P&G Pet Care Reaches Out to Pet Owners With Full Page Ads

DAYTON, Ohio -- Iams and Eukanuba employees and P&G Pet Care here published full-page ads in 59 major North American newspapers Tuesday and Wednesday to help address consumer confusion and anxiety about pet food. Certain varieties of Iams and Eukanuba moist pet foods were subject to the Menu Foods recall. “As Iams and Eukanuba employees, we feel deeply for everyone affected by the Menu Foods wet food recall involving 95 brands, including our own,” said a letter that appeared in The New York Times Tuesday. “We are heartsick that any of our Iams and Eukanuba products were involved. Our commitment is to respond personally to everyone who contacts us.” The letter also aims to assure readers that “there is no melamine or aminopterin in any of our Iams and Eukanuba dry pet food. In fact, Iams and Eukanuba dry dog and cat foods DO NOT contain wheat gluten. They are made exclusively in our own manufacturing plants in Ohio, Nebraska and North Carolina, and not by Menu Foods.” Last month New York scientists found aminopterin in Menu Foods cat food samples. The Food and Drug Administration didn‘t find aminopterin in Menu Foods samples but it did identify melamine in wheat gluten used in some Menu Foods moist pet foods. It is not known whether melamine caused the deaths of more than a dozen cats and dogs and the illnesses of others. However, FDA officials said melamine should not be in pet food at any level.