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Healthy Dogs Need Healthy Treats!
If you’re not a label reader, you should become one very quickly; for yourself and for your dog.
There has recently been a resurgence in the concerns and dangers associated with food & treats imported from China. This brings back nightmares from several years ago when in 2007 many of us abruptly stopped feeding store bought food to our dogs because of the melamine problem in dog food imported from China. Too many people lost their innocent pets very quickly when this happened.
The most recent problem centers around illegal antibiotic residue found in dog treats imported from that country. Four of the drugs found in the treats are not approved at all for use in U.S. poultry. The fifth, while legal to use, is strictly limited in quantity.
In the 18 months prior to September of last year, 360 canine deaths associated with this problem had been reported.
The symptoms include gastrointestinal signs such as vomiting and diarrhea (sometimes with mucus and/or blood). Sometimes severe symptoms such as pancreatitis or internal bleeding can result. Symptoms related to kidney problems have been reported and include increased thirst, frequent urination with increased amounts of urine, kidney related illness and even kidney failure.
If your dog has any of these symptoms for more than 24 hours, get him to your vet quickly. Blood tests to check kidney function will show if there is increase urea nitrogen and creatinine. Most pets are reported to have recovered with treatment if caught in time.
Label reading can be a bit tricky at times, but in this case, it is amazingly simple. For the health and safety of your dog, only buy treats that say “Made in the U.S.”!