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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
We had out beloved dog, Duchess, since 2001. After feeding her Beneful, she got sick, and she was unable to control her bowels. She started sitting at an angle. I’m sure her bottom was hurting. She threw up a lot. Now I’m worried that my other dog is sick because of the Beneful. He eats and sleeps. That’s all he does, and he used to be a frisky dog that liked to play. We had to put Duchy down on May 22, 1914. We couldn’t bare to see her suffer. Toward the end of her life, she became frail and lost a lot of weight. We will never get Duchy back. She was so much a part of our family. Now my other dog Duke has been fed Beneful, a Boxer Mix, and has become lethargic and sleeps all the time.
Im furious! I fed this food to my now deceased chocolate lab. She had to be put down in July 2013. We were always a Purina Beneful family and here I thought I was feeding my sweet and loyal dog the best, was I mistaken! I was actually killing her. To see her vomit constantly, add to that the diarrhea with and without blood, the lathargic weeks and various steroids and tests, only to come to the realization that what had been happening wasn’t undoing itself. I’m saddened that she was taken away from us sooner than she should have and watching her cross over the Rainbow Bridge was heartbreaking! I want to know how to get in the class action lawsuit!
Propylene glycol has replaced ETHYLENE glycol in antifreeze. Ethylene glycol is the poison. Get the facts straight. If the food is cr@p that’s one thing but it is not a poison.
…and what do you feed your dog? My guess is NOT Beneful. If you had, you would be suffering along with the rest of us. We had no idea. There are other problems with Beneful that poison our dogs and cats…not just the antifreeze issue. Please get your facts straight by reading all of the statistics before you make such a heartless comment.
people have been screaming this was a crap food for years its sad it took a death for people to listen. look at all the people that have been complaining about its quality on nestles facebook page.
Purina has been gobbled up by Nestle. Nestle is currently run by a CEO who has divulged his plan to buy up the worlds water supply, so they can sell it to you… at whatever price they wish! That indicates this corporation has no scruples when it comes to making lots of money. They make the overwhelming majority of pet products sold in the U.S. My cats will start to get a lot more Meow Mix in their diet, something not made by Nestle Purina!
Hi I work for a holistic pet food store, and I just wanted to give you a heads up that meow mix is just as bad as purine products, they just haven’t hit the news yet. Any food you can buy in a grocery store is not safe for your pet!!! If you want to stay on cheaper side of food the only good brand at like petco/petsmart is Blue Buffalo. Otherwise go to places like Mudbay or small business pet food stores where they research extensively all their foods.
Purina and Nestle are perfect examples of predatory capitalism (greed run amok, anything to make money). Based on what I have heard on this site I will never buy another Purina or Nestle product and will spread the word about these criminals. I hope they suffer the same diseases they inflicted on our pets and then burn in Hell forever — and I am being kind to them.
We fed our Labrador named Nelson, Beneful exclusively. In November 2012 he was a vibrant, fun loving 7 year old dog. By March 2013 he was dead. His body was ravaged with cancer. I read an article about Beneful and contacted Purina. Of course, they ignored me. I truly believe it was this food that killed him. We rescued another dog later that year and will never feed him that crap!
Purina Beneful Killed my Tuffy on November 10, 2014. It also made my other two dog very sick. I called Purina when they were vomiting up their food and had diarrhea. Purina told me to switch to Purina One and also how to switch them over to the new food. Why didn’t they just tell me to get him to the vet or even tell me to take them off Purina products. Tuffy was my baby, a mamas boy. He was glued to me at all times. It is over four months and I still cry every day for him. I took my other two dogs off the Purina food and treats. They have not vomited or had diarrhea, They have more energy, they play again, their coats are softer and shine, and they are not shedding their coat like they were. When I called Purina they did not care. They told me a vet would call me (no call). They then told me a supervisor would call (no call). They said they would send some kind of package to send them a sample of food (they never sent it). they did send me a couple of letters one said ( Dogs become ill and die). the next one said they sent my claim to Sedgwick and not to call them again.(I was calling them weekly to tell them what they did to my dogs) My grief was almost to much for me to handle. I never thought I could lose my fur babies to their dog food and treats. Purina is such a large company that makes things for humans to eat I thought I was feeding them a good food, a safe food. And then to treat me so bad while I was grieving for my Tuffy. I will never purchase another Nestle/Purina products again along with my family and friends.
I know how you feel..so sorry..Just lost my forever baby 6 days ago. Winston was 10 years old, a 5 lb Yorkie…My heart hurts.
I have a 10 yr old Yorkie & a Chi Pup -I used to buy this crap for my dog too! But – she started being listless all the time, eating grass, dragging her butt across the floor etc. Thank god I got a bunch of dog food samples in the mail & started feeding the dogs the samples & I started giving them can food to switch things up a little. Then 2 months later – I was about to run out of food and buy Beneful then I heard this all over the news. I cannot believe how negligent that they have been allowing all this nasty crap in the food. dogs are living creatures and I regard them as 1 step below humans – which means if its not safe for me to eat, then I dont want my dog eating it either – to not pull this from the shelves and here idiots on here saying ah duh my dog isnt sick and eats it. Well condider yourself lucky & dont be so cheap! Throw it out! Better yet, why dont you eat it?Anyone who feeds it to their pet after knowing it could be and most likely is bad is a BAD PERSON. It to me is the same as murdering your animal. I love my dogs more then words can say and this scares me so much that i think i will be using my nutri bullet to make dog food myself – then at least i know whats in it.
This is normally my dogs brand of food and my fiance just purchased the costco brand instead, which I was very upset that he did when he brought it home as I always like to have my dog eat beneful which I held with the highest regard. I am shocked and over the past few weeks I have I have noticed a big change with my dog. He has not vomited (which I originally thought was because he may have eaten his food too fast) and his dragging his behind on the floor (I have had his anal glands cleaned routinely but he still did this every day). His stool is strong and was not the case was soft when he was on beneful. He also chewed his feet to death which I thought was from the milk bone treats and then cut them out and he still chewed his feet! I am outraged by this news and so upset!!!
Right now I am trying to detox my dog from this garbage. I hope and pray that I got it started in time. I have never seen my dog so ill and lethargic. She is a Border Collie/Shepard cross.
try her on just boiled chicken and brown rice for a week or two to detox her. Add some pumpkin puree (pure pumpkin, no spices). This will help with her digestion. I had to do that with my shepherd to get him off of this food.
Oh my god my boxer died from seizures 10/10/2014 and my dachshund has had two seizures as well since last year!! How do we get to be apart of this lawsuit?!
Kat, My Lab was only 3 years old and became extremely sick, the Vet. could not explain what it was at the time Never in my wildest dreams this very playful dog would have this situation occur and they knew about this and did nothing…. Peoples dogs R dying while they are making millions of dollars a day off this dog food and there are plenty more people that dont even know what is happening that will die this year…. my dog died Feb. 11, 2014 at the 3??? they need to remove this dog food off the shelves Im gonna report this to my local shopRite supermarket and let them know what is happening! This is something everyone should be immediately reporting as well….Just like everyone did with the PINK SLIME,,,,,then action will be taken!!! I miss my dog so much… :(