Pet Food

More than 23,000 pet owners in the United States have asked for money from a $24-million settlement for owners of dogs and cats that were sickened or died after eating pet food contaminated with an industrial chemical. U.S. pet owners with claims were set to start receiving checks in 2009 but their payments could be held up longer while a judge sorts out last-minute appeals to the settlement filed by four people. "If one of their objections succeeds, the class comes unraveled," said Kenneth A.

A thief remains at large after pulling off a daring heist -- in the pet food aisle. Surveillance video at a supermarket in Murray, Utah, caught a dog shoplifting, KSL-TV reported Wednesday. The video showed the dog walking in the front door and heading straight to Aisle 16, pet food. It grabbed a bone worth $2.79 and fled. The store manager confronted it, to no avail.

A federal judge Tuesday approved a $24-million settlement for owners of dogs and cats who were sickened or died after eating pet food contaminated with an industrial chemical. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Noel Hillman clears the way for affected U.S. pet owners to start getting checks next year. Under the deal, owners have until Nov. 24 to file claims.

Federal marshals with a search warrant visited the Joliet, Ill., distribution center of Petco Animal Supplies Inc. on Thursday, seizing animal food products that were allegedly contaminated. The seizure came one day after the government filed a lawsuit and obtained the warrant to seize products at the warehouse operated by the San Diego-based animal food and supply company. There are no known public health risks posed by the pet food and no incidents of human or animal illness have been traced to the products, U.S. Atty.

Diana Bardsley wiped tears from her eyes as she recalled taking food off her plate to feed her beloved spaniel, Hunter, and two Siamese cats. Her greatest fear: that she could be forced to surrender the animals as she struggled to stretch her food stamps and Social Security to meet the escalating cost of living. Some hope was restored after she visited a local food pantry, which has started offering free pet food to help owners keep their animals out of shelters. "I know a lot of people will probably say, 'Well, if you don't have enough money to be able to feed your animals, that you shouldn't have pets,' " said Bardsley, 53, of Franklin, as Hunter played in the living room with three of her grandchildren.

PetSmart Inc., Petco Animal Supplies Inc. and five other companies won preliminary court approval of a $24-million settlement of consumer lawsuits for selling melamine-tainted pet food. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Noel Hillman in Camden, N.J., tentatively settles about 100 suits in the U.S. and Canada. A final approval hearing is set for Oct. 14.

A judge in Camden granted initial approval to a settlement in which companies that manufactured or sold contaminated pet food would compensate pet owners for all costs related to the death or illness of their dogs and cats. Under the deal, pet owners in the United States and Canada would be notified of the settlement by June 16 and would have until early December to submit claims. A final hearing on the $24-million settlement is scheduled for Oct. 14. The settlement doesn't pay pet owners for pain and suffering from injuries to their pets.

Companies that were sued over contaminated pet food linked to the deaths of perhaps thousands of dogs and cats have agreed to pay $24 million to pet owners in the United States and Canada. The settlement is detailed in papers filed late Thursday in U.S. District Court in Camden, N.J. It still needs a judge's approval; a court hearing is set for May 30. "The settlement attempts to reimburse pet owners for all of their economic damages," said Russell Paul, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.

A compound related to a common nutritional supplement has been identified as the contaminant in a blood-thinning drug imported from China that sickened hundreds of frail patients in the U.S. and is suspected in a number of deaths, federal officials said Wednesday. The substance mimics the real drug -- heparin -- in standard safety tests and may have been deliberately substituted for the genuine compound somewhere along the line to boost middlemen's profits. It could also have been added through a mishap or some kind of misguided experiment.

A Las Vegas food import company, two Chinese businesses and the companies' top executives were indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury in connection with their parts in a tainted-pet food scandal last year that sickened or killed thousands of dogs and cats, the Justice Department said. The announcement by John F. Wood, U.S.