Cats May See Greater Risk From Contaminant
WASHINGTON – A greater sensitivity of cats to a chemical found in plastics and pesticides could explain why they’ve died in larger numbers than have dogs after eating contaminated pet food, experts said Saturday.
The small number of confirmed reports of pet deaths bolstered by a far larger number of unconfirmed anecdotal reports suggests cats were more susceptible to poisoning by the chemical melamine that tainted the now-recalled food, officials with the Food and Drug Administration and American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said Saturday.
“I am concerned we have a situation where we have a sensitive species and it is the cat,” said Steven Hansen, a veterinary toxicologist and director of the ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control center in Urbana, Ill.
Testing by the FDA and Cornell University has found melamine in samples of recalled pet food and in crystal form in the urine and kidney tissue of dead cats. They’ve also found the chemical, in apparently raw form in concentrations as high as 6.6 percent, in wheat gluten used as ingredient of the recalled cat and dog foods, said Stephen Sundlof, the FDA’s chief veterinarian.
Dr. Sundlof and others have not been able to explain why the chemical would have caused the kidney failure seen so far in the roughly 16 confirmed pet deaths, all but one in cats.
“It has a very low toxicity, at least in rodents. The problem is, we don’t have information in cats, and that seems to be the most susceptible species,” Dr. Sundlof said of melamine.
He allowed that the tainted cat foods could have contained higher concentrations of melamine than did the dog foods.
Earlier this month, Menu Foods became the first of three pet food manufacturers to recall its products. It did so after cats began to fall sick and die during routine company taste tests of its wet- style pet foods, sold under nearly 100 store- and major-label brands across North America.
Melamine is used to make plastic kitchenware, glues, countertops, fabrics, fertilizers and flame retardants. It also is both a contaminant and byproduct of several pesticides, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The United Nations Environment Program considers melamine of low potential risk, as does the EPA. The agency has sent FDA the database information it has on the chemical and will provide technical assistance as needed, EPA spokeswoman Enesta Jones said Saturday.
Dr. Sundlof said the FDA hadn’t found any studies of melamine in cats, and the results of a single 1945 study that tested it on dogs. That study suggested the chemical increased urine output when fed to dogs in large amounts.
The investigation has traced the melamine to wheat gluten that Menu Foods, Nestle Purina PetCare Co. and Hill’s Pet Nutrition bought from an unnamed U.S. supplier. The latter two companies have recalled a limited number of products since Friday. The wheat gluten, a protein source, was imported from China.
(c) 2007 Augusta Chronicle, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.