Dog food brand used by 40,000 Brits is urgently recalled as dozens of pets develop serious eye problems

A PREMIUM dog food brand has urgently recalled its fresh meals after reports of eye problems in pets. The company has warned all customers to not feed the meals to their pets or “any animals”. The website displays a message to customers to stop feeding the affected products to their pets Credit: Years.com The brand specialises in wholefood products and fresh meals for pets Credit: Years.com Years, a subscription-based company specialising in fresh dog food, has temporarily paused all subscriptions after their buckwheat-based meals were found to be potentially linked with eye reactions in dogs. According to the Press Association, around 57 dogs developed symptoms of keratoconjunctivitis sicca, known as bilateral dry eye, after consuming the wholefood products. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! As a result, Years notified all 40,000 customers in an email on Monday (August 16) that it had removed the meals from circulation in a “voluntary recall” as the pet food undergoes lab testing. The brand also launched a formal investigation into their signature meals, in collaboration with customers and veterinary professionals. On its website, the firm wrote: “As a precaution, we’re issuing a voluntary recall of all Years Fresh Meals (excluding Chef’s Collection). “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. “We know for some, this will strike as overly cautious – but at Years, we will always put every dog’s health and wellbeing first.” Most read in The Sun They also urged customers to “stop feeding Years fresh meals immediately, whether your dog is experiencing symptoms or not” and to contact the support team if their pets have experienced dry eye symptoms at any point while on the subscription plan. One affected customer, David Felton, from north London, said his dog Cookie had developed eye issues in April after eating the food for two-and-a-half years. Speaking to the PA, he said he had spent around £1,500 on treatments, vet bills and medicines following his spaniel cross’s symptoms. He said: “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.” Dog owners have been warned to look out for redness, excessive blinking, a thick sticky mucus discharge and a dull or cloudy eye surface. Persistent and untreated infections can leave pets with corneal ulcers, scarring and even permanent blindness. Years Signature Meals had been stocked at major retailers, including Pets at Home and Just for Pets. Now, the brand said it is reformulating its products to remove buckwheat, leading to subscriptions to be stopped for a precautionary six weeks. It asked for the food to not be donated or sold, with the firm offering a free collection of any unused meals and full credit to be applied to affected accounts. A spokesman for Years told the Falmouth Packet: “We’re sorry for the worry and disruption this will cause – both for the dogs affected and to all of our customers. “We appreciate there will be other cases that have not been reported to Years. “But even one case is one too many, and that’s the standard we will always hold ourselves to. “In time, we’d also welcome an open discussion with the wider veterinary and ophthalmologist community, to fund an independent study into how a common ingredient, like buckwheat could have led to such profound suffering in the dogs we love.” Years has been approached for a comment. All symptoms of bilateral dry eye in dogs Red, irritated or swollen eyes Excessive blinking or squinting Cloudy or dull eye surfaces A thick sticky mucus discharge Corneal ulcers Pawing at the eyes Eyes may take on a blue-ish tinge Comment now