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PET OWNERS' GUESTBOOK AND MEMORIAL PAGE: We have been contacted by dozens of people who have lost their pets due to Menu Foods alleged negligence. We are pet owners too, and we sympathize fully with you. It could just have easily been one of us.
We understand your loss and know that nothing can make it better. The purpose of this guestbook is so that you can share your story with others, and maybe put up a photo or two.
We are sorry for your loss, and we want to hold Menu Foods accountable for their alleged negligence.
/s/ Audet & Partners, LLP
[This is the latest version of the memorial page. All earlier entries were backed up and are available here (page 1) and here (page 2) .] |
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| EntryNo: |
45 |
| Date: |
Friday
03:44
04.06.2007 |
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Jennifer Peacock |
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Your pet's name:: Sugar
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» click to enlarge «  My heart aches and goes out to each and every one of you and your cherished pets who have been affected by this ATROCITY!!! Fortunately, my beloved dog Sugar is still with us. She is a Maltese who just turned six on February 24, 2007. My family had just returned from vacation in early March, and after picking up Sugar from our pet sitter, we noticed she just didn't seem right. She was walking around with her tail down and hiding in strange places in the house instead of being by my side like usual. Then we noticed the excessive drinking and urinating an we noticed wet spots on the carpet throughout the house. I took her to the vet immediately on Friday, March 16th. My vet asked if she had any trauma or exposure to any toxins, to which I answered no and was told that it could be something as simple as a bladder infection. Urine and blood tests were taken to determine the problem. Lo and behold, that night I heard about the pet food recall on the news and my gut told me this was the problem. All of my lot numbers on my food matched up.
Sugar has been eating Mighty Dog Premium Entrees in the foil pouches for the last three years and she had just had one for dinner that night. I buy all of my pet food at WALMART and I live in New Jersey not far from the Menu Foods, Pennsauken plant. We took Sugar back to the vet and she was admitted Sunday, March 18th to the Animal Hospital for a three day IV fluid treatment as her bloodwork showed signs of early renal failure. Her urine also had blood in it. Her kidney levels did go down and we were able to bring her home on Wednesday, March 21st. However, her pancreatic enzymes were now elevated and I was back and forth to my vet for several days repeating blood and urine tests to check her kidney and pancreatic levels. Luckily, her pancreatic enzymes did go down but she was still showing blood in her urine. I then took Sugar for an ultrasound on Tuesday, March 27th to find out the extent of damage to her organs and to find out where the blood was coming from. Unfortunately to my dismay, the ultrasound has confirmed that she has lost 2/3 of her kidney function and she has a bladder and a kidney stone. My vet bills are well over $1600 at this time and rising on a weekly basis, as I have many months and maybe years of vet bills ahead of me. She needs to have her blood pressure monitored, as high bolood pressure can cause her kidneys further problems, and if it does become high, she will need to be put on blood pressure medication. I will pay anything that is needed for her health, as she is my "fourth" child, and I feel lucky that I am able to do this. Although if it wasn't for my tax return, it would have been a major burden for me right now, as my husband was just briefly unemployed. My heart aches for ChaChee and Theresa. I wish I could have helped you somehow pay for your dog to get treated.
Although Sugar seems to be doing alright at the present time, the only prognosis my vet can give me is that she will not live to the ripe old age of 15, like most healthy dogs of her breed do. She is ONLY 6!! We really have no idea what the future will bring. I have three children and they keep asking me if Sugar is going to die. All I can say is that I really don't know, and we should just love her and play with her, and try to give her the best quality of life that we can right now. She is now on a special prescription kidney diet which is about $2.50 a can, but again I will pay whatever I need to if it is what is best for her, and it is not a TOXIC food that is going to kill her!!!
So what do we do about this TRAVESTY?? How could a company know about a potentially toxic substance in their pet food, test their own animals, have ten die, and STILL WAIT A MONTH TO NOTIFY THEIR CONSUMERS???? HOW MANY PETS' LIVES COULD HAVE BEEN SPARED AND HOW MUCH HEARTACHE OF PET OWNERS COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED??? My family has been through hell in the last few weeks, as I know so many of you can relate to. I haven't slept in weeks and I have been obsessed with the internet, trying to keep up with all of the latest news and updates about the recall since the MEDIA is in no way making the story out to be as DEVASTATING as it really is, and NOT reporting the thousands of deaths and sick pets that have resulted from this PET FOOD RECALL. Fifteen deaths confirmed (WHAT A JOKE!!!) and Menu Foods still not assuming any blame for it!!!! My family is ready to kill me as nothing is getting done around the house. Now that I have discovered the message boards, I am constantly adding my story and continually crying about all of the other sad, sad stories I read. I also keep e-mailing all of the major news shows like Good Morning America, The Today Show, Dateline, Primetime, 20/20 and others to step up and do a story on the devasting effects this recall has had on pet owners. No one has yet to step up. How SAD!!!
