Complaint Review: Diamond Pet Foods

On November 11, 2012 we bought a bag of Kirkland Healthy Weight dog food made by Diamond Pet Foods. On the evening of November 12th, our adult son, who was staying with us while he was in transition, opened the bag of Healthy Weight to feed his French bulldog (Molly). The next morning, Molly was very sick; she was throwing up and had diarrhea. Our son did not tell us Molly was sick at the time; he thought the illness occurred because of the switch from her regular food. This is the only night he fed his dog from our food as he bought her regular brand the following day..

Our dogs were not fed from the bag of Kirkland Healthy Weight dog food until the evening of November 13th;. The next morning (November 14th), all of the dogs were vomiting and had diarrhea|. By this time, our oldest dog, Percival also had exaggerated joint pain and stiffness. We assumed the illness may have been caused by switching from the Kirkland Mature dog food to the new Healthy Weight bag. We fed once more the following evening from the Kirkland Healthy Weight bag of dog food. On the morning of the 15th, our dogs were still very sick and refused to eat their breakfast so my husband went back to Costco on his way home from work and picked up our regular Kirkland Mature Dog food.

By November 16th, we learned about Mollys illness and became convinced that the Healthy Weight dog food was making them ill. We took the bag of Kirkland Healthy Weight back to our local Costco warehouse. Customer Service took the bag and refunded our money. Our sons dog and two of our dogs seemed to be improving; however, our third dog Bryna, was not improving and, in fact, seemed to be getting worse. She was a nursing mother with 4 week old pups. Because she was still feeling sick, we did not allow her to nurse her pups that evening and decided that I would take her to the Vet the next
morning.

The morning of November 17th, Bryna was still very sick and weak. Her head was swollen and she had dropped weight so we took her to the veterinarian, who informed us that her kidneys were failing. Bryna was immediately admitted to the veterinarian hospital where she stayed until November 21st. Upon her release, we were told that Bryna would not live more
than two months; she died on December 19th, (approximately one month after eating the contaminated dog food).

November 25th, we filed a Report of Incident with Costco and told their managers what had happened with our dogs. Our claim was opened on December 4, 2012; we spoke with Costco representatives and I released Brynas veterinarian records for the Costco representatives to review.

We were offered a Costco Gift Card for $100 if we would close the case at that time. We were also told that there have been no recalls on any of the "Diamond Pet Foods", made for Costco since 2008; however, after conducting our own research, we found numerous complaints and recalls involving dog food sold at Costco and other retailers who use "Diamond Pet Foods" to make their brand dog food between 2008 and 2012. And all 2010 through 2012 claims had the same indications and symptoms displayed by our dogs.

On the day before he left for Christmas vacation, Costco representative contacted us and asked for the veterinarian records that we had already previously submitted. He also asked us to dig up Brynas body for an autopsy. We immediately called our Veterinarians office to determine if the records had been released. We were told the records were faxed a couple of
weeks ago and agreed to fax them over again.

Later that morning, Costco representative called and told us that he had spoken our Vet, and claimed that our Vet had stated that it could not have been the dog food that caused our dogs illness. Because of this allegation he was closing our case but, since we had been such good Costco customers, we were again offered a Costco Gift Card.

We immediately called our Vet and he denied telling Costco representative that the dog food did not cause our dogs death. Our Vet stated that he informed the Costco rep of the fact that Brynas kidneys were destroyed from a toxin that was introduced to her, but there was no way to prove where the toxin came from because Costco took the bag of dog food and there was no sample to be tested. Also, it had been too long to diagnose the other dogs. Our Vet did state that, since all four of our dogs got sick after eating the food, and all stayed sick for several days after eating it, he was "highly
suspicious" that it was the dog food that caused their illness.

Our Vet also stated the only thing an autopsy would prove was that Brynas death occurred because her kidneys were destroyed, but the toxin would have already worked its way out of her system. Our family had already suffered through the trauma of losing our dog, and the idea of digging her up for an autopsy that would not prove anything, was unacceptable. However, if it would help our case and Costco wants to exhume the body and pay for the autopsy, they may do so as long as they agree to return and re-inter the body. However, the Costco representative told us that if we want to proceed with this
claim, it will be necessary for us to do so through Diamond Pet Food Corporation's Attorney.