Story highlights Company: "We believe the lawsuit is baseless, and we intend to vigorously defend ourselves"

Lawsuit says Beneful dog food produced by Purina Nestle PetCare can sicken and kill dogs

(CNN) Beneful dry dog food produced by Nestle Purina PetCare has "resulted in serious illness and death of thousands of dogs," a lawsuit says.

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The named plaintiff in the suit describes how one of his dogs died after eating Beneful and two of his dogs got sick. In the past four years, consumers have made more than 3,000 online complaints about dogs becoming ill or dying after eating Beneful, the lawsuit says.

Bill Salzman, director of corporate communications for Nestle Purina PetCare, issued a statement denying the allegations in the lawsuit.

"We believe the lawsuit is baseless, and we intend to vigorously defend ourselves and our brand. Beneful had two previous class action suits filed in recent years with similar baseless allegations, and both were dismissed by the courts.

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