Cape Town - Dog food contaminated with maize toxin deoxynivalenol (DON) is not life-threatening to dogs, says Foodcorp.
The manufacturer of Bobtail, PnP no-name, Dogmor and Bonzo has announced the recall of its dry dog food dated between June 4 and 23.
Since its announcement last week the Cape Argus has been inundated with calls from concerned dog owners.
Foodcorp spokesman Stephen Heath said if dogs had eaten the contaminated batch it was likely to cause vomiting.
“But it’s not like food poisoning where you would vomit all the time.
“If your dog has ingested it, its body would reject it by regurgitating.
“After that they will refuse to eat the food and that’s how weight loss occurs.”
He added that there had been a report of a puppy dying, but said that it had been ill for some time.
“Puppies normally eat anything and everything.”
He added if any animals were ill they should be taken to a vet.
“Our vets have assured us that dogs can’t die from this. If animals are ill, however, they should be taken to the vet because it could be anything.”
A Montague Gardens resident said she had fed her dog Bobtail biscuits and was worried that it could cause harm.
“I am very anxious. I have always fed my dog on the Bobtail steak flavour Adult/Medium brand of biscuits.”
Another resident said he had bought a bag of Dogmor on Friday, and since then his dogs had been vomiting.
A Pretoria reader said her male miniature pinscher had lost a huge amount of weight and her pit bull had vomited a few times.
“Now I want to know what is going to be done about this matter as the damage has been done to my dogs.”
Heath said consumers should check the manufacturing date on the food bag (it will have the letters “MANF” followed by the date the bag was packed).
Phone Foodcorp’s hotline, 011 411 5555, to receive a voucher for a new bag of dog food.
Cape Argus