Dog food recalled after death of police dog
One of ten police puppies at the Victoria Police Dog Squads in Melbourne, where dogs are becoming il..
A dog food has been recalled after several animals died suffering from the incurable disease megaesophagus.
Advance Dermocare has been pulled from shelves at hundreds of pet sores across Australia after it was linked to a spate of animal deaths.
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Pet owners are now being urged not to give the food to dogs while manufacturer Mars Petcare Australia said they are investigating.
At least two family pets died after eating the food while three were seriously ill. Vets warned two of these faced being euthanised.
One Victoria police dog has died and eight others are seriously ill with the disease megaesophagus, which causes the dog’s throat to close up.
The animal then loses its ability to swallow or absorb nutrients.
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Devastated dog owner Anthony Brown from Melbourne told the Sunday Herald Sun his pet Rooney, a seven-year-old dalmatian, was put down a fortnight ago.
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Rooney had lost half his body weight in just a matter of weeks and vets diagnosed megaeophagus.
He said: ‘He was skin and bones — we couldn’t work out what had happened. It just came out of the blue.
‘It was upsetting watching our otherwise healthy dog fade away.
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‘We bought the food from the vet thinking it was top shelf. We need to find out what is causing it so it can’t happen again.’
Dogs at Victoria police station were suffering from the condition as well. Inspector Jon Woodyat said there are a number of factors, one of which includes the food the dogs are eating.
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A statement on the Mars Petcare’s website says the company is recalling dry dog food products in 3kg, 8kg and 15kg bags.
It reads: ‘We advise dog owners who have purchased this product to return them to the place of purchase for a full refund
‘These bags will have been purchased from specialty retailers and veterinarians. No other Advance products or varieties are affected.
‘The health and wellbeing of Australian pets is our number one priority, so we were deeply concerned to learn that a number of dogs have been affected by megaoesophagus – a condition that is generally not associated with food.’
The company added it has run hundreds of tests on the product and that no link has been found between the condition and the product.
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