Dog owners should check pet food cans

Several varieties of canned dog food withdrawn after drug found

If you feed your dog Gravy Train, Kibble ‘N Bits, Skippy or Ol’ Roy dog food, go check your labels.

According to the Associated Press, parent company J.M. Smucker is removing some varieties of dog food from the shelves amid concerns the food could be tainted with trace amounts of a drug used to euthanize animals.

Smucker is investigating how the drug, pentobarbital, got into its supply chain, the AP reports, but notes that low amounts of the drug do not pose a threat to pets. The recall involves specific varieties of canned wet dog food, J.M. Smucker reports, which can be identified through the UPC item code on the can.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “Pentobarbital is a barbiturate drug that is most commonly used in animals as a sedative, anesthetic, or for euthanasia.”

“Pets that eat pet food containing pentobarbital can experience drowsiness, dizziness, excitement, loss of balance, nausea, nystagmus (eyes moving back and forth in a jerky manner) and inability to stand. Consuming high levels of pentobarbital can cause coma and death.”

For any pet owner, that is a scary scenario.

The good news is, the FDA reports, pentobarbital present in the withdrawn products is at a low level unlikely to pose a health risk to pets.

“However, any detection of pentobarbital in pet food is a violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act — simply put, pentobarbital should not be in pet food,” the FDA says. So what should pet owners do? Check your labels against the list found at http://www.jmsmucker.com/ company-news/brand-news-releases-article/2333046. If you have one of the impacted lots of food, don’t feed it to your pets. Instead, call the J.M. Smucker company at 1-800-828-9980 for information on refunds or returns.

For pet owners, news such as this is never positive. However, J.M. Smucker is taking the right action by withdrawing the impacted food from stores, as well as letting consumers know about the problem.

If you purchase these brands for your pup, take a few moments, research your dog food, and make sure your cans are safe for your dog.

Unsigned editorials represent the viewpoint of this newspaper rather than an individual. Columns and letters to the editor represent the viewpoints of the persons writing them and do not necessarily represent the views of the Yuma Sun.