Lulu and Sheba: The Dogs the Settlement Won’t Fully Cover

Somewhere in St. James, New York, a woman named Helene Attias stood in Pet Supplies Plus in the spring of 2024 and read a dog food bag. She read it carefully. The label said “100% Complete & Balanced.” It listed 36 vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. It promised her dog Lulu would get everything she needed, in exactly the right amounts. Helene believed it because that is what the label said. That is what any reasonable person would believe. She bought the bag and took it home and fed Lulu exactly as Mars instructed.

Lulu got sick. The specific, unglamorous symptoms were vomiting and diarrhea, the body’s emergency expulsion of something it cannot process. For a dog, that experience is terrifying and confusing. Lulu could not read the bag. She could not understand why the food her owner trusted was hurting her. She just felt it.

Helene Attias did not know, when she bought that bag, that the kibble inside contained nearly five times the legal maximum of Vitamin D permitted in dog food by the Association of American Feed Control Officials. She did not know because Mars did not tell her. The package said “complete and balanced.” It said “world’s finest ingredients.” It said “science-backed.” None of that was true as it applied to what was actually in the bag.

In Dansville, Michigan, around November 2023, Trisha Nadeau walked into a Walmart, picked up a bag of the same Pedigree kibble, and read the same promises on the same packaging. Her dog was named Sheba. Trisha relied on the label. She took the kibble home and fed Sheba as directed. Sheba also developed vomiting and diarrhea.

Neither of these women is a scientist. Neither of them had any way of knowing that the product they trusted had been tested independently and found to contain an average of 14,282 IU/kg of Vitamin D, when the legal maximum is 3,000. They were not equipped to test pet food in a laboratory. They trusted a corporation whose entire brand identity rests on the claim that it applies scientific rigor to animal nutrition. That corporation let them down in a way that directly hurt the animals they love.

What is not in the lawsuit filing, because courts don’t track these things, is the specific weight of the fear. The moment you notice your pet is sick and you don’t know why. The middle-of-the-night calculation of whether this requires an emergency vet visit. The guilt that comes with feeding an animal something that harmed it, even when the harm was invisible and the trust was reasonable. These costs don’t appear in the $5 million threshold for federal jurisdiction. They don’t appear in any damages calculation. They happened anyway.

Pedigree is positioned as an affordable, accessible dog food. It is sold at Walmart. It comes in bags as small as 3.5 pounds and as large as 55 pounds. Its customers are not exclusively wealthy households with the leisure to vet every brand. They are people who trust a label because they have no other tool available to them. Mars built that trust over decades and on the back of a brand marketed as the world’s number one dog food. When trust is the product and the product is broken, the people who get hurt are the ones who had the fewest alternatives to trusting in the first place.

“She understood the claims as warranties that the Contaminated Kibble would contain all the nutrients required for her pet and that those nutrients would be present in amounts suitable for her pet.”

Verbatim: What the Lawsuit Actually Says Mars Did

These are direct quotes from the complaint filed May 2, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, Case No. 3:25-cv-00507. Nothing is paraphrased.

“Mars manufactured and sold Contaminated Kibble that independent testing found to contain excessive amounts of Vitamin D… The Contaminated Kibble contained an average of 14,282 IU/kg of Vitamin D, more than 28 times the minimum maintenance amount and 4.8 times the maximum amount permitted by AAFCO.”

• This is the core contamination finding. Consumer Reports tested three separate samples, not one, and all three returned the same result. This rules out a single-batch anomaly and suggests a systemic manufacturing problem.
• AAFCO’s maximum of 3,000 IU/kg exists specifically to prevent Vitamin D toxicity in dogs. Mars’s product tested at 4.76 times that ceiling across every sample tested.
• The minimum maintenance level for adult dogs is 500 IU/kg. The tested kibble contained 28.5 times that amount, meaning dogs were consuming a massive surplus of a fat-soluble vitamin they physically cannot excrete through urine.

“Plaintiff Attias… when Plaintiff Attias fed the Contaminated Kibble to Lulu as directed by Defendant, Lulu developed vomiting and diarrhea as a result of the elevated Vitamin D in the Contaminated Kibble.”

• The phrase “as directed by Defendant” is legally significant. Attias followed the instructions on the packaging exactly. The harm did not result from misuse; it resulted from compliance with Mars’s own directions.
• Vomiting and diarrhea are documented clinical signs of Vitamin D toxicity in dogs, per the FDA’s own guidance on the condition. The complaint connects the symptom to the contamination directly.

