Pittsburgh-area woman says what she found in dogs' food made them sick

PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh-area woman told Channel 11 she found what appeared to be wires in her dogs’ food, but the manufacturer said the food is safe.

Melissa Khalil Siders, of Canonsburg, told Channel 11's Aaron Martin all three of her dogs became sick after eating the Pedigree dog food.

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Siders said she found hundreds of little fibers in her dogs’ food.

"My stomach literally went through my throat. I did a flip-flop. I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, did I just feed my dogs metal? What was I feeding them?’” she said.

Siders said she bought new dog food and said her dogs showed an immediate improvement.

Pet owners nationwide have been sharing similar stories on social media in recent weeks, prompting Pedigree to have samples of the dog food tested by an independent lab.

A statement from Pedigree to Channel 11 read, in part: "Their test results confirmed our analysis and verified that the fibers seen in Pedigree are animal hairs that can occur with the use of beef and pork ingredients. There is absolutely no quality or food safety concern with these natural fibers."

Sider said she got a similar response from the company earlier this week, but said she wants more to be done so other pets are protected.

"[I hope] that Pedigree takes this seriously and stops trying to brush it off. Stop ignoring everybody,” she said.

WPXI