Blue Buffalo Dog Food Recall

While I was out of town last week, and Mumble was being boarded, I had a bit of a scare about his dry food because I heard the news of a recall of Blue Buffalo brand dog food. Mumble eats the Blue Buffalo Adult Chicken dry food mixed in with his wet food every day. This was one of the "flavors" on the recall list, and since I had left his food with the boarding facility in small baggies, pre-portioned for each meal, rather than the entire bag of food, there was no way for anyone to check to see if the food was one of the specific "batches" recalled! I had to have the boarding people just stop giving him the dry food altogether, just in case. Thankfully, they were able to make up the difference in his meals by supplementing his wet food with a little bit of cooked chicken and rice (which I'm sure he thought was much better anyway).

When I got back home I was able to check the bag, and thankfully it wasn't on the recall list anyway! So I don't have to worry about Mumble getting sick from the amount that he ate out of that bag before I heard about the recall.

Blue Buffalo was able to pinpoint exactly which batches of food had been affected, and even ascertained exactly how it happened. You can read the press release on their website here. If you feed your dog one of the "flavors" on the list, the way you determine if your dog food is affected is by looking at the expiration date. Here is the list from the Blue Buffalo website:

Product	Bag Size	Best Used By Dates
BLUE Wilderness Chicken (Dog)	4.5 lb., 11 lb., 24lb.	JUL1211B, JUL1311B, JUL2611Z, JUL2711Z, JUL2811Z
BLUE Basics Salmon (Dog)	11 lb., 24 lb.	AUG2111B, AUG2211B
BLUE Large Breed Adult Chicken	30 lb.	SEP 22 11 P, SEP 23 11 P, OCT 26 11 P

The recall is due to the discovery by the company of the presence of vitamin D in the product at levels "higher than specifications." According to the Blue Buffalo website, and other information available on the web related to this recall, excessive amounts of vitamin D can be harmful to pets. The FDA indicates that 36 cases have been reported nationwide of illness related to the excessive amounts of vitamin D in the recalled food (read here for more from the FDA on this recall). Blue Buffalo's website states that it will reimburse veterinary bills associated with illness as a result of the recalled food.

I was personally very curious about this vitamin D issue. Mumble eats a pretty healthy diet - his wet food is organic, and he has various supplements added to each meal. I've been reading a lot about supplements and "natural health" for pets lately, due to the high levels of supplements Mumble has to be on. So I was really curious about how a vitamin that you would believe to be beneficial, or at least not harmful, could cause so much concern. What I read was really interesting. According to many articles, etc, including the "Natural Health Bible for Dogs and Cats" by Shawn Messioner (I love this book!), the most common cause of vitamin D toxicity is from a dog ingesting rat poison! Of course, we all know that rat poison is one of the most common causes of poisoning to pets, but I never thought about it being linked to something as benign sounding as vitamin D.

There is an interesting article I found online on this subject, written by a veterinarian. You can read it at this link. According to Dr. Huston, vitamin D toxicity causes hypercalcemia, a condition that causes a whole gambit of problems and affects the dog's internal organs. The list of possible symptoms of vitamin D toxicity in her website is much more extensive, but with some consistency, than the list on the recall information websites. (*You can also read about vitamin toxicities at the PetPlace website).

The most alarming information I found, at least as it directly relates to Mumble, is the link between fish oil supplements and vitamin D toxicity. Apparently, fish oil supplements are known to be a good source of vitamin D, but it is possible for a pet parent to "overdose" their pet by providing too much of the supplement and causing vitamin D toxicity to occur. Mumble is on a fish oil with probiotics supplement, which, after much trial and error with various other probiotics, etc, was the best thing for him in terms of helping with all of his digestive issues. The fish oil also has a positive impact on his skin allergies. So the information about fish oil and vitamin D was definitely a reminder to me about how important it is to be extra careful with giving him the right amounts. It also made me very grateful for our vet, Dr. Shane, who is excellent at natural remedies and holistic approaches to health, and carefully helps me to monitor all of Mumble's supplements and dietary needs.