Redcliff woman warning pet owners of dog food recall
By Mo Cranker on February 18, 2019.
Claire Lindhout and her dog Timbit sit at the vet clinic while trying to fix a probelm in Timbit's health that Lindhout says was called by recalled dog food. Timbit passed away Saturday. -- SUBMITTED PHOTO@MHNmocranker
A Redcliff woman is mourning the loss of her dog that she believes died because it ate a brand of dog food that has been subject to a recall across North America. Claire Lindhout’s Teacup Poodle named Timbit passed away Saturday, just days before her ninth birthday. Lindhout says she believes Timbit’s death was due to eating food from Hill’s Pet Nutrition that has been recalled. Lindhout is speaking out with the hopes that others will get their pets checked before it’s too late. “It’s 20 different kinds of food from Hill’s Pet Nutrition that was recalled because of a vitamin D overload,” said Lindhout. “The cans contained 70 per cent more than the recommended dose for each can.“Vitamin D is fatal for dogs if they can’t get it out of their system.” Lindhout says Timbit spent about a week in intensive care before passing away on the weekend. “Unfortunately she did not make it,” she said. “More and more people are coming forward who had pets pass away because of this.“Right now there’s two class-action lawsuits in the United States — last I heard there was over 300 dogs that died because of this food.” Lindhout says one big problem was that the company did not communicate that the food was being recalled. “They didn’t issue the recall in Canada until very late in January,” she said. “They didn’t communicate well with the people selling their products and I just happened to find out from a friend who checks recall websites. “They needed to do a better job of getting the word out and they just didn’t.” Unhealthy amounts of vitamin D in dogs can cause severe kidney problems — since they can’t process the vitamin, they eventually succumb to the complications. Lindhout is urging people to take their pets to the vet if they are eating any of Hill’s products. “By the time symptoms have arrived — it can already be too late,” she said. “It has to be flushed out of their systems right away.” Lindhout says losing a dog is like losing a family member. “I’m very sad about losing my little Timbit,” she said. “She came everywhere with me and people would come into my shop just to visit her — she was just such an amazing character.” A list of recalled products can be found here.
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