The 12 companies include Menu Foods, Wal-mart, and IAMS.
RALEIGH -- These days Tyrone Dunston doesn't worry much about what he feeds his pit bull Paco. But he said it was a different story last year with Zoe, his Shih Tzu.
"She started losing appetite, vomiting, things like that, so we didn't know whether to switch dog food," Dunston recalled. He said that he switched dog food brands, but not before realizing that one brand he fed Zoe had been recalled. "Eventually she started having seizures and we weren't sure if it was because of the dog food, and then she passed away. I really to this day think it was because of the dog food."
Hundreds of other pet owners believe pet food harmed their animals last year, prompting 12 pet food companies to launch a massive recall last summer. Hundreds of people filed lawsuits claiming their pets suffered kidney failure, and even death, after eating the recalled food. Companies decided to issue recalls after learning the food contained contaminated ingredients from China.
"A lot of the dog foods that were on the shelves were removed, recalled, and we had to search for alternatives," remembered pet lover Justine Murphy.
These days Tyrone Dunston doesn't worry much about what he feeds his pit bull Paco. But he said it was a different story last year with Zoe, his Shih Tzu. See why.
This week pet food companies and other retailers involved in that recall filed papers in federal court proposing a $24 million cash settlement for pet owners. But Dunston, whose Shih Tzu died three months after getting sick, wonders if it's enough.
"Basically pets nowadays are part of the family," said Dunston, whose veterinarian could not specifically link his dog's death to the tainted pet food. "And when you lose part of the family member it's a sad thing to deal with. There's really not a price on any pet, basically it's a family member being taken from you. There's no amount of money and stuff that can go to bring that person back."
Murphy called the settlement proposal "reasonable," but she agreed with Dunston.
"It'll help you get caught up with the vet bills, but at the end of the day you still don't have a pet, and you're still missing that family member that you had," she said. "That's still heart-wrenching to lose an animal because of a company's neglect."
The 12 companies include Menu Foods, Wal-mart, and IAMS. Their settlement would give cash to people whose animals ate pet food recalled between March 16 of last year and now. A court must approve the offer, and then a website will be set up for affect pet owners to get information about compensation.