Candace,
Sorry to hear about you rLAb. Previous post by me have documented the same effects on my 11 year old Golden. When will the Vet community take a harder stance on this issue?? All this “anecdotal” data starts to become very real when many dogs owners express the same symptons/concerns for their dogs.
Candace,
Sorry to hear about your LAb. Previous post by me have documented the same effects on my 11 year old Golden. When will the Vet community take a harder stance on this issue?? All this “anecdotal” data starts to become very real when many dogs owners express the same symptons/concerns for their dogs.
I feed my dogs the jerky and both got sick.They both couldnt hold down there food or water.We took them to the vet and with the grace of god there better.
About 4 months ago I purchased a bag of real duck breast strips at Costco. My youngest dog began to show the above symptoms the worst, but my 3 year old dog did as well. they are both large dogs. they had decreased appetites, some vomiting but they were still running and playing. This went on for several months. In fact, it recently just stopped, although I cannot help but think the younger dog still does not feel 100%. I am going to be taking him in to the vet. I never gave them a whole piece. I cut them up into small pieces for training rewards. I think this is what has saved them. The brand is Cadet.
These stories are heartbreaking, I am in tears. I have fed my dogs these for years.. my dog has been itching really really bad lately and acting weird I pray to God nothing happens to my babies.. I will loose it!!!!
feed Sharpie lot of “Waggin Train chicken strips” from
SAM’S CLUB. Large dog had dirrhea, it had a chemical
oder, like floor cleaner. Small dogs urine dried with a
glossy appearence.
This is an older post by “some guy”: however I have seen the issue of irradiation brought up repeatedly in relation to pet-treat fanconi syndrome, and this post suggests an actually quite plausible mechanism.
http://thedailybite.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/monsanto-pulls-gm-ly038-high-lysine-corn-from-eu-irradiated-pet-treatsfanconi-syndrome-link/
Moreover, this common feature of irradiation is the one common element linking a number of similar pet-treat illness sundromes outbreaks. It crosses species (cats dogs) does not always manifest in same illness. Cats had paralysis, for example (lysine can act as neutotoxin). And it was not exclusive to Country of origin (Canada, China, Vietnam).
However, high levels of irradiation were a common link.
Is alteration of lysine in foods the culprit? I’d like to hear the FDA say no.
My 7 yo pure breed german shepard has been sick for a little over a month now. He was a healthy active dog, he loved playing with his basketball and chasing my grandkids around the yard playing. I saw the Milo Jerky treats while in the store buying his dog food and they were made of chicken which he loves, so I bought him a bag to try and as a special treat, within 48 hours he was sick, he barely moves around, drinks alot of water, urinates way more than he ever did, he acts like he has trouble with his back legs supporting him. I talked to several vets in the area and they said it may be kidney failure or as simple as arthritis and gave me some home remedies to try, the tests and office visits are just way out of my financial budget right now, He gets apple cider vingar in his drinking water and we feed him a high protein diet with a teaspoon of garlic in his food everynight. some days he seems okay others he isn’t doing good, I don’t want him to suffer but I cannot afford the test to find out if this is caused by those stupid jerky treats. Is there any other suggestions for treating him?
I’m very sorry to hear about your dog. A comment I’d like to add is that feeding a high protein diet will actually be detrimental to his kidneys.
In Australia the only common denominator found in treats associated with acquired Fanconi syndrome, (both chicken-based and grain-based), is that the treats associated with disease were irradiated. If this were a case of too much protein being fed, I think we’d see cases in dogs fed non-irradiated treats.
http://news.vin.com/VINNews.aspx?articleId=13936
“The chews are made in Vietnam. Virbac has said that the product in Australia, unlike those sold elsewhere, is irradiated as required by the Australia Quarantine and Inspection Service.”
Pets eat a less varied diet than humans do, so the FDA needs to set different guidelines for food irradiation standards for pets. It could be the unique chemicals produced by irradiation of fatty acids that are the culprit in causing Fanconi-like syndrome in dogs, rather than the lysine content alteration.
These URP’s have only been studied for potential carcinogenic effects at doses humans would receive in a varied, conservatively irradiated diet. They have not been studied for effects upon dogs’ kidneys in the amounts produced by high levels of irradiation applied to pet products in global trade.
http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications
/publications.htm?seq_no_115=188066
Technical Abstract: Treatment of foods containing fatty acids, including meat and poultry, with ionizing radiation can lead to the formation of a class of chemicals called 2-alkylcyclobutanones (2-ACBs) that are unique to irradiated foods.”
Our pets deserve better consideration by the FDA and USDA.
I have a 6 year old bull terrier who got sick (kidney failure) over Thanksgiving. It really did not look good for him for awhile. He spent over 2 days on IVs, anti-vomiting and antibiotics at the vet fighting for his life. We brought him home on Monday. He is not fully back to being himself but looks like he will make it. The only thing that fits the symptoms is chicken jerky treats I have been feeding him. He only got one at a time so he got worse progressively and now looking back, his behavior/symptoms make more sense. I bought these treats from Costco because it said they were natural and had good ingredients. I guess even checking for right ingredients cannot protect my pet. I am going home made. It is worth it to save the heartache I had to go through last week.
Just yesterday I gave my 8 month old King Shepherd pup ONE chicken-wrapped cheese treat by Waggin Train. An hour later, she was vomiting, and it didn’t stop. I took her for an emergency vet visit this morning, and though she is currently looking better, the vet still wants further tests to make sure her kidneys don’t degrade. Just before I took my dog in, the vet had a similar case with another dog — same treats. I am furious and will be contacting the company in the morning.
My 7 year old Italian Greyhound Gracie was just diagnosed with Addison’s Disease in September 2011. I have alway given her one Waggen train Chicken tender a day. Before she was diagnosed she stopped eatting, diahrea, lethargic. Had Blood Work done and proven Addison’s. On medication now and after 3 months her Lytes are finally normal. It has been a scary 3 months. And just recently I’ve heard of this that chicken jerky from China can make your dog sick. So I’ve just stopped giving her the Wagan Train filets. I think I should bring this up to my Vet at our next visit.
So far we haven’t noticed a connection between this problem and Addison’s disease. Hope your dog is okay!
The Vet thought it was Addison’s at first with Moe but it was not.
Lost our 7 year old pug on Nov 23. Many trips to the vet with unknown condition. Heard the news about FDA alert on chicken jerky from China on 11/28. Upon further investigation linked Gracie’s illness to the time she started eating Waggin Train Treats. Lot# G2CA4458A. Servere vomiting, drank lots of water, no energy, etc. She had different chicken jerky treats but this is the 1/2 eaten bag I have left. Had the vets notified our family of this toxic treat she may still be with us today. She was perfectly healthy up until this unknown illness. I think its time pull this China crap off the marked and stop harming our pets.
Anyone suspecting their dogs is sick with increased thirst and urination please see this link to the protocol for Fanconi Syndrome. It is by the expect on the subject and it tells a vet what he needs to do. Most vets have no clue about Fanconi Syndrome.
http://basenjirescue.org/Fanconi/FanconiProtocol.pdf
For the others reading this, please know that not all dogs that are getting sick now have Fanconi’s syndrome. When I first wrote this article back in June this was the main concern, but it appears that some dogs have renal failure and others have severe gastrointestinal upset.
I am SO UPSET as I only found out about the dog treat problem. My dogs have been eating the Kingdom Pets brand Chicken Jerkey treats from Costco for about 6 months now. One of them eats them more than the other. I have been noticing the past few weeks she’s been sooooooo thirsty and urinating a lot, and a lot less active! I was wondering if she had diabetes til I saw this article on someone’s Facebook page. I am so upset she totally has all the symptoms. Is there a recall yet? as of December 1, 2011? This is ridiculous and I’m very angry at the company for selling the treats still. What is the next step? Why are they still selling these?
I don’t know if this has been discussed already but this came to me last night. I was speaking to my sister and she mentioned the fact a few years ago of the vast slaughter of chickens believed to have been exposed to bird flu in China. What are the chances the carcasses were not destroyed but kept in cold storage until the story faded from the news? Is it possible these carcasses are now finding their way into dog treat products such as chicken jerky? I realize this idea may be far fetched but not completely unrealistic.
About 8 months ago, we switched our 7-year old large mixed-breed dog’s treats from the typical “biscuit” type treat to the Kingdom Pets jerky treats (chicken strips, and sweet potato/chicken curls).
A few months ago, I noticed I was having to fill the pets’ big water bowl more frequently, and started observing them for additional signs of possible diabetes (having had a diabetic cat in the past, that is my first “alert” if water goes down too fast). Appetite for the cats was normal, my dog’s appetite was lower than usual.
Last month, my dog became very ill for the first time in her life – she started by being less active, then less enthusiastic (no more 75-pound doggy dance when we got home, hmmm), and the day before her scheduled vet appointment for a checkup, she started staggering when she walked and having difficulty with stairs and jumping up. We got her in a day early as an emergency.
Blood work all seemed fairly normal, except for extremely elevated liver enzymes; she had a slight fever. The vet put her on antibiotics for 10 days, and her main symptoms abated, though she is still drinking a lot more water than she used to, and still has some stiffness in her back legs.
We suspected Cushings, but she did not test positive for that… now, reading this, I am wondering if the treats could be part or all of the changes in her. Will definitely stop giving them to her (she had a pretty heavy treat concentration – probably 8 a day, maybe more, which I know is too many, but those big brown eyes…). While the fever and liver enzymes may be totally coincidental, and her kidneys *seemed* fine at her blood test, I’m not going to take a chance on her kidneys going downhill! So glad to find this article. Will be taking her in for a liver enzyme recheck, but will wait for a few weeks after stopping the jerky treats.
I have been giving my dog chicken treats for years. I buy them at Costco and the brands have change more then once. I also give him duck treats every day. He has no problems so should I stop giving him treats? What can I give him instead? He looks forward to treats daily. Even knows what time it is for treats and lets me know.
On November 18th, 2011, my wife purchased this product, Waggin’ Train Chicken Jerky and fed my dog one small piece. Around 3:00 A.M. on the 19th he began vomiting, and continued through the weekend. A vet visit on Monday, the 21st helped some, but he would not eat. Friday, Nov. 25 we took him to the emergency clinic. Same result. He was returned to the emergency clinic 28th, and left for treatment. A sonigram showed no enlarged organs, and He was diagnosed with high liver enzymes, and a raging infection, and lowered albumen. We tried everything possible, albumen infusion, IV meds, syringe feeding, but he just kept getting weaker. A true cut biopsy was recommended, and after getting a call this morning, we visited him again. He was too weak for the surgery, and could not even support his weight while sitting. This was December 1st, 2011. I had to make a decision, and today, Dec. 1,2011 I had to put him down. He had gone as far as possible, and after nearly $4,000.00 in vet bills, I had to tell my friend goodby. All over this crap imported from China!
Ray,
I had my 6 yr old Bichon over at a friends house in December and she fed her a Waggin Train Chicken Jerky. The middle of January she started throwing up and I took her to the Vet. She was already Jaundice. Her liver values were off the chart. Hospitalized her with all kinds of IV’s of antibiotics. She kept getting worse. I was going to have to make the decision to put her to sleep the next day but there was a Specialty Surgeon there and he gave me a little hope that he might be able to fix her. Well she lasted maybe 5 minutes after the surgery…EXPENSIVE euthanasia! The Vet did a biopsy of her liver and it was definitely a TOXIN and it hit her hard. 90% of liver was dead. I am just sick about it. I lost my little girl plus $4300.00. I would have mortgaged my house to save her. She died on Jan 24th.
Oh my.. I have been wondering what’s wrong with my dog for the last 3 months. She has been on a strict diet of only natural treats and food like Blue Buffalo. Thee months ago I went to petsmart to buy another bag of food and saw the bag of Canyon Creek Chicken Jerkey. I thought that it would be healthier after reading the bag and seeing its 3 listed ingredients: chicken breast, vegetable glycerin, and natural flavor. I figured it was safe so I bought that and a bag of Blue Buffalo treats. A day later I noticed my 3 year old dog feeling really low. She is still alert and happy and always willing to play. Later that night I heard her regurgitating at 3 am. Next thing I knew she was vomiting several times. I was worried and stayed home from work to stay with her. Not sure what the problem was, I only fed her broth and rice the next day. A day later she was fine so i out her back on her regular diet. A few days later I gave her treats again. Again, in the middle of the night, vomit. Also she was getting lots of discharge on her eyes. Something I have never had to deal with, with Kira. She was very itchy and scratched endlessly without relief.
I called my vet explaining the symptoms. She recommended changing her from Blue Buffalo Chicken and brown rice to a fish diet. That she may becoming allergic. Also Pepcid ac and peptol bismol. I spent two days nursing her back and spending another $60 on new dog food in a week. Slowly adding to her new diet until two weeks later he was only on her fish diet. This fish diet is more costly as well. After she seemed to be fine I cautiously gave her treats again. This time I would only give her the same type of treat for one week (biscuit)and switch to the jerky the next week to see of maybe it was the treats. By this time I was too nervous and only gave her about 2-4 treats a week. I barely gave her the jerky because I thought that it was too harsh on her digestive system. 3 months later and I still have 3/4 of the bag left.
In the last 3 months she’s had 4 occasions of her vomiting until there was nothing left in her stomach. I thought she was getting better, but was being skeptical of the new fish diet. Now I can truly understand that it wasn’t the chicken or the fish diet. The onset of her vomiting is from these treats. I have never bought chicken jerky before, but with the huge displays in the store and “healthy” ingredients, I thought I was doing a great thing for her. Kira will never eat Canyon Creek Ranch Chicken Jerky again!
This 8 oz bag of treats was nearly $10 could’ve killed my dog!
Where do I go from here? Can we send this back? Refund? Donate it to be tested?
We had to put our loving dog down this week. And while it wasn’t definitive, we highly suspect the cause was chicken jerky treats from China. It infuriates me that these treats are still on the shelves, so I am starting a “sticky-note campaign,” and plan to place notes next to the treats stating: ” BEWARE: FDA warning on chicken jerky treats with ingredients from China. Dogs getting sick and dying.” Hopefully it will keep some dogs healthy, and perhaps shame some store owners. Sure could use some help with this! 🙂
I WILL DO THE SAME i GUESS THAT’S ALL WE CAN DO. THANKS for the idea
“Flavor Wraps Dog Treats” from DRsFOSTER&SMITH
made our dogs sick after giving each of them ONE “treat”!
