Dog deaths may be victim of contaminated pet food

A Warragul family believes their greyhound was the victim of contaminated pet food that has been linked to a number of dog deaths across Gippsland.

Jenni Lewis has four dogs - they were all fed the same fresh pet meat, but their greyhound Jess became ill very quickly and died suddenly.

Jenni and her 16-year-old daughter Grace were shocked to see their dog die so quickly.

Their dogs had been eating pet meat from the same supplier for more than 12 months.

But they noticed something wasn’t right with Jess, a rescue dog, when she stopped eating.

They sought veterinarian treatment but Jess’ condition continued to decline when they took her home.  Jess was lethargic, stopped eating and wasn’t responding to her initial treatment.

Jenni said they took her back to the where she was placed on an IV drip before she died later that day on June 24.

“I felt really sorry for the vet, they were quite distressed at how quickly she deteriorated. Blood tests revealed elevated enzymes in her liver.

“It really has been a big loss to Grace, it was all very sudden.  Jess slept on her bed and greeted her everyday when she came home from school.

“She was a real credit to the breed, she was the most beautiful dog,” she said.

Jenni said it wasn’t until they saw information on social media about other dogs in Gippsland dying that they began to join the dots and make the link to where they had sourced pet meat.

Sue Graham of Moe had her second greyhound die last week.

She said watching her healthy dogs suddenly became sick and lethargic had been a “terrible, terrible rollercoaster.”

Sue’s dogs Pash and pebbles stopped eating on June 27 and had been sick for two and a half weeks.

“A lot of people thought it was just in East Gippsland but it is here as well.

“This has the potential to keep going if people have that contaminated meat in their freezer,” she said.

Agriculture Victoria has been made aware of 45 cases of dogs, of which 10 have died, suffering from severe liver disease in the Bairnsdale, Traralgon and Frankston areas.

All affected dogs were young, healthy and vaccinated. The department is aware of a further seven anecdotal cases.

Agriculture Victoria chief veterinary officer Graeme Cooke confirmed fresh and frozen raw meat sourced from Gippsland, bought between May 31 and July 3, was one common factor and potential connections were being investigated.

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