PORT TOWNSEND – A Port Townsend man has filed a lawsuit in Jefferson County Superior Court, seeking $75,000 in damages from Menu Foods Inc. and The Kroger Co. in the death of his beloved cat.
Don Earl, a 52-year-old retired real estate developer who has lived in Port Townsend for seven years, said he believes his 7-year-old tabby, Chuckles, was poisoned in January by food tainted with acetaminophen.
In his lawsuit, filed earlier this month, Earl said that he bought the allegedly-tainted Pet Pride cat food on Dec. 28 at a Kroger store in Silverdale.
Chuckles was the only of Earl’s three cats, all from the same litter, that ate Kroger-brand Pet Pride, manufactured by Menu Foods, he said.
Representatives of Menu Foods and Kroger had no comment when asked by the Peninsula Daily News about Earl’s lawsuit.
Acetaminophen is deadly to cats, said Earl, who is representing himself in the lawsuit.
Since June, Earl has stated on his Web site, www.petfoodrecallfacts.com/active.html, that the problem with pet food is bigger than melamine.
That substance, found in dog and cat food, prompted voluntary recalls in December after pets were reported to have died after eating the food.
Pet Pride was among the pet foods recalled.
Chinese government officials said two Chinese companies had their business licenses revoked – and police arrested “major personnel in charge” – after an investigation revealed they added melamine to wheat and rice protein that was used to make pet food in North America.
Melamine is high in nitrogen and can make products it is added to appear higher in protein than they actually are.
But it is also poisonous – and is believed to be the cause of the hundreds of pet deaths earlier this year in the United States and Canada.
The pet deaths were followed by discoveries in several countries of tainted Chinese toothpaste, fish, and children’s toys, sparking international concern about Chinese exports.
The United States has refused farmed fish and seafood imports from China after shipments were found to be contaminated with drugs banned in the U.S.
