A luxury dog food brand has issued a recall after receiving dozens of reports of suspected eye issues in pets.
Years, a premium subscription service offering fresh dog food “tailored” to an animal’s needs, emailed customers on Monday night to say it had identified a “potential link” between its buckwheat ingredient and a dry eye condition.
The company, which boasts that its fresh meals are cooked by chefs, urged customers to stop feeding Years’ products their pets or any other animal.
Years said that as of Sunday, it had received reports of 57 suspected cases of dry eye.
The company said on its website: “This follows a small number of reports of dogs having a potential adverse eye reaction to buckwheat, a common and approved ingredient, which we include in our meals. As of 16th August, this has affected 0.1% of our customers.”
It advertises gourmet dog meals including pork shoulder and apple stew, turkey thigh and cranberry fricassee and a steak and kidney hotpot.
David Felton, from Edgware, north London, said his dog Cookie had developed eye issues in April after eating the food for two-and-a-half years. He estimated he had spent around £1,500 so far on treatment and vet bills.
Speaking to the Press Association, the PR consultant said his spaniel cross had been in “a lot of pain” and had received several different treatments after he and his wife had noticed her eyes were “getting really gunky”.
He took Cookie to a vet, who initially diagnosed her with a corneal abrasion – a scratch on the eye which could be caused by an irritant getting stuck.
After two weeks of treatment, the six-year-old dog was showing no signs of recovery so was referred to a specialist who diagnosed bilateral dry eye disease, he said.
Cookie’s eyes are being treated twice a day with a steroid paste as well as over-the-counter drops and a gel to ease her discomfort.
Mr Felton stopped using the Years food immediately after receiving the company’s email on Monday.
Asked how he felt about Cookie’s illness, he said: “Extremely worried because this sort of came out of nowhere and it’s been so unexplained as to the causes of it, and obviously with your pet you don’t want to see them suffering and in a way they’re like a member of family.
“You love them to bits just like you would your own child so anything that causes them pain and discomfort is quite upsetting for everyone involved.”
He added: “Never did it occur to us that it could be a link to the food because the crazy thing is people buy Years because they want to feed their dog like high quality foods.
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