Recalled Pet Food Contains Melamine

Shannon Weidemann

Contributor

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The FDA has completed their own testing of the wheat gluten used to make the recalled pet food and found melamine in it. Melamine is used to make plastic kitchenware. It is also used as a fertilizer in Asia. Earlier this week the New York State Department of Agriculture announced it found rat poison in the recalled food. The FDA testing did not find rat poison.

The melamine finding comes a week after scientists at the New York State Food Laboratory identified a rat poison and cancer drug called aminopterin as the likely culprit in the pet food. The FDA said it could not confirm that finding.

Yet New York remained confident in its aminopterin finding, said Patrick Hooker, commissioner of the New York state Department of Agriculture and Markets. Hooker added that neither aminopterin nor melamine should be in pet food, but that it was unclear why the latter substance would be poisonous to the cats in which it was found.

"While we have no doubt that melamine is present in the recalled pet food, there is not enough known data on the mammalian toxicity levels of melamine to conclude it could cause illness and deaths in cats. With little existing data, many questions still remain as to the connection between the illnesses and what has caused them," Hooker said.

The recall covered over 90 brands of canned and foil pouch wet food for dogs and cats. It included store brands as well as well known brands Iams, Eukanuba and Iams. It has been causing kidney failure in both cats and dogs at an alarming rate. Veterinarians around the country are dealing with countless phone calls from concerned pet owners.