“Plaintiff did not receive the benefit of her bargain and was injured by paying a price premium for Contaminated Kibble that had no – or de minimus – value based on the elevated levels of Vitamin D that did not conform to the representations on the Contaminated Kibble’s packaging.”

• The legal standard used here is “benefit of the bargain,” a contract law concept: consumers paid for a product that was warranted to be safe and balanced. They received a product that was toxic. The value exchanged was fraudulent.
• “De minimus value” is the lawsuit’s argument that a dog food that makes dogs sick is effectively worthless, regardless of the price paid. This framing directly supports damages recovery for the full purchase price.

“Defendant also actively concealed and knowingly admitted material facts regarding the true nature of the Contaminated Kibble.”

• This is the false advertising count under New York General Business Law § 350. “Actively concealed” goes beyond mere omission; it implies Mars knew or had reason to know the product was misrepresented and did not disclose it.
• This language, if proven, elevates the case beyond negligence into knowing concealment, which can support claims for punitive damages and statutory penalties under New York consumer protection law.

“On March 31, 2025, prior to filing this Complaint, Plaintiffs’ counsel sent Defendant a warranty notice letter that complied in all respects with U.C.C. 2-607. The letter provided notice of breach of express warranty… demanding that it cease and desist from such violations and make full restitution by refunding the monies received therefrom.”

• UCC 2-607 requires buyers to notify sellers of a breach before suing for damages. Plaintiffs satisfied this requirement on March 31, 2025, over a month before filing. Mars received formal legal notice and, per the filing of this lawsuit, did not make restitution.
• The cease-and-desist demand means Mars was explicitly told to stop selling this product and refund consumers. The lawsuit’s existence indicates Mars did not comply to the plaintiffs’ satisfaction.

“The presence of excessive Vitamin D renders the Nutrition Claim false, because the Contaminated Kibble is unbalanced and incomplete due to the excessive Vitamin D levels.”

Who Gets Hurt, and How the Damage Spreads

Public Health: The Animals Are the Patients, the Owners Are the Victims

Vitamin D toxicity in dogs is a documented, treatable but serious condition. The fact that the vehicle of harm was pet food sold at mass-market retailers at everyday prices means the exposure was widespread and concentrated among households who could not easily absorb unexpected veterinary bills.

• Dogs that ingest excessive Vitamin D cannot excrete it through urine the way they can shed water-soluble vitamins. The vitamin accumulates in fat tissue and the liver, building to toxic levels over time with continued feeding as instructed.
• Documented clinical symptoms of Vitamin D toxicity include vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, increased thirst and urination, excessive drooling, and weight loss. In severe cases, Vitamin D toxicity causes kidney failure and death.
• The kibble was sold in bags as large as 55 pounds. A household feeding a large dog could cycle through 55 pounds of contaminated kibble before noticing a pattern of illness, maximizing the accumulated toxic dose.
• Both named plaintiffs observed illness in their dogs after feeding as directed. These are only two documented cases within the named plaintiffs. The nationwide class encompasses every U.S. purchaser within the statute of limitations, meaning the actual count of affected animals is unknown but is presumed to be significant enough to clear the 100-class-member threshold for federal jurisdiction.
• Consumers had no mechanism to detect the contamination. Vitamin D excess in kibble is not detectable by appearance, smell, or taste. The only available warning was the label, and the label said the product was “100% Complete & Balanced.”

Economic Inequality: The Cheapest Aisle Gets the Least Protection

Pedigree occupies the budget-to-mid-range segment of the pet food market. Its distribution through Walmart makes it a primary option for lower-income pet owners. The economic harm compounds on people who already have the fewest financial buffers.