So LET'S ALL STAND UP AND BE HEARD and give all of God's precious little creatures the VOICE that they don't have!!! Again, my deepest and heartfelt condolences to each and every one of you who has lost their precious, beloved and irreplaceable pets.
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| EntryNo: |
44 |
| Date: |
Friday
00:56
04.06.2007 |
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Lorna Wren |
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Your pet's name:: Molly
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Molly was not only our pet,but she was our companion and we miss her terribly. Our house just isn't a home without her here. Since all of our kids are grown up and moved out, Molly had become our child and she thought she was human. No dog can ever replace her.
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| EntryNo: |
43 |
| Date: |
Thursday
19:01
04.05.2007 |
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linda simonetti |
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Your pet's name:: shorty
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your love is in us forever Linda and Grandma
» click to enlarge « shorty was a sweet little cat.
she loved to be brushed and was proud of her beauty. she always talked to people and made herself known to all who entered.
one of her favorite things to do waa eat special kitty chicken and gravy.
twice a day and sometimes she would make you feed her in the middle of the night.
on march 8 she did not seem to eat.
on saturday march 10 I was putting gravy on my finger trying to force feed her
anticipating to get her to the doctor on monday, well sunday the 11 she came to me early morning crying for help. I imediatly took her to the hospital.
I knew it was not going to be cheap, however she was more important to me than money. After about an hour of testing the Doctor came and brought me in a room and said she was in kidney failure, I filled out a form and got a care credit card through them. the first hour cost me 465$
on tuesday morning after two and a half days of treatment her numbers were not coming down enough. so tuesday morning we sent her to kitty heaven. now she plays pretty girl in our hearts forever.
when i learned of the recall for her food
I cried and was sickened now i'm still crying, not sleeping well I had spent almost 2,000$ on her in those 2 1/2 days and still lost that sweet little thing.
here sister tc also ate the special kitty twice daily both cats are same age tc is almost twice the weight shorty was, i don't know if she is affected her blood work showed good numbers but she had to get fluid injection twice because she was not eating. we now feed her baby food and will get her blood tested again in a few weeks as a precaution.
we also have a little dog tess that is sweet and special to us she ate ol'roy stew and gravy she also has tested ok. and we will recheck her blood in a few weeks. SHORTY TC IS STILL LOOKING FOR YOU,
YOUR SISTER MISSES AND LOVES YOU AND SO DOES TESS.
My Heart goes out to all of you GODS SPEED TO US ALL,
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| EntryNo: |
42 |
| Date: |
Thursday
17:12
04.05.2007 |
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SteveG |
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Your pet's name:: Sparkle
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Sparkle the Wonder Dog
» click to enlarge « Sparkle was a great dog, protector, and friend. She was with me for 8 years and every day since her death in early March has been a little emptier without her in it. My most sincere hope is that something positive comes out of this. Whether its new government regulation for animal food or improved systems to make vets aware of potential problems in advance of a recall.
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| EntryNo: |
41 |
| Date: |
Thursday
14:17
04.05.2007 |
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M. Clifton |
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Your pet's name:: Pepper
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My Pepper in her death bed. I hope Menu Foods appreciate my buying their poison.
» click to enlarge « Pepper Clifton
DOB 01/02/95 - DOD 03/16/07
Cause of death: Renal failure
Regular Daily foods:
Mighty Dog foil pouch
Gravy Train Beef Stick treats
DG brand beef treats
Additional suspect food: Kibbles 'n' Bits. Not on the recall list, but she ate some of it the night before she died and it made her terribly sick. I have also found several entries on the net stating this brand was fed to other pets that died within hours.
My baby died the same day of the recall, although Menu Foods knew for about a month there was a serious problem with the pet foods. Had all of us been informed a month earlier we might not have lost our beloved furry family members. I was so upset over her death that I missed the recall information for several days. I had already sent her to be cremated by the time someone called me and told me about the recall. Much to my horror I discovered I had been feeding poison to my precious little Pepper. Had the recall been announced just one day earlier on March 15, 2007 I would have known to have an autopsy done on her. There are hundreds and possibly thousands of people in my shoes. Cremated pets before the recall report hit the news wires. How will Menu Foods handle this? We have no legal documents to show cause of death even though we know it was the food that killed them. I think we all know what Menu Foods will do for us. Nothing.
