Pet lover ill after eating recalled dog food (Montreal Gazette)

[redacted]

Suffered vomiting, foaming mouth. Was trying to get terrier to take a bite, too

MELISSA ARSENIUK and JOHN COLEBOURN, CanWest News Service
Published: Sunday, March 25, 2007

An Ottawa woman is recovering after eating dog food and then becoming violently ill, in a case possibly related to the rat-poison-laced pet food that has killed 14 dogs and cats and sickened dozens more across North America.

Elaine Larabie said yesterday she ate some dog food last week in an effort to convince her terrier, Missy, to do the same.

Soon afterward, both Larabie and Missy found themselves in the hospital - Larabie at an after-hours emergency room, and Missy at Ottawa's Alta Vista Animal Hospital.

Initially, the devoted dog owner did not think dog food made her sick. "I thought I caught a virus, but then I realized I ate the food, and put two and two together," she said.

MORE
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=d19e0d1d-67dc-4ab7-911e-cf38390df54e&k=23093

[napi21]

1. Dumb as most of you think this lady was, I'vedone close to that with

my Bichons. Maybe I've gone as far as to touch the food to my lips, but I admit, I've never actually eaten it. I wish this lady gets well and her little dearly loved doggie does too.

[AZBlue]

2. Not dumb at all.

When a pet won't eat or is being finicky, you'll do ANYTHING to get them to take some food. You have to, they're you're babies.

Best wishes to both of them - I hope they both recover completely.

[redacted]

3. I'm not sure it sounds stupid at all

[Critters2]

5. When my crf cat would refuse to eat, I got pretty desperate a few times

and did the touching it to my lips thing. Never ate any, but I came close. I can easily see how this might happen.

I can also see how the next serious contamination could be of human foods.

[Bluestar]

4. What about poor people who eat dog food because they can't afford

real food? I haven't seen this discussed here (maybe it has been) but I have always heard that, as disgusting as this sounds, it is the sad truth for some poor and fixed-income elderly people. What is going to happen if this sickens or kills a human being?

I'm also a cynic about the food industry in general. I won't be surprised if we learn that this contaminated wheat gluten has been shipped to some human food companies.

[rumpel]

6. Yes, I heard quite a few elderly people

buy dog food at least once a week for their own consumption -
but this never sounded true to me. Is it true?

[tomreedtoon]

7. No, not true. More often than once a week.

Sometimes six days a week. Welcome to the Golden Years, Americans.

[redacted]

8. .

[Stuckinthebush]

9. Why was she so desperate to get her dog to eat?

I'd assume dogs will eat when they are hungry. Perhaps the dog "knew" that the food was bad. Maybe we should listen to our pets more!

Anyway...this is just another terrible story surrounding this entire pet food scandal.

[Zywiec]

10. I agree with you. Why force a dog to eat?

If my dogs don't eat it usually means they are sick and I take them to the vet. I trust the animals' instincts about their wellbeing more than my own.

[napi21]

13. I think trying to get your dog to eat is the same as trying to get your

little kids to eat. Every parent that I know has done THAT, and some much more often than others. I think it's because we care about them and feel they can't be healthy if they don't eat.

You are correct though about a dog will eat when they're hungry. I know my vet tells me that ALL THE TIME! Her exact quote is "No dog or cat has ever starved to death because it didn't like the brand of food they were offered!" I know she's right, but I still worry about my little flufferbutts. They're little, and they only get fed once a day!

[lonestarnot]

11. MG what a nutball.

[redacted]

14. Why are you calling this lady a "nutball?"

[Lurking Dem]

12. Why do I feel the need

to buy tinfoil???

[redacted]

15. Lurking, would you mind explaining that remark?

[Lurking Dem]

16. Just seems mighty strange to me.

Her description on what happened, list of symptoms, etc. before even bothering to seek treatment rings a little hollow.

I'm wondering if this was a whackjob determined to strike it big in a lawsuit and maybe decided a little pesticide would do the trick.

I dunno. I'm turning into a jaded curmudgeon.

[redacted]

17. Well, that's true. That possibility always exists.

Hopefully we'll know more very shortly.