Evanger's Pet Foods

This is a complaint regarding Evangers Drummets canned dog food, code 2001e 02007 (best buy 2015). I gave my ten pound dog about a tablespoon of it, and four and half hours later my dog bolted up on my lap ataxic, breathing fast and with unresponsive eyes. It lasted about two minutes. Then, in a daze for about ten minutes I checked the food in the fridge, and I saw a gas bubble had formed on the plastic top. I am a registered nurse, and I believe she may have developed botulism poisoning. I checked the Internet, and I saw there has been problems (I kept can).

Under a class action law suit settlement - united states district court for the northern Illinois district of Illinois case no. 09 C 227 (Evangers) has been found guilty of not paying their employees overtime wages that they worked and deserved by Illinois state law in the sum of some $400,000.00 dollars. You can verify this settlement claim with the Werman law office, 77 West Washington Street suite #1402 Chicago, Illinois.

60602 phone number ** this is just one more in-justice done by this corporation. Remember, they are still in court for theft of utility services for 2 million dollars and money laundering charges brought down upon them. Their owners Joel and Holly ** by the Illinois states attorney's office, as well as they are under (fda) investigations still. Do you want your pet eating food made by this company? I would not! Thank you.

On Thanksgiving day, I opened a can of Evanger's chicken casserole and as the top came back it made a loud sound - like a mini explosion. The liquid in the can shot out. I threw it away and proceeded to open another can of the chicken casserole and again it exploded and the liquid contents splattered on the wall and counter. That can was also tossed into the garbage. Neither of them looked or smelled bad.

That same day I sent an e-mail to the company telling them what had happened and giving them the information (bar code & stamp #s) on the cans. It is now closing in on two weeks and I have not heard from the Evanger company. I am not aware of any dogs becoming ill-from their food lately but surely I couldn't have been the only one to purchase food from that lot.

A response from the Evanger company would have gone a long way and I would not have found myself writing on this website to alert you regarding the lack of concern from Evangers.

In October 2008, the three dogs I have all got very ill within an hour of eating the Evangers Hunk of Beef. They could not stand up on their hind legs, if they tried they would fall over. I have a Border Collie, a Shepard/Hound mix and a Maltese. I rushed them to the vets for an emergency appt. We weren't sure what happened. The Maltese and mix were kept over night in the hospital. The next day they came home. The following day again after eating a different can of the Evangers Hunk of Beef the same thing happened again. This time the Maltese had to be put in an oxygen chamber for breathing problems.

Luckily all my dogs seem to have recovered although I'm not sure if there are any permanent problems. Like everyone else, I also spoke with Joel Sher. He did send cans to the can company for testing, they did not find anything. He did agree to send a couple of unopened cans I have to have a sterility test performed. That also did not find anything. Although we can't figure out what is happening, I believe it has to be the dog food because of the details of my own experience but also because of what I have read from all of you.

The timing and symptoms are all to close to each other and to the FDA press release. He has said that he is sure there is nothing wrong with their food but he has agreed to reimburse me for my medical bills. I do appreciate this because I have over $2000.00 in vet bills so far. I would encourage everyone to file a complaint with the FDA since they are the ones that regulate the pet food industry.

I have over $2000 in vet bills and lost time from work, not to mention the stress of having my dogs sick.

On November 19, 2008, I fed my two Pomeranians each 1/2 can of Evanger's Beef Chunks in Gravy canned dog food. Within 45 minutes they were both in critical condition with signs of complete neurological shutdown, blindness, inability to stand or walk, difficulty breathing and swallowing. They were transferred from Green Valley Animal Hospital in Ijamsville, MD where Dr. Hampton stabilized them enough and they were admitted to Greenbriar emergency hospital.

We took the can of dog food with us to both hospitals. Cinnamon was able to be released within 24 hours; Thunder remained in ICU for 2 more days. He suffered seizures on top of the toxic poisoning. He was released and readmitted twice. He is still under the care of Dr. Hampton, to this very day. He remains of 4 of the original 7 medications. He has some brain damage and will never be the same dog, but we are blessed and thankful that he is alive.

Both dogs were treated for symptoms of botulism and the food was to be sent out for testing through Greenbriar Emergency Hospital. When I called the office number listed on Evanger's Web site on November 19th, I was hung up on. When Dr. Rossi called Evanger's on November 20th, she was told by the person who answered that they would not speak another word to her because she could not prove she even was a vet.

After more than 10 emails and 6 calls, Mr. Sher finally called me at work on November 28, 2008. He spoke for 34 minutes about how any issue involving their dog food was always because of some irresponsible action of the consumer. He blew off the FDA notice saying it was only because they logged the date change at shift change at 6:00AM instead of 12:01 AM. He took no responsibility and worst of all, never even offered any comments or concerns about my dogs.

