January 9, 2006
After Recall of Food, Veterinarians at Cornell University Rush to Save
Poisoned Dogs
By MICHELLE YORK
ITHACA, N.Y., Jan. 7 - On Friday morning, when their 4-year-old golden
retriever, Minnie, was near death, Robert and Janice Lugo called in sick to
their jobs, carried Minnie to their car and drove her to a top animal
hospital four hours away.
They were in such a rush that Mr. Lugo left his winter coat back at their
home in Catskill, N.Y. But he took his credit cards, which he figured he
would need to pay for what could be thousands of dollars in veterinary
bills.
It is the Lugos' last effort to save Minnie from liver disease brought on,
veterinarians said, by pet food contaminated with a stealthy toxin. "She
trusted us, and we fed her poison," Mrs. Lugo said, crying.
On Dec. 20, Diamond Pet Food, a Missouri company that sells its products
internationally, voluntarily recalled 800,000 bags of pet food under several
labels after an investigation. Based on lab tests, company officials believe
that 1 to 3 percent of those bags contain dangerous amounts of aflatoxin, a
poisonous byproduct of a fungus that grows on corn and other crops. When
ingested in high amounts, aflatoxin causes potentially fatal liver disease.
The recall included both cat and dog food, though dogs seem to be more
susceptible.
"I'm hoping and praying that we got those bags back," said Mark Brinkmann,
the company's chief operating officer.
But veterinarians at Cornell University Hospital for Animals, which has
become a Northeast hub for dogs believed to be poisoned by the food,
including Minnie, are worried. In the three weeks since the recall,
veterinarians at the hospital in Ithaca have increased their estimate of dog
fatalities so far to 100 nationwide from a handful.
Some pet owners may not have heard of the recall because it was announced
just before the holidays. And aflatoxin poisoning does not always take
effect quickly and can be mistaken for less serious illnesses, so Cornell
has adapted a human protein test to quickly detect the toxin. Veterinarians
fear the number of fatalities could grow to several hundred in the coming
months.
"I've never in my life seen anything like this," said Dr. Sharon Center, a
professor of veterinary medicine at Cornell.
The chain of events that led to the poisoning began with a drought in the
South that left cornfields vulnerable to Aspergillus flavus, a colorless,
odorless fungus that spawns aflatoxin. The contaminated corn came from one
of Diamond's main suppliers in Hilton Head, S.C., Mr. Brinkmann said, adding
that Diamond tests for aflatoxin, and an average of one truckload of corn
has been rejected nearly every week because it tested positive for the
toxin.
But the industry's testing methods are not foolproof, experts said. The
fungus does not grow throughout the crop, so it may exist in some parts of
the truckload and not others.
On Oct. 11, a contaminated truckload slipped through, Mr. Brinkmann said.
The pet food was processed at a plant in Gaston, S.C., sent to a distributor
in Buffalo, and then put on store shelves east of Ohio.
Nearly two months later, several young Labradors at Kresland Kennel, near
Rochester, began showing signs of liver failure, which include fatigue,
vomiting and internal bleeding. Within about a week, three had died. "I had
no idea why," said Susan Patrick, a breeder for 35 years.
Ms. Patrick's veterinarian, Dr. Stuart Gluckman, suggested post-mortem
testing by Cornell's pathologists. In the meantime, an associate at his
practice, Dr. Sara Sanders, was investigating the illness of two golden
retrievers, one of whom later died. The veterinarians realized that both
groups of dogs were being fed Diamond products.
They alerted the state veterinary diagnostic center at Cornell, which tested
the food and found aflatoxin.
Ms. Patrick has lost 7 of her 25 dogs and all of the others are still sick.
"They were dying in my lap," she said.
Once the problem was realized, Cornell experts prepared for the onslaught of
cases. Many cut short holiday plans and are still working long shifts trying
to figure out how to stave off death in the dogs.
There is no antidote. If a human contracted aflatoxin poisoning, which
sometimes occurs in Third World countries, that person would need a liver
transplant. Dr. Center is giving the dogs a series of drugs to sustain them
until their livers can regain some function.
Still, the fatality rate at Cornell is about 70 percent. The dogs that
survive could face lifelong liver complications and a greatly increased risk
of liver cancer.
Dr. Center is fielding calls from concerned veterinarians from the East
Coast, and she fears that many other pets have died at their local animal
hospital or at home without the disease's being diagnosed. The hardest
calls, she said, are from older pet owners. "They're anguished," she said.
In some cases, it is the owners, not the medicine, who bring comfort to the
dogs.
Jane-Marie Law crawled into the large cage that held her standard poodle,
Tavi, to comfort her during her more difficult moments. After three weeks
and nearly $7,500 in bills, Tavi is recovering. Now Ms. Law is helping the
Lugo family. After meeting them on Friday at Cornell, Ms. Law took in Robert
and Janice Lugo.
Diamond is also trying to cope, Mr. Brinkmann said. After the company
confirmed the contamination, it set up a call center (866-214-6945) and
hired 12 veterinarians to answer questions. About 1,000 people a day call
in. "They're getting hammered," said Dr. Stan Casteel, a veterinary
professor who is working at the call center. The company also set up a Web
site with information about the recall,
www.diamondpetrecall.com.
Diamond has also created an additional level of testing for aflatoxin and it
will reimburse people for their veterinary bills and the cost of their lost
animal in confirmed cases, Mr. Brinkmann said. "If we do the right thing, we
can recover," he said.
On Saturday, Minnie lay in her cage, awake but motionless except for a tail
wag when she saw her owners. "Once in a while, she'll just look at us like
the old Minnie," Mr. Lugo said. "We just want her back."
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