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We love to give our dogs a treat for being obedient or cute, which is why it is especially sad when owners gave their dogs chicken jerky unknowingly.
According to the Chicago Tribune , the lawsuit was filed against Nestle Purina and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and it states that both companies knew the treats were dangerous for dogs to consume. The class-action lawsuit also claims that Nestle Purina knew of more than 500 cases where a dog died or was severely sick from eating chicken jerky products made in China.
That is ridiculous! It's hard to imagine how the dog owners affected by the case must feel. However, there were reasons to suspect the treats might not be good for your canine. On every bag of chicken jerky for dogs (also called tenders, strips or treats) produced since 2007, there has been an FDA warning label and an advisory of the dangers of chicken jerky products from China.
Nestle Purina says the claims are bogus and that their products are safe to eat, but that still doesn't explain the FDA warning.
It's amazing that those kind of potentially hazardous treats get a little warning label that most owners apparently didn't see, but anything at all potentially harmful to a person has giant print meant to catch your attention. But I suppose people ignore those advisories and warnings, too …
So, what do you think? We'd love to know. Do you check the labels of warnings for the products you buy your dog? Should the FDA have pursued more action sooner or was a warning label enough?
There is not, nor has there ever been an FDA warning label on any of the treats implicated in what is now over 1800 complaints filed with the FDA. And to imply that countless pet owners just ignored a warning plastered right on the package is, to say the least, infuriating. The FDA issued "advisories" and "cautions" as far back as 2007, none of which were widely publicized until late Nov. 2011 and early 2012, didn't mention any products by name, basically all they said was that problems were reported, testing was ongoing and IF you did give the treats to keep an eye out for problems. The manufacturers still deny that there are any problems, refuse to recall, and claim their products are "wholesome and safe." They are still on the shelves.
So the poop hits the fan late last night, folks start posting on the Doggy Diva FB page-some posts very hostile, as you can imagine. Others tried to post directly to the blog page, but those are moderated and weren't showing up. I started digging around this morning and found that the author is not the owner of the Doggy Diva store/site/blog. She's a "professional" writer with a journalism degree who-laughably- gives other people tips on how to write with accuracy. 
Meanwhile, there was no response at all on the blog or the FB page. So I...having many other things I should be doing today....picked up the phone and called the owner. We talked for about 10 minutes. Shortly after we hung up, she posted this:
Doggie Diva Dog Boutique I am very sorry to anyone who read this article published by Doggie Diva. I am also sorry for anyone who has lost their dog due to these jerky treats. It was not intentional to hurt anyone. I am one of the good retailers. Today I was informed that there is a mistake in the blog entry that was written about these treats. I am the owner and did not myself write this article. My writter did and I will be speaking with her where she got her facts from today. It was just a honest mistake. I as the owner, should have read the article but never did so I didn't see the error. I am sorry to everyone. The reason I had the article written in the first place was because my dog passed away suddenly and she had been eating these treats. I am retracting the statements and I will have the mistakes in the article fixed within the next 24 hours. I pride myself on my good reputation as a dog boutique retailer, it was a mistake, please understand. Thank you.
Time will tell. I also called Allison, who wrote that piece of trash...but got voice mail and left a message. Rachel, the DD owner was NOT happy when she saw some of the comments on her FB page. Deleted several. This caused a torches and pitchforks lynch mob to start forming. 
So I've spent the rest of the morning trying to mediate, asking that everyone just give the gal a chance to make things right without throwing any more punches. She *seemed* sincere to me, but I could be wrong. I shudder to think that someone may have read that blog, picked up a package of tainted treats, looked for the "FDA warning label" that never existed, and thought they were safe. A slim chance, I know...but those words may have directly lead to suffering and deaths.
In other news:
http://kucinich.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=304018#.UA4U_g7kOmg.facebook
Washington, Jul 23 -
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today released the following statement criticizing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for failing to adequately protect domestic pets.
“After a weeks-long investigative trip to China and thousands of reports of sick and dying dogs, the FDA still has no answers and offers pet owners no protection,â€