Our dogs love the chicken-wrapped biscuits, which we order regularly, so we thought we should try these. We bought all 3 of the flavors, carrot, apple & banana, each wrapped in chicken.
But, these are Made In China, are Irradiated!, and “instructions” require that one wash hands after handling these!!! F&S does NOT provide this information on their website!
These made our dogs sick. Our Havanese-terrier mix rescue (25lbs) threw up three times in one day from just ONE of the carrot treats. We know it was this treat because it was the morning “breakfast” treat (only 1 biscuit or milkbone or equivalent each morning) and she threw up three times over a 6-hour period without any other food having been given. Our Chihuahua-mix rescue (16lbs) threw up about 2 hours after having eaten the apple treat. Our Chi-mix eats anything and everything! She has a “cast iron” stomach! She never throws up!
We tried to submit a negative review for these dog “treats”, but F&S refused to allow it to post. We then sent F&S an email with all this information, but they have never responded. We returned the “treats” for a full refund, but have not yet received it, after nearly a month. We are still pursuing the matter.
We are very angry at F&S for preventing customers from trying to warn other customers of dangerous products that can harm their pets. F&S claim to be protective of animals, but their actions in this instance definitely show otherwise.
my dog jake, a silky terrior, has been have the same symtoms as all others who have left comments on this site. he has been very sick since nov. 27th, and has been to the vet twice since then. The vet did ask if had been given jake chicken jerk and told me those treats were being recalled. its the first i have heard about it even though its be reported on the news. after some research i have learned its not exactlly been recalled, but after reading about these treats and watching jake suffer for the past three days, how can they not recall chicken jerk made in china. i only wish i would have read the back of the bag better, MADE IN CHINA, come on. why do we continue to purchase food items made out side of usa. i am so glad jake seems to be getting better, but i am very angry about all the other dogs affected. If china can’t even make safe toys, how can we know they are making safe food, even dog food. i am so angry!
Is there any possibility that grapeseed oil is being used in the processing of these chicken jerky treats? I know that grapes and raisins cause kidney problems in dogs.
My 2 yr old Golden Retriever stopped eating and drinking large amouns of water in Nov 2011 which made me worry about poisoning. We have 3 enclosed acres with a wildlife pond, chickens, Llamas, dogs, cats, etc and do not use fertilizer, etc. 2 days after the symptoms I noticed a bag of Waggin Train Chicken Jerky Tenders in our garage. My wife was given them by a customer who had several bags that they received FREE in bags of Alpo/Purina Come and Get It dry dog food! His sickness was within 1 day of her giving him the first treat. He is a large retriever (90 lbs) and was only feed 1-2 strips twice so the to many treats story does not hold true here. Ihave called /e-mailed Waggin, Purina, and Alpo without a reponse.
Dr. Marie,
Are the duck jerky affected by this also I use canyon creek duck and their pig skin rolled chews with chicken inside. Are there problems with the pigskin also?
Unfortunately we still don’t know what the problem is and what products are affected. But this is exactly why we need people to comment. As patterns emerge we will hopefully be closer to solving this mystery.
“As patterns emerge we will hopefully be closer to solving this mystery.”
Dr. Marie,
I am not a doctor, but I am pretty sure that a pattern has emerged that shows that apparently healthy dogs who have eaten chicken jerky treats that were made in China are getting very sick, even losing their life. The only thing that kept our 11 year old Golden from “crossing the rainbow bridge” was the fact that he was very healthy and didn’t succumb to kidney failure. PLEASE use the influence you have to get this raised to a higher level. Costco is doing nothing about it, other than giving me a refund on the contaminated chicken jerky treats they sold me that almost killed by Golden. Dog owners need your help.
I understand the concerns Chuck. I am doing all I can in getting this post and its contents seen. The best thing that can happen is for everyone who has a concern to contact the FDA. I am limited in what I can do!
But if people have suggestions I’ll do more. It makes me very mad that this is happening, but until the FDA knows the cause they can’t do a full recall. And I am positive that they are trying to find the cause!
Dr. Marie,
Thank you for your response. Also, thanks for the link to report to the FDA. Submitted one today. Still somewhat optimistic that our Golden is recovering from the effects of the apparent contaminated chicken jerky from China. I gave the bag of jerky to Costco that made Gordy sick. I hope they send it in for analysis. Appreciate all you are doing for our best friends.
Gordon is doing better thankfully. I am going to take a different spin on this. If it wasn’t the jerky treats from China and the all to frequently documented problems from them, what do you think might be the common cause of all the similiar sickness in many dogs??
Yes, my dog ate the Duck jerky and almost died.
Also my dog has shown no signs of anything yet
has anyone heard anything about iams chicken flavored dog food, bought this food last week for my poodle, and now he has severe diahrea
My dog was very sick after eating Milo’s brand all natural chicken jerky treats! I had no idea why he was sick… he was excessively thirsty & urinating in the house & not eating… very unusual for him. He was also vomitting! I took him to the vet. Had him blood tested for diabetes & it came out negative. He assumed he had a UTI & gave antibiotics. I knew this was not what was wrong. Nothing would ever stop this dog from eating! He seemed to do a little better after the 10 days of antibiotics but then got worse again so I took him to another vet who is top notch. He did blood tests & even did an X-ray scan to look at stomach, etc.. he said he was “fighting something” but didn’t know what. As I was bringing him home, I heard on XM radio that jerky treats could be causing dogs to get sick & die & I realized that is when it began! I had a coupon for Milo’s chicken jerky treats & got them & had been feeding them to him right before he started getting ill!!! Unfortunately, I no longer have the bag so do not know the lot # but this makes sense… all natural w/ no preservatives to kill samenella(?) $500 later for vet bills, I probably ruined my poor dogs kidney’s by giving him something I thought was good for him!! Now, I feel sick!!! Where do I find the # to call the FDA??
Here’s a link to information on how to report a complaint to the FDA: http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/SafetyHealth/ReportaProblem/ucm182403.htm
Thanks so much!
Moe our Havenese almost died 2 days ago, from eating Happy Hips Duck jerky. The vet bill over 800.00 and could not find whats was wrong with him. It came on quickly he had 1 treat in the morning and by 4:30 pm he could not walk, this was on 12/02/11. He is feeling better now, what I need to know is about the long term affects. Anyone that has gone threw this please let us know.
I need to know specific medications that have healed these other dogs affected by chicken jerky. We are going on a month of treatments,surgery,bloodwork IV’s etc. Gauge is now on Denosyl to try & repair his liver thet is grossly damaged! Please share the precise treatments ,antibiotics that have worked etc. We are headed in to see if his liver enzymes have dropped at all. The count last week was 2000!!! normal is 212!!! Help please!!! we are fighting as hard as we can but that won’t matter without the proper medication.
Our 7yr old pom Twinkie became sick on a Sunday in September 2011, took her to the vet on Monday they made an appointment for Tuesday morning. She died in the waiting room of the vet’s office. She had been vomiting for a day, diarriha for two days, she had excessive thirst and had a couple of accidents in the house. She was only 6 pounds to begin with. I had given her some chicken treats on Saturday, our other pom did not become ill– she wouldn’t eat any of the treats. Within two weeks our german Shepherd puppy~~Diamond~ came–we had purchased him before our pom became ill. Two weeks later he became ill after I had given him a chicken treat (not knowing that they were making our beloved pets ill) I took him to the vets and had him checked for parvo, I was fearing that it was because his symptoms were exactly the same as our pom. The tests were negative, with in a few days he was fine. (His puppy shots were all up to date) On Oct 31, my son gave Diamond the rest chicken treats while training him to sit, ect. He became ill overnight, I took him to the vets. They were going to send him home because he seemed fine -no temp, ect then he started dry heaving in the exam room. They kept him & started treatments for dehydration, possible parvo. Diamond died on the anniversary of our daughter’s murder–0 November 04. My heart is broken. I had no clue about the chicken treats, our other pom who is not in the greatest health is doing just fine–she wouldn’t eat them. we lost two beloved pets in two months and I never heard about this until this past weekend. This is wrong that these products are not being recalled. If our vet had known about this issue, perhaps I wouldn’t be writing about the deaths of our dogs today.
Our beagle was vomiting sporadically for a of couple weeks. We stopped feeling her the Wagon Train Chicken Jerky Lot #P1CA4677A and she was back to normal.
I also forgot to mention in my last post that my others dogs have become much healthier after we stopped feeding them the jerky. My 13 year old who was immobile and peed himself quite often daily is now able to walk. The vet said he wouldn’t make it and that we should put him to sleep. Look at him now!
I am so angry. My mother’s dog passed away a few weeks ago and she gave me her the treats she had for her dog. The treats are the Waggin Train Chicken Jerky, needless to say my dog got very ill from them and we discussed putting him down but decided to wait a day more. Our vet suggested feeding him boiled chicken to see if he would eat. The subject of chicken and the recent news coverage on the contaminated dog treats came up and we realized we were feeding our pet poison. Within days of feeding him these treats he was vomiting, urinating while laying down, could not get up from a laying down position and when he would go to lay down again would literally fall over sideways to get back to the floor, and he had a few seizures as well. We boiled chicken breasts for him and he seems to be doing much better. We suspect the Waggin Train Chicken Jerky Treats were the cause of his sudden mysterious illness.
I have two kids; a male and a female pit bull who I am taking to the vet this morning. I bought the posion chicken treats at Costco and only gave my kids two a day. Within a few days, they had an increased urination, drank lots of water and when they werent laid out and feeling bad, they were anxious and wanted to use the bathroom every hour. They also have been trying to dig at their rear end and whine like they cant get to what is causing them discomfort. I assume because its a internal issue! I cant beliveve these treats are not recalled yet. I have filed a complaint with the FDA and I suggest that everyone here do the same. At this date, in Frdericksburg, VA these stores still sell these posion treats; Costco, Walmart and Petsmart. I will update when I get the results from my vet today. My heart goes out to evryone who has been affected by these posion treats.
I bought Kingdom Pets checken jerky from Costco and within a few days my Sammy began throwing up after he ate one of the strips. At first I didn’t know what was causing the problem, but every time he had one of the treats, he would throw up. Since I have stopped giving him the treats, he has not had any problems.
I think my dog died because of tainted chicken treats from waggin trails or the chicken jerky treats, and I am thinking that my vet had NO IDEA what was wrong with her, but researching what she died of, I saw all the stuff from the chicken jerky from waggin trails. She ate a few of them, and then she threw up the next day and didnt eat for almost three weeks and the vet did not seemed concerned cuz she was well hydrated. I believe that the waggin trail and the other treats from china that i gave her the day before she got sick was the cause of her dying and now that I have a new puppy, she will NOT get one chicken treat from anywhere.
We fed our 5 month old shepherd 4 pieces of Waggin” Train on Sunday and he vomited all night and into the next morning. This was his first time with this problem and we wondered what he could’ve eaten since we control his all natural BARF diet very carefully. Apparently after finding this site, his food is not so natural and healthy. I hope this brand and others causing similar problems are recalled and banned. We will not be feeding him any food from China from here on out.
My 9 month old Shi -A-Pom, Sasha was given Petshoppe Chicken Jerky made in China. It was purchased at Walgreens Drug Store. Lot # Y101H24R12168. The expiration date is 09/06/2013. Shortly after eating this product, she Stsrted having loose bowels and lots of vomiting. She has also been extremely thirsty. Do not give to your dog! It is not safe and makes the dogs ill.
Waggin’ Train chicken liver treats. Diarrhea in dog. Less than 48 hours. Given Pepto and skipped a meal. Ate white rice with some boiled chicken.
So far I’m a lucky one. My dog just went through all of this after eating just one strip of Milos Chicken Jerky. He almost immediately got ill after injesting one of these. He’s a Choc Lab/Great Dane mix, a larger breed, but the smaller ones have not been so lucky. The dog in the the DVM’s the day before is in complete kidney failure. After a week of IV fluids, and 3 rounds of antibiotics, specialty foods etc, his health is improving. I want everyone to know who is going through this…PLEASE file an FDA complaint!! We all know if this was a baby or a human, something would be done about this. How many pets do we need to loose before FDA implements standards on animal products as they do on human products? These animals cannot speak for themselves!!!!
My DVM still cannot narrow down what the adverse reaction is in his labratory, however, he has seen the affects under several different brands of this chicken jerky and believes that there are a limited number of mfg’s making this under many different name brands…the same issue a few years ago with the pet foods. It does not matter if its a “high end” brand or not.
Please warn everyone you know!!!!
We lost our 5 year old corgi (cupcake) this week after fighting a battle with kidney failure due to these Wagon Train Chicken Treats. She got sick and the vet said her creatinine levels were off the charts (15) After 5 days of IV fluids the levels did come down to 8.2, but we could not save her. After spending over $2,500 in Vet hospital care. The vet made me aware of the toxins in these treats. This was my daughter’s Christmas present 5 years ago. Now our Christmas is ruined. She was in perfect health until eating these Wagon Train Chicken Treats. How many dogs have to die before these are taken off the shelves in stores. I want my vet bills paid for by the distributor of these in Anderson, SC.
Last week we gave our midsize dog a Waggin Train Jerky Treat and came home to a mess all over the house. Watching the news, immediately after the local evening news had a short spot about a recall – couldn’t find anything on the news site…maybe tomorrow. So worried about her, I will be reading the labels every time – no more made in China.
Hi,see lots of familiar storys here,got some Milos chicken jerky strips for my Yorky-poo couple weeks ago,wondered why she started throwing up ,had diarreia and then blood in stool,returned all 3 bags to Publix today and pray we have not helped kill our beloved pet,how can these people live with them selves KNOWING that they are killing our pets?
John the Chinese do not care about their own people, why would they give a darn about something they see as chattle (OUR BELOVED PETS).
I pray your little darling will be OK.
Well I m scared to give my 3 pups any thing now so I have taken to cooking Homemade dogfoods. And I am making them homemade chicken and beef jerkys. Now I know this sounds like a lot of work in today’s busy world, but my pups are important part of my family. And with all the Love they give in return. They are well worth the extra effort to keep them safe.
Ihad to put my Zoey down and am burying her ashes today. She was killed by Chinese Chicken Strips. Super excessive thirst, Stopped eating became lethargic and eventually as her body shut down I had her put out of her misery.
