Purina Beneful Dog Food Kills Dogs, Class Action Says

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Nestle Purina Petcare Company was hit with a class action lawsuit alleging that its Beneful dog food includes toxic substances which are capable of killing dogs.

According to the Beneful class action lawsuit filed in a California federal court by plaintiff Frank Lucido on Feb. 5, Beneful is responsible for making thousands of dogs either seriously ill or causing them to die, which happened to one of his own dogs.

Lucido owned three dogs — a German Shepherd, an English Bulldog and a Labrador. He bought a bag of Beneful for the first time in late December 2014 or early January 2015 and each dog began eating Beneful exclusively, the Beneful class action lawsuit explains.

On Jan. 15, the German Shepherd began to lose a large amount of hair and began giving off a unusual odor, which concerned Lucido and his wife, who first started to notice the symptoms. Two days later the German Shepherd became “violently ill.”

After being examined by a veterinarian, it was determined that the German Shepherd was suffering from internal bleeding in the dog’s stomach and the liver was also malfunctioning, which the veterinarian said was “consistent with poisoning.”

On Jan. 23, Lucido’s wife found the English Bulldog dead in their yard. “Post-mortem veterinary examination revealed signs of internal bleeding in the dog’s stomach and lesions on his liver, much like [the German Shepherd],” the class action lawsuit claims.

The Labrador also became ill and is being tested for similar problems.

Lucido claims that he and his wife “have suffered economic losses including the purchase price of Beneful and veterinary and related medical expenses” as result of the damage Beneful has done to their dogs.

According to the Beneful class action lawsuit, there have been more than 3,000 complaints posted by dog owners on the internet “about dogs becoming ill, in many cases very seriously ill, and/or dying after eating Beneful.

“The dogs show consistent symptoms, including stomach and related internal bleeding, liver malfunction or failure, vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, weight loss, seizures, bloating, and kidney failure,” the Beneful toxic dog food class action lawsuit alleges.

Lucido gives several examples of these complaints by other dog owners.

According to Lucido, Beneful is advertised as a healthful and nutritional dog food, but his experience and others has been the opposite.

Beneful dog foods allegedly include propylene glycol, which is “an automotive component that is a known animal toxin and is poisonous to cats and dogs.”

In addition, the Beneful class action lawsuit alleges that the dog food includes mycotoxins, which are “a group of toxins produced by fungus that occurs in grains, which are a principle ingredient in Beneful.”

The class action lawsuit cites the Association for Truth In Pet Food, which tested “Beneful Original and found that it contained dangerous levels of mycotoxins.”

Lucido is looking to represent two classes — a nationwide class and a California subclass for dog owners “who purchased Beneful dog food in the past four years and who incurred any out of pocket costs due to illness, injury or death of their dog resulting from the ingestion of Beneful.”

The Beneful toxic dog food class action lawsuit is charging Nestle Purina with breach of implied warranty, breach of express warranty, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, strict products liability, violating California’s consumer legal remedies act, violating California’s Unfair Competition Law, and violating California’s False Advertising Law.

The plaintiff is represented by Jeffrey B. Cereghino of Ram, Olson, Cereghino & Kopcyzynski, by John Yanchunis of Morgan & Morgan Complex Litigation Group, by Karl Molineux of Merrill, Nomura & Molineux, and by Donna F. Solen of Kimbrell Kimbrell & Solen LLC.

The Beneful Toxic Dog Food Class Action Lawsuit is Frank Lucido v. Nesltle Purina Petcare Company, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: On Nov. 17, 2016, U.S. District Judge Edward Chen granted summary judgment to Purina, rejecting testimony from the plaintiffs’ expert that suggested Beneful dog food was the direct cause of their dogs’ illnesses or deaths.