Just a week after the 10th birthday of Lori Ihli's orange tabby, the family pet stopped eating and began vomiting.

The vomit started as food, but eventually turned yellow, then finally an ominous green, Ihli said.

Eventually, the tabby, Teek, couldn't even lift its head.

On March 11, Ihli had fed Teek some food with gravy from a variety pack of Iams Select Bites, which included gravy and beef, chicken and turkey cuts. The next day, the cat began acting odd, vomiting up food, Ihli said.

When the family realized the vomiting wasn't subsiding and indeed getting worse, Teek was taken to Doc's Veterinary Clinic.

Days before national news began reporting about contaminated pet food from Menu Foods Inc., the family vet, Tom Dockter, was a little taken aback by the kidney failure he was seeing in Teek.

Iams is one of the brands of cat food under Menu Foods Inc. with recalled products. The company recalled 50 brands of dog food and 40 brands of cat food, mainly cuts and gravy style products. An on-going federal investigation is focusing on wheat gluten, often used to thicken gravy, as the likely contaminated ingredient.

"It was strange, that (kidney failure)in such a young cat,"Dockter said.

He gave it fluids to try to get its kidneys going again, and the family gave it injections three times a day to try to nurse its kidneys back to life. But Teek never got better.

The cat was put down over the weekend and immediately buried, Ihli said.

Dockter was unable to get tissue samples from the cat, but he said the kidney failure could have been induced by the food. But because he did not have tissue samples, he could not trace the failure back to contaminated food.

Since the recall, he's received numerous phone calls from concerned pet owners whose pets are experiencing similar symptoms.

On Tuesday, a woman in Illinois filed a lawsuit in federal court. At that time, at least 14 pet deaths were linked to the food, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

At the time of the recall, pet owners were instructed to contact the companies with questions. Since then, consumers have complained that it's been nearly impossible to get through.

State veterinarian Susan Keller said the state still has had no confirmed cases, primarily because tissue samples have not been taken and the proper testing has not been performed.

At least two people have contacted the vet's office to discuss pet deaths. But without tissue tests and veterinary records of the illnesses, the deaths may not be able to be traced back to the food, Keller said.

Just saying an animal has kidney failure doesn't mean it's eaten contaminated product, Keller said.

She advised concerned pet owners to keep the product containers, as well as a good record of the pet's illness.

"If your vet has records, make sure you have those,"Keller said. "If you have products, keep that on hand."

Ihli also warned to get the animal into the vet's office as soon as possible.

"Every minute you wait, the worse chance you have of them not making it,"Ihli said.

To report deaths, or if you have any questions, contact the North Dakota Board of Animal Health at 328-2655.

(The Chicago Tribune contributed to this report. Reach reporter Crystal R. Reid at 850-8261 or at crystal.reid@;bismarcktribune.com.)