--- description: Purina has denied a legal claim the food contains toxins that may have killed thousands of dogs title: Dog Owners Wonder What's in That Bowl of Beneful image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0a75baf7f5944b2/698782b1428a9e592fcc7839/dog-food-puppy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [animals](/tag/animals/) ## animals Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Dog Owners Worry What's in That Bowl of Beneful by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 8, 2015 5:03 PM CUT  USA, Illinois, Metamora, Close-up of bowl full of dog food USA, Illinois, Metamora, Close-up of bowl full of dog foodGetty Images by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 8, 2015 5:03 PM CUT Pet owners are wondering what’s really going into their dog bowls. After NBC News [reported on a recent lawsuit](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/lawsuit-claims-purinas-beneful-poisoning-killing-dogs-n312176 "undefined") claiming that Nestle Purina PetCare Company’s Beneful dry kibble dog food contains toxins that may have killed thousands of dogs, readers across the country — via over 100 emails and scores of social media posts — voiced their concerns that the trusted brand may have harmed their pets as well. “My little boy had been healthy and all of a sudden within a week got super sick and passed away,” Morgan Malone, 19, of North Carolina said of her miniature dachshund, Doc… [Read more from our partners at _NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/dog-owners-alarmed-beneful-lawsuit-purina-denies-claims-n316856?cid=par-time-article%5F20150308 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3736581/dog-owners-worry-whats-in-that-bowl-of-beneful/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3736581/dog-owners-worry-whats-in-that-bowl-of-beneful/"},"headline":"Dog Owners Worry What's in That Bowl of Beneful","datePublished":"2015-03-08T17:03:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:59:51.520Z","description":"Purina has denied a legal claim the food contains toxins that may have killed thousands of dogs","url":"https://time.com/3736581/dog-owners-worry-whats-in-that-bowl-of-beneful/","keywords":["animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0a75baf7f5944b2/698782b1428a9e592fcc7839/dog-food-puppy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0a75baf7f5944b2/698782b1428a9e592fcc7839/dog-food-puppy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"USA, Illinois, Metamora, Close-up of bowl full of dog food","caption":"USA, Illinois, Metamora, Close-up of bowl full of dog food","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3736581/dog-owners-worry-whats-in-that-bowl-of-beneful/","name":"Dog Owners Worry What's in That Bowl of Beneful"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Inside the Canine Mind","description":"Professor Brian Hare at Duke University studies people's pet dogs to understand how canines think","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/dTemQHb7/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2009-09-11T01:23:04.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dTemQHb7.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3736581/dog-owners-worry-whats-in-that-bowl-of-beneful/","duration":"PT2M8S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3736581/dog-owners-worry-whats-in-that-bowl-of-beneful/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```