As of January 11, 2024, the public Facebook group Saving Pets One Pet @ A Time has received reports of 729 sick animals (547 dogs and 182 cats) in the USA, Ireland, UK, Serbia, Hungry & Canada.
One hundred seventy-seven (177) of the animals have died.
All of the sick pets were fed a Purina product.
Purina’s response
In a statement posted on the company’s website on January 5, 2024, Purina denied the existence of any health or safety issues with any of its products.
While maintaining its denial of responsibility for the illnesses, Purina has quietly offered to compensate some of the pet owners who reached out to complain directly to the company.
In one case, Purina volunteered to pay the costs of veterinary care for a customers sick pet. In another instance, the company offered a customer $300 in compensation “…as a goodwill gesture, not an admission of liability.”
What pet owners are reporting
This graphic, posted with permission of the Saving Pets One Pet @ A Time group administrator, summarizes the situation as of January 11, 2024, including symptoms that have been reported by pet owners.
The FDA encourages pet owners and veterinarians to report safety issues with pet foods directly to the federal agency. Here’s how to do so.
How to report a pet illness
The FDA relies heavily on reports from pet owners and veterinarians to alert them to safety issues with pet foods. Especially useful are reports that include veterinary information and details on the suspect food (brand, variety, batch codes, etc.).
Most of all, the FDA is looking for pet owners who still possess partial or unopened bags of the suspect food.
If your pet is sick or has died, and you suspect the pet food to be the cause, please ask your veterinarian to file an Adverse Event report with the FDA.
Whether or not a veterinarian agrees to file a report, pet owners can file directly with the FDA. Prepare to make your report by assembling as much information about your pet’s symptoms, any lab reports (eg., blood work), and whatever information you have on the specific product(s) you have fed your pet. This includes brand and variety names, lot code, expiration date, and bar code information, all of which can be found on the package.
There are two options for filing, which are explained on the FDA web page, How to Report a Pet Food Complaint
Option 1: Contact the FDA Consumer Complaint Coordinator for your state by telephone (in the case of California, there are separate coordinators for Northern and Southern California). The list of telephone numbers is available at: Consumer Complaint Coordinators.
Option 2: File on-line using the FDA Safety Reporting Portal. Simply click on the “Report as Guest” button and follow the step-by-step directions.
“A complete and compelling account of the hidden and not-so-hidden ways the food we give our beloved pets can be contaminated.” – JoNel Aleccia, Health Reporter, Food & Nutrition, The Associated Press.
“An invaluable resource for busy pet owners” – Food Safety News
Available from all major on-line retailers, including:
eFoodAlert 
I’m no scientist, but I do believe there was some sort of issue with the food we were feeding our puppy. We got her in March 2023 and with her first vet visit they recommended that she be fed Purina Pro Plan for puppies. Once we switched her that is the only food she has eaten. In early January 2024 we changed her to their Adult plan. Shortly thereafter she started refusing to eat any of her Purina food so on those days I boiled chicken breast and added it to white rice. From January 24 to Feb 5 2024 she would either refuse eating, ate but would later throw up her food and at times she would throw up yellow stomach bile. During this time I did stay in contact with her vet that didn’t seem to be terrible concerned. I didn’t join the group Saving Pets one pet at a time until March. After reading posts from other pet parents I realized it really was the food I was feeding Izzy that had made her sick. Fortunately, it seems she has recovered and is doing well. She is still on the Purina Pro Plan Adult and thank God she had not had any problems.
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Why can’t these companies can’t just own the problem and work with everyone to find the cause rather than go down the PR hole of “Deny, deny”? Some supplier decided to source a questionable product because it was cheaper. Quality Control didn’t catch it, or did and ignored the issue. Let heads roll, make promisses to do better and take the steps to restore the public’s faith in its feed. The company takes a hit for one quarter then returns to a profit.
This is NOT Purina animal feed, which is owned by Land O’Lakes. You really should point that out.
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