She was like our daughter. Right now I HATE the business’ that are selling this product. I want to put signs like Poison signs in the stores that dare to carry this product.
Why is our government so slow to act. What kind of idiots manage the country’s food supply.
6 pm news..9 December 2011, I saw that certain chicken treats (made in china)for dogs is causeing problems. I have a 4 yr old Aussie Cow Hearder that is sleeping all the time, loss of appitite, and an intence desire for water. My other dog ( 1/2 Pitt/ 1/2 lab) 8 yrs old has the same amount of WAGON TRAIN treats as the 4 yr old, but she does not have those problems…she eats like a pig.
In 2007 I lost 3 cats to cat food made in China..all 3 died of kidney failure. I am about sick and tired of Wal-Mart and China…and the FDA.
I’m honestyly torn on what to think of all of this. I have a Catahoula (3 1/2 yrs old) and have been giving the Kingdom Pets Chicken Jerky from Costco since he was 5 or 6 months old. He is healthy and as energetic as can be, eats like a champ, and never shown any signs of ill-effect from them. I’ve spoken with a number of friends that I know also give these same treats to their dogs, which include a golden retriever, lab, shitzu, dacschund, and cocker spaniel, and they’ve never had any issues with them as well.
My knee jerk reaction is to say “OMG” and stop giving them right away, but honestly, they’re his absolute favorite treats and have had NO issues with them whatsoever. One time when I ran out and didn’t feel like making the trek down to Costco I grabbed a bag of those WagginTrains from WalMart and he turned his nose up at those. Honestly not sure what to do, would sure love to have some actual FACTS about this issue so can make an educated decision on it. Some of the stories posted above are heart wrenching, and others are just flat out ridiculous.
I mean, I used to give these treats for years to my old black lab before I had to put her down back in 2009….according to half the posts I should be blaming her brain tumor on chicken jerky as well? Some real info/facts on this would be greatly appreciated, not stories about a dog getting sick in 2005 had to be because of treats made in China….
why take the risk, why feed anything from china to your pet.
Bryan,
I didn’t have any issues prior to yesterday. Why take the chance? It only takes one time. My dog LOVES these treats but after what we went through for the last 24 hours, diarrhea, vomiting, blood in stool, lethargy, etc- he will NEVER get another one.
Bryan, where’s the facts you ask??? This is only ONE forum where hundreds! are sharing the same experiences with chicken jerky treats. There are MANY more forum with HUNDREDS of more people sharing the same. What more do you need before you ask yourself “Am I possibly, slowly and quietly killing my dog with these treats?” Just because your dog doesn’t display the symptoms as other dogs are, doesn’t mean you’re not slowly poisoning his body.
CLEARLY THERE IS AN ISSUE, FDA THINKS SO! Wise up!
Has anyone had issues with the duck jerky treats ? I have an 11 1/2 yr. old Samoyed staying at the vets because he has all the symptoms of Fanconi syndrome.
My puppy has been having gastrointestinal issues. Now I know why! She has been chewing on Canyon Creek Ranch chicken and pork bones! Definitely keeping those away from her now. Hopefully the diarrhea clears up soon! 🙁
My shepherd mix “molly” very ill from eating “waggin train” Chicken Jerky treats” Our Vet will verify that they caused the problems. Almost killed her.” Have spent $2,000 + in Vet bills. Do NOT buy any products from this company. They will poison your pet!!!!..
Rick, do you have the lot number?
Co-worker’s 2 dogs nearly died due to chicken jerky from Costco & has been in contact w/ FDA. I threw out all the Waggin Train jerky in the house. 3 yr old Rottweiler mutt goes through tons of water & has had urination issues for past year. Vet doesn’t know why other than maybe he can’t hold it. Thinking it’s the bags & bags of Waggin Train chicken jerky we give him from Costco. Will see if problem goes away.
I see emails from people stating their dogs are fine & will continue to feed the jerky to their dogs. If there is any chance, even remotely, that your dog may become sick or even die, why would you continue to give it to them??!!! Your dogs depend upon you to take care of them. Why would you make a decision that may potentially hurt them or even kill them??!!
My baby is gonna be 5 yrs old and we take very good care of him . We treat him as our child. He loves the wagon treats. Recently we had an emergency and off to the vet we went. He had been vomiting for almost 24 hrs . I don’t know why this happened but I do know their are other treats out their that are not making dogs sick so that’s what we will be giving from now on ..
I gave my dog one of the chicken treats once a day and noticed her water intake went way up, over double what it usually was. She also didn’t eat much and was sluggish, no vomiting, but different. Stopped the treats and she seems to be back to her normal self.
Thank you guys!!
Hopefully we stopped before any damage was permanent. This column may have saved a greyhound!! Thank you all!
My miniature schnauzer GOES CRAZY for the Waggin’ Train chicken jerky treats and I have always been extremely careful to ration them so as not to overfeed them (the Waggin’ Train Mfr. claims that the medical issues w/ dogs and these treats is because they are being overfed by owners!)
However, I DO NOT overfeed these to my dog. What I DID find after some trial and error- stopping and starting with feeding the treats a few times was an odd correlation between the jerky treats and my dog’s reaction/symptoms just hours after I fed them to him. He was very lethargic- no appetite- general overall malaise- and most importantly, extreme JOINT TENDERNESS where he refuses to put any weight on one of his front legs and the rest of his legs are sore to the touch.
Immediately my thoughts go to “what are the chickens being injected with or fed in China?” Are they continually pumping these chickens full of growth hormones to get the largest yield of chicken breast possible? (have you ever seen the documentaries about chicken farms and how some chickens injected with hormones get so large and plump that they can’t even stand on their own legs?)
If they do use hormones- Are the high hormone levels getting into the treat supply and causing serious medical issues for dogs? I think the FDA should be taking random samples of these treats (and specific samples of the treats where owners have had issues) and testing for arsenic, poisons, melamine, pesticides, salmonella, AND GROWTH HORMONES!
If I feed these treats, my dog limps around and wants to hide under the bed like he wants to die. If I stop feeding the treats, my dog is back to being happy, active, and vibrant in about 4 days.
Needless to say- both bags of these treats will now be returned to the Sam’s Club where I bought them- I thought I would share my particular experience/thoughts with the group.
Phillip, wow, my Cocker Spaniel has (had) the same issue with the pressure on the front leg (the right). I thought she just has a bad leg, that finally begun acting up at her 11 years of age. She experienced all the other symptoms of this awful product, and the vet even diagnosed her with cushings desease. I know she doesn’t have that, since she no longer has any of the symptoms since I stopped giving her the treats 6 weeks ago. Although the does still limp a little, but that’s the only symptom she still displays.
Dr. Marie,
I would like to ask the same question to you that I did a week or so ago. If tainted chicken jerky isn’t the “root cause” of all these stories, all with the same theme, what do you propose as an alternative explanation. I have stayed away for a while from posting, hoping that I was wrong about the tainted chicken jerky from China, but too many similar stories have been posted in the past 2 weeks (sadly). My golden is still alive, but 10 lbs lighter and nowhere near living the type of life he had 7 weeks ago.
I wish I knew! Some have proposed that the problem is related to the irradiation of treats but no one knows for sure. I’m wondering if there is a health problem with the chickens being used for these treats. I wish I could give you a more concrete answer!
my dog died this morning:( he was 5.5 years old and very healthy. we had no idea he was sick just thought he was acting weird. he was drinking alot of water throwing up from time to time and stopped eating. last night he was shaking and making weird noises and throwing up.. he had a hard night then died 7am. we give him canyon ranch chicken jerkey from costco everyday. do you think this could be the reason he died?
So sorry to hear your news. There is no way of knowing whether the treats were the culprit at this point. There are a number of other possibilities as well. If you are able to have your vet do a post mortem exam this could help us know. It definitely is possible though. It may be worthwhile to report this to the FDA.
My 6 lbs pom (5yrs old) starting passing blood and vomiting today. She is in the hospital and the vet is looking for answers. We just started giving her Waggin Train Jerky Tenders 10 days ago. Just a a snack, she ate her regular food. Why would they keep these on the market with all the hipe surrounding them – why are dogs getting sick? The retailers should have signs out notifing the public.
I just opened a new bag of dry dog food for my dogs and found a sample of Waggin’ Train Jerky Tenders (chicken) in the bag. I’m not going to risk using them.
I have not seen anyone comment about Beefeaters Chicken Fillets from BJ’s. They are also made in China. Does anyone have any experience with or input on these?
For the 2 or 3 months I purchased any chicken jerky treat, they were a variety of all brands from all stores (typically what was priced reasonably). It doesn’t matter what brand or from what country, they’re BAD for dogs. If you insist on giving chicken jerkys to your pet, please learn how to make them yourself, so you’ll know FOR SURE they aren’t contaminated in any way. Also realize that any dehydrated product is going to make your pet consume more water, so moderation is key.
We have 2 dogs which have been eating waggin train
Chicken and duck jerky tenders,
both with different symptons, lethargic, drinking lot’s of water, vomitinig, low energy etc… we have been to the vet, he did not know about this poision problem, this has been going on for weeks, the treats were bought at COSCO in Canada!
You buy all natural treat’s because you think you are giving something good , sadly both dogs are very sick now, thanks to this website we have sourced the problem and we hope we are not to late, so sad.
What a Christmas, this food is still on the shelves and dog’s will be getting sick, we have spent alot at the vet in and out multiple times with no concrete conclusions on what was happening. And the dogs were not getting better.
PLEASE READ AND PASS ALONG!
We will likely be putting our 11 year old Golden down in the next few days due to the illness he developed because of the tainted chicken jerky treats from China that we let him snack on once a day. I pray that others can learn from this post and keep their dogs safe from this tainted product. I also pray that teh Vet community can learn as much as they can from all these similar incidents to save other dogs in the future.
Tara, Jason and others on this posting, my heart goes out to all of you for seeing your beloved pets in such discomfort. This morning at 5:10am our 11 year old Golden, who has had MANY of the same symptoms that MANY have written about, died in our arms, a shell of the dog he was on 8 weeks ago when he first starting exhibiting these symptoms after eating treats from Costco. My thoughts are with all of you, and again I pray that the Vet community, and others, can find the cause of these unfortunate illnesses and deaths.
Today my husband and I had to put our sweet Aiden to rest. On Saturday 12/24/11 we bought Waggin Train chicken dog treats Lot # G1CA4943A and only gave him ONE treat. On Sunday after we opened gifts, we took him for a walk, he started throwing up. Monday morning I went outside to check on him, he could barely get up, hind legs were not wanting to move properly. Rushed him to the vet, the confirmed he was dehyrdated gave him IV’s and Antiobiotics and drew blood to see what was the matter. Over night we laid him in the garage to stay warm, and I checked on him hourly, and made him drink water. We took him to the vet again this morning, now all 4 legs were dragging, at first thought the vet thought it was neurological. But I had found the recall on the treats online late last night while doing investigation. The vet was convinved it was the root of the problem, Aiden seized while we were in the office. They worked on him, and he was pretty messed up apparently had some other issues to in the blood. We decided it was best for Aiden to be put to rest. Our hearts ache for anyone else who has lost their beloved pet/family members. Today not only did we loose our best friend, but we had to explain to our two young kids what had happened. Aiden RIP you were a great dog. As for pet treats, I will never buy a pet treat again, and will just make homemade ones in which I know what I’m giving my dog 100%.
I have an 11 year old golden lab. She was very healthy and active until one day a few months ago she started with a severe rash on her abdomen. Vets thought it was an allergy and she was given medications. When the problem continued she was brought back to the vet. The vet then diagnosed her with mange, or a skin infection and she was given medications for that. Shortly after my 5 year old great dane started with the same rash, but within a week the rash was gone. My lab continues to get worse and worse, with different symptoms. She does not have much of an apitite. She is urinating on the floor, which is very unusual for her. She is always very thirsy, and she seemes confused at times, and she is also becoming agitated and snappy with my dane. The vets then diagnosed her with a kidney infection. Not long after that Vets yet again gave her a different diagnosis of diabetes. My lab loves dog treats however and she was being given chicken jerky treats. I believe the brand is Canyon Creek, bought at Costco. The more research I do , the more I believe she has fanconi syndrome, and because of her age , she is not able to bounce back from it. My dane was never a fan of these treats and stopped eating them after one or two treats. There are not many options for vets in my area, and fanconi seems to be a disease they dont know much about so my poor little lab is becoming so weak, and small due to muscle deterioration, i believe i will need to put her down soon if nothing is done to help her. She doesn’t look like she is in pain, but as soon as i see her suffering I will need to put her down. It’s horrible if these treats are really the cause of all this.
My dog has just finished treatments from my vet. and I was feeding her Milo’s Kitchen brand chicken jerky treats 3 to 4 strips per nite after her meals for a couple of months, before that I was feeding her the Wagon Train brand chicken jerky. She exibited the symptons of drinking alot of water and urinating alot, fatigue, loss in appetite for many months. Looking back on the Vet Bills I see she did a CBC, Blood Chem. Profile Major, Vaginal Cytology, Radiograph, Urinalysis (free catch). I never suspected anything she was eating and it was never brought up. I did not realize until now that Milo’s brand Chicken Jerky is from China also. I have not fed her any for the simple reason I thought we were out, but just found a unopened bag that was bought at the same time the other bags were. Not sure if this is a lot number : Best if used by 03 07 13 (1256HV C) …On the very bottom of the bag it has P504680F. I hope and pray she doesnt have any permanet damage to her kidneys
I had the same issue with my dog back in September. I had purchased a package of Milo’s Chicken Jerky treats and just gave him 1 or 2 per day as a treat. I noticed the exact same symptoms that you did with your dog. I took him to the vet several times and they were just stumped as to what was wrong with him. About the time I took him to the vet he had finished the bag I had bought him and I just never bought anymore, but I never connected his illness to the treats so I never mentioned it to the vet. After many vet appointments and ALOT of money (which I gladly will pay for my dog) he is doing much better. It took about a month but the increased thurst and urination finally stopped and I seem to have a happy and healthy dog again.
my dog has been showing the same symptoms, and after seeing the article on MSN i went and looked in the pantry, and sure enough, the jerky treats we give our dog as a requard is Waggin train from china. I now have an appointment with the vet and hope it is reversable.
