Wal-Mart Removes Bestro Chicken ****y Strips After Dog Death
Posted on Friday, August 17th, 2007 at 1:54 am in News for Cats, Dogs & Owners, Philly, National Dog, Cat & Pet Info, Dogs, Pet Food Recalls & Safety.
By Emily Huh

Bestro Chicken ****yA Philadelphia woman says her dog died after eating tainted dog food treats (Bestro Chicken ****y Strips) bought from Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart has quietly pulled the made in China dog treat from its stores named Bestro Chicken ****y Strips. There has been no announcement to the public as of yet. It is also uncertain of how many tainted bags of treats there may still be out among consumers.

A recall has not been issued. There has not been any information on FDA’s website. Wal-Mart has told consumers if they have purchased Bestro Chicken ****y Strips, they can return them for a full refund.

Kate Collins said it is hard to talk about what happened. Bella, her two-year-old Chihuahua, died suddenly on July 31 after eating Bestro Chicken ****y Strips. Collins said that Bella died within a week after eating the treats. Her other dogs did not receive the same treats and were unaffected.

Bella’s owner had the animal hospital do an autopsy and they found that Bella died of a massive bacterial infection. The veterinarians suspected it was caused by E. coli or Salmonella.

“The vet said that, going by her autopsy, it could have been the treats,” Collins said.

“The dog was presented to our hospital on July 27 for vomiting. She deteriorated rapidly over three days even with aggressive treatment. We suspected an intestinal virus at first, but when she continued to do poorly, we thought she had an obstruction due to a foreign body,” Jody Hoffman [Bella’s veterinarian] said.

Before the veterinarians were able to perform surgery, Bella died.

Hoffman said Bella developed hypothermia and sepsis. After the autopsy was performed, she realized that her first guess was incorrect.

She found an enlarged liver with round margins and no foreign body. Bella’s colon was a purple-back color. She said the symptoms and lesions were supportive of enteritis caused by a toxic bacteria.

Collins bought the treats at a Wal-Mart store in Boothwyn, Pennsylvania. It took her several days until a manager finally spoke to her about the situation.

She said the ****y strips were the only thing that was different in Bella’s diet. The chihuahua ate one ****y strip a day over a three-day period from July 20-22. After that, Bella began to stop eating. She had diarrhea, was vomiting, and her health began to deteriorate.

The company has not disclosed how many consumer complaints that they have received. A news station is reporting that there are similar stories from consumers across the nation.

Wal-Mart has issued a statement saying it cares about their customers and their pets, and has ordered the dog food treats removed from store shelves.

In a statement to a local newspaper, Wal-Mart said it directed all its locations to remove “all recalled Chicken ****y Strips from Import-Pingyang Pet Product Co. and Chicken ****y from Shanghai Bestro Trading from shelves on July 26.” The company also put a computerized block on the products, so customers could not be purchase the products.

The company also added that it would work with the supplier to “assure that the highest safety standards are met.”

Wal-Mart has also offered to reimburse Collins for up to $2,000. She said it is not about the money and that amount doesn’t even come close to covering the emotional loss. Collins does not understand why Wal-Mart is not making a public announcement. She wants other pet owners to know about the tainted dog food treats.

When we looked at online boards and forums, we found various customer complaints as early as 2006 about dogs becoming ill or dying from eating Bestro’s Chicken ****y Strips.

Source: 6ABCLocal.com, DelcoTimes

This is really getting crazy! I hope the meat in Wal-mart doesn't come from China. I buy hamburger there and chicken as well. What are we going to do? Is everyone going to have to buy their own farm and then grow their own food? I was buying catfish at Wal-mart and then that toxic fish report came out on CNN.....I'm afraid this could make cancer rates rise in America over the next 20 years.

awww that's terrible, i'm sure wal mart will keep it hush hush they seem to always aviod being honest with the public, that i've noticed anyways

it's like quicksand...everyone is being ****ed into the CHINA SYDROME!

My dog was sick yesterday. I had to take her to the vet. He thought it was some kind of virus. He gave her a shot of antibiotics. She is better today. I was really worried about her. My aunt told me about a dog getting sick the same way mine was and the vet ran tests on her and found that it had to do with eating grass that birds had pooped on. I don't know what to think about eating anything anymore, whether it be humans or animals. It is really getting scary.