• Ad Age, Wednesday, April 4, 2007 11:27 AM

Procter & Gamble took out full-age ads in 59 newspapers yesterday that describes employees as "heartsick that any of our Iams and Eukanuba products were involved" in the nationwide pet-food recall believed to have killed or sickened thousands of pets. The ad reassures pet owners that food remaining on the market is safe and that, none of the brands' dry food ever contained wheat gluten or were affected by the recall.

The FDA and veterinarians at Cornell University have found melamine--a substance used in various consumer products, as well as fertilizers in Asia--in the affected food, in wheat gluten that went into it and in the kidneys and urine of animals who died.

The ads are described as a "first step." P&G says it has offered more customer-service people and a vet support line to handle the crisis. Iams and Eukanuba also convened "a task force of prominent North American veterinary healthcare experts" to review the recall, and P&G's ad says the panel agrees that veterinarians and pet owners should feel safe recommending and feeding Iams and Eukanuba dry foods. All seven veterinarians on the panel have had prior business relationships with Iams.

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