He said that he would notify his insurance company and decide what to do. I have never heard back from him and he has not responded to any additional emails: 4 of them since we spoke. Right now I have $5074.83 in vet bills, one dog is still under are and has irreversible neurological damage. All from one can of dog food!. MY stress level is off the charts, I have to cancel a trip to New York to stay home and keep a watchful eye on Thunder for seizures and dispense 7 medications. The heartless manner in how this is being handles by Joel and Holly Sher makes me sick.

I now what to hire and attorney. Instead of handling this as a responsible caring animal lover and business owner, he choose to ignore this. How many other dogs may become victims of toxic poisoning from his food.

On Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008, my two 10-lb Pomeranians split a can of Evangers beef chunks. Within half an hour, I was rushing to the vet. My dogs were unable to stand, hold up their heads, and they were blind. The vet stabilized them enough to allow me to then drive to the emergency animal clinic, where they were hooked to IVs, and my little guy even had his stomach pumped. My little girl came home about 48 hours later, my little guy came home on Saturday. He is still extremely weak and lethargic, and, now he has seizures, which started in the hospital. He is on a wide variety of meds, and he is still not out of the woods. Because of having an endo-tracheal tube, he now has a collapsed trach.

The food can is being sent to the University of MD's toxicology department for testing. So, all I can say now is, people, connect the dots yourself; my dogs are fine, they eat food, half an hour later, they are blind and paralyzed; BOTH of them at the SAME time!

Besides the emotional heartache of watching your beloved pets suffer, the costs, so far, have been over $2K. I made four phone calls to Evangers and sent 2 emails; no response. My roommate talked with them, their vice-president, and his comment, when told our dogs got sick from their food, was 'oh please', and when reference was made to the FDA alert, he hung up on her.

He and his wife are all over the internet, as well as an employee of their's, posting information to have you believe they are a very concerned firm, that the FDA's report was baloney, that they've had no problems except with an extortionist (another posted mentioned that this is what they called her!). One employee is posting as 'investigator' college student on a variety of websites; their disguises are pretty evident.

Why not just be upfront? People deserve to know the truth, and I am talking about all of the issues people have had with their food, not just the horror we've gone through, and are still going through. I did call the FDA and they want the can and all the information from there, so, once its gone through testing, it will go there.

After learning that Evanger's has no interest in testing the can of food that Joel their Vice President requested I return to them specifically for testing, and being accused of many things that are not true, I told them I would be sending back the canned food I have at home that has not been used or opened.

I was sent an email from their office manager, Cyntha, that kept accusing me of things that are not true. Cynthia also told me in her email message that my dog was experiencing renal failure!!!!! WOW to be able to diagnose a dog over the internet without seeing any of their blood work or other testing is amazing! I am so impressed - NOT! I replied to her that her statement was not true and the other statements accusing me of my dog having this condition for a few years is also not true and their accusation that my dog has been on Science Diet A/D for a long time is also not true. At no time was my dog ever on that food. She is on over the counter Science Diet for Sensitive Stomach since the end of March.

I asked Cynthia a couple of questions, since they will not share the Vice President's email address with me and she now is, I guess, too scared to answer me because she is just ignoring my questions. I do not recomment this band of dog food to anyone and I sincerely hope that anyone who talks or messages them is prepared to be treated rudely and without concern. I had a horrible experience with them and since Joel and his wife are the new oweners all we dog owners can do is stick together and pray all of our dogs get better without any help from Evangers. I will be testing my food. I will be happy to share all of my experiences with anyone who wishes to contact me.

I had a problem last year with Evangers dog food making 1 of my dogs very ill & 4 others less so. After trying to get answers from them for 3 months,I gave up & had the food tested myself. These results are online. Recently the co had a different problem with the FDA & an employee was on a forum I belong to. He encouraged me to contact them again. I did so & the phone call was very unpleasant & rude. They did however send me a refund for my food order.

This employee was online again & suggested[without names] that the reason I had no contact last year was that I tried to extort money from them.I have copies of all my order,test & refund papers. I can get copies of my phone bills showing my calls to them,I do not have the emails from last year. When I asked that they specify online whether or not they were talking about me they gave a round about answer which did not exclude me. They also had on their website a statement denying the emergency operating order from the FDA. It was removed today from their site, but I have a copy of it. I have also printed out a copy of their online accusations in case they delete them. I would like to see something done about the fact that they are printing lies about me online and that there are false statements on their website.The details are too long to post here.

I was left with vet bills,testing problems and a very sick dog with no explanation. Now I have my name and reputation being attacked online.