Our Doberman is 12 1/2 months old. He only eats Natural Balance Ultra. His main treats are Natural Balance treats. Three times now, he has gotten terrible loose stools – to the point that he had an accident each time in his crate. (He has NEVER done that before.)
We have finally put it together that each time this happens, he has had “special” treats from Waggin Train – various chicken kinds – prior to it happening. He hasn’t had too many, 2-3 at the most and he is nearly a 100 lb dog.
I will be taking these back to Sam’s for a refund, I will be reporting it to the FDA and I will be complaining to Waggin Train. I will not feed him anything from them or anyone else again.
It will be all Natural Balance for us from now on. This is scary stuff and it would be nice if things poisoning all of our dogs would be removed from the shelves.
This is yet another reason not to buy anything that is ingested by anyone that is made in China.
Unfortunately, I didn’t come across this information until this morning as I was watching the news. I have to say I have personally experienced an issue with the Waggin Train treats I purchased for my dog. He is 9 1/2 years old, has never had a problem with treats as I only give him 1 per day. However, after eating just one chicken jerky he was gassy and had diarrhea. Since I never feed my dog treats that I myself would not eat, I decided to share one with him…once. I also became horribly gassy and had diarrhea. So, to all those who say your dog hasn’t had problems, congratulations. You are lucky. For me, and my dog, I will most likely look into making his treats, or just feed him straight chicken as a treat…chicken not from CHINA!!!
OMG! I just had a dog get really sick this pasdt week and wouldnt you know, I had just bought a bag of Canyon Creek chicken tenders MADE IN CHINA! Never again will I trust anything made over there, NEVER!!!
I hope he is just temporarily sick, I will be overcome with anger if he is hurt permamnently.
My two small dogs have gotten sick recently. They both had diarrhea (one had blood in it) and were vomiting. We couldn’t figure out what it was and the vet suggested we stop all treats and focus on the food. Then re-introduce the treats once they are feeling better. The day after we gave them their treats again (one week after they got better), they both got sick again! I saw on the news today the information about their treats. I was SHOCKED! I cried at the thought of me harming my dogs. I hope they don’t have long term damage from these treats. I am outraged that nothing has been done and that these are still being sold! I do my best to pay attention to my dogs treats and feed them healthy foods. I am VERY VERY disappointed in this brand and the store we purchased these treats from. My dogs could have died.
Hello, my dog is currently in the hospital from eating the waggin train dog treats, she has kidney failure. I am trying to let everyone know: Not to Feed This To Your Pet if You Love Them! They have a facebook with Nothing but bad feedback, not sure why unless they LOVE the negative comments. NEVER BUY PRODUCTS FROM CHINA. If your dog is sick seek medical attention immediately!!! Dont wait it will kill your pet! I am currently looking into starting a class action law-suit!
My condolences to those who have lost their pets. My husband found this article and after reading the heart-breaking stories left by others, I am going to pitch the remaining Waggin Tail Treats. I had noticed that our 2 dogs (9 yr and 3 yr) act almost addicted to the treats. They are in-your-face waiting for them and then have inhaled it before you can zip up the bag. Sure enough, he looked on the bag and found the small print of Made in China. We have a dehydrator and have made some jerky treats. Cook up some cheaper cut of meat or chicken, let it cool, slice and put in the unit. It isn’t any more expensive and won’t have all the gee-whiz chemicals. Damn their low standards and clever marketing with that red, white and blue packaging. Buy American!
I fed my two dogs 2 waggin train chicken jerky treats 2-3 months ago. They have only ever had those two treats ever. I do not remember them having any issues after I fed them the treats. They have not been to the vet and have not been tested for anything. They are not showing any symptoms that I have been reading in the comments. Can the symptoms show up later? Can my dogs be affected later down the road?
We’ve been purchasing Milo brand treats (meatballs and sausage slices) for a few months and our golden doodle loves them. The bags said made in the USA. Our pet store ran out of meatballs and sausage slices, so I bought the Milo’s chicken jerky a few days ago. I assumed that the chicken jerky was also a USA product. WRONG! I checked the bag after stumbling upon an article about illness related to chicken jerky. The $15 bag is going back to the store, and Milo’s has lost a customer!
Thank goodness our dog only had a few of them. Incidentally, he did vomit a day after eating them and wasn’t acting like himself. Is a vet visit essential if it seems as though he’s feeling fine now?
It is unfortunate that I have found some comfort here. A week and a half ago I decided to splurge and buy dog treats. We gave our two and a half year old boxer milos chicken jerky treats. We also gave the treats to our four year old shorkie. Within 24 hours the boxer began to vomit. The next 24 hours he was profusely vomiting everything. We took him to the vet and the vet said that he was having kidney failure and we couldn’t figure out why. The next day we had to say goodbye. The vet said it looked exactly like what happens when they come in contact with antifreeze. We could not find anyway he would come in contact with antifreeze. Last night we heard about the warning regarding the jerky treats. Coincidence? I don’t think so. The shorkie is fine which leads me to believe the contaminant affects different dogs and also I will now stick to dog treats made in the USA and I am even more upset that they are continuing to sell this item I say for all you out there who have lost your dogs that I am sorry and I will never shop for china dog treats ever again!
My mother in law gave us an opened bag of Waggin Train Duck Dog Treats that she said made her dog sick. She thought he ate too many of them. We fed several to our Rat Terrier and English Bulldog. A couple days later they got some Canyon Creek Ranch Chicken Stix chicken and rawhide chews for Chrismas. We gave them some of those as well as the duck treats.
Both dogs became legarthic and started having very loose stools. We didn’t think much about treats causing it until today when my son said he had heard that chicken treats from China were causing illness and death in dogs.
We had discontinued the treats a couple of days ago as they were the only thing we had changed in our dogs diet and the dogs were a bit more perky today. They still have loose stools so we will continue to monitor them.
I have no doubt that these treats caused the problems they are having and I pray that there has been no permanent damage to our dogs. I am so greatful that we didn’t feed them more!
The Waggin Train Jerky Tender Duck Dog Treats are lot # G1CA4505A and the Canyon Creek Ranch Chicken Stix are Lot # P1CA4562A.
I hope something can be done to get these treats off the shelves before more dogs suffer and die. I pray ours aren’t among them! Please be aware of these treats dangers and safeguard your pets….pass this information on to all your dog owner friends!
I have a 100 pound female, Shepherd / Ridgeback Mix. I have been giving her as many as 8 Chicken Jerky Treats per day,,,Made in China,,, for over a year. They make excellent training treats. They taste really good. I know. I tasted them myself, just to see. They are super high protein. She gets about three miles of running every day, rain or shine. All she has gotten from eating the Chicken Jerky is BIG. Maybe she isn’t getting sick because she is not the product of inbreeding like most of the AKC dogs are. Stop giving you dog the crap dog food made of mostly corn, and rice. Dogs are, and have been, carnivorous predators for thousand of years. Feed them meat, and lots of it. Would you feed a wolf corn??? A little Chicken Jerky is probably not gonna make many dogs sick. Feeding them corn is gonna make them fat, just like their masters.
Paul, Wow, what an idiot you are! Typical Narcissist~
I have fed the Waggin Train chicken tenders to my dog for years ( 2 a day) because I thought they were made in the U.S. and they were one of the dog treats with the least “weird” ingredients in them… and had never had any problem…
Well, yesterday I gave her a treat from a half empty bag and she started throwing up the treat up after about an hour or so, and then she continued throwing up all night, which had turned into more dry heaves after the treat and the bile was gone…
She had eaten nothing else other than her regular dog food and water that would have caused this condition…
So today I called Waggin Train to see if they had any info… again I thought this was a chicken treat that was made in the U.S. because of the way it says their company is a U.S company on the label makes it seem they are made in the U.S., it was only after talking to the man for a while and giving him information that I realized that also on the bag that it is actually made in China… that changed everything for me…
In the beginning, the man was apologetic that my dog was sick, but he assured me that there were no recalls and that there was not an issue with their product…
After I realized the “made in china” was on the bag, he assured me that their plant over there was safe… and I told him he had no way to know what other things go on in that plant that he is not aware of…
I will not feed her any more of these treats.. and I am praying that she will not have her health permanently affected…
Take this seriously… it is not just what happens in the processing plant, but what happens at the chicken farms, what is fed to the chickens, and other factors that affect the actual treat that are not listed on the ingredients label of the bag…
FDA… please pay attention and do something about this !!!
we lost our darling great-hearted dog, bruna, yesterday & as devasted as we are to no longer have her as a member of our family, it’s a 1000 times worse to suspect that her death was entirely preventable. we had just opened a new bag of canyon ranch creek chicken jerky treats & had no idea that they were potentially lethal. she followed the same sad course that others describe here–a seizure, incontinence, extreme lethargy & unresponsiveness. finally, at the vet’s recommendation, we sat with her as she was put down. the continued sale of this product is an outrage. i filed a complaint with the FDA, & also contacted our local TN station, wsmv, which had a news story about another dog’s death. please let us know how we can help get this horrible item off the shelves.
holly lu conant rees
My 16 year old basenji, Pete, perished recently due to liver disease, kidney failure, and malignant oral carcinoma. He had eaten 2 of the Waggin Train chicken strips (purchased at Costco) daily for at least a year. I will never know if his death and the ingestion of the China made strips is connected, but I wish I’d been aware of the potential danger. I only learned of the FDA warning last week. I won’t be feeding them to any other dog.
Our two small dogs were very sick from eating these dried chicken strips. I didn’t know what was wrong with them but I noticed a pattern. After going to the vet and being on IVs they would get better even after coming home and on a restricted diet. The minute I started giving them the treats again they got sick. My Yorkie almost died. A co-worker’s dog was also dying after many trips to the vet. I asked her if her dog ate these treats and she said since being sick that was all her dog would eat. I showed her what I had found on the internet regarding these chicken strips. They killed her little poodle. Although the treats say “all natural” and from U.S. , in small print you will read they are manufactured in China and packaged in Calif, Fla, etc. I called the stores that were selling these and, for a time, Kroger did take them off their shelves. Petsmart continues to sell them. I joined a class-action lawsuit for which there was a 24 milliion dollar settlement. I received money for all my vet bills and compensation for special food my dogs have to eat for the rest of their lives. Most of the packages do not show the ingredientd but they were using Melamine in the chews. All vets should be made aware of this if your sick dog has eaten these chews. The class action lawsuit was settled last year but on the news last night they reported more dogs have become sick or died from these strips during 2011 then in previous years.
Why has the public not been openly told about this. All vets should have received some type of warning if a dog comes in with these symptoms to ask if they eat these strips. Our pets are family and we are unknowingly “killing them with kindness” feeding them these treats they love.
have started a petition on this painful topic: http://www.change.org/petitions/ban-dog-treats-imported-from-china#
please sign it & pass it on to everyone you know, whether an animal lover or not.
My 3 year old Japanese Chin is addicted to Chicken jerky treats! She eats them all the time! the brand i get is the waggin train and she recently got sick this past thursday and it lasted about a week i am still very worried about her i took away her treats and went and got the Milo’s Kitchen brand and bought her 3 different kinds in that brand but not the chicken jerky of the Milo’s kitchen because that jerky is still made in China so she is now addicted to the Chicken Meatball by Milo’s kitchen! Hope this helps and we can get this all situated with the chicken jerky! Hoping and praying no one loses a pet over this.
353 reports of illnesses (no mention of deaths) on 12/29/11 update from FDA. There must be that many on this site alone (cynicism on my behalf). Very sad that the US Gov’t or others can put the pieces together and realize that there is a common cause that has resulted in TOO MANY DOG’S illnesses and deaths. Sad that nobody is willing to take a stand for our pets. Let’s hope 2012 brings us a medical and governmental community that will stick up for our pets.
My dog has been given Waggin’ Train treats (1 per day) for the last 2 weeks. Today is the first day she started showing abnormal signs in her behavior, lethargy, whining. Something is definitely not right, and I am taking her to the vet! I am infuriated that there are chicken dog treats still on store shelves that are causing this sickness in dogs.
My 6 year old chi-poo had a horrible seizure last night. Was vomiting, urinating as she lay lifeless on the floor. I just held her and rocked her, and kept telling her she’d be okay. She seems fine today. Then my husband says…. Oh, are those chicken jerky treats as I am giving her one today. Then he proceeds to tell me he read something on MSN news about them making dogs sick. I looked at the bag and sure enough, they are made in china. Milo Kitchen brand. I’m terrified. Hoping it doesn’t happen again.
I had a sheltie who died 10/3/11 of kidney disease. I did not know about this issue at all until after her death, and that’s when I saw it can cause kidney disease. I have fed my dogs the Wagon Train treats for years and they loved them. I did not overfeed them, as Wagon Train suspects customers may be doing to sicken their dogs. As soon as I found out about it, I stopped giving them those treats and began making them myself by drying chicken tenderloins in the oven. They love those too. At least now I know they are safe from this issue. I have also started cooking their soft food and stopped buying canned food. The dry food is Purina because Purina foods are made in the USA. I refuse, REFUSE, to allow some company, trying to make a profit from those of us who love our dogs, kill any more of my dogs!! I have had enough of these products being made elsewhere wherein they are not tested or checked regularly. Too much room for error. We should be demanding they stop importing these foods for our pets from other countries!!
my dog woke me up one morning and vomited multiple times. my dog just spent two days at the vet: after blood tests the dr believed it was pancreatitis!!! our dogs have been eating chicken treats for months, we recently purchased a tub with yam sticks wrapped in chicken, apple chips wrapped in chicken and banana chips wrapped in chicken. After reading this article and the comments i think these treats are the cause.
Have been giving my dogs waggin train chicken jerkey for awhile now, but today they both threw up an hour or so after eating them, didnt know about any recall until i saw a post from my local pet food store that dogs were getting sick from chicken treats from china, def going to throw those out
I bought the chicken jerky treats for the first time about 4 months ago for my 11 year old Cocker Spaniel, who is (or was) perfectly healthy. After a few weeks of giving her 2-3 treats a day I noticed she was drinking ALOT of water and urinating in the house, which she NEVER does. My husband googled her symptoms (breathing heavy, drinking alot, urinating alot), and found these symptoms can also be from cushings desease. It got so bad that I took her to the vet and tested for cushings, the Dr said she had it. Out of suspicion of the treats, I stopped giving them to her about 1 week before I took her to the vet, and while waiting for test results she began to get better and eventually all the symptoms went away. In the meantime the vet still says she tested positive for cushings, but she no longer has the symptoms. I’ve opted not to medicate her for cushings, and she’ll NEVER get chicken jerky treats again either. I have no doubt that this is what got her sick. I even asked my vet point blank about these treats and his response was “I’m not even sure what type of treats you’re talking about, but No, I’m sure they aren’t causing these symptoms”. Needless to say, I’m changing vets.
