Pet Food

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A Las Vegas-based company and its owners have pleaded guilty to distributing a tainted ingredient used to make pet food that killed potentially thousands of animals. Stephen S. Miller, 63, and his wife, Sally Qing Miller, 43, along with their company, Chemnutra Inc., pleaded guilty yesterday to some of the charges contained in a Feb. 6, 2008, federal indictment. The indictment alleged the Millers and ChemNutra, along with two Chinese companies, brought wheat gluten tainted with the chemical melamine into the U.S. It was then sold to pet-food makers, and thousands of cats and dogs became sick or died.

Almost half of the 200 poor people interviewed for a Rutgers University study on hunger in Camden said they ate dog food or cat food. Among the 46 percent who said they ate pet food, 28 percent said they ate it "sometimes" and 18 percent said they included it "very often" in their diets. Jacqui Collins-Parker, a junior majoring in urban studies at the Rutgers Camden campus, interviewed mostly young poor people who sought emergency aid at the Volunteers of America homeless shelter at 408 Cooper St. in Camden during the winter of 1985 and spring of 1986.

The owners of thousands of cats and dogs killed or sickened by tainted pet food could share in a proposed $32 million settlement that would cover out-of-pocket costs - and provide a bit extra for undocumented expenses. The preliminary settlement, filed last night in U.S. District Court in Camden, would resolve more than 100 lawsuits filed last year by anguished pet owners in the United States and Canada against companies that made or distributed the poisonous food. The proposed settlement would provide $24 million for a range of documented expenses - such as medical treatment, the cost of the pet food, health screenings, euthanasia, and burial costs - on top of the $8 million already paid out for claims.

Four years ago, Cheri Cutler was among thousands of grief-stricken pet owners who went to court seeking justice after their pets succumbed to contaminated food. The lawsuits against primarily Menu Foods Inc., the Canadian manufacturer of about 100 of the tainted product lines, grew into the largest wave of animal litigation ever in the American legal system. Now, Cutler and an estimated 20,000 others are finally receiving checks from the $24 million settlement approved by a federal judge in Camden in 2008 and made final last year by an appeals panel.

MEADVILLE, Pa. - A northwestern Pennsylvania pet food company is changing its corporate name and structure, but not its family ownership. The business known as Dad's Pet Care in Meadville, Crawford County, is now reorganized under a corporate umbrella company known as Ainsworth Pet Nutrition. Dad's was founded in 1933 when George Ainsworth Lang Sr. - also known as "Dad" - cooked up a batch of food with his brother to feed some pets. The company is still owned by Lang's descendants and the "Dad's" name will still appear on its pet food labels.

In the past, when Theresa Shikitino ran short of cash and kibble, she sometimes fed "mac and meatballs" to Sylvester the cat and Romeo, her Golden Retriever, to make sure they wouldn't go hungry. Her pets are "like family," Shikitino said the other day as she stood in line at the Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry in Prospect Park, in lower Delaware County. The 60-year-old Crum Lynne woman is one of many who have turned to the pantry not only for help putting food on the table, but to help feed beloved animals.

Campbell Soup Co. yesterday announced plans to sell two restaurant chains and its pet-food division in an effort to focus more strongly on food products, the Camden-based company's core business. "It's just a recognition of the fact that we are basically a manufacturer of food for humans," said James H. Moran, a spokesman for the company. Moran said the company felt it was not worth the investment it would take to continue in the two lines. The units to be sold by Campbell are: Champion Valley farms Inc., which markets pet food under the "Recipe" brand and operates a plant in Bloomsburg, Pa. Pietro's Corp.

The recall of 60 million cans and pouches of pet food is continuing to cause anxiety among dog and cat owners, at least three of whom have filed lawsuits alleging that their animals got sick or died after eating tainted food. Paul Henderson, president and CEO of Menu Foods Inc., the manufacturer, said yesterday that his company was still investigating the cause of kidney failures because the food linked to at least 16 animal deaths had shown no signs of contamination. He apologized for the worry that the recall has caused.

Santa will open his big bag to area animal-welfare groups this Christmas, thanks to the PAWS pet-food store in Woodlyn. The store is collecting money and pet supplies for four organizations as part of its holiday theme, assistant manager Jo Charest said. The organizations are the Francisvale Home for Small Animals in Radnor, the Morris Animal Refuge Auxiliary in Willow Grove, Sanctuary Hollow in Valley Forge, and the Delaware County branch of TWAIN (Those Who Are In Need).

As Goliath lay dying, Michelle Nocito told him she was sorry. Twice a day, she had fed the 9-year-old Italian mastiff a heaping bowl of Nutro Max chow. One hundred twenty pounds of hearty appetite, he always wolfed it down. Only after his kidneys failed did she learn that the brand was among dozens suspected of chemical contamination. By then, it was too late. On March 27, she had to have him put down. To the grieving, guilt-ridden Nocito, both she and Goliath had become victims in the largest pet-food recall in history.

