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Any pet owner will tell you that pets are undeniably a part of the family. Everyone wants the best for their furry four-legged friend, and it is emotionally painful to watch them when they get sick or when their lives end. Even worse is when their already too-short lives are cut even shorter due to illness caused by something that was believed to be good for them. So, in response to consumer concerns that jerky treats manufactured in China have been the cause of thousands of pet illnesses and deaths, pet-supply chain Petco has decided to stop all sales of Chinese-produced dog and cat treats.

On January 7, Petco announced that it has discontinued sales of pet treats from China at its 1,300 stores nationwide because of speculations that the treats may be linked to over 1,000 dog deaths in the U.S. since 2007.

Despite testing, the FDA has not yet been able to determine the cause of illnesses, and still no definitive link has been found between the illnesses/deaths and the treats. Still, the treats were targeted after more than 4,800 complaints of illnesses and death after pets were fed the jerky treats from China. Investigations are still ongoing.

Even though there have been no definitive links yet made, with consumers growing more wary about what they give their four-legged family members, Petco made the decision for the pull and has been replacing them with treats manufactured in the U.S. or other countries such as Australia and New Zealand.

With multiple pet food recalls each year due to salmonella, mold, and more, there has recently been a growing movement of pet parents who have ditched canned and bagged pet food all together, and have either started cooking for their fur babies (a growing number of pet food cookbooks are available online and in bookstores), or have even started their pets on raw food diets.

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Pet supply chain PetSmart is also following in Petco’s paw prints, saying it has plans to remove the treats from its stores by March 2015.

Source: CBS News
Images courtesy of antpkr and Ambro at FreeDigitalPhotos