buglady

While not confirmed, death toll due to aflatoxin contaminated Diamond pet
food is now thought to be 100. There seems to be a lag in people getting
informationi about the pet food recall. If you know of any pet food stores
in your area that sell Diamond and have not pulled the affected food from
the shelves AND have not posted a large notice up in the store, please yell
at them! I can't imagine how it feels to have poured gravy on the food to
get your dog to eat something he didn't want to and then having that dog
die. While you're at it email your dog food company and ask them about
their testing procedures for grains that go in their dog food. In reality
this could easily have happened to any company who does not test the grains
before it goes into the food. Most likely it was just a human error
somewhere along the way.
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Jan06/dogs.dying.ssl.html

A related report accessible from above story discusses a liver test (for
Protein C) developed by Cornell a few years ago which will help find dogs
affected by the aflatoxin:

*The Protein C Activity Assay indicates levels of protein C made by the
liver. Dogs poisoned with aflatoxin have only 10 to 15 percent of normal
amounts of protein C, says Marjory Brooks, DVM, of Cornell's Animal Health
Diagnostic Center. "A progressive fall in protein C levels appears to be a
sensitive indicator," Brooks says. This test panel including protein C is
only available at Cornell. For testing, veterinarians draw blood from the
dog and send it overnight to Cornell's Animal Health Diagnostic Center.

For detection of seriously affected dogs, Sharon Center, DVM, Cornell
professor of veterinary medicine who specializes in liver function and
disease, says a combination of tests should be administered. She suggests
testing for the liver enzyme ALT to detect damage to the liver, serum
cholesterol and total bilirubin concentration (bilirubin examines for
jaundice) and the activity of the anticoagulant proteins antithrombin III
(ATIII) and protein C. *

buglady
take out the dog before replying