Dog food brand recall after reports of suspected eye issues in pets

Rosie Shead 1 minute ago COMMENTS A luxury dog food brand has issued a recall after receiving dozens of reports of suspected eye issues in pets.

Years, a premium subscription service offering fresh dog food “tailored” to an animal’s needs, emailed customers on Monday night to say it had identified a “potential link” between its buckwheat ingredient and a dry eye condition.

The company, which boasts that its fresh meals are cooked by chefs, urged customers to stop feeding Years’ products their pets or any other animal.

The company said on its website: “This follows a small number of reports of dogs having a potential adverse eye reaction to buckwheat, a common and approved ingredient, which we include in our meals. As of 16th August, this has affected 0.1% of our customers.”

It advertises gourmet dog meals including pork shoulder and apple stew, turkey thigh and cranberry fricassee and a steak and kidney hotpot.

Speaking to the Press Association , the PR consultant said his spaniel cross had been in “a lot of pain” and had received several different treatments after he and his wife had noticed her eyes were “getting really gunky”.

Mr Felton stopped using the Years food immediately after receiving the company’s email on Monday.

“You love them to bits just like you would your own child so anything that causes them pain and discomfort is quite upsetting for everyone involved.”

He added: “Never did it occur to us that it could be a link to the food because the crazy thing is people buy Years because they want to feed their dog like high quality foods.

“If I just wanted to buy a cheap, readily available dog food, I would have just like gone to the supermarket and just got a kind of a cheap kibble.

“It’s just incredibly disheartening because obviously people that buy fresh food like Years buy it because they’ve kind of bought into the idea that feeding their dog a fresh, healthy food made out of fresh, healthy ingredients is going to do them well.”

The 39-year-old said the situation was “mind-blowing”, adding: “I think everyone, all of the customers right now, are just reeling from this news.”

Years said symptoms could include redness, cloudiness or dullness in the eyes, excessive blinking or squinting, pawing at the eyes and thick discharge as well as general discomfort around dogs’ eyes.

The company urged its 40,000 customers to contact their vet “promptly” and to mention the Years product recall if they spotted any of the symptoms.