The tainted foods can be recalled, but what about our dead pets??? They can't be "recalled" from death. Menu Foods claim approx. 16 animals have died. Wrong. It's into the thousands now. Someone has got to be held accountable for these victims and their family's heartbreak. A public acknowledgment from Menu Foods taking responsibility for their NEGLIGENCE would make a nice beginning. So far the company has not admitted any "guilt" that contributed to these animals deaths. They want to "blame" the wheat gluten and or some substance used to make plastic. The bottom line is Menu Foods used an untested product from a company in China in our pets food. They used our furry babies as the testing ground. The animals and families involved paid a price a lot higher than Menu Foods could ever hope to settle financially.
I know that I will never purchase another single pet item produced by Menu Foods, and there are thousands stating the same thing. That company caused us to literally poison our own beloved pets. How much more inhumane can a company be?
Words for Menu Foods:
"You reap what you sow."
Look at the devastation that your company caused and shudder.
These words come from Pepper and the thousands of other innocent animals sickened and / or deceased from the foods:
"May God forgive you because we the furry babies and our families never will."
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| EntryNo: |
40 |
| Date: |
Wednesday
23:52
04.04.2007 |
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Laura |
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Your pet's name:: SAC
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, My sweetheart Sac!!! (SAC=Stupid A$$ CAT, lol)I had lost my 4 cats due to Katrina, the day I found my oldest cat her name was (Mouse), she died in my arms in New Orleans. We went back to the campground where we stayed for 5 months after the storm, I had never even seen a cat in the campground, until that day( I swear SAC, was a godsend!!))), My daughter spotted him below our camp, we called to him, then that was it, he came & he was ours . He was just a campground cat & I promised him , when we had a place of our own, he was coming!!!! Well, we got a place in the country and he was the KING, he loved it here, he was great, he even brought us a kitten, we named her Sissy, wow a male bringing a kitten home , what a jewel. He helped my disabled husband, sat with him etc etc. I promised him good food & a great life. Well, I cannot stand to think that I may have poisoned him, that soooooo sucks. SAC died in December and my husband died in February, wow, life really sucks. Such a rollarcoaster ride, ups & downs!!!!!!!
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| EntryNo: |
39 |
| Date: |
Wednesday
17:57
04.04.2007 |
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Theresa |
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Your pet's name:: Chachee
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I have read everyones story and my heart aches for all our babies...Chachee was such a love,he was always at my side..... he would sit outsde the shower and wait for me...jump up when the arlarm went off in the morn,right to the door to go out ....he loved his good boy treats.....sometimes he would just go outside the door pretending...just to get a treat...lol  ..silly boy....I miss him so much.....my home is so empty without him....and his 2nd year birthday is coming up on the 23rd....So sad he can't be here for it...gotta go now can't stop cryin.
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| EntryNo: |
38 |
| Date: |
Wednesday
14:49
04.04.2007 |
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Erin |
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Your pet's name:: Littlefoot, Con, Sebastion, Stoner
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 The hardest day for me was when i lost her. Littlefoot was 15, the most beautiful tortis shell kitty you ever saw. She loved people and she loved invading your space. She was very loveable and sweet. This cat was a world traveler, she lived in an RV with me and her partner Con, (my other kitty)traveling the US for about a year and then moved to Puerto Rico for 6 months. I will never forget her. She died March 1, 07. But it dosent end there, a week later my loveable chunky gray 9yr taby Con and my 1 1/2 old chihuahua Sebastion became very ill. For the last month they have been in and out of the hospital, but on a very good note they are starting to show signs of improvement and if all goes well will be OK! This has been one of the hardest and most depressing times of my life. I have lost one child and almost 2 others. My animals mean the world to me. My heart goes out to all the familys that are going through this. My prayers go out to you all. Are animals are our children and we love and cherish them the fact that this has happened breaks my heart in more ways then i could ever express, My tears fall for my littlefoot and all the other children lost. My tears fall for all the familys that have endered the pain of watching the one you love go through so much. I pray for those who still live. My heart truly goes out to you all!
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| EntryNo: |
37 |
| Date: |
Wednesday
14:43
04.04.2007 |
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Theresa Wolff |
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Your pet's name:: Chachee
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To whom it may concern,
I have a very heartbreaking story to tell about my little dog ChaChee........
