Phenobarbital poisoning in dog food | Dr. Justine Lee

Posted by justinelee in Animal Safety, Blog, Pet Health

Recently, a pet owner reported that her multiple Pugs were poisoned after eating Evanger food. You can see Evanger’s independent testing results off some batch samples here. Levels of pentobarbital, the drug used to euthanize animals in veterinary medicine, were detected. You can read the FDA recall warning below. Additional updates from the FDA can be found here.

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Out of an abundance of caution, Evanger’s Dog & Cat Food of Wheeling, IL is voluntarily recalling specific lots of its Hunk of Beef product because of a potential contaminant Pentobarbital, which was detected in one lot of Hunk of Beef Au Jus. Pentobarbital can affect animals that ingest it, and possibly cause side effects such as drowsiness, dizziness, excitement, loss of balance, or nausea, or in extreme cases, possibly death. The specifically-identified lot numbers (as detailed below) of cans of 12-oz Hunk of Beef being voluntarily recalled were distributed to retail locations and sold online in the following States: Washington, California, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, and were manufactured the week of June 6 – June 13, 2016.

Although pentobarbital was detected in a single lot, Evangers is voluntarily recalling Hunk of Beef products that were manufactured the same week, with lot numbers that start with 1816E03HB, 1816E04HB, 1816E06HB, 1816E07HB, and 1816E13HB, and have an expiration date of June 2020. The second half of the barcode reads 20109, which can be found on the back of the product label. The subject recall affects 5 lots of food that were produced from its supplier’s lot of beef, which is specifically used for the Hunk of Beef product and no other products. To date, it has been reported that five dogs became ill and 1 of the five dogs passed away after consuming the product with lot number 1816E06HB13. Evanger’s is proactively issuing a recall voluntarily so as not to risk potential exposure to pentobarbital in the product.

All Evanger’s suppliers of meat products are USDA approved. This beef supplier provides us with beef chunks from cows that are slaughtered in a USDA facility. We continue to investigate how this substance entered our raw material supply.

Because we source from suppliers of meat products that are USDA approved, and no other products have had any reported problems, we are not extending the recall to other supplier lots. This is the first recall for Evanger’s in its 82 years of manufacturing. Although it has been verified that little or no product remains on store shelves, if consumers still have cans with the aforementioned lot numbers, he or she should return it to the place of purchase for a full refund. Consumers with questions may contact the company at 1-847-537-0102 between 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM Central Time, Monday – Friday.

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Since then, several additional lots have been added including:

Evanger’s: Hunk of Beef: 20109
Evanger’s: Braised Beef: 20107
Against the Grain: Pulled Beef: 80001

Signs of phenobarbital poisoning include:

• Walking drunk (e.g., ataxia)
• Sleepiness
• Excessive lethargy
• Drooling
• Slow heart rate
• Slow respiration
• Weakness
• Not moving
• Coma

If you notice any of these signs, or think your dog was poisoned, please contact your veterinarian, emergency veterinarian or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center immediately at 888-426-4435. Remember, with any poisoning, the sooner you seek veterinary attention, the less dangerous and less expensive it will be for your dog or cat!