Samoya was put down earlier this month after experiencing kidney failure. Her owner Tom Whaley claims the cat's death was brought on infected cat food.

An Oregon man is suing a pet food manufacturer that recently recalled dozens of brands of products.

Tom Whaley of Ontario believes his cat died after eating one of the affected brands.

Nationwide, we know more than a dozen pets have died after the recall of dozens of kinds of wet pet food, but it's still unclear exactly what about the food is making the animals sick.

But Whaley believes his cat's death was avoidable and says he filed the lawsuit to prove a point.

“Our animals have always been a part of our family,” said Whaley.

Tom Whaley and his wife are pet people with several animals in the house.  But on March 8th, they had to put down their 18-year-old Siamese cat, Samoya.  The Whaleys say Samoya had lost her appetite and was having trouble walking, so they took her to the vet. 

“The vet said she had major kidney failure.  They call it renal failure.  We had her put down - we figured, let's let her die with some dignity,” said Whaley.

The Whaleys say they were feeding Samoya "Iams Tuna and White Fish in Sauce" - one of many brands of recalled cat food across the country, before they learned those foods were being blamed for kidney failure in cats and dogs.   

Tom contacted a Seattle attorney and filed a request for a class action lawsuit against manufacturer Menu Foods.

It's just primarily for vet bills.  I don't profess to make this an issue of money, it's an issue of principle.  That pets don't need to be killed by poisoning from our suppliers,” said Whaley.

His Seattle attorney, Michael Myers, says they plan to add as many as 20 more upset pet owners to the civil complaint.

“We've been flooded with inquiries so far and it really emphasizes historically, but particularly today, just how important pets are to people,” said Myers.

Admittedly, Samoya was a very old cat.  The Whaleys vet says they didn't draw blood, so there's no medical proof that her illness was connected to the cat food. But even at age 18, Whaley is convinced that his cat's death was avoidable.

“We want to make a point to the pet food companies that this isn't going to be tolerated,” said Whaley.

Whaley says his vet bill was about $200 and that's the amount he'd like to see reimbursed by the company.

NewsChannel 7 did try to contact Menu Foods today for their reaction to the lawsuit, but they have not returned our calls yet.

For more information about the recall, including a list of affected foods, go to: http://www.menufoods.com/recall/index.html.