I think the key is moderation. My two dogs (a german shepherd/laborador mix and a purebred standard poodle) have been eating the Waggin Train Chicken Tenders for years, without incident. I give them 2 strips at a time, about once or maybe twice a week. Our cat loves them too, and comes running as fast as possible (it’s funny!) when she hears the bag. My dogs are locked inside the house for long periods of time while we are at work, as well as overnight. If they were affected with excess urination or loose stools, there would be “accidents” from time to time, but there never are. I read here that most people give these treats every day, even one strip per day for a smaller dog is quite a bit more, pound for pound, than my dogs get by getting two strips at a time, once a week. Additionally, my standard poodle has food allergies and cannot have food or treats containing wheat, corn or soy. Therefore, the number of treats available is significantly reduced, making the chicken strips a perfect choice. Personally, I plan to continue giving them to my dogs once or twice a week. However, after reading this, I will be reducing their treats to only one at a time from now on. Good luck, everyone.
Kim, too bad your pets don’t mean more to you than a bag of treats they seem to love. Ignorance is Bliss I guess. Good luck to your dogs!
Frankly when I hear THOUSANDS of people saying the same thing, an FDA investigation = enough for me to realize THESE ARE NOT GOOD FOR DOGS!!!!!
So what you’re saying is that a little poison every day is a good thing? Maybe not good, but certainly not bad. How about applying that logic to yourself and give yourself an itty bit of arsenic every day? Or your child?
I’m gonna make this so simple a caveman can understand it.
1 – Me and four other dog owners I work with fed chicken jerky treats to our dogs and they all got sick with the same symptoms (excess drinking, urinating alot, lethargic)
2 – We all stopped feeding our dogs these treats, all symptoms are gone and all dogs are GOOD
Everyone should file complaints with the FDA, and if you had to pay vet bills or anything else, you might want to contact an attorney about this. If nothing else, you could prevent costco and others from selling the tainted jerky. Usually, class action lawsuits don’t cost anything up front. Check out pswplaw.com if you have questions about class action suits. Hope your dogs are okay.
I have a 8 year old Duck Toller. He is exhibiting exactly the symptoms that are described in all the replies above. Drinking excessive water, involuntarily urinating in the house. I have since stopped giving him any of these treats but he continues to have troubles. I pray to God these problems aren’t permanent. He is far to young to die from some crap made in China. Remember the baby food debacle? I just threw out some canned peaches from China and will never buy any food products from there again.
UPDATE!
My dog’s symptoms have more or less stopped since stopping the treats. However I don’t think we are out of the woods yet. I am still concerned about renal failure. We have more tests to do to determine if there is permanent damage. I think the idea of a class action suit would be a good idea to get the manufacturers and the stores that sell this junk attention. I know I’m going after Costco for my vet bills and if my dog dies I’ll be looking at small claims court.
My Cocker has been having accidents in the house and that is very unusual. She has been eating the Waggin Tail chicken jerky treats. I have thrown them out, but they must be the reason she is having these accidents. I will be taking her to the Vet ASAP
Both of my 13 yr old malamute/huskies (male and female litter mates) became suddenly ill several weeks ago. Both of them have been very healthy and active prior to this. Initially I noticed they were becoming incontinent of urine and diarrhea in the house which has never happened. Then they became very lethargic, stopped eating and my female developed a weird facial tic. When I took them to the vet the females BUN/cr was 140 and 12 and had lost 12 pounds and the male’s kidney function tests were moderately elevated and lost 5 pounds. They received IVF for 2 days… the male’s BUN/cr normalized but the female’s improved only 50%. After 1 wk of home subcutaneous fluids twice a day for the female and Cipro for both the female’s BUN/cr are still 69 and 5.1 and the male’s BUN/cr rose again to 39 and 2.8. I then had to increase her fluids to 1.5 liters per day and his to 1 liter per day and then started on doxycycline. I was desperate to find the cause and thought it might be that they ate something poisonous or it was leptospirosis. My vet kept telling me that it was due to aging… which does NOT happen basically overnight with 2 different healthy dogs… so I began to do extensive research online. Today, imagine my horror when I read about the EXACT SYMPTOMOLOGY caused by chicken treats and realized that just before they began deteriorating I had bought them a bag of chicken jerky tenders. I rushed to the cabinet to find they are indeed WAGGIN TRAIN MADE IN CHINA. O MY GOD!!! How can this not be criminal that they are allowing this product to be purchased by unsuspecting dog owners without at least some kind of WARNING ON THE PRODUCT?! I’ve spent over $4000 so far with another specialist appt tomorrow… lost days of work staying home taking care of them, worrying myself TO DEATH! I am not only going to file an FDA complaint but am going to discuss this with a lawyer. This is not right. I am also going to bring this up to my Pet Insurance company as they are the ones (along with me) who have to pay for all of this CAUSED by a company making a profit off of this product.
My 4 year old pom ate one-half of a chicken tender from Canyon Creek Ranch yesterday. Within a few hours he was wimpering and by midnight was throwing up. He threw up all night and now he is not throwing up but is very lethargic. I never bought this product before and I do notice it is made in China. The chicken treats he had before are made in the US and never made him sick. So those of you who think that people are over-treating their dogs and this is why they are sick, get real. A half a treat to a 12 pound dog should not make him sick unless there is something wrong with the product.
But Fanconi Syndrom is LOW blood sugar. Sugar is spilled into the urine. Urine will show sugar, blood will show low or normal. Right?
Fanconi means that there is sugar in the urine but no increase in blood sugar. Very severe cases can have low blood sugar. With that being said, when I first wrote his article the concern was for Fanconi syndrome but now we realize that many dogs are getting either renal failure or severe gastroenteritis.
My dog got sick after eating chicken strips that came from China (vomiting) – we bought them at CostCo. We stopped giving them to her and she was fine. I bought chicken strips that were made in America – she didn’t get sick when she ate them. We made the mistake of buying the ones at CostCo again and she got sick….No more.
Hi, I just found this website after looking to see what could have caused an allergic reaction-severe hives in my 7 month old 45 lb. pit mix. We had given her 1/2 strip last night and 1/2 strip this morning. About 2 hours after the 1/2 strip this morning she got severe hives all over. Her eyes were swollen shut and her breathing was rapid. I gave her a benadryl and she is now better but I’m sure it was the Waggon Train chicken strip that came in the bag of Purina Come and Get It as a freebie! I can’t believe this, here we go again with dog food from China hurting and killing our pets! My other dog didn’t have a reaction but of course I’m throwing the strips away and telling my friends with pets not to feed them to their dogs. I don’t understand how this keeps happening!
I gave 2 of my 3 small dogs 1 treat of waggin train country style drumettes. Both of them became violently ill, vomiting until only foam came out, then having projectile diarrhea. My 3rd dog got a totally different brand of treat, he is fine. I got the treats from WalMart on Centennial in Las Vegas on Friday January 6th 2012, lot number J1CA5189A. I fed them to the two dogs Saturday January 7th 2012 and by 2 am sunday morning it was an absolute nightmare. I had to split all three dogs up into separate showers (the vomit and diarrhea was so bad I needed to figure out which one had what going on) My yorkie (who was not given a treat was perfect) Both of my other chihuahuas were at different stages, the smaller one was past vomit into diarrhea (he is 4lbs) the bigger one was vomiting, then went into diarrhea. Coincidentally the smaller one was given the treat about an hour earlier than the larger one, the pattern followed exact. I took them to the vet right away in am, the vet said they see a lot of this from this product!!!!! The vet said this injures the kidneys!!! I am so furious that there was no caution sign at WalMart!!!!!!!!!!!! They still have this garbage on the shelves!!!!! Seriously!!! This was a wicked sickness!!
I have been giving these to my dogs for about 8 months. The last bag I bought was Wagon Trail brand and purchased from Wal Mart. All four of my dogs ate them however, not with the usual enthusiasm. All four are sick. They are lethargic and coughing occasionally, have poor appetites and are drinking excessively. The smallest, a chihuahua, is very sick. He is not eating much, is laying around the house and when I took him for a walk he just sat down after a few minutes and I had to carry him home! Later he began to vomit. He seems better since he threw up, but I am watching him closely as well as the other dogs. As they are small dogs, I usually break one strip into four pieces, one for each dog. I only give them 2 of these little pieces a day, which equals 1/2 a strip a day. My dogs used to be healthier so I started to think back to what I have changed since I notice the change in their behavior. This is what prompted me to check out the treats and am I ever shocked! How can they continue to sell these? With all the comments I have read on this site alone it should be enough to pull them from the shelves. I hope I have stopped them in time!
I have fed my 9 year old papillon Waggi n’ Train Jerky Tenders for years. Last Wednesday she became very ill with extreme shaking, not eating or drinking. I waited it out a day; she started drinking like mad later the next day. A friend of mine had told me about hearing of the problems with this treat and that she had stopped feeding them to her boxer. I kind of poo-pooed this as over-reactionary, but now wonder. My dog, Holly, seems ok now and I continued to feed her a few of the treats, but I have just thrown the rest away after reading all this…not worth it! I even think this batch looks a little different…my imagination? Holly walks with me every day, 3-4 miles and has otherwise been very healthy all her life. The UPC # is 07020 77740 and were purchased probably in December 2011 at Sam’s Club. Since they cost about $15, I will take them back for a refund. I will make some homemade ones for her now!!
Within 12 hours of each other, my husband told me about an MSNBC story about the chicken strips from China, and I opened a new bag of “Freshies” dental treats (made by Waggin Train) for my dog and they smelled AWFUL – like ammonia or something!!! I am returning them today, along with anything else that says “Made in China”; then I’m making a report to the FDA and a call to my local TV station.
I am in the same boat, My ‘Pom Duke is Very sick. I purchased a bag of peanut butter treats wrapped in chicken jerky at cost-co. I do not have the bag here at my office to check if it is from China though I suspect it is. He is drinking so much water and of course cannot make outside in time and in some places, his urine puddle is very sticky sugar I guss, he is disoriented, restless, and weak. Duke is a senior already, this is a great burden on him I do not know if he is strong enough to make it, I am Heart Sick. I will check the bag of treats and re-post. Thank you for this post.
My golden retreiver ate Waggin Train chicken and swelled up like a balloon with measle-like red spots all over. Took him to the emergency vet and she said the treats were poisoned. Someone must stop this company from selling these and there’s enough online to cause a class-action lawsuit.
My 4 lb yorkie ate half a piece of a waggin trail jerk treat and immediately had diarrhea. I didnt think to much of it but didnt give him any more of the treat. 2 days later he wouldn’t take any food or water and was physically weak so was hospitalized. He died at the hospital after 2 days. He was only 2 years old. Ive never experienced such pain. This company needs to pay.
I was glad to hear about this and lucky too. this information was on the news today on a local Ohio TV station. they posted a short blip about these treats, and a friend of mine caught it and called to tell me what they saw.
I had purchased the Waggin Train Duck Jerky at Tractor Supply Company. I gave my two labs two jerky treats a day for two days, my dog had bad stool movement for three days. I read the amount label before giving them the treat so I was very careful not to exceed the amount. after the third day I knew the only change in their diet was the Duck Jerky. I did not realize this product had so many concerns and just thought my dogs were sensitive to the product. They should not allow that product on the store selves.
In October 2011 my 10 year old chocolate lab passed away suddenly. I had been feeding her Canyon Creek chicken tenders that I purchased at Petsmart. I had just bought a new bag. On Tues the 18th she vomited. The next morning she would not eat her food. THIS was totally abnormal. Food was her life. So I intended to bring her to the vet the next day. She did not make it. My husband went to check on her at 3am and stayed with her for awhile. He saw blood on the bed and came up to get me. Within 10 minutes she died. She just bled out.
I just could not understand what had happened. I looked up online anything that would make sense. Then I read about the chicken tenders. I filed a report with the FDA but never heard back from them. I kept the bag of tenders just in case. This has been extremely difficult especially since this could be a case of my poisoning my own beloved BFF. Thanks for everyone who is trying to get to the bottom of this. This has to stop.
My 6 year old Beagle just died from kidney failure and according to the autopsy a horribly abnormal pancreas. Both her regular doc and the emergency doc don’t know why. She didn’t have Lepto, which is what they originally treated her for. She was eating Milo’s Kitchen Jerky treats, which I see are made in China. Her death was horrible and for what she went through to try to save her was heartbreaking. On the veterinary website, neither doc could find anything about chicken jerky from China. I will be sending this to them for their future reference.
I feed my dogs Beneful dog food, and we just bought a new bag from Walmart the other day, well, when I opened it up, there’s a “sample” bag of Waggin’ Train chicken treats containing 3 – 4 strips…appox. 2 oz bag. Well, I was about to hand them out to our dogs but decided to do a lil research about them since I caught wind of some tainted dog treats and I thought it was a lil odd that there was a bag of sample treats in there, we’ve been buying this same brand of dog food for years for our dogs and I’ve only ever seen coupons in there…never a good sized amount of dog treats! So, that sent a lil red flag. Looking at the back of the package it says “Product of China” also next to that statement there’s a little circle symbol that reads “treated by irradiation for freshness and health” WTF is irradiation? Well, needless to say, I’m going to be sharing this whole discussion with everyone on my Facebook page, and as many people I possibly can. And these “treats” are going in the trash…I hope the FDA actually does something about all of this madness! My dogs will lot be eating any treats anytime soon! Thank you all for sharing your stories and shedding some light!
Let me get right to the point.
It is a good thing my dog recovered from this goddamned garbage they made in freaking china.
WARNING…
DO NOT PURCHASE OR GIVE YOUR DOG… WAGGIN TRAIN WHOLESOME CHICKEN JERKY TENDERS.
Waggin Train, LLC Anderson,South Carolina 29623
An American owned Company but Its made in China ?
Trusting this Company may kill your pet.
