i Still Love Dogs

Euthanasia Drug Discovered in Some Evanger’s Canned Dog Food

IMPORTANT UPDATE — MARCH 3, 2017

Evanger’s Dog & Cat Food is expanding its recall of Hunk of Beef Au Jus dog food and is now also recalling Evanger’s Braised Beef due to “potential adulteration with pentobarbital.”

The latest recall includes these 12-ounce cans of these products (the numbers are the second half of the barcode, found on the back of the product label):

Evanger’s: Hunk of Beef — 20109
Evanger’s: Braised Beef — 20107

The products have expiration dates of December 2019 through January 2021. They were distributed online and through independent boutique pet stores nationwide. According to Evanger’s, this voluntary recall affects only Hand Packed Beef Products, in which the meat is placed in the can by hand, not machine.

IMPORTANT UPDATE — FEB. 15, 2017

Another brand of dog food, Against the Grain Pulled Beef with Gravy Dinner for Dogs, has also been voluntarily recalled because it may contain traces of pentobarbital.

How the heck did a euthanasia drug end up in dog food?!

If you or anyone you know feeds dogs Evanger’s Hunk of Beef Au Jus canned food, be aware that traces of pentobarbital, a drug used to euthanize dogs, was discovered in one lot of these products.

In late December, a Pug named Talula died after eating the food. Five other dogs were sickened. On Feb. 3, Evanger’s announced a voluntary recall, the first in the company’s 82-year history.

When ingested, pentobarbital can cause side effects like “drowsiness, dizziness, excitement, loss of balance, nausea, or in extreme cases, possibly death,” according to the announcement.

The recalled 12-ounce cans were sold online and distributed to retail locations in Washington, California, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. They were manufactured the week of June 6 to 13, 2016.

As a precaution, Evanger’s is voluntarily recalling four additional lots of the dog food. These are the lot numbers:

1816E03HB
1816E04HB
1816E06HB
1816E07HB
1816E13HB

The second half of the barcode, found on the back of the product label, is 20109.

All the recalled products have an expiration date of June 2020.

Evanger’s is currently testing its Hunk of Beef product and investigating how Pentobarbital got into the food. Its meat product suppliers are all USDA approved.

“We feel that we have been let down by our supplier, and in reference to the possible presence of pentobarbital, we have let down our customers,” the company stated in a press release. “Despite having a relationship for 40 years with the supplier of this specific beef, who also services many other pet food companies, we have terminated our relationship with them.”

The supplier’s meat isn’t used in other Evanger’s products — but it would sure be helpful to know what other pet food companies use this same supplier.

Evanger’s paid for the veterinary bills of the sickened dogs and made a donation to an animal shelter in memory of Talula.

If you bought one of the recalled products, return it to the place of purchase for a full refund. For more information, call Evanger’s at 847-537-0102 weekdays between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Central Time.

Photo credit: U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Firefighter Adopts Abandoned Pit Bull Puppy He Rescued

On their way to a call on a cold and rainy October morning, firefighter Mike Thawley and the Sacramento Fire Department Engine No. 14 crew spotted a sickly, 3-month-old Pit Bull puppy who’d been tied to a fence and abandoned on a Sacramento street.

The shivering puppy’s legs were swollen and covered with scabs. She’d lost most of her hair due to mange.

The crew drove on and responded to the call, but returned afterward to rescue the puppy. They brought her to the fire station, where they gave her a bath and plenty of TLC. Then they took her to the Front Street Animal Shelter so she could be treated for her mange.

Thawley, however, had no intention of leaving her there. He, his wife and their three daughters decided to foster the puppy, who they named Chunk.

“We all just kind of fell in love with her,” he told the Sacramento Bee.

Almost four months later, Chunk has completed her treatment for mange — and she has a loving new forever home. Thawley and his family have adopted the dog he rescued. He told the Sacramento Bee that from the moment Chunk joined his family, he knew she’d become a permanent member.

“I think what’s great about this whole story is that not only did this dog find its forever home, but had the opportunity to go to a foster home, which we’re always looking for at our shelter, to get happy and healthy,” says the Front Street Animal Shelter spokesman Bobby Mann in a video posted on the Sacramento Fire Department’s Facebook page yesterday.

The best kind of failures? Foster failures! I wish Chunk and the Thawleys many, many happy years together.

Photo via YouTube

A Dog’s Purpose Is Not to Be Abused, So Boycott This Movie

Many dog lovers have been anticipating the Jan. 27 release of the movie “A Dog’s Purpose,” a tear-jerker about a reincarnated pooch who teaches people how to love and laugh.

But disturbing behind-the-scenes footage posted today on TMZ.com shows that the filmmakers have a lot to learn about love and compassion for animals. Anyone who does care about animals should scratch “A Dog’s Purpose” off their must-see list — or, for that matter, their ever-see list.

The video shows a visibly terrified German Shepherd being forced to go into a pool as the dog tries to get away and claws at the edges. Eight outboard motors were used to create strong waves so the pool would resemble a rushing river, TMZ reports.

When the German Shepherd was finally forced into the pool, he or she was submerged — which may not have been in the script. Someone shouts “Cut it!” and handlers rescue the poor dog.