• Consumers paid a price premium, according to the complaint, based on the “100% Complete & Balanced” warranty. That premium was extracted for a product that did not deliver the promised safety or nutritional integrity, constituting a direct wealth transfer from consumers to Mars under false pretenses.
• Veterinary costs for diagnosing and treating Vitamin D toxicity are not covered by Mars in any disclosed way. Owners who sought care for sick dogs absorbed those costs personally, on top of the price already paid for the contaminated product.
• The class action structure exists precisely because individual damages in this case (the cost of a bag of kibble, plus vet bills) are too small for any single consumer to viably litigate alone. Mars’s financial size creates an inherent enforcement gap that a class action is specifically designed to close.
• The complaint estimates the aggregate amount in controversy exceeds $5,000,000. That figure is a floor for federal jurisdiction, not a ceiling. The actual aggregate harm across all affected purchasers nationally is unknown and could substantially exceed it.
• Mars is one of the largest privately held food companies on the planet and markets Pedigree as the world’s number one dog food brand. The asymmetry between the corporation’s resources and an individual consumer’s ability to fight it is total. Without class certification, almost none of the affected dog owners would ever see any accountability.

What the Numbers Actually Mean

What Now? Concrete Steps for Anyone Who Bought This Product

This lawsuit is live. The class has not yet been certified, which means your ability to act on your own behalf still matters. Here is what the evidence demands and what you can do with it.

The Corporate Actors Named in This Lawsuit

• Mars Petcare US, Inc., headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee. Delaware-registered. The manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of Pedigree brand pet food including the Contaminated Kibble. The named defendant in Case No. 3:25-cv-00507.
• The Vice President of Marketing, Mars Petcare US, Inc. [REDACTED – Not in Source]: the executive office responsible for the “100% Complete & Balanced,” “world’s finest ingredients,” and “science-backed” marketing claims that appear on the packaging and in product descriptions.
• The Chief Quality Officer / Head of Manufacturing, Mars Petcare US, Inc. [REDACTED – Not in Source]: the executive office responsible for ensuring manufactured products conform to the AAFCO nutritional profiles the company publicly commits to meeting.

Regulatory Watchlist: Who Has Jurisdiction Over This Conduct

• FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM): The federal authority on pet food safety. The FDA CVM has previously issued alerts on Vitamin D toxicity in dog food. File a complaint at FDA.gov/safety/MedWatch for any animal that became ill after consuming this product.
• Federal Trade Commission (FTC): Regulates false advertising in consumer products. The “100% Complete & Balanced” and “world’s finest ingredients” claims, in light of the testing data, are squarely within the FTC’s false advertising jurisdiction. Report at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
• Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO): AAFCO sets the nutritional profiles that Mars explicitly invokes on its packaging. Contact your state’s Department of Agriculture, which enforces AAFCO standards at the state level, and file a report with the specific product and lot number.
• State Attorneys General (New York and Michigan specifically): The lawsuit invokes New York GBL §§ 349 and 350. New York AG and Michigan AG both have consumer protection authority over deceptive trade practices of this kind.
• Consumer Product Safety and State Agriculture Departments: Every state has an agricultural feed inspection program. Report the contaminated lot to your state agriculture department so the record exists at the regulatory level, independent of this lawsuit.

Mutual Aid, Documenting Your Case, and Grassroots Action

• Document everything now, before memories fade. Write down the store where you bought the kibble, the date of purchase, the bag size, and any symptoms your dog developed. Photograph the packaging, the lot number, and any receipts. If your dog saw a vet, request those records. This documentation will be essential if the class is certified and you file a claim.
• Contact ClassAction.org or Smith Krivoshey, PC (the plaintiffs’ law firm, 166 Geary St, STE 1500-1507, San Francisco, CA 94108, Tel: 415-839-7077, Email: brittany@skclassactions.com) to register your interest in the nationwide class, the New York subclass, or the Michigan subclass.
• Share the Consumer Reports testing data (published February 12, 2025) in your local pet owner groups, neighborhood apps, and community boards. The people most likely still buying this product are the same people least likely to have heard about the lawsuit. Information is the first form of mutual aid.
• If your dog is currently eating Pedigree Complete Nutrition Roasted Chicken & Vegetable Kibble, consult your veterinarian about the testing results before continuing to feed it. This is not legal advice. It is the same thing you would want your neighbor to tell you.
• Demand transparency from your local retailers. Walmart and Pet Supplies Plus are named as purchase locations in this complaint. Ask your store manager what their process is for pulling products subject to active litigation over safety. Put the question in writing. Retail chains respond to documented, repeated consumer pressure.
• Support investigative journalism that covers corporate malfeasance in the food supply. Consumer Reports’ independent testing is the reason this lawsuit has a factual foundation. Organizations that fund that kind of reporting are doing the work that regulatory agencies are often too understaffed or too captured to do themselves.