Purina has been scorned on social media by pet owners who claim the company's food has made them sick or even killed their furry friends. The company claims it has been dismissed as a “rumour.”
The St. Louis-based pet products company has come under fire since some of its more than 73,000 public Facebook members called out: “Saving one pet at a time” According to Purina's website, people posted reports of their dogs experiencing seizures, vomiting, and diarrhea after eating Purina's Pro Plan series. Pro Plan offers a broader range of “performance” formulas that are more breed-specific.
As of January 15, the Facebook group reportedly received nearly 200 case reports of sick animals (151 dogs, 46 cats) and 51 deaths.
One pet owner, Christina Steele Hunt, blamed Purina after the unexpected death of her 3-year-old dog Bob.
“He stopped eating and started vomiting. He quickly became ill, his spleen was severely enlarged and his kidneys were shutting down,” Steele-Hunt wrote on the Facebook group.
The veterinarian “said he must have been poisoned,” adding, “Bob's diet was Purina Pro Plan beef and rice. We are speechless right now and need answers.”
A Purina spokesperson pushed back on social media backlash against the company.
“There is absolutely no data to suggest there is a pattern of problems” with Purina products, Laurie Westhoff, a spokeswoman for the Nestlé-owned company, told the Post.
Westhoff said, “While consumers are posting stories in this Facebook group, we are not directly inundated with complaints. When we receive a complaint, we take it seriously and investigate it. The fact that our team has not received any complaints speaks volumes.”
“Purina has a comprehensive quality and safety program in place designed to detect potential problems long before a product reaches a pet owner,” Westhoff told the Post. he said.
“Across our factory network, we carry out more than 100,000 quality checks every day, from incoming testing of raw materials, throughout the manufacturing process, to the final product,” she added, adding that this information will be available soon. Purina said in an updated statement posted on its website.
“We have been in contact with the FDA and they are aware of this rumor,” Westhoff said.
The newspaper reached out to the FDA for comment.
Late last year, popular TikTok user Rachel Fusaro (according to her bio, she boasts more than 276,000 followers on the app, where she shares “dog advice”) posted a video that said, “I have over 40 pets. “People are reported to be sick or getting worse,” he wrote, adding to the warnings against Purina. After eating Purina. ”
“I have not confirmed whether there is a problem with Purina,” she said in at least one of the three. TikTok videos She posted on the topic, garnering more than 2 million total views as of Monday.
Fasulo added that she would “personally stop” using Purina products, even though the Food and Drug Administration has not announced a recall.
TikTokers pointed to anecdotes posted to the Facebook group Saving Pets One Pet @ A Time, including one in December in which a user claiming to be a veterinarian wrote: Patients consult the clinic with nonspecific symptoms such as lethargy, eye irritation/discharge, and loss of appetite, among others. ”
Veterinarian Barbara Mayhew Fox continued to warn pet owners about certain foods, including many Purina Pro Plans and its “Prescription Pro Plans.”
“Keep in mind that as Big Pet Food continues to grow, they seek the cheapest ingredients and fastest production methods to maintain profit levels. They don't care about your pet's health. They want to make $$ off of your furry children at any cost,” Mayhew Fox declared.
Concerned pet owners are encouraging a boycott of Purina Foods, but Westhoff said, “We understand that this is a rumor, as there is no data to suggest there is a pattern of problems with any particular product. “There is,” he claimed.
“As a company that feeds more than 100 million dogs and cats each year, we never take risks when it comes to the health of our pets,” Westhoff added in a statement to the Post.
According to an independent product testing laboratory consumer reportthe FDA said it is “aware of reports of illness in pets and is evaluating those reports.”
“In at least one instance, Purina offered to cover a pet owner's veterinary costs,” Consumer Reports said, adding that in its “Saving Pets One Pet @ A shared a post from the “Time” group. Purina Foods.
“Last week, Purina asked me for all the information about Trinity, the vet, and a copy of my vet bill. …They said they would send me a check to cover the vet treatment and food coupons. ” wrote the pet's owner, who identified herself as Becky James on Facebook. “They never said there was a problem with that particular food, but they were very kind and offered any help they could. They also made sure that any future veterinary bills regarding Trinity They also said I could submit it and they would cover it.”
Last March, Purina announced a recall of Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diet's EL Elemental formula dry dog food after the FDA said it caused “a possible increase in vitamin D levels.” The company blamed the defective products on “an error by the food supplier.”
