After dog dies and a potential contaminant is found, pet food company issues recall

A potential contaminant was found in Evanger's Hunk of Beef product that sickened a local woman's pets recently.

Nikki Mael fed her four pugs the food on New Year's Eve, and all four quickly became ill. She took the pug family to a vet, where she found out one of them had died.

READ MORE: 3 dogs get sick and 1 dies after eating canned dog food

Evanger's donated money to Mael to fully fund the vet bills for the remaining pugs, and will also be making a donation to a local shelter.

A potential contaminant named pentobarbital was found in the stomach of the dog that passed away.

If ingested by animals, it can cause side effects like drowsiness, dizziness, excitement, loss of balance or nausea - and in extreme cases, death. Evanger's has ordered testing for pentobarbital on their cans.

As a precaution, the company has decided to recall all Hunk of Beef products that were made during the same week as the can that was eaten by Mael's dogs:

Lot numbers that start with 1816E03HB, 1816E04HB, 1816E06HB, 1816E07HB, and 1816E13HB, and have an expiration date of June 2020. The second half of the bar code reads 20109, which can be found on the back of the product label.

This includes product sold online and in the following states: Washington, California, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.