Local Man Says His Dog Was Killed By Beneful Dog Food
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Like many, Jim Ball of Finleyville bought what Purina's Beneful brand was selling.
As the Purina commercial goes, "Beneful – live the full life."
But now Ball believes the dog food killed his Siberian husky, Billy, as he told KDKA money editor Jon Delano on Wednesday
Ball: "I read the bag and it seemed like it had some pretty good ingredients from the outside."
Delano: "And this is the actual dog food you fed your dog when he died?"
Ball: "This was it."
Ball hopes the dog food will be tested, perhaps as part of a class action lawsuit that claims 3,000 dogs have been killed or injured by eight brands of Beneful dog food.
Purina denies any liability, saying, "We believe the lawsuit is baseless, and we intend to vigorously defend ourselves and our brand."
Don't tell Ball that.
He owned two Siberian huskies, Billy and Midnight, until Billy died in January after he switched to Beneful.
"We were out and when we came home, that's when he was laying on the floor," says Ball. "There was vomit all over the basement, and I could tell that something just wasn't right. And right away I took him into the Castle Shannon Animal Hospital."
Ball says the veterinarian asked if his dog had been poisoned.
Never suspecting dog food, Ball said no way.
Nobody from Castle Shannon Veterinary Hospital was available to talk to KDKA on camera, but Ball says that when his dog got sick he took the dog there, met with the vet who told him it was probably the change in diet that was affecting his animal.
The vet prescribed a special diet to use instead.
Ball says Billy bounced back on the special diet, but when Beneful was blended in, as instructed, Billy took a turn.
"Sadly, he didn't make it," Ball said.
Ball has contacted lawyers but won't sue yet -- if Purina takes Beneful off the shelves.
"I thought since my case was fairly new that maybe what they need to take it off the shelves and that's really all I was trying to do -- to keep this from happening to anybody else," Ball said.
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