AUBURN - If there is one word that describes the ongoing scandal of tainted pet food, it might be uncertainty.

There is uncertainty how many more brands of pet food might be added to the recall list, uncertainty over the long-term health effects for pets who ate contaminated products, and for those who are now mourning the loss of a cat or dog, uncertainty of what was the exact cause of their pet's death.

Laurel Auchampaugh, of Owasco, has also gone through a difficult time recently, and tainted pet food may be to blame.

Last summer, her 5-year-old English Springer Spaniel died of liver failure.

“Augie was a beautiful dog. When we took him to our vet, she shaved his legs and they were the color orange,” Auchampaugh recalls. “She knew right away he had liver failure, and she put him to sleep right away. It was very, very hard for us.”

Now, she has a puppy who is weak and constantly tired.

“Bear is just the opposite of Augie. He's a long-legged, clownish, adorable, scruffy looking. He's part poodle and part labrador. They call them labradoodles,” said Auchampaugh of her 13-month-old pooch.

Bear started to feel poorly several weeks ago. His vet prescribed Vitamin K, a nutrient that is depleted when an animal might have ingested rat poison. Such poisons have been discovered by Cornell University researchers in some pet foods.

Despite the treatments, Bear continues to act nothing like the puppy that he is.

“He has no strength, he's very listless, he's dragging himself around. He stands at the bottom of the stairs and just looks up,” Auchampaugh said. “I mean, this is a young dog.”

Many veterinarians are cautious about discussing tainted pet foods. None of the six local vets contacted for this story replied to a request for an interview.

More than 100 brands of cat and dog food have been recalled, and despite various estimates from different groups, there is no real consensus over the exact number of sick and injured pets. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has received more than 10,000 complaints.

With growing concern over commercial pet foods, many people are now preparing their own pet foods at home. But the American Veterinary Medical Association warns that home-cooked meals are troublesome because cats and dogs have unique nutritional needs based on factors such as age, physical health, and more.

The AVMA, which does not encourage pet owners to prepare homemade meals, also recognizes that concerned pet owners will be doing just that should the pet food recall list continue to grow. The organization said pet owners must stay vigilant in ensuring the pet food they use not be on the recall list, and they also strongly recommend consulting a vet before making pet food at home.

“Table scraps should definitely not be a part of your pet's diet,” said AVMA President Roger Mahr, DVM. “Gravies, meat fats and poultry skin can readily cause stomach and intestinal upsets, and even lead to a life-threatening condition called pancreatitis in dogs. Bones will splinter when chewed and cannot be digested by the animal's system. Chocolate can be poisonous to them, but it tastes good so pets will eat it if they have the opportunity; dark chocolate used in baking is particularly dangerous to pets.”

It has now been determined that melanime - a chemical used to make plastics, glue, and fertilizer - was found in two tainted ingredients found in many pet foods, wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate. In South Africa, corn gluten has been found to contain melanime.

The FDA will inspect the Chinese plants suspected of putting melanime into the two products shortly.

“All foreign inspections are conducted with the permission of the company being inspected,” said FDA spokesman Vash Klein, responding by e-mail. “Most foreign establishments are eager to accommodate our requests because most of these inspections are done as pre-approval inspections - for new drugs, devices, biologics - and the companies want FDA to inspect them to gain access to the U.S. market.”

And while tainted pet food has caused endless concern for animal lovers across the country, public health officials are now openly worried that lax oversight policies in China could contribute to such poisons entering the human food supply. Wheat gluten, for instance, is also used in breakfast cereals and pasta.

This is certainly not a new concern. Fruit and vegetable exports from China continue to increase each year, accounting for 12-percent of all worldwide exports in 2006. Also that year, U.S. inspectors rejected more than 200 shipments from China, even though inspectors could test only a very small percentage of the goods coming in.

A Food Safety Act has been introduced in Congress to address concerns over inadequate inspections at food processing plants in the United States, and for goods that are imported. A contentious hearing was held recently before a House subcommittee in Washington, D.C., with many on the panel blaming the FDA and federal government for having too many separate agencies and departments involved in food safety inspections.

Testifying before the Senate in 2006, retired FDA associate commissioner William Hubbard said, “The volume of food imports from overseas is approaching 10 million per year, and the number that FDA inspectors physically examine is in the single digit thousands - making it virtually certain that any given food shipment will enter the United States with no FDA inspection.”

Chinese farmers often use extremely high levels of pesticides, and combined with lax oversight by the Chinese government, there have been numerous problems across the globe. In 2002, frozen spinach shipped to Japan had high levels of the pesticide chlorpyrifos, and U.S. inspectors recently found frozen swordfish containing poison, and ginseng that was grown with unsafe pesticides.

The FDA has traced the source of the wheat gluten to a single Chinese supplier, Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology, but the company vehemently denies any involvement.

#* The Associated Press contributed to this report.