Last week March 10 2007 ChaChee beame ill, he began vomiting he was lethargic and very weak,he was losing weight rapidly and couldn't hold him self up on his own,within 2 days I couldn't do any more for him at home, he needed to go to the hospital,I took him to a hospital by my home in Holbrook.Chachee was going to be 2 years old on April 23rd.2007
I have had ChaChee by my side since the second he was born.So on Monday the 12th of March I took a very sick dog to the hospital by my home.They said he was very sick and put him on oxygen and had the doctor look at him.They said he need to be put on an i.v. and oxygen and start treatment right away....I said of course.After the doctor examined ChaChee they came to me and said they needed $500 and change to start treatment....I said I did'nt have that kind of money on me at this time I had 200 dollars I told them I am disabled, and I could give them what I have and pay the rest off ,but they would not accept partial payments.
They said NO! we don't do payments go to west Islip they do a credit plan....BUT they just told me the dog needed treatment immediately......they refused and proceeded to bill me $65:00 and sent me away hysterical with my pup......Got to Islip they rushed Chachee into the back hooked him up to the iv put him on the oxygen while he was in with the doctor I went out to fill the forms for the credit and they would'nt accept me because I didnt have a credit card....(if I had a credit card would I even need the help for payments?) I told them I have 200 dollars I will sign anything to prove I will pay them, take what I have now and please help my dog.
Now get this with what they just told about Chachee's condition they wanted even more money to start then the first hospital and then they REFUSED payments and wouldn't take the $200 and immediately took Chachee off the oxygen and stopped all treatment.Then they handed me a summary of ChaChees condition and on it said owner is aware dog will die without treatment....and sent me away..with a new bill for $300 and change, So.with no help while my poor pup just laid there so quietly...he was so much more to me than a dog ..He was like one of my kids...So.Hysterically I went to several other hospitals with the paper work...and not one place would take payments no one would help my dog,one vet was even down right cruel ...He came out and said if you can get my staff to work for payments then I'll take payments,no one from his staff even would look at me ......So I took Chachee home called several other hospitals with the same results $500or more(sorry).....Even the ASPCA gave me 3 numbers to call, One said come in tomorrow as a walk in.they are open 24 hours, I explained the urgency and that Chachee wouldn't make it through the night without treatment....all we can do is have you come in as a walk in tomorrow is the best I can do....the other couldn't help me and the last I got a machine.Chachee passed away at 2:20am on the13th of March......How can a Vet take an oath and so many of them don't even come close to what I read as their oath..
Being admitted into the profession of veterinary medicine,I solemnly swear to use my scientific knowledge and skills for the benefit of society through the PROTECTION OF ANIMAL HEALTH,THE RELIEF OF ANIMAL SUFFERING, the conservation of animal resources,the promotion of public health,and the advancement of medical knowledge.
I will practice my profession conscientoulsy,with dignity and in keeping with the principles of veterinary medical ethics.
I accept a lifelong obligation the continual improvement of my Knowledge and competence.......
Well the inhumane way Chachee and I were treated doesn't even come close to thier oath its all about MONEY not the dog or I would'nt be writing you this letter right now.......
And don't you know it even gets worse the dog food Chachee had been eating since day one was IAMS beef pouches in gravy and eukenuba pink bag for small dogs....I have been feeding him piosen all this time and now he is gone ,,,and all his symptoms were the same as the food causes....how sad ..how very sad theres nothing that can ever replace my Chachee.......And I don't ever want anyone to suffer the way we suffered and still suffering even now its Heartbreaking.You give your dog whats suppose to be the best foods out there and this is the end results...Its almost two weeks now since Chachee past and I will not stop fighting for my dog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank You
Theresa Wolff
My prayers are with you all at this time....Today isn't any easier for me than 3 weeks ago.....I miss you Chachee.......
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| EntryNo: |
36 |
| Date: |
Wednesday
09:45
04.04.2007 |
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Nada Polanco |
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Your pet's name:: Picasso
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Picasso (1990 - 2007)
» click to enlarge « Picasso passed away on March 1, 2007. He was the type of cat I thought would outlive everyone. Until he became very ill a couple of days before he passed, he was generally in very good health for all of his 17 years. Not a day goes by when I do not miss my best friend. Although he was diagnosed with hyperthyroid disease (a treatable condition) a few months prior to his death, I am now certain that this poisoned food killed him... killed my baby. I had no idea feeding my baby the food he loved would eventually take him away from me. I miss you with all my heart and will never forget you. Rest in peace.
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