Two major national pet stores are pulling all dog and cat treats made in China off of their shelves as years of complaints to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration pile up that jerky treats from China were possibly making pets sick.
Vice President of Merchandising for Petco John Sturm said they are voluntarily removing these products after consumers voiced concerns.
Another major pet food retailer, PetSmart, is pulling Chinese-made jerky treats from its stores in the U.S. and Canada.
The treats have been linked to more than 1,000 dog deaths and nearly 5,000 other pet illnesses.
The FDA said it's still working to determine the exact causes of the illnesses.
While the products won't actually disappear from PetSmart shelves until March of 2015, Petco plans to pull the products by the end of this year.
WATCH INTERVIEW WITH STURM ABOVE
Petco is banning jerky treats AND rawhide , while Petsmart is only focusing on the jerky. The media treats these two companies as one and the same and they are not. Petsmart made a knee jerk reaction after the petco announcement.