The trailer for “A Dog’s Purpose” shows the German Shepherd in the water.

A dog’s purpose is not to be mistreated by humans. Please see my Care2.com story for updated information about this incident and join me in boycotting “A Dog’s Purpose.”

Photo via YouTube

Jerk Ticketed for Transporting His Dog in a Ridiculously Dangerous Way

The dangerous ways in which some people choose to transport their pets is downright mind-boggling — inside the trunk of their car, for example (which is legal in California!), or chained to a flatbed on a busy freeway (which is legal in Texas!), or on the roof of a station wagon (as Mitt Romney famously enjoyed doing).

If a Darwin Award was handed out to people who cause their pets’ deaths due to their own stupidity, one of this year’s contenders would be a knucklehead from Flagler County, Fla. This person thought it was a good idea to put a kennel filled with dogs on a trailer attached to his SUV, tether a Pit Bull with one measly rope to the top of the kennel, and then go speeding 70 miles per hour down Highway 95 this week.

The poor dog, whose name is Zeus, can be seen crouching on top of the trailer in a video posted on Facebook by Brenna Cronin that’s been viewed over 1.7 million times.

“I was just completely outraged and appalled,” Cronin told ABC News. “I couldn’t believe it.” The dog, who has the letter “S” seared onto its leg, “stood up and was looking at me so sad,” she said. “I had to do something.”

When the dog saw her, Cronin told CNN he stood up and looked scared. “You know when dogs are happy, they have their tail wagging and a big smile. He was terrified,” she said.

On the other hand, when the driver of the Chevrolet Tahoe saw her recording the video, he flipped her off.

According to a Flagler County ordinance, dogs transported in the open beds of pickup trucks “should be in a pen or restrained by a minimum of two tethers or some other similar method,” KTVU reports. Zeus only had one tether.

Flagler County Animal Services has tracked down the dog’s owner, who — surprise, surprise — doesn’t want to be identified, and ticketed him, but would not indicate the charges.

The owner doesn’t think it’s any big deal. He told WTLV it was an “okay” way to transport dogs and “how everybody transports.”

“Everybody?” I’m 100 percent sure that no responsible dog owners or anyone in their right mind would transport their pets that way.

Here’s a photo of Zeus taken by another driver on the interstate. He looks miserable. Is there anything remotely “okay” about this?!

And what about the “S” on Zeus’ leg? Such branding is common for dogs forced to fight. The owner insisted Zeus is just a hunting dog who goes after hogs. He claimed the “S” was there when he got Zeus as a puppy.

Flagler County Animal Services is currently conducting a wellness check, according to WTLV, and will turn their findings over the the sheriff’s department. Here’s hoping Zeus is taken away from this jerk and rehomed with a much better owner — which shouldn’t be too difficult at all.

Photo via Facebook

2017 Rose Parade Float with Surfing Dogs Breaks World Records

If you’re like me, your favorite floats in the Tournament of Roses Parade each year are the ones that feature dogs, whether the pups are real or flower-covered facsimiles.

For a few years, the dog food company Natural Balance partnered with the nonprofit Lucy Pet Foundation, which provides low-cost spay/neuter and adoption mobile clinics, to create floats featuring surfing, skateboarding or snowboarding dogs — especially a multi-talented Bulldog named Tillman, who crossed the Rainbow Bridge in October 2015.

Surfing dogs are back in the 2017 parade, thanks to a partnership between the Lucy Foundation and American Wave Machines, Inc. And, for the first time in the parade’s 128-year history, the float will break two Guinness World Records as the parade’s longest and heaviest float ever. The “Beachside Paradise” float, built by Fiesta Parade Floats, is 126 feet long and weighs 148,200 pounds — including the 8,000 gallons of water it will hold for the dogs to surf on.

Eight Dogs a-Surfing

The eight surfing dogs won a national competition to secure their spots on the float. A machine provided by American Wave Machines will produce the perfect wave for them every five seconds. After each dog catches a wave, he or she will ride in a car-shaped cage along a track back to the front of the pool.

To make sure the dogs were comfortable with the wave machine, Motortrend reports that the rear section of the float that contains the generator and wave pool was transported by truck to surfing competitions around the country so the dogs could test it out.

The surfers hanging 10 — er, 20 — are Surfin’ Jack, a Golden Retriever/Saluki mix who’s also a registered service dog; Sully, an English Bulldog (and Tillman lookalike); Coppertone, a miniature Dachshund who’s believed to be the best small surfing dog; Fred, a McNab Shepherd who’s also a champion disc dog; Haole, a Labrador Retriever who provides surf therapy for special-needs children; Macho, a Jack Russell Terrier who’s also a champion dock diver; Turbo, a Golden Retriever who once helped rescue a swimmer caught in a riptide; and last but certainly not least, Rooster, an Australian Shepherd who also holds a master dock diving title.

The parade begins on Jan. 2 at 8 a.m. Pacific Time. It will be broadcast on ABC, NBC, HGTV and several other networks. (The parade is held on Jan. 2 when New Year’s Day falls on a Sunday, a tradition that goes back to 1893. The reason for the one-day delay was because the parade passed churches where horses were tied outside, and the parade organizers didn’t want to spook the horses or interrupt the church services.)