Fighting for Fido

Marketplace investigates questions about a popular dog treat, and a mystery illness making thousands of dogs sick. Thousands of dogs are ill or dying across North America and it's been going on for years. No one can say what, exactly, made the dogs sick. But owners say they fed their dogs a seemingly harmless product: a popular chicken jerky treat.

There are warnings on both sides of the border about the treats, which are made in China and marketed by some of the biggest pet food companies. But there is no definitive link between the treats and the illness. And there have been no recalls.

Tom Harrington is on the trail of the mysterious illness, putting the treats to the test, and asking questions about a product that is not regulated in Canada. We ask: when things go wrong, who is fighting for Fido?

It airs Fri. Sept. 28 at 8 pm on cbc

Marketplace investigates questions about a popular dog treat, and a mystery illness making thousands of dogs sick. Thousands of dogs are ill or dying across North America and it's been going on for years. No one can say what, exactly, made the dogs sick. But owners say they fed their dogs a seemingly harmless product: a popular chicken jerky treat.

There are warnings on both sides of the border about the treats, which are made in China and marketed by some of the biggest pet food companies. But there is no definitive link between the treats and the illness. And there have been no recalls.

Tom Harrington is on the trail of the mysterious illness, putting the treats to the test, and asking questions about a product that is not regulated in Canada. We ask: when things go wrong, who is fighting for Fido?

It airs Fri. Sept. 28 at 8 pm on cbc

It's great that they're doing a show on those treats, but there is an obvious link and I just don't know how people can't seem to see it? The treats are irradiated. That pretty little green plant symbol on the back of the package, near the bottom? Well, if more people knew exactly what that meant, they would avoid these treats like the plague. The symbol is misleading and there are groups trying to get that symbol changed. When people see it, they automatically assume it's "ok". It has no outward signs of being anything but. However, our vet is of the opinion that that's what caused a lot of our boys issues. We lost him to cancer on March 4th of this year. He had severe gastro issues for years and we never knew why. He had been to different vets and they would just tell us it was a sensitive tummy, nothing more. He used to get those treats daily (and more than he probably should have in a day, but we loved and spoiled him). As soon as that symbol was brought to my attention, and what it meant, we stopped giving him the treats altogether and his gastro issues subsided greatly. But he had cancer. I won't go into all the details, but those treats were a likely candidate. The reason the FDA can't pinpoint a harmful ingredient is because it's not an ingredient, it's the process they go through. Hopefully they will get pulled from the shelves. How many more pets have to die before that happens :(

I hear you on irradiated food. I fed Chum 2 whole bags of them, I read all the ingredients thinking wow no preservatives great, it wasn't until I turned the 2nd bag upside down as I folded it to put it in the recycling bin that I saw (printed on the bottom no less) that nasty green symbol. They really need to make it more visible, I was horrified who looks on the bottom of the bag?? Needless to say I tossed the bag I had just opened and he never got another. I only hope the ones I did feed him don't come back to haunt me one day
.:confused::frustrated::mad:

I hear you on irradiated food. I fed Chum 2 whole bags of them, I read all the ingredients thinking wow no preservatives great, it wasn't until I turned the 2nd bag upside down as I folded it to put it in the recycling bin that I saw (printed on the bottom no less) that nasty green symbol. They really need to make it more visible, I was horrified who looks on the bottom of the bag?? Needless to say I tossed the bag I had just opened and he never got another. I only hope the ones I did feed him don't come back to haunt me one day
.:confused::frustrated::mad:

What does the green symbol mean?

The green symbol means your food has been zapped with radiation to kill contaminents like bacteria and extend shelf life...here is an article from 2002 about irradiating food http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&cad=rja&ved=0CEYQFjAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbc.ca%2Fmarketplace%2Fpre-2007%2Ffiles%2Ffood%2Firradiation%2F&ei=1CNmUIaZL66PyAHFpYCACg&usg=AFQjCNFmzCyVOxRWqf7KPf6HvtpvoIlbyg&sig2=Puad6fDukT6kbiQzWv1nOg