Petfood recall spreads to South Africa

Hill’s Pet Nutrition, also involved in the US petfood recall, have recalled
all stock of their Prescription Diet m/d Feline dry food. A spokesman said that
no cats have been reported ill in the US after eating their products. The recall
was purely a precautionary measure.

One of South Africa’s premier petfood
companies also will withdraw Vets Choice, manufactured by Royal Canin, from
shelves around the country after there were signs of contamination in the
food.

Vet’s Choice is a premium dog food product sold only at
veterinarian’s offices and pet shops.

According to South African
Veterinary Association’s Gerhard Steenkamp there were confirmed cases of 19 dogs
in Cape Town and Johannesburg who’d presented with acute renal failure, all of
whom appeared to have been fed Vets choice products.

He said it was
commendable that the company had decided to recall the product as soon as it
heard of the problem with the food as it was unclear what had caused the
problem.

Recently, Woolworths had to recall all of its dry dog and cat
food due to contamination of certain products.

Dr Steenkamp said as
different companies manufactured the dog and cat foods and imported them from
overseas in most instances – and different ingredients were used in the
manufacturing process, any link between the reports of contamination appeared to
be coincidental.