Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Pet food contaminants causing kidney failure in cats and dogs
By Dobson, Roy L M et al.·Published in Toxicological sciences : an official journal of the Society of Toxicology·2008·The Procter & Gamble Company, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Identification and characterization of toxicity of contaminants in pet food leading to an outbreak of renal toxicity in cats and dogs.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of cats and dogs experienced acute kidney failure after eating contaminated wet pet food that was recalled in Spring 2007. The food contained wheat gluten from China, which was found to have harmful chemicals like melamine and cyanuric acid. These substances can form crystals that block the kidneys, leading to serious health issues. Unfortunately, many pets suffered severe kidney damage, and some did not survive. This incident highlights the dangers of certain contaminants in pet food and the importance of monitoring food safety.
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Abstract
This paper describes research relating to the major recall of pet food that occurred in Spring 2007 in North America. Clinical observations of acute renal failure in cats and dogs were associated with consumption of wet pet food produced by a contract manufacturer producing for a large number of companies. The affected lots of food had been formulated with wheat gluten originating from China. Pet food and gluten were analyzed for contaminants using several configurations of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectrometry (MS), which revealed a number of simple triazine compounds, principally melamine and cyanuric acid, with lower concentrations of ammeline, ammelide, ureidomelamine, and N-methylmelamine. Melamine and cyanuric acid, have been tested and do not produce acute renal toxicity. Some of the triazines have poor solubility, as does the compound melamine cyanurate. Pathological evaluation of cats and dogs that had died from the acute renal failure indicated the presence of crystals in kidney tubules. We hypothesized that these crystals were composed of the poorly soluble triazines, a melamine-cyanuric acid complex, or a combination. Sprague dawley rats were given up to 100 mg/kg ammeline or ammelide alone, a mixture of melamine and cyanuric acid (400/400 mg/kg/day), or a mixture of all four compounds (400 mg/kg/day melamine, 40 mg/kg/day of the others). Neither ammeline nor ammelide alone produced any renal effects, but the mixtures produced significant renal damage and crystals in nephrons. HPLC-MS/MS confirmed the presence of melamine and cyanuric acid in the kidney. Infrared microspectroscopy on individual crystals from rat or cat (donated material from a veterinary clinic) kidneys confirmed that they were melamine-cyanuric acid cocrystals. Crystals from contaminated gluten produced comparable spectra. These results establish the causal link between the contaminated gluten and the adverse effects and provide a mechanistic explanation for how two apparently innocuous compounds could have adverse effects in combination, that is, by forming an insoluble precipitate in renal tubules leading to progressive tubular blockage and degeneration.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18689873/