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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.
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448 thoughts onPurina Beneful Dog Food Kills Dogs, Class Action Says
I fed my dog Lady Beneful wet and dry food. She was diagnosed with Lymphoma at age 4 and even though we tried every treatment to fight it she passed less than 3 months later. After seeing this I can’t help but feel that if I had fed her something else she would still be here today.
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.
My 6 yr old saint Bernard(conner)died on Halloween night 2016. We always , feed ol Roy but a friend of ours gave us a couple boxes of Purina proplan focus biscuits and a box of beneful baked biscuits and he ate some and got very ill. Lost hair vomiting, diarrhea, stomach making noises, a seizure finished it with my family and friends and 15 yr old there watching are furry family member die. It was the weekend and we was calling trying to find someone to see him and as he was dien the vet we called put my husband on hold and by the time they came back on he was gone. He was my baby and protected me and my kids on various occasions when ppl was messing around our home. If I had a chance to do it all again I would never feed that stuff to him. We all love and miss him very much and I wish I cud get the treats or him tested to see if Thts what it was.
My precious animal companion, Boomer, a purebred Chihuahua was raised on this poison from around age 5 until he died a horrifying death in my lap at age 14. He had had seizures from his middle age, but was otherwise in great shape. Then one day he started sitting, hanging his head, refusing to eat or drink. When I took him to his doctor, she did blood work and came back saying he was in full kidney and liver failure. When she felt his tummy she said she could feel his liver and she believed he had cancer. She said he should be put down because he would be gone within a day. I went from having my sweet little best friend by my side to having to deal with losing him forever within a few hours. I asked if I could take him home for one last night, and his vet said he would probably pass away, and it “wouldn’t be pleasant.” How right she was. When he took his last breath a few hours later, he had been laying peacefully in my lap, when all of a sudden he let out a horrible, horrible scream as he lurched forward, his eyes so wide it was as if he was seeing something that absolutely terrified him. Then he was gone. I started screaming and running around the house, not knowing what to do. That was almost 2 years ago and I still break down when I remember. It was so awful, I will never forget it. The look on his little face was like he was seeing Death itself. I feel like my vet should have caught the symptoms of the hardening of the liver and whatever else she found the night he died. I had had him in for an annual checkup no more than a week prior. But after reading the other stories on various web sites, it makes me sick to realize the food I fed him year after year, thinking I was feeding him healthy kibble, was actually slowly killing him – my sweet, precious little companion and best friend for 14 years. I can’t bear the memory of his awful passing, but I wanted to let others know so hopefully they won’t make the same mistake I did. I will miss him until my dying day, and I will never forgive the Beneful makers. Such an unnecessary, needless, painful death.
I had a beautiful small full blooded pomeranian that had just turned 6 had no previous health problems. He loved eating beneful he began to feel puny and I was watching him closely he would still eat. Then one day he fell over I rushed him to urgent care Fur Buds. The doctor was going to keep him over night and give fluids and watch him. I got a call few hours later to come up there. The vet coming on shift had examined him and wanted to run blood work as she felt he was jaundice when I got up there I was told he was in full liver failure and he hd to be put down. I blame PURINA and want to join a class action law suit.
My otherwise healthy 5 year old dog developed severe IBS and after months of trying different medications, she passed away. She was fed Beneful. I was not aware of the product being recalled or any notice to the public. I cant help but wonder if this was the reason for her health issues. We spent thousands of dollars trying to help her but were unsuccessful
I fed my dog exclusively purina dog chow throughout his life an then switched to beneful later on in his life thinking it was better. When he was 7 i noticed a change in him thinking it was old age. After a couple months the change was so significant i took him to the vet. They ran blood tests an i found out that his liver counts were in the thousands, normal being the low hundreds. Hes liver had failed. Two days later i had to have him put down.
That dog was my heart an soul! Loved him and treated him like he was a child! It was such a devastating to go through! RIP Tank!
my email is grh@vfemail.net if you need a vet to testify
This killed our perfectly healthy and prize winning Irish Setter.. Bloodlines Date back over 175 yrs. Only ate beneful, Vet did Necropcy and said it was the Beneful that killed it. Watching that dog die was the hardest thing I think I have ever EVER HAD TO DO. IF I HAD ANY PURINA EXEC IN FRONT OF ME I WOULD beat him unit he could no longer stand and still get off better then Cyrus
I just received verification this evening that our family dog has terminal lymphoma cancer and only has weeks to live. She is only 7 years old and we rescued her when she was 2. All we ever fed her up until now is beneful/healthy. With that being said, I would just like to know if it was because of the dog food that my dog (Katie ) is dying.