I posted earlier regarding my 13 yr old malamute/husky siblings. The female’s BUN/cr are now 53 and 3.5 and still having to give her over 2 liters of subq fluids daily. She is feeling a little better and gained 4 lbs. The male is still requiring 1 liter daily. After reading further about these chinese products I found out that they had been putting melamine and cyanamide (chemicals used to make PLASTIC!) in dog treats in 2007. The combination of melamine and cyanamide create crystals in the kidneys and are nephrotoxic. After hundreds of ill or dying pets and legal action to make them stop putting it in pet products… in 2008 the chinese actually put this in powdered infant milk to increase the protein content (melamine has nitrogen in it which increases the protein content FRAUDULENTLY by 30% or so). Hundreds of thousands of babies developed acute kidney failure, 7 died… those that survived have sequelae of chronic kidney failure and kidney stones. They are still putting these chemicals in their chicken/cattle feed which may end up in these dog treats. Class action lawsuit against those companies that are aware of this and still selling it and the FDA for not requiring some kind of on-site or on-package warning? Count me in.
I just had to have my dog put down because her kidneys failed as a result of eating the chewmaster chicken jerky treats. I wish I had found out about this earlier, I am absolutely devastated. She was my baby. She used to go through little bouts of not wanting to eat so I didn’t think much of it at first, but she lost so much weight fairly quickly, refused to eat anything aside from people food or wet dog food and that’s when we took her to the vet. I feel so guilty, we were trying to take the healthy route with her treats and it ended up being the death of her.
NOTICE TO WALLGREENS…
TAKE THIS PRODUCT OFF YOUR SHELVES !
When I see it removed I will resume buying from your store.
Its that simple.
I will send Wallgreens a notice also on their website.
I am so mad, upset, sick, etc…….WHY…DEAR GOD WHY were these lethal treats not removed from stores everywhere!!!??? And why has the public not been made aware of this danger???? It goes clear back to 2007 & there’s still no major warnings??? How disgusting and greedy this country has become to allow a known IMPORTED substance that can kill our beloved pets be put on shelves!! Just so the “rich” can become richer…health issues (animal or human) be damned!!! I lost 2 very dear & precious members of my family last year within 3 months of each other (June 29 & Aug.11). There’s no amount of money, nor enough words to justify these selfish, ignorant, greedy S>O>B>’s unexcuseable decision to keep selling this deadly treat!!!
I READ ALOT OF THE RECENT POST ON THIS SITE. I HAD 3 BAGS OF CHICKEN JERKY TREATS, TWO I PURCHASED FROM PET SMART, DON’T REMEMBER THE BRAND AND THE OTHER WAS THE WAGGIN TRAIN TREAT THAT I PURCHASED FROM SAM’S CLUB. I HAD OPENED THE WAGGIN TRAIN TREATS AND STARTED FEEDING THEM TO MY POLICE K-9. THE NEXT DAY HE HAD LOOSE STOOL, THEN HAD IT FLYING OUT AND WAS GOING OUT EVER 20 MINUTES THEN HE WAS THROWING UP. I STARTED WITH THE BLAND DIET AND AFTER SEVERAL DAYS IT STOPPED AND HE WAS FINE AGAIN. I STARTED WITH OUR NORMAL ROUTINE AGAIN, GAVE HIM THE WAGGIN TREATS AGAIN AND GUESS WHAT? HE GOT THE RUNS AGAIN AND THE SAME EXACT THINGS STARTED TO HAPPEN. THAT JUST SHOWS THERES A PROBLEM. THEN I HEARD ABOUT THE CHICKEN JERKY TREATS AND POSSIBLE PROBLEMS COMING OUT OF CHINA. I IMMEDIATELY CHECKED ALL THREE BAGS AND ALL WERE FROM CHINA. I TOOK THE TWO BACK TO PET SMART AND ARGURED WITH THE ASSOCIATE THERE, WHAT A JOKE. NOW I HAVE THE REST FROM WAGGIN TREATS FROM SAM’S THAT I NEED FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO WITH TO GET MY MONEY BACK. SOUNDS LIKE THE REALLY CARE ABOUT OUR PETS AND WORKING DOGS HUH? YEAH RIGHT. IT SOUNDS LIKE FROM WHAT I READ ON ALOT OF THE OTHER POSTS, THAT I SHOULD THANK GOD MY POLICE K-9 IS 120 POUNDS. SORRY TO HEAR FOR EVERYONE THAT LOST ONE OF THEIR FOUR LEGGED LOVED ONES, DEEPEST REGRETS.
I am very upset at learning all this. My two little boys LOVE these treats! Thank god for the loss of my job… I cant afford to give them as many as they want, they have been limited to two halfs a day for a long time! Now… NONE! Its too bad, I just spent $17 on the bag I have now! Its going away and not into them! Pupperonni’s (thier second choice) here we come! Thank god I learned about this… I cant imagine having lost both of them! I am so sorry to hear how many best friends have been lost to a very quiet battle! I will be researching more treat issues before reloading the treat cupboard! Thank you for your posts!
Don’t be so quick to jump on the Pupperoni bandwagon. Have you checked the packaging to see where they are made? Have you checked to see what country the raw ingredients are sourced from? I wouldn’t be surprised to see China come up. The fact of the matter is that cheap treats are cheap for a reason.
On January 1 2012, I had to have my otherwise healthy and active Yorkie euthanized suddenly. I am still trying to save my 6yr old Aussie Shepard who I fed the same treats to. Additionally, even the EXPENSIVE food and treats are made in China and knowing I unintentionally poisoned my own dogs for MONTHS until their bodies gave up trying to remove the toxins, sickens me. I’m considering taking my own life as I cannot deal with the anger at why this stuff is on the shelves while the FDA “aggressively investigates”,( Really? 4 years of investigating and how many more have to die?) In addition to the unbelievable guilt and more anger at why none of the DVM’s in the area are even aware of the problem!!!
Now 17 wk old Great Dane Chia, received Waggin Train Chicken treats from my mother for christmas. My mother gave her one at a time, on random days spaced out across several days (so she did not consume a large amount at once). Chia started having loose stools. I did not connect it to the treats at first because she is a puppy it could have been a number of problems, but looking back it does coincide. Within 24 hours after the last chicken treat Chia had watery stools and had to be rushed to the vet. Her water intake did increase after starting to receive the treats, but once her stoolsbecame watery her water intake decreased to almost none. The vets could see nothing wrong with Chia so she was given probiotics and put on a strict rice and boiled chicken breast diet until she felt better. I cannot say for sure the treats caused or aided any of Chia’s issues, but they do seem a suspicious culprit as all tests at the vet cleared and she only had a few of the treats. I hope this may be helpful.
It’s not only important to ask/demand from manufacturers where their products are made, but from what country of origin are the raw materials sourced? If they are sourcing raw materials from China, those raw materials are just as likely to cause a problem if the final product is made in the U.S.A. I for one do NOT buy anything with any connection to China, that my pets or my family are going to ingest. Just too much risk. Also, if the manufacturer won’t tell me or worse yet says they don’t know, I don’t buy it.
I just found this information and I had to have my 10 year old chihuahua-Pom mix put down August 23 2012. Just prior to that he was drinking water all the time and urinating in the living room and elsewhere. He would get his “Chewmasters” Chicken strips treat after each daily walk around the park.
I now have two new dogs and I have again been serving these treats after walks and at bedtime but I think based on what I have read –it is time to discontinue giving this product to my pets.
Our German shepherd black lab Sebastian went to his final resting place Dec 13 2011, I didn’ t know about the supicions of Waggin Tail Jerky Treats. Every treat he had was Waggin Train and Chicken Jerky was his favorite. Around Oct he started drinking water and urinating alot, but we thought he just wanted to be out more. At the end of Nov He began throwing up everything and losing weight. We took him to the vet and they thoght it was gastriol, In 2 weeks he lost 20 punds, Turned out he had developed uncontrollable diabetes and his kidneys were failing. Couldn’t get the diabetes under control and on Dec 13th we had to make the decision to let him go. Jerky treats were an every day thing for him. He loved them. I feel that I killed my pup He was only 6 years old and should have been with us for a lot longer. Has anyone got a class action suit going. Thye probably used bad chickens to make this stuff and it is killing pets all over the US. I wish I wold have known all this before. I miss my buddy and wish I had him back
My dog recently became accutely ill. She refused to walk, eat, drink or “do her business”. We took her to the vet who believed she must have torn a ligament (she whimpered and yelped when she tried to move) but the pain medication didn’t seem to improve her condition and she didn’t favor any of her legs. The first question the vet technician asked was whether or not she had received any chicken treats made in China. I didn’t know so I went home and checked after the visit and found she had. The brand was Waggin Train and they were the Drumettes and Big Blasts. Her blood tests came back normal but they didn’t do a urinalysis. I can’t prove that this caused her problem but I suspect it did. Hopefully there is no long term damage from the handful of treats she received.
I had been feeding my 5 year old shih tzu Dogswell duck breast strips in the past… and he loves them, However, just recently with the latest bag, he would have diarrhea in the middle of the night in the house about 4 to 6 hours after eating them. This happened several times and I thought it was his water bowl. I cleaned the bowl and he was fine. But the next time I gave him the Dogswell duck strip, about 4 hours later he threw up and deficated in the house. I stopped with the duck. So… I really don’t want to experiment by giving him another duck strip just to totally confirm it.
NO MORE Dogwsell made in China duck strips for my dog.
I emailed the FDA, but they did not respond… I guess I have to fill out the online form.
I can’t believe Petsmart is still selling these! The last week has been full of vet trips and labwork, since my dog’s tests after a UTI show potential signs of early renal insufficiency. I have fed tWagon Train chicken jerky treats to my dogs (75 & 50 lbs each) sporadically over the past few years. This cannot be a coincidence.
I purchased Milo Chicken treats from WalMart a couple of weeks ago. I never bought them before, but they stated they were all natrual so I tried them. Big Mistake. That night both my dogs became very ill. They vomitted all night Thursday and Friday. Finally took them to the Vet and was told about the “treats from China”. Both dogs are fine and were very lucky. I went back to WalMart on Sunday and all those treats are still on the shelf. Never again will I purchase anything from China for my pets.
My 4 year old little chi, has been to the vet for the same renal failure problems, she and my other chi (which has had major stomach problems and when we stopped feeding they have gone away) have been eating chicken treats from china, I have spent over $800.00 to save her life. She is now home, on several medications and doing better. If I had not taken her in when I did she would have died. Her potassium and sodium levels where crazy and all over the place. I want someone to take action and responsiblity for letting this kind stuff be sold in our country. Here I thought I was giving my puppies something healthy as a treat and I did feed the recommended amount as it says on the package DAILY! And now I am so upset that my little one is now affected for the rest of her life.
my 13 year old dog has severely pure black liquid stool along with terrible straining to try and push this out. he vomits everything he tries to eat. he goes out at least 20 times in 24 hrs(all day and thru out the night)…this has been going on for the past 60 hrs. His back legs are becoming exhausted from all the squatting and then straining to push this foulness out-he is starting to cry when he squats and gathers all of his body together for massive pushing/straining. Prior to these past 60 hrs he was an astounding specimen-everyone guesses his age at around 7 or8, his weight was 50-55lbs, his breed is pitbull. His diet has always consisted of all natural foods, his water has always been evian when traveling and Brita filtered water at home…….guess what we started giving him 2 weeks ago (THE ONLY NEW THING IN HIS SURROUNDINGS)?????? CANYON CREEK RANCH NATURAL DUCK TENDERS. We bought this product because it said “an American Owned Company” and all natural, but guess what????????? IN ITTY BITTY PRINT BENEATH THE BARCODE IT SAYS “MADE IN CHINA”. Tearing frantically into the internet this morning looking for others having the same problems-this is the 5th website I have found to acknowledge what i have known was the culprit….kidney failure, liver failure, and death is the most common outcome that has been reported by our fellow pet owners on all 5 websites (over 400 reports). By the way another FACT- CANYON CREEK RANCH WAS FORMERLY KNOWN AS WAGON TRAILS the name change is reportedly because of all the bad press they were getting in 2007 for the exact same poisoning of our beloved pets.
I also want this stopped before more of our four legged best friends suffer terrible consequences as the result of us thinking we are giving them some of the best, healthiest, store bought treats. I have put those treats in a ziplock baggie for evidence to be tested…..i want advice on how to pursue this epidemic and stop it. Whether my best friend lives or dies from this we must know how to stop the rest of our fellow AMERICANS from unknowingly poisoning their dogs….because at this exact moment of typing someone is giving their dog one of these treats. HELP US TO STOP THIS
Hope the info below helps! These bar codes apply to ALL food, and actually anything else in general. It tells you where your product originates from! I haven’t got a dog, but have shared this information with as many people as possible as a LOT of products coming out of China and that area are dubious. If you think that they actually EAT cats and dogs in a lot of these countries, shows you how low they believe animals to be, and that they don’t care for their well being!
(ALWAYS READ THE LABELS ON THE FOODS YOU BUY–NO MATTER WHAT THE FRONT OF THE BOX OR PACKAGE SAYS, TURN IT OVER AND READ THE BACK—CAREFULLY!
With all the food and pet products now coming from China , it is best to make sure you read label at the grocery store and especially Walmart when buying food products.
Many products no longer show where they were made, only give where the distributor is located.
It is important to read the bar code to track it’s origin.
How to read Bar Codes …. interesting!
This may be useful to know when grocery shopping, if it’s a concern to you.
GREAT WAY TO “BUY USA & CANADA ” AND NOT FROM CHINA!!
The whole world is concerned about China-made “black hearted goods”.
Can you differentiate which one is made in Taiwan or China ?
If the first 3 digits of the barcode are 690 691 or 692, the product is MADE IN CHINA.
471 is Made in Taiwan .
This is our right to know, but the government and related departments never educate the
public, therefore we have to RESCUE ourselves.
Nowadays, Chinese businessmen know that consumers do not prefer products “MADE IN CHINA “, so they don’t show from which country it is made.
However, you may now refer to the barcode – remember if the first 3 digits are:
690-692 … then it is MADE IN CHINA
00 – 09 … USA & CANADA
30 – 37 FRANCE
40 – 44 GERMANY
471 …. Taiwan
49 … JAPAN
50 … UK
BUY USA & CANADIAN MADE by watching for “0” at the beginning of the number.
We need every boost we can get! Pass this on to everybody on your E-Mail Contact List!! )
Don’t go by this…They have changed. Products made in China now have an ” 8 ” as the first number.
