Earlier this month the website Top Class Actions reported that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Nestle Purina Petcare Company alleging that its Beneful dog food includes toxic substances which are capable of killing dogs.

The more than 3,000 complaints against Beneful “show consistent symptoms, including stomach and related internal bleeding, liver malfunction or failure, vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, weight loss, seizures, bloating, and kidney failure,” according to Frank Lucido v. Nesltle Purina Petcare Company, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Lucindo filed the lawsuit on February 5. He owns a Labrador Retriever, an English Bulldog, and a German Shepherd. He bought a bag of Beneful for the first time in late December of 2014 or early January 2015 and began feeding it to his dogs exclusively. Soon after that, all his dogs experienced significant health problems, and one died.

According to the lawsuit, the German Shepherd began to lose a large amount of hair and began giving off a unusual odor on Jan. 15. Two days later it became “violently ill.”

A veterinarian who examined the dog determined that it was suffering from internal bleeding in its stomach and the liver was also malfunctioning, which the veterinarian said was “consistent with poisoning.”

Three days later, Lucido’s wife found their English Bulldog dead in their yard. The lawsuit claims “post-mortem veterinary examination revealed signs of internal bleeding in the dog’s stomach and lesions on his liver” similar to those on the German Shepherd.

The Labrador Retriever also became sick and is being tested for similar problems.

Lucido alleges in his suit that Beneful Dog Food contains propylene glycol, which is “an automotive component that is a known animal toxin and is poisonous to cats and dogs.”

The suit also alleges that the dog food includes mycotoxins, which are “a group of toxins produced by fungus that occurs in grains, which are a principle ingredient in Beneful.”

Complaints about Beneful dog food are not new. The website Consumer Affairs has hundreds of them. Hundreds more are on Facebook pages like Is BENEFUL by Purina KILLING or SICKENING Dogs?.

I’ve heard stories about Beneful for years now, but I think this lawsuit will focus more media attention on the problems so many consumers have had with it, and I wouldn’t be surprised if sales of it drop sharply.

According to Top Class Actions, Lucido is looking to represent two classes — a nationwide class and a California subclass for dog owners “who purchased Beneful dog food in the past four years and who incurred any out of pocket costs due to illness, injury or death of their dog resulting from the ingestion of Beneful.”

The website also noted that the Beneful toxic dog food class action lawsuit is charging Nestle Purina with breach of implied warranty, breach of express warranty, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, strict products liability, violating California’s consumer legal remedies act, violating California’s Unfair Competition Law, and violating California’s False Advertising Law.