Four years ago, Cheri Cutler was among thousands of grief-stricken pet owners who went to court seeking justice after their pets succumbed to contaminated food. The lawsuits against primarily Menu Foods Inc., the Canadian manufacturer of about 100 of the tainted product lines, grew into the largest wave of animal litigation ever in the American legal system. Now, Cutler and an estimated 20,000 others are finally receiving checks from the $24 million settlement approved by a federal judge in Camden in 2008 and made final last year by an appeals panel.

In the past, when Theresa Shikitino ran short of cash and kibble, she sometimes fed "mac and meatballs" to Sylvester the cat and Romeo, her Golden Retriever, to make sure they wouldn't go hungry. Her pets are "like family," Shikitino said the other day as she stood in line at the Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry in Prospect Park, in lower Delaware County. The 60-year-old Crum Lynne woman is one of many who have turned to the pantry not only for help putting food on the table, but to help feed beloved animals.

MEADVILLE, Pa. - A northwestern Pennsylvania pet food company is changing its corporate name and structure, but not its family ownership. The business known as Dad's Pet Care in Meadville, Crawford County, is now reorganized under a corporate umbrella company known as Ainsworth Pet Nutrition. Dad's was founded in 1933 when George Ainsworth Lang Sr. - also known as "Dad" - cooked up a batch of food with his brother to feed some pets. The company is still owned by Lang's descendants and the "Dad's" name will still appear on its pet food labels.

THE SKY-is-falling greenies are getting progressively batty. It's not enough that we shut down our oil, gas and coal industries, bike to work, switch lightbulbs, take cloth bags to the supermarket, smash our clunkers, take lukewarm low-water showers, and turn our thermostats down and sit in our mittens and tassel caps. Now they want us to cook our dogs. Not hot dogs. Real dogs - the furry ones that live in our homes. According to authors of a new book, "Time to Eat the Dog: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living," it takes 0.84 hectares of land to feed a medium-sized dog. A hectare is 2.471 acres, so they're saying it takes more than two acres of the planet's limited surface just to keep one midsized dog fed at any one time.

To Rhonda Thomas, a seasoned SPCA humane officer, the 28 cats in two stifling rooms in the Harleysville house appeared afraid and distressed, but she had seen worse. She planned to return for them the next day when she had help. Then she saw blue pellets in the food dishes and knew the animals had been offered rat poison; quickly, she summoned three ambulances to rush the animals to Montgomery County's three shelters. Yesterday, 27 of the cats were recovering after receiving vitamin K injections.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A Las Vegas-based company and its owners have pleaded guilty to distributing a tainted ingredient used to make pet food that killed potentially thousands of animals. Stephen S. Miller, 63, and his wife, Sally Qing Miller, 43, along with their company, Chemnutra Inc., pleaded guilty yesterday to some of the charges contained in a Feb. 6, 2008, federal indictment. The indictment alleged the Millers and ChemNutra, along with two Chinese companies, brought wheat gluten tainted with the chemical melamine into the U.S. It was then sold to pet-food makers, and thousands of cats and dogs became sick or died.

A federal judge in Camden yesterday approved a $24 million settlement for thousands of owners whose animals were sickened by tainted pet food. The deal, worked out last week, resolves more than 100 lawsuits filed in the United States and Canada since an epidemic of sick pets began last year. Lawyers said yesterday that the country's leading veterinarian organization estimated that 1,500 pets died from commercially sold food that contained tainted wheat gluten grown in China.

The owners of thousands of cats and dogs killed or sickened by tainted pet food could share in a proposed $32 million settlement that would cover out-of-pocket costs - and provide a bit extra for undocumented expenses. The preliminary settlement, filed last night in U.S. District Court in Camden, would resolve more than 100 lawsuits filed last year by anguished pet owners in the United States and Canada against companies that made or distributed the poisonous food. The proposed settlement would provide $24 million for a range of documented expenses - such as medical treatment, the cost of the pet food, health screenings, euthanasia, and burial costs - on top of the $8 million already paid out for claims.

A year after tainted pet food led to the deaths of thousands of dogs and cats nationwide, a proposed settlement was announced yesterday that would resolve more than 100 class-action lawsuits filed by grief-stricken pet owners in the United States and Canada. Details of the "agreement in principle" were not disclosed during the hearing in U.S. District Court in Camden. The tentative settlement followed months of negotiations between lawyers for companies that manufactured or distributed the poisonous chow and lawyers for pet owners, who had sought compensation for out-of-pocket costs including veterinarian and medicine bills and burial fees.

When was the last time you were jealous of your dog's dinner? If he eats commercial food - brownish slurry from a can, or chalky, crumbly kibble - the answer is probably never. But the Turkey Muttloaf from Melissa and Gayle Lizerbram's Doggie Diner is another breed of chow. With its attractive layering of sweet-potato puree and herb-flecked ground meat, it just might tempt even the most squeamish of dog owners to sneak a spoonful. The Lizerbrams, two sisters from Yardley, have developed their own line of fresh-cooked dog meals that they deliver around the Philadelphia area.