Like a lot of other animal lovers, veterinarians and journalists who write about pets and pet products, I have been consumed in recent times with the scenario surrounding dog jerky treats made in China, and the numerous mysterious pet illnesses and deaths allegedly connected to these treats.

As I mentioned in my early January 2013 article Dog Jerky Treats Made in China Update, I was in the process of speaking with Dr.

Cathy Alinovi DVM, a holistic veterinarian from Indiana and co-author of the pet food cookbook "Dinner PAWsible," who told me that she had some intriguing theories about the reasons for the pet illnesses and deaths being associated with these treats.

Initially, pet food safety bloggers Susan Thixton (Truth About Pet Food) and Mollie Morrissette (Poisoned Pets), whom I interviewed for my previous article, thought there might be a connection between the glycerins used in the manufacturing process in plants in China and the pet deaths and illnesses.

Then, as you may know, some leading dog jerky treats with ingredients sourced from China were involved in a recall during the same time frame as my article, due to containing trace amount of poultry antibiotics not approved for use in the U.S.:

• Waggin' Train
• Canyon Creek Ranch
• Milo's Kitchen
• Cadet
• Publix private label dog jerky treats

The FDA indicated that the antibiotics did not pose any health risks to pets. But then Mollie published a very in-depth, thought-provoking article on her blog about this as it relates to the human food industry in the U.S., which you can access here.

Although I am admittedly no scientist, physician or veterinarian, this raised some serious questions in my mind about how these drugs may affect pets.
Meanwhile, I contacted Dr. Cathy to get her thoughts on this, and here is what she had to say.

Is This the China Dog Jerky Treats Smoking Gun?

Dr. Cathy pointed out that sulfa is one of the key components in some of the antibiotics in question, which immediately raised a red flag for her.

"Susan and Mollie called me and asking me about the sulfa drugs and side effects," she said. "Here's the take I had when I walked out of vet school: You don't use on small animals because they can have reactions, such as dry eye. I thought, 'What if this is it?' Recently, my feed sale rep came in. He said that those in the business know you don’t put these in dog foods."

But why would some dogs get sick and even die, and not others?

"Thousands of dogs can eat sulfas, but one can experience an anaphylaxis (a serious allergic reaction) and die," Dr. Cathy explained. "It's just like a bunch of people can eat strawberries and not have a reaction, but one can. The more we look at it, the more I think this might be it. These are all antibiotics for livestock."

"Some pets are resistant to one (antibiotic), because it's in their food. Then some dogs can have an allergic reaction. I had a patient that died from jerky treats that got Fanconi Syndrome; he had an allergic reaction and died. (She compared this to people who are allergic to bee stings.) So sulfa, even if you get a little bit, can kill you (if one is allergic to this)."

She added that side effects might include dry eye, vomiting, loss of appetite, anemia, arthritis, facial swelling, excessive urination, low thyroid and unexplained liver failure.
"The bottom line is: they’re allergic," she concluded.

The Science Behind the Sadness of Dog Illnesses and Deaths

Dr. Cathy was kind enough to write up a scientific analyses of the antibiotics contained in the dog jerky treats from China. Although this is highly technical, I personally found this fascinating.
Here is her report:

The drugs found in the jerky treats are: sulfaclozine, tilmicosin, trimethoprim, enrofloxacin and sulfaquinoxaline. Numbers one, three, and five are sulfa combination drugs.

Tilmicosin is commonly known as Micotil – it is used to treat respiratory disease and has a warning on the label for human handling to be careful as it can cause death in humans.

Enrofloxacin is commonly known as Baytril – it is also used for respiratory disease, (but might be used illegally to treat intestinal bacterial diarrhea). It is one of our “big gun” antibiotics that we use in vet medicine when the milder antibiotics don’t work.

But, it's interesting that in some patients who've never been given Baytril before that their bacteria are resistant (which means Baytril doesn't kill the bacteria), which must be because the dogs have been eating Baytril all along.

Side effects of sulfa drugs: "Keratoconjunctivitis sicca, hypersensitivity (type 1 or type 3), acute neutrophilic hepatitis with icterus, vomiting, anorexia, diarrhea, fever, hemolytic anemia, urticaria, polyarthritis, facial swelling, polydipsia, crystalluria, hematuria, polyuria, cholestasis, hypothyroidism, anemias, agranulocytosis, idiosyncratic hepatic necrosis in dogs." Direct from Plumb's Veterinary Drug Handbook, 7th Edition.

Keratoconjuctivitis sicca – KCS – dry eye – dogs can't make enough tears and this can cause permanent eye damage

Hypersensitivity type 1 can be anaphylaxis – see this study.

Hypersensitivity type 3 – this crazy thing where the body makes these immune complexes that get stuck in tiny places – like in the kidneys, and cause tissue damage. See this report.

The Anatomy of Drug Allergies

Here's the thing about allergies: Constant exposure to the same thing can cause allergies, not first time exposure. Think of people or animals you know with allergies. Usually, these develops later, like at 3 to 5-years-old in humans, 2 to 3 years of age in dogs. So, when you introduce a dog's body to a sulfa drug a few times, eventually, some dogs bodies may indicate, 'That's enough,' while many others do just fine. Just like some people never develop peanut allergies, while some can die from this.

In the U.S., the drugs found in the treats are allowed for some food animal species. The sulfa types have a 10-day meat withdrawal, which means the food animal cannot have the drug within 10 days of slaughter. Enrofloxacin has a 28-day withdrawal. Tilmicosin also has a 28-day withdrawal.
Fanconi Syndrome is its own disease in humans and the dog breed Basenjis.

The name for what has been seen with the jerky treats is Fanconi-like syndrome. Symptoms are basically sugar in the urine but normal blood sugar (glucose) levels, maybe advancing to kidney failure and death.

There will also be some electrolyte (dissolved salt) abnormalities. Which all basically means the kidneys no longer do their filtering job. Severe electrolyte imbalances can lead to seizures and death, as those electrolytes are needed by every cell in the body to function, including neurons in the brain.

The Bottom Line

While Dr. Cathy's theories are just that, this certainly is food for thought. I am very grateful to her for taking the time to write this report and sharing this with my readers and me. Like virtually all animal lovers, I hope that there is a resolution to this scenario and an end to pets getting sick or dying.

Update:In October 2013, the FDA announced a probe into the possible causes of the pet illnesses and deaths from jerky treats made in China. For more information, please see my blog.