My co worker bought these at Costo. Fed them to my sweet Australian Shepherd Cody who was 11.5 years young. Two days later was at the vets with coughing, excessive drinking and urination. One month later he unexpectedly had diahrea, vomiting, heavy breathing and exhaustion. One day later he was dead! Doctors said he had a urinary tract infection and were starting the expensive testing for Addisons disease. He died before they started testing and i had them cancel the expenive testing. My vet is dumfounded of how he died so suddenly. I have emailed her with this article for her professional opinion. Waiting for the reply as i did this late last night. If this is what caused my “child’s” death, i will pursue this to the enth degree. This is horrible and what he went through in the end was horrible too!!
UPDATE!!!!
I posted last week regarding this issue. I took it up with Waggin Train (called them at ST. Louis HQ), they are sticking to the story of the FDA baloney. http://www.waggintrainbrand.com/faq.html
They asked if I wanted to submit a claim to recover some VET bills, so they turned me over to Sedgwick Claims Management Service in Texas. Eventually the lady from Sedgwick called me and quoted the FDA article and told me to f*** off basically. My cousin is a news director for CBS and they decided to do a story on this. So far his research has proven that Waggin Train is killing dogs and soon will be on TV. I won’t stop there as his research also found this crap at Target, Kmart, WalMart etc. There needs to be a class action suit here as Waggin Train is now part of Nestle Purina. My guess is that they were hiding this so they could get acquired in September 2011.
It is 1/18/2012 recently I bought some treats for my little Chloe.. miniature pincsher.. which she is 5yrs old.. she went nuts over the treats.. next day.. she is laying around crying in pain.. can’t move without hurting.. something really wrong with her.. taking her to vet.. after reading what I have.. YES… IT WAS WAGGIN TRAIN CHICKEN TREATS.. I hope she will be ok.. This company has not heard the last… something has to be done..
Does anyone think the “radiation” that they use has anything to do with the problems. If you look at a lot of the packages, there is an emblem/symbol that says the product has been radiated.
My poor chow golden mix became violently ill after I gave him the Winn Dixie store brand of these things.. He was close to death for several day’s but $400 and 24hr care saved him and he is his old self again. I thought it was because I bought the store brand and have been feeding them the Waggin train brand again with no ill effects but that ends now! I had no idea these things were made in China. They seemed like such a high quality food how could we go wrong? Damn the Chinese all to hell!
I was looking to see if there is anything on the Freshies (Green Bones) that are also made in China and I came across your web site. Interesting to see this type of “syndrome” but these symptoms of loss of appetite, decreased activity, vomiting, and increased water consumption are also signs of “Pancreatitis”. I HAD been giving my little dog these Wagon Train Chicken treats and I feel that is the cause. The reason I say this is because this was the main dog treat I would give her. My dog pretty much quit eating, was vomiting, and was drinking a lot of water. I waited 2 days to see that she might do better and seemed to be BUT on the 3rd day still vomiting that was it I had to get her into the Vet. I was lucky they were able to give her an injection to re-hydrate her and to settle her stomach down. They drew blood, prescribed some med’s and $250.00 later I was out the door with her. Most that I have seen on “Canine Pancreatitis” their dogs are staying at the vets and being hooked up to IVs. Also like someone said; the dogs treats are manufactured here in the US but the ingredients comes from China. I emailed a company that did not have on the back of their dog treats where they were made (sorry don’t remember the name) and they gave me some song and dance about the quality of their ingredients processed in China etc. etc.. I don’t by it and I will NOT EVER give my dogs any treats from China again. By the way my dog is back to her old self and now I have her on a “low fat” diet because of the Pancreatitis.
Our older dog had all the same symptoms described here plus an itchy rash that caused his hair to fall out and left 2-3 inch bald spots all over his body. Poor thing. So, to comfort him, we fed him more Waggin Train (3 or 4 a day). Yes I know the pkg recommends only 2, but he was so uncomfortable. Well, we ran out, didn’t buy any more for a month or two and suddenly he was all better. A miracle! To celebrate, I bought another bag of waggin treats. Within a week he was miserable. My daughter saw a warning poster and told me about it. We stopped feeding him the treats immediately. Within days he improved and, 2 weeks later, is our old happy dog again. 🙂
Hey, does anyone have any good suggestions for calming treats/supplements for dogs with anxiety? I’ve been feeding my dog the Dogswell Mellow Mutt jerky once a day for about a year and half now with no idea they were made in China. I switched to the Tranquility treats by Blue Buffalo but they do not work for her, she is now anxious and jumpy again. I’m pretty tempted to go back to the Dogswell since we never had problems and they just seem to take care of her anxiety more than anything else we have tried. Any suggestions? We’ve already tried Pet Naturals Calm treats before without success.
I bought a bag of wagon train and a bag of Milos chicken jerky at the Walmart on newmark In Coos Bay Oregon on the 2nd of last month. My husbands 2 year old wolf sable pomeranian became sick a week after begining to eat the jerky up to two days befor we rushed her to the Vet. Dr. Morgas vet (541) 269 5846 treated ChinaDoll for a severe stomach infectiom, throwing up, being unabkle to eat and the worst form of jelly like diarrea. No it was not parvo. It cost me $350.00 and her to be so deathly sicj=k for three and 1/2 weeks. She is just now getting back on her feet but will be weak for some time yet.
ddreanmer7357@yahoo.com
My dog has been eatting the Wagon Train Chicken Jerkey for years and has never had a problem til now. I opened a brand new package and just gave him about a third of one treat and within minutes his neck swelled up to the point he could not breathe and we had to cut off his coller. His glands were also huge. I took him to my local vet the next day and was told he was the 4th dog he has seen in the last couple of days with the same problem, and all of them had eaten the chicken jerkey made by Wagon Train
I have a diabetic lab and I was looking for a wholesome treat for her in addition to her cucumber and broccoli–she really loves a crunchy snack! I found Vitalife chicken strips and celebrated the fact that I didn’t have to make her treats as well as her food. However, after a few months of feeding her one to two a day(as per the suggested feeding on the bag) I have recently upped it to three on occasion as in season veggies are now imported and more expensive. I have begun to notice a dramatic increase in her BG numbers and have been blaming the insulin which has had complaints of inconsistency. Now, after doing some research on irradiation, I have come to suspect the chicken strips as the culprit. Now, others who find it necessary to automatically denounce naysayers may say that there is no proof, but I send the biggest raspberry ever to them. Pure scientific process of elimination does prove that they are harmful to pets. Period. I am throwing out the remainder of the “treats” (no there is a misnomer) and will continue to monitor her blood. I know there will be an improvement and I will keep you informed.
FYI: I checked the vitalife website and they state that their foods are not imported from China but from Thailand…..makes one wonder if irradiation is so harmless, why are they not made here in Canada under our restrictions? Answer:
Check out wikipedia on irradiation–notably the part that details the expense of irradiation. A company cannot afford to throw that kind of money away as it must once it has been PROVEN harmful so the FDA moves very, very slowly to hold these companies responsible. Too much money to be made.
As a toxicologist, I’ve had questions about the Waggin Train chicken strips. Yes, my 3 scotties love them, but I’m suspicious of any product made in China since the country has no equivalent to the FDA in an oversight position. I’ve contacted Waggin’ Train and asked them whether they have analyzed the chicken strips for heavy metals, pesticides, antibiotics, etc. They won’t answer the question and thus will provide no results. Instead, they go to the PR boiler plate, assuring me how safe and nutricious their products are. If they really do have quality control experts in the plants in China, and the production of the chicken strips really is done to USDA standards, then why are they afraid to release a list of ingredients (they certainly are NOT 100% chicken breast and nothin else) and the results from quality control testing? I act as a consultant to US companies doing business in China. Believe me, Chinese food processing is still in the middle ages. The only way to make the point to Waggin Trails is to complain to them at their website and to stop buying their products until they produce some data to support the safety of their product.
As I talked about further up in this blog on January 24, 2012, I decided to heat up the Wagon Train chicken jerky (bought at Costco) in the microwave as my golden retriever had been having ongoing diarrhea from them and I thought this would kill any bacteria that might be making her sick. When I opened the microwave after heating, I was engulfed in what seemed to be ammonia fumes! The fumes were strong enough to burn my eyes and nose. I’m thinking this may be the ingredient/chemical that is making the dogs sick. I urge anyone who has these chicken jerky treats to try this and see if they get the same result.
Just found out through St. Louis News KSDK that Waggin Trails is connected to Purina.
Bill Salzman. Director, Corporate Communications, Nestle Purina PetCare. Location: Greater St. Louis Area; Industry: Public Relations and Communications – See that… WAGGIN TRAIN BRAND = PURINA PETCARE BRAND
http://www.kpax.com/news/manufacturer-of-possibly-deadly-dog-treat-speaks/
My 6 year old Yorkie died from consuming Canyon Creek Ranch Chicken Poppers. He died from acute kidney failure today after being hospitalized for a week.
I called up Canyon Creek Ranch and they told me that in “excess” the FDA has proven that the treats can be harmful. The package says no more than 6 per day for small dogs, mine had 1 per day and not every single day. He was given the treats for about a week, if that. Canyon Creek also told me that I must have substituted the treats for his normal dog food, which is not the case. They also asked me if I would feed my child donuts all day long, insinuating that I was feeding these treats to my Yorkie in excess.
At the same time my Yorkie got sick, my 10 year old Labrador had excessive diarrhea, which lasted for a week. He finally got over it a few days ago.
My Yorkie had all of the symptoms pointed out in this article. Decreased appetite, activity, diarrhea and he couldn’t hold his food down, which is why he was taken to the doctor initially.
The treats were purchased from PetSmart at 350 Walt Whitman Road, store #1332. They can not pull the products from the store until they are told to do so from corporate. In other words, they will sell you these treats with a smile on their face, knowing good well that your animal has a very good chance of becoming ill.
Be warned and don’t buy this garbage. It’s really a shame that Canyon Creek Ranch acknowledges their product(s) can cause harm and death but don’t do anything about it and continue to sell it.
What’s even more disturbing is that PetSmart is aware of the FDA advisory but has not pulled the product(s). Advisory or not, why take a chance? I guess it’s all about profit.
On January 5th, my 6 month old Corgi/Chihuahua got extremely ill with vomiting and diarrhea. She was at the vet’s for 2 days on i.v. fluids and antibiotics. At the same time my two labs had diarrhea. They all ate Waggin Train PBJ treats which are a peanut biscuit wrapped with Chicken Jerky. (lot No 62NC1005A, expiry 031913). I spoke with Waggin Train and they suggested I had over-fed my dogs and that`s why they got sick. I did NOT over-feed. They didn`t even get the treats every day, and only a little over a week after I started giving the treats is when they all got sick. Costco (where I bought the treats) as well said I must have over-fed. When will these companies take their fricken heads out of the sand and acknowledge that they have a problem! And does anyone know where in Canada we can send the treats to be tested?
I read this article and got disturbed as I fed my two chi’s the dry Publix brand chicken jerky treats.
After I learned that so many of these treats are made in China(which has bird flu, no regulation and products that are sub par) I went to Publix and read each brand of treats they sold including the Publix brand. They are all made in China. PublixWHY, you can’t afford to do business with a company in the USA? Please beware of both your food and your animals.
I am in Canada and have been feeding my dog Canyon brand Costco dried Chicken treats for a few months with no obvious ill effects. A week ago I went to Costco to buy some more but they did not have the same brand but some other brand so I purchased 3 bags. Fed this new brand to my dog for 3 days ( 2-3 a day) but then noticed a total change in his behaviour. He became lethargic and anti-social with other dogs. He even became aggressive with dogs who had been his best friends. All the owners of the other dogs noticed the change in behaviour. Only thing that had changed in his diet was these new dried chicken treats. Immediately stopped feeding the new treats and 2 days later he appears to be back to normal. He started running and playing again with his friends. Coincidence?? I don’t think so. Returned all three bags to Costco.
Something in these treats affected his brain. It was almost like he was on a drug like LSD imagining unreal things when he saw other dogs.
Unfortunately I did not note the product name or batch number but after this experience I am not buying any made in China treats for my dog.
I live in New York.My dog started drinking constantly and had accidents .I suspected diabetes but the vet diagnosed Franconi’s Syndrom. The chicken treats were Tasty Strips from China. This was a few years ago. She will be on medication forever and her life has been shortened. True this is not a job for CSI, but you would think that somewhere , someone would figure out what it is that is causing this. At the time there were only 5 other complaints in the country.
I have been giving my dogs waggin trail chicken tenders from Sam’s Club for their whole lives. Romeo is 4 years old and Tofu is 3.5 years old. They get 1 treat each per day. They have always drank a lot of water and I would always clean up 3-4 accidents per day even though I take them out. We heard about the Waggin Trail article from a friend about 3 weeks ago and stopped giving it to them. For the past 2 weeks, I hardly clean up any accidents. I just threw a full bag of Waggin Trail Chicken Tenders away and will be buying fresh chicken breasts and baking them for my babies. I am hoping that there haven’t been permanent damage and my pups are going to be healthy and happy. Thanks to all who have brought this matter to the media, FDA, and all consumers of products from China.
i was freaked out bad when i seen articles about these chicken snacks killing and serverly inguring dogs! i have been buying and feeding them to my 40lbs border collie/ australian sheperd mix for almost 3 years now! So you could imagine how suddenly hearing about it, i paniced that long term damage had been done to my baby! i read articles where peoples best have died, the horror stories kept piling up! however… i noticed a patern… we do not have a lot of money, but my super treat picky pup will ONLY eat chicken jerky treats (or real chicken. no exceptions.)! you could give him a 32 oz. T-bone steak, and he would look at you like you were crazy. lol. but any way, since we don’t have a lot of money, an the treats are quite costly (about $18 a bag around here), we take the treats and cut them in half. we have NEVER given him more than a full treat in one day (even though the bag says he can have up to THREE a day for his weight)! and some days he did not get treats. (we normally saved them for when he does good, like not hopping up on the couch when we leave him home alone) and to this day, he has NEVER had any symptoms of illness (and yes, he has regular vet check ups every 3 months). And while i was reading the horror stories (the ones that did go into detail on how many treats and what brands they were using) i noticed the dogs seemed to consume the max amount or over. so i thought my husband, who is an avid beef jerky eater, would get sick and dehydrated if he ate to much. why? the meat is dehydrated, so when i comes in contact with moisture, it just sucks it all up! my husband would have kidney problems a lot back before the doctor told him to slow down. so my thought is, why couldnt that be the same thing happening to the doggies?! i went to my vet and asked her about the jerky treats and she told me the same thing! it’s people giving thier babies too much! i mean, if the FDA can’t find any chemicals or contaminats in the treats, what else could it be? however, if that is the case, they most certainly should put a warning on the label “don’t over feed your pet!” or change the recommended serving sizes. i’m very sorry to all of you who have lost your loved ones to anything associated with these jerky treats, and my heart goes out to you. really. but i will continue to feed my sweetie his ‘wagon train’. (in moderate consideration, of course)
What is wrong with you, Dina? Plenty of people have said they fed way less than the recommended amount. Some dogs received only one treat before becoming sick. And even if it takes feeding a lot to kill a dog, what makes you think a little is fine? Kind of like a little rat poison might not kill a dog but a lot will. That doesn’t mean you keep feeding a little poison. You have been warned and your dog cannot count on you to keep him safe.
