In November, the FDA issued a voluntary recall on two brands of dry dog food, Nutrisca and Natural Life, with toxically high levels of Vitamin D.  Re the vitamin D recall, according to the Whole Dog Journal, “Nutrisca and Natural Life Pet Products are made in Joplin, Missouri. Nutrisca is a line of foods made by Dogswell. Natural Life Pet Products was purchased by Dogswell in March 2015. Dogswell, in turn, was purchased by Whitebridge Pet Brands LLC in April 2017. Whitebridge also owns Cloudstar and Petropics, maker of Tiki Dog and Tiki Cat.”  Symptoms included “vomiting, loss of appetite, increased thirst, increased urination, excessive drooling, weight loss, and hypercalcemia (too much calcium in the blood, which can result in kidney stones and the calcification of organs like the heart and kidneys) – and at worst, kidney failure and death. Testing found that the foods contained excessive, potentially toxic levels of vitamin D.”

Then on November 27, 2018, Sunshine Mills added a number of their brands to the vitamin D recall.  Triumph, Evolve, Sportsman’s Pride were found to have the same deadly problem.   Two days later, another brand, ELM Chicken and Pea was added to the FDA recall.

Hill’s Science Diet Announces Canned Prescription Diet Recall for Excessive Vitamin D

And in January, Hill’s voluntarily announced another expansion to the vitamin D recall. Several of its canned puppy, adult and prescription dog foods were in the list.  They report however that these canned foods were not related to the earlier dry dog food recalls. 

None of the manufacturers are revealing who their vitamin pre-pack supplementation suppliers are, which makes it even murkier.  What’s the risk to you, Hill’s?  And isn’t the risk of exposing more animals to excessive vitamin D a good enough reason for transparency?

Current List of brands in the FDA Vitamin D Recall

For a list of all dog foods that are a part of the dangerously high vitamin D recalls, read FDA’s list here.  If your dog shows any of the symptoms above, or if you’ve fed any of the recalled foods, stop feeding the food and see your veterinarian right away.