Approximately two weeks ago, my 8 month of Shih Tzu puppy, Sweetie, became gravely ill after eating Natural Choice by Nutro. Initially, there was a lot of vomiting and Sweetie refused to eat or drink anything. She eventually became very dehydrated and extremely lethargic. I took her to her primary vet and they thought that perhaps she had swallowed something that was causing her to be sick to her stomach. That night after returning from the vet, she worsened and could barely walk or lift her little head. She would cry in pain whenever she was touched in the tummy area. At 4:00 a.m. I rushed her to the animal emergency room and she was there for two days. They x-rayed her again and again and still could not find anything foreign in her stomach. Sweetie was hydrated via IV and numerous tests were conducted. The vets were extremely perplexed as to what could be wrong with Sweetie and concluded that perhaps she had an intestinal virus. They suggested having her see a specialist; however, I ended up bringing Sweetie home with me after the emergency care bill climbed close to $2,000.00. After a few days at home Sweetie slowly began to eat again but she was being fed baby food from the jar. I am happy to report that she is doing better but she has not eaten the National Choice since becoming ill. Actually, I tried giving it to her last week, prior to the recall and she refused to eat it. At that time, I had no idea why but thought that perhaps it was because she had been away from eating dog food for a while.

I have had no success with getting in touch with anyone at any of the recall numbers. Understandably, the lines are jammed but I have also sent numerous emails but have yet to hear from anyone at either of these companies. This was a traumatizing experience for me and I cried for three straight days and was unable to sleep at all. I feel especially saddened by the stories where the pets actually died. I'm pretty sure that if I didn't rush Sweetie to the vet that she would have not made it either. She was a very sick little pup but at least now I know what was causing her to become so ill.