Anyway, my opinion is that he didn't care enough after telling me to send in the can to him to actually have the tests done and now he is blaming me for not doing it. I won't be buying Evanger's again and I have 13 more cans at home. I have messaged the office manager to let her know I am returning them for reimbursement. We'll see how long it takes for a response!

I have spent over $1,400.00 in vet bills at this point trying to find out what is wrong with my dog.

I have posted below. I spoke at great length to Joel, the Vice President. He assures me there is nothing wrong with the Canned Chicken. However, he did agree to have my specific food tested. I have sent the food and I know it has been received because I have the acknowledgement from the postal service. I messaged the Office Manager, Cynthia the day the food was received but have had no reply....yet again I know she got my message because I did a return receipt on it. I'm just waiting to see if I ever hear from them again as since the phone call I don't get any replies. I think it's horrible that there is no response from a what is considered a reputable company. We as consumers are concerned about out pets.... guess they aren't!

To date, to find out what is wrong with my dog, I have spent over $1,000.00 in vet bills.

I wrote in reference to your posting of FDA listing a needed permit for Evangers dog food to continue to sell. I notified you that my dog had died and I used to feed that food. It is NECESSARY that I notify that the Necropsy on my dog with the diagnosis has been received and reads as follows: Diagnosis: This animal has a disseminated round cell neoplasm. This finding is the most significant and the likely cause of the animal's death. There is also severe gastrointestinal hemorrhage that is probably secondary to the neoplastic change.

I tried registering for your news letter and was unsucessful can you help?

Your statement on your web site is false and misleading. I suggest you find out the true story by going to our web site or calling Evanger's. We are making food and shipping food. If we were cleaning up our act the FDA would not allow us to make food!

dog food. Siezures, nonreactive pupils,diarrhea changing to bloody diarrhea. extreme PHOTO-sensitive.Stomach pain/ hard. Thought food might have caused a problem , threw out old bag of Ev. and opened new bag. Two other dogs in house one appeared sick and started getting slightly better but not normal yet.

eventual death of acutely ill dog after approx.10-14 days under vet care. I am devastated. Vet sent body,and anything I remembered giving her including Evengers food to University of Arizona path. They mentioned several possible diagn.-- they have slides and they say they have saved tissue samples from liver , spleen etc. Much more to tell but I am too emotional at this time. Read that there was a emergency permit enforcement by FDA said Dr. Stephen Sundlof director, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. I called Evangers to let them know before I read this article . When I saw someone else had a problem I felt it responsible to write hoping to prevent any possible further losses.

The FDA release that this article has copied is highly innacurate. Evangers is not under emergency permit and continues to manufacture its high quality produucts and distribute them worldwide with FDA approval.No products have been alleged to be unsafe. There are no requests for recalls of any of its products.THANK YOU. V.P. EVANGERS

I feed my 3 Miniature Pinschers a few teaspoons of canned Evenagers each day along with Nutro Natural Choice Dry food for Sensitive Stomach. All my dogs were really sick and so we took the off the Nutro thinking that is the problem. Their food is currently in for testing. Now I read about Evangers! What is happening here? I had already made another vet appt for my Raven and she goes in tonight. I am so upset about all this.

Large vet bills and if something happens to my baby becaue of underprocessed food, I don't know what I will do. Please help me pray to our Lord that my dogs are ok.

On 2-20-08 I e-mailed Evanger's Dog Food with a request to clarify what I was finding in their cans of Cooked Chicken food for dogs. I purchase the 13oz. cans of cooked chicken in the flats of 24 cans per flat. We started finding large chunks of something in the cans which, at times, took up at least half the can. Those time we pitched the cans of food. After this happened several times I saved out some of the chunks of 'whatever', refrigerated them noting the lot number of that particular can. We took photos of the foreign matter alongside of a tape measure and wrote an e-mail to Evanger's Dog Food at the above e-mail address, including the pictures of the foreign matter. About this same time we also encountered chunks of gristle in the cans. When we manipulated the gristle we were able to break those pieces apart until they disintegrated. The other material we could not break apart. I asked them what these chunks were but to date we have not had a response from them. I would like to know what is going on with this product. I can supply you with copies of the e-mails and also copies of the photo sent to Evanger's.

The cans that contained the foreign matter were tossed. There were about 6 or 7 cans involved before I stopped using the Evanger's product. Because of their lack of response to my inquiry I felt they had something to hide. I made one more effort to enlist the help of The Whole Dog Journal since they have continually recommended the Evanger's product. I mistakenly hoped they could find out what on earth was going on with the Evanger's product but they, like Evanger's, have ignored my inquiry.