Brenda Chambers doesn’t have proof, but the coincidence is almost too much to bear.

Her cat, an 8-year-old short-haired calico named Bassette, died Tuesday, euthanized after a sudden kidney failure.

She blames tainted cat food, the Special Kitty brand she fed her cat the week before a national recall. She purchased the food at the Farmington Wal-Mart weeks before the recall, she said.

“I’m definitely going to call the company,” Chambers, of Scarborough, said Wednesday. “I have to let them know they killed my cat, my friend. She was like a child to me, like part of the family.”

Special Kitty, a brand of moist cat food, was one of the 42 varieties of cat food and 53 varieties of dog food pulled from store shelves this week. All were manufactured by Ontario-based Menu Foods.

The company announced the recall last week after an unknown number of dogs and cats suffered kidney failure. Ten of those died after eating the company’s moist pet food, according to the company.

Retailers began pulling the food from the shelves over the weekend. The food was distributed under myriad names, including Nutro, Iams, Eukanuba and Special Kitty. It was shipped to retailers throughout North America, including Wal-Mart.

The recall cost the Greater Androscoggin Humane Society one-quarter of its supply of pet food. Jessica Lyons, a veterinary tech at the shelter, said she was forced to get rid of about five cases of moist pet food, about two months’ worth.

The food had been donated by volunteers, she said.

“It comes from all over,” she said. “99 percent of our food is brought in a case or two at a time from all over the community.”

The shelter has most of its moist food left over, as well as plenty of dry pet food.

“So, thanks to our volunteers, we didn’t take much of a hit,” she said. The shelter is looking for more donations to restock its shelves.

Lyons said the shelter had no animals with sicknesses that could be blamed on the food. Veterinarians at the Animal Emergency Clinic of Mid-Maine said they’d taken plenty of calls from worried pet owners, but didn’t have any sick animals to report.

Poisoned pouches

Chambers said she picked up Bassette’s food at the Wal-Mart in Farmington earlier this month, when she was visiting her sister.

“I’ve given her that food, half a pouch a day, since she was a kitten,” Chambers said. “I thought she was getting a treat, since she was a ‘Special Kitty.’ I didn’t know I was poisoning her.”

Chambers said the cat began acting sick Saturday, but she didn’t have time to check on her.

“My mother had just broken her hip, and I was pretty concerned with that,” she said. She learned of the recall Sunday morning, but didn’t see the Special Kitty brand listed.

“Then my son was checking the Internet Sunday night, and said it was all listed right there,” she said. She got rid of the suspected food right away and tried feeding the cat boiled chicken.

“But when she wouldn’t eat chicken from my plate, I knew she was in trouble,” she said.

The vet confirmed her fears, and said the best thing to do was let her go.

“All I know is she was doing fine, never better,” she said. “And then, boom, she went right down to nothing. She couldn’t walk, she could barely move. She couldn’t do anything.”

A manager at the Farmington Wal-Mart, who declined to be identified, said the store had received no complaints of sick animals and had cooperated fully with the recall.