Canine constipation. Sounds like a joke, doesn't it? But it can lead to some very serious health consequences for your dog. So if Bowser's bound up, make sure you take note, and take action. 

The FDA has published a summary of the issues relating to last month's recall of dozens of brands of pet food.

According to the summary, there have been more than 12,000 reports of affected pets since the recall was announced in mid-March.

The issues were traced back to contaminated wheat gluten from China, distributed in the U.S. by ChemNutra of Las Vegas, NV.

According to the FDA, several major pet food manufacturers have been impacted by this contaminted gluten:

To date, voluntary recalls of pet food products have been conducted by Del Monte Pet Products, Hill's Pet Nutrition, Menu Foods, Nestle Purina PetCare Company, P&G Pet Care, and Sunshine Mills. On April 5, Sunshine Mills, Inc., of Red Bay, Alabama, voluntarily recalled a portion of its branded dog biscuits made at its Red Bay, Alabama biscuit plant during part of March 2007. In addition, Menu Foods, Inc., voluntarily expanded its pet food recall for selected “cuts and gravy” pet food products, manufactured back to November 8, 2006. Both firms issued press releases which are accessible on the FDA website.

UPDATE: The FDA has produced another progress report on their activities relating this this recall as of April 23. Looks like melamine (used to make kitchen utensils and to coat some types of building supplies) was the contaminant to blame for this outbreak.

Watch out folks, there's a fairly large recall of tainted pet food just announced by the FDA.

The tainted pet food was causing pets to sicken and also caused some fatalities, so be very careful!

The recall affects both dry and wet foods, and includes many well-known brands such as ALPO, Iams, Nutro, and Gravy Train, but also spans store brands from Winn Dixie, Stater Brothers (in California), Costco (Kirkland), and Dollar General.

You can search all of the affected brands at the FDA's web page.