Moose, a 9-year-old black Labrador retriever, died suddenly Friday, and his Hampden owner is convinced the nation’s tainted-dog-food crisis is to blame.

“I poisoned my own dog and didn’t know it,” owner Nancy McFadden said Monday. “I’m devastated.”

The canned dog food she fed Moose was from a Menu Foods Inc. processing plant that has recalled canned and pouch pet food products that are believed to be tainted with rat poison.

One dog and 13 cats have died nationwide from eating the contaminated food, according to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration Web site, although other agencies and news organizations are recording much higher numbers.

In an interview Monday, McFadden, 59, said she was feeding her 150-pound dog Ol’Roy brand dog food until he got sick and stopped eating it a couple of weeks ago. She then switched to Mighty Dog brand and took her dog to a veterinarian who discovered Moose had a urinary tract infection.

It wasn’t until several days later that news of the pet food poisoning broke in the national media. It turned out that both brands she had fed her dog were placed on a recall list on March 16.

McFadden said she switched to a brand that was not on the list as soon as she found out about the recall, but it was too late. Her Lab, a house dog with all of his shots, just stopped wanting to eat.

“He started throwing up yellow foam and he wouldn’t eat any canned dog food,” McFadden said. “For four days he wouldn’t eat anything.”

After he lost 32 pounds, she rushed Moose to his vet on Friday, but nothing could be done. He died at 1 p.m.

McFadden’s veterinarian cautioned Monday that he could not pinpoint with certainty the connection to tainted dog food, but he and other area vets acknowledged that many pet owners are nervous and asking lots of questions. A couple in Brewer who have lost two dogs recently also are questioning the cause of the death of their pets.

Dr. James Meiczinger of Penobscot Veterinary Services in Bangor said Moose did not die from kidney failure, which has been identified as a factor in some of the animals’ deaths nationwide.

“I do not have a definite cause of death,” he said.

“The food that she was feeding him was from one of the lots that were recalled,” he said. “I cannot say it was the food, but I can’t say it wasn’t either.”

The dog was cremated and no autopsy was conducted.

“We may never know for sure. I told her to save the food and we’ll keep the records,” Meiczinger said.

“The phone hasn’t stopped ringing” since the recall started, he said.

He also suggested that pet owners not panic. If they see signs of kidney failure, such as loss of appetite, vomiting, lethargy, disorientation or changes in water consumption and urination, they should call a vet and “stop feeding canned food,” Meiczinger said. “There have been no problems with dry food.”

For Rinette and David MacDonald of Brewer, the news of the recall may explain why two “perfectly healthy” dogs suddenly fell ill and died. Jazz, a 7-year-old boxer, died in mid-January. One month later the couple lost Willie, an 11-year-old West Highland terrier.

“The food I was feeding them was on the recall list,” David MacDonald said Monday. The retired canine officer who served 26 years in the Brewer Police Department added, “I called my vet today and they are doing blood work.”

Both of the dogs were producing a yellowish frothy foam and had blood in their urine before they died. Willie also had a bloated stomach, the couple said.

“It was just kind of bizarre,” Rinette MacDonald said. “All of a sudden that dog [Jazz] was so sick. By the time we took him [to the vet] it was too late.”

The loss has hit the family hard.

“They are our babies,” Rinette MacDonald said.

The recall has prompted numerous Maine pet owners to have their animals tested.

Representatives from Veazie Veterinary Clinic, Brewer Veterinary Clinic, Foxcroft Veterinary Services in Dover-Foxcroft, and Bucksport Veterinary Hospital in Orland all said they have seen animals brought in by concerned owners and have taken calls regarding the recall.

Stores all around the country, including pet and retail stores in Maine, have pulled the pet foods listed on the expanded recall list.

“We’ve basically done what everybody else has – we’ve pulled the items off from the shelves,” said Norman Jolin, manager of the Shaw’s supermarket on Hogan Road in Bangor. “I think everybody is doing the same thing. We’ve pulled all the recalled items.”

All Hannaford stores have removed the listed products and will not refill the shelves until “its safety has been confirmed,” spokeswoman Rebecca Howes said in a statement. An official at Petco, a pet supply store in Bangor, also indicated the tainted foods had been removed.

McFadden said she went this weekend to each place where she bought food, including her local Hannaford, Shaw’s and Wal-Mart, to inform them of the recall.

Pet owners can return any Menu Foods dog and cat food products to retailers for a full refund, the Menu Foods Web site says. Those who bought Hannaford brand pet food can return it to their local stores for a “double your money back refund,” Howes said.

The initial recall, spurred by pet owner complaints that their house pets developed kidney failure after eating the affected food, was expanded Saturday to include all wet dog and cat food made by the company at Menu Foods’ Kansas and New Jersey facilities.

Menu Foods, based in Ontario, is recalling all of its “cuts and gravy” dog and cat foods sold in North America under 53 dog food brands and 42 cat food brands. The recall includes brand names such as Iams, Mighty Dog and Eukanuba, and private store brands such as Hannaford.

A complete list of the recalled products is available online at www.menufoods.com/recall.

Consumers who have any of these products should immediately stop feeding them to their pets, the FDA Web site says.

The Menu Foods Web site does not indicate the cause of the contamination, but does state that it “coincides with the introduction of an ingredient from a new supplier. The [company] stopped using this ingredient shortly after this discovery and production since then has been undertaken using ingredients from another source.”

Tests conducted by New York State Food Laboratory uncovered traces of aminopterin, a rat poison used overseas that is banned in the United States.

The lab has started testing individual components of the tainted pet food to determine which ingredient was contaminated, officials said Monday.

Department of Agriculture and Markets spokeswoman Jessica Chittenden did not know when the lab would have results from the new tests.

Whatever the cause, Moose’s death has hit McFadden hard.

“When I lived all alone … this dog was there for me,” McFadden said. “When I cried, he licked my tears.”

Moose, who loved to play ball, will be greatly missed by her, her family and the neighborhood, said McFadden, who wants to warn others to watch their pets closely and check their pet food labels.

“I just don’t want anyone else to lose their pet,” she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.