Veterinarian Michael Fusco checks Chloe, whose owner brought her in fearing the canine could have been fed tainted pet food. (File Photo)

    BEIJING, April 6 (Xinhuanet) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday announced dog biscuits made by Sunshine Mills of Red Bay, Alabama, are contaminated with potentially toxic wheat gluten.

    Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, said more details on which products are affected would be available later Thursday.

    The FDA also said Menu Foods is expanding its recall of a wide variety of products by widening the range of manufacturing dates in the recall. The company said it will announce the new recall dates later Thursday.

    Pets who have eaten products recalled by Menu Foods Inc. and who have experienced various stages of kidney dysfunction qualify as suspected cases, the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association said.

    Glenn Kolb, executive director of the association, told CNN Thursday he thinks the number of new cases is dropping, but the numbers may still rise.

    "What we're starting to find is that veterinarians are going into some of the back records where they had cases that were maybe puzzling to them. Now with the pet food recall information coming out, they're starting to look at those cases again," he said.

    Menu Foods recalled 60 million cans of wet pet food on March 16 after the chemical melamine, which can be toxic in high doses, showed up in federal testing of some of its cat and dog food varieties.

    Since then, Nestl¨¦ Purina PetCare Company, Del Monte Pet Products and Hill's Pet Nutrition have also recalled some products. Melamine is a toxic agent used to make fertilizers and plastic utensils.

    The Michigan Veterinary Medical Association said it suspects 46 animals -- 33 cats and 13 dogs -- in Michigan have died due to ingestion of the contaminated food, and Oregon's public health veterinarian, Dr. Emilio DeBess, said he suspects 38 pet deaths reported in that state are linked to the allegedly toxic food.

    Both emphasized the link between pet deaths in their states and the recalled food has not yet been confirmed.

    Sundlof said the number of pet deaths confirmed as being related to the recall remains at 16 despite reports in the thousands from veterinarians across the country. Menu Foods spokeswoman Sarah Tuite told CNN one dog and 15 cats have died.

    The pet owner community website www.petconnection.com said it has received reports of 3,240 pet deaths related to the recall. The causes of those deaths have not been confirmed by government officials.

    (Agencies)