It is still going on. My 4 year old papillon was given a chicken Dogswell Happy Hip treat last night that we bought at Harris Teeter in huntersville, NC. Soon after he ate the treat he started biting himself and whining. He could not move without hurting. We ended up having to hold and rock him for servral hours untill he would calm down.
I have a 3 1/2 year old chawawa and have gave him the Waggin Train Chicken Jerky Tenders for a least 3 years now with no side effects. My dog loves them as treats. Even though I haven’t had a bad expenence with this product, should I quit giving my dog these treats?
My dog was a 6-year old Bichon Frise in good health. But suddenly in the morning of December 24, 2011 my dog couldn’t get out of his bed, couldn’t stand still to pee, couldn’t bark. He was rushed to the vet immediately.
It turned out that the dog had high fever and almost no white blood cells. He lost interest in food and stopped eating completely (for 11 days). He was lethargic. He stared blankly with no focus in this eyes. He was hospitalized, on antibiotics and fluids. His response to the treatment, however, was erratic. For one moment, everything seemed to move in the right direction, but just when I got my hope high, the whole thing would crumble. After three different vet hospitals (the dog was eventually transferred to a specialty hospital after the second hospital gave up on him), 11 days of tests and treatments, and $8,500 in vet bills, it was determined that his bone marrow showed a shift caused by toxin. It was unclear what the toxin was. But the toxin damaged his bone marrow’s ability to produce healthy blood cells. The dog is now home, recovering from his near-death experience.
I have discussed with all the vets that I came in contact with during this terrible saga. Again and again, the vets ruled out everything in our environment that could possibly cause him such trouble. Eventually we reached the conclusion that the Waggin’ Train chicken jerky treat we gave him that day (bought at Costco) was the prime suspect. The dog ate 2 pieces that day, as the recommended amount. However, the vets did not feel definitive about our conclusion because my dog’s symptoms were very different from the symptoms of other dogs that fell ill. My dog had persistent high fever (105 degree for almost the entire 11 days), and almost completely lost his immune system (white blood cells neutrophil were wiped out). However, he had no diarrhea and no significant problem with any major organs.
I am writing here to ask if any of you have experienced such symptoms in your pets. I hope to be able to rule the chicken jerky in or out so that I can eventually pinpoint the cause and avoid the same mistake in the future for my pet, and for all other pets out there.
Lin, I wouldn’t take any chances on giving your dog the Chinese treats. I have been giving them to my 2 toy poodles and I think my elder one has experienced seizures and the younger one started refusing her treats, had 1 last week and the next morn I saw blood in her stool. She went straight to the vet and they don’t know why this happened, her blood tests were good. We need to scream at the top of our lungs and demand our retailers take these products off the shelves!!! I don’t think I could forgive myself if my dog died because of a bad treat that I gave them! We need to get after the gov ‘t for allowing this to happen in the US.
Lin, i sincerly hope that your dog is recovering. Your story sounds all to familiar. Digger was a Rat Terrier. We got him as a pup on May 24, 2006. November of 2010, he went to the deer camp with us, like always,when we got home, about 4 days later he just wasn’t himself, he had diareha (never had an accident, even as a pup). Had problems walking, no interest in food. Blank stare, lethargic, etc.. We took him to the vet, he thought it was possibly caused by rat piosin, (we didn’t know how or where) but went with it. Digger was given Steroids, and something else to ease his vommiting. We took him home, with the agreement to return the following day to have his blood levels checked )again). This went on for a while . he seemd to recover slightly only to dive again. After doctoring for about a week, He was hospitalized for and emergency blood transfusion, and sent home a day with meds (I can’t remember what all they were, -something to help elevate his red count, something for nausea..) He seemed better for about 2 days , and so it went. On and on The Vet couldn’t figure it out. Digger was getting more and more lethargic, and eating less and less. At Christmas, the grandkids were told to stay away from him because he was so ill. We finally made the desicion to put him down on Jan 5. The night before he just layed on the couch (my husband put him there) , just a blank lost look in his eyes. A lot of the family came to see him. I went to bed at 10, at this point his breathing was extremely labored and he didn’t move at all. When I woke at 3:00 to check on him – he was gone. Digger was a part of our family, His favorite treat was Waggin Train chicken strips (from SAMS). He was given 1 of these in the morning, and one of these in the evening. At the end he ate nothing, drank nothing and did nothing. The $4000 in vet bills isn’t the issue here, We couldn’t watch him suffer any longer. After reading some of these posts – I think that perhaps the treats were what caused this “issue” all along. My sympathy to all of you out there dealing with this issue. Something needs to be done. To most of us ou pets are family too.
Might I suggest that EVERYONE cut out the UPC code from the back of the package, and send it along with a copy of the receipt to Canyon Creek Ranch (address on their website)? The only way for this company to realize the importance of changing their product is by sustaining a substantial financial loss. My wife and I just mailed ours out today, after just spending $20 on two bags of jerky (that Petsmart has not pulled by the way)!
You may not want anything to do with this company, but I would humbly suggest that this is an even better way to stick it to them.
The pet store was out of my usual chicken treats so I bought my Pomeranian a different brand, namely Canyon Creek. My Pom ate a half of one of the Canyon Creek chicken treats and started throwing up all through the night. He had several x-rays the next day and I was at a loss to understand what was wrong with him as nothing in his schedule was different except giving him the Canyon Creek chicken treat. Later the next day a friend called and told me she heard on the news about the problem with the China chicken products so it appears that it isn’t just one company but several companies from all these comments here. I thank God I only gave my pom a small part of that treat instead of the whole treat. I feel that is the only reason he survived. My pom was lethargic for several days after this incident and just sat in the yard and stared into space, but he eventually fully recovered. I took the $25 bag of treats back to the pet store and got my money back. I only buy American-made products now, but I am concerned that the pet stores KNEW about this problem with the China chicken and didn’t take it off the shelf. I was at the store yesterday and ALL the China chicken treats are still on the shelf. This is disturbing!!
THERE IS A SUPER SIMPLE SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM, PUT A STOP TO IMPORTING ANY AND ALL FOOD PRODUCTS FROM CHINA!!! JUST LOOK AT THEIR SAFETY RECORD WHEN IT COMES TO CHINA IMPORTS, CONTAMINATED PET FOODS, LEAD PAINT ON CHILDREN’S TOYS, ETC. IN MY OPINION, THEIR SAFETY RECORD IS LEFT TO BE DESIRED. IF IT SAYS MADE IN CHINA IT’S GUARANTEED JUNK!!!
2-4-12
hello, just had to take or 7 yr old min pin to the vet, kidney failure… she has been eating milos ‘home style’ checken jerky for about a year, we just heard about the problems with this treat,, down with chinese china products
wyomingjosh
Our 6 Month old German Shepard died suddenly one day, it wasn’t till I heard about the Jerkey that I realized he had all the symptoms. I got the treats in a bag of his dog food and thought why not? He has all the signs of kidney failure. He would drinks large amount of water and would always have to go the bathroom. He would honestly stand there for 5 mins going. We just thought it was from all the water he was drinking, and he was a puppy so we thought nothing of it. We came home from work one day to find him dead in his pen. A healthy 6 month old puppy does not just die. Its really sad that they can not figure out what is wrong, and get those treats off the shelves!!
I bought my dog Minnie (a very healthy 12-year old Peke-a-pom rescue mix) a bag of Dogswell Vitality chicken treats last Saturday. Yesterday she had a horrible seizure and then started doing the most awful spinning, flipping thing I’ve ever seen. Then she started vomiting uncontrollably. We took her to the vet after she had been vomiting every 10 minutes for an hour. No more stomach bile – just foam. She couldn’t stand up without falling down. The vet says she has a “head tilt” which indicates some kind of imbalance of fluid in the inner ear. (Um, okay.) She spent the night at the ER vet and is an on IV for dehydration. I guess her blood panels came back “basically normal” 0r so I was told with just some slightly elevated glucose and potassium levels that the vet attributes to dehydration. The vomiting has stopped. They haven’t put her on solid foods yet and she is unsteady on her feet. I’m praying I will be able to bring her home tomorrow. The vet says there is no way that her symptoms are related to chicken jerky but the timing just seems a little too suspicious to me.
Dawn, it sounds like Minnie could have something called geriatric vestibular syndrome. Hopefully this is the case as most dogs recover from this completely!
Over the past few months our dog began having problems with loose stool and times of weakness (unable to climb stairs etc). She has now developed fluid build up in a gland under her jaw. Vet asked if we were giving her chicken jerky treats…..we were…..he suggested we stop immediately. Just prayin no major damage has resulted. If it were humans we are talking about….the stuff would have been off the market long ago. Sadly just seems our gov’t continues to dissapoint us and our loving pets.
I reward my 2 toy poodles regularly with chicken jerky treats. I must spend $25 a week on these, their favorites and I noticed the younger, smaller one starting to loose interest. Last week she had blood in her stool. I immediately took her to the vet to be checked, along with the bloody stool. Her blood testing was good. I only discovered the poison jerky story today and checked the packaging of these treats, they were all made in China!!!! From what I’ve read she will need a urine test to rule out Franconi disease, who is going to pay for these tests??? and reimburse me for my expense of buying these bad treats??? Thank goodness, my dog appears ok, and thank goodness for people passing these stories on, I never would have known and would have continued giving them these bad treats!!! I did call Walmart and asked them to remove them from their shelves. Let’s shout out to all the retailers carrying these products from China!!!! and protect our loved pets and best friends!!!
Blackie’s Story -Our beloved dog, Dec,4 2004- Jan 10,2012
I know I can’t bring her back but if I can save another best friend who is a member of the family then this is what I need to do. On Thursday Jan 5th, Blackie was shivering. On Friday Jan 6th she continued to shiver and I watched over her and decided she needed to go to the vet. At the vet she was reported to have a slight fever and was diagnosed with a skin infection. At that time she was given a steroid shot to relieve her itching and sent home with Trifexis, a pill to prevent heartworms and fleas. She was tested negative for heartworms prior to the pill. She was also perscribed Cephalexin and Benadryl every 8 to 12 hours as needed(50 mg). On Friday evening we gave her her Trifexis, went to a friends and came home to learn she had thrown up, a possible side effect to the pill. Saturday morning I did some errands getting my baby girl her antibiotics, benadryl, and a treat (Waggin’ Train Jerky Tenders Dog Treats Chicken from our Walgreens). When I came home she got her antibiotic pill wrapped up in a piece of meat, 50mg of Benadryl, and a favorite treat, one chicken strip. At night I repeated the antibiotic wrapped in meat and 1 chicken strip. Saturday evening she seemed she was drinking a lot and in return had to go out a lot throughout the night. Sunday she seemed lethargic, some vomiting, and I figured we don’t feel well that quick with antibiotics so I thought it will take some time for our baby to feel better. Sunday morning and evening she was given her antibiotic and 1 chicken strip. 5am Monday morning, I awoke to her struggling to get up on her hind legs. My husband helped her up and held her back legs for several minutes until she was able to walk outside. She was having trouble walking as if her hind legs were paralized. She continued to drink a lot and also vomit a lot. Called the vet and carried her back in. She was weighed again, lost a few pounds. And she also vomited in the truck and and again inside the exam room. The vet decided she was having a reaction to the antibiotics and discontinued use. Blackie had labwork consisting of IDEXX Catalyst Chem 17 CLIP and CBC(complete blood count). She was given an Injection IM/SQ to relieve the vomiting symptoms and also Fluids Subcutaneous. And she was sent home with Cerenia 60mg a four pack to be started Tuesday to control the vomiting. And a new prescription for Ciprofloxacin 500 mg to be started in a few days. She rested on the way home and when we got there my husband lifted her out of the truck and she laid down to rest. We were able to get her to come into the house after ten minutes of resting and she walked about 25 feet to rest again. She laid there for hours no intention on getting up. I brought her a bowl of water and a 1/4 cup of chicken and rice which she did eat. All along wanted nothing to do with her regular food. She basically stayed there all day. After coming home from picking up my son from school, she used what little energy she had to get up on the kitchen bench (she loved getting up there when we were away) and when she heard us coming she tried to jump down (as she always did) but didn’t go as graceful as normal. I assume her legs were “paralyzed” and she basically flopped down. It broke my heart to see her fall. The rest of Monday was observing her and she continued to vomit, increased thirst, and increased urination. Monday evening before bed I checked on her laying next to my son playing on the computer and called her name and she looked around as if she couldn’t see. I kissed her goodnight and went to my bed. At 10:00 my son walked her to her bed. throughout the night I could hear her lips smacking and knew she would go back to the vet Tuesday morning. Well, at 2:30 am Tuesday morning she managed to crawl to my side of the bed about 2 feet from her bed and I pet her head with my foot, she let out an awful “cry” and dropped over and died. Our initial thoughts were the Trifexis pill but here lately our speculations are the Waggin’ Train Jerky Tenders Dog Treats Chicken. There is no recall on these yet but a warning that dogs are getting sick and some are dying. I am not accusing the company just a speculation. If you give your dog these treats check the internet for these articles and watch your animals on these symptoms. My area is having a story on the jekey strips on ABC Action news tonigh, the 10 or 11:00 hour. These strips are from China and are not limited to Waggin’ Train. I sit here again in tears hoping this may save another best friend. Whether the Trifexis, chicken strips or something else that took her life way to soon as being the cause I wanted to tell our baby girl’s, Blackie, story.