US FDA calls on pet owners to help solve mystery illness in pets

The US Food and Drug Administration has called on pet owners to help solve a mysterious outbreak of an illnesses related to jerky treats.

Around 3,600 dogs and 10 cats had been sickened in the US since 2007 with jerky-related illnesses, that caused the death 580 pets.

The pet food is sold as jerky tenders or strips made of chicken, duck, sweet potatoes and/or dried fruit.

The jerky products involved were mostly made in China, where manufacturers of pet foods are not required to list the country of origin for each ingredient in their products.

"This is one of the most elusive and mysterious outbreaks we've encountered," veterinarian Dr. Bernadette Dunham, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, said in a statement.

That was the reason FDA was reaching out to pet owners and veterinarians around the country, urging them to contact the agency if they had seen the illnesses firsthand by calling the FDA Consumer Complaint Coordinator in their state.

Symptoms include decreased appetite, decreased activity, vomiting, diarrhea (sometimes with blood or mucus), increased water intake, and increased urination within hours of eating the treats.

Around 60 per cent of cases involved gastrointestinal illness, with around 30 per cent involving kidney and urinary systems.

The agency said, workers had conducted over 1,200 tests since 2011 for traces of antibiotics, pesticides and salmonella and had also visited Chinese manufacturers and collaborated with other experts in academia and government.

The FDA had received roughly 3,000 reports of illness, but had not been able to nail the cause.

In its letter addressed Tuesday, the agency called on veterinarians to provide urine and tissue samples from affected animals and advised them to make the agency's fact sheet on jerky pet products readily available to their clients.

The FDA noticed fewer reports of illness after a number of pet jerky products were pulled from store shelves in January after a New York State laboratory found up to six drugs in certain jerky treats of Chinese origin.