Dogs keep dying: Too many owners remain unaware of toxic dog food

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Jan06/dogs.dying.ssl.html

Jan. 6, 2006

By Susan S. Lang
ssl4@cornell.edu

Even though Diamond, Country Value and Professional brand dog foods have been recalled for containing highly toxic aflatoxins, they have caused at least 100 dog deaths in recent weeks, say Cornell University veterinarians, who are growing increasingly alarmed. Some kennels and consumers around the nation and possibly in more than two dozen other countries remain unaware of the tainted food, and as a result, they continue to give dogs food containing a lethal toxin.

To better screen affected dogs so they can be treated as soon as possible, Cornell veterinarians report that they now have a new test, adapted from one used in humans, to accurately assess aflatoxin poisoning in dogs (see companion story at http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Jan06/PoisonedDogs.bpf.html). Currently, about two-thirds of dogs that show symptoms after eating the tainted food die.

Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine develops protein tests to accurately diagnose pet food-poisoned dogs

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Jan06/PoisonedDogs.bpf.html

Jan. 6, 2006

By Blaine P. Friedlander Jr.
bpf2@cornell.edu

While dogs keep dying from eating pet food tainted with aflatoxin, Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine is announcing it has developed protein tests that accurately indicate a dog's liver failure caused by the toxin.

In late December, some dogs from the Eastern and Southeastern United States have become either seriously ill or have died after eating dog food manufactured by Diamond Pet Foods. The dog food was tainted with aflatoxin. About 17 severe cases of aflatoxin poisoning came to the Cornell University Hospital for Animals.

The Protein C Activity Assay -- a human protein test that was modified at Cornell over the past three years for animal use -- is one of several tests Cornell veterinarians have been using to detect liver damage in seriously poisoned dogs. The blood test results are available within a day. Aflatoxin curtails the production of cholesterol and many proteins that profoundly affect blood clotting.

The Protein C Activity Assay indicates levels of protein C made by the liver. Dogs poisoned with aflatoxin have only 10 to 15 percent of normal amounts of protein C, says Marjory Brooks, DVM, of Cornell's Animal Health Diagnostic Center. "A progressive fall in protein C levels appears to be a sensitive indicator," Brooks says. This test panel including protein C is only available at Cornell. For testing, veterinarians draw blood from the dog and send it overnight to Cornell's Animal Health Diagnostic Center.