Pet supplement brand YuMove warns fakes are on Amazon

Amazon is recalling and refunding all purchases of YuMove branded products sold by third-party sellers, in the face of evidence that counterfeits of the health supplements for pets are being sold on the platform.

The UK-based company that owns the brand – Lintbells - confirmed the move by the e-commerce giant in a statement, saying that it is a "precaution" as "at present, the authenticity of any products sold by third-party sellers cannot be verified."

YuMove is one of the top-selling joint mobility supplements used for cats and dogs and the company also produces products for pets' digestive health, anxiety, skin and coat, and dental health.

The company stressed that the counterfeits and their sellers are in no way connected to Lintbells or YuMove, adding that it is working with Amazon and Trading Standards in the UK to investigate the sale of the knock-offs.  

"While the products may look very similar to YuMove – copying details on both boxes and tablet blister packs – they have not been produced by our manufacturers or checked by our quality team," according to the company. "Please be reassured that all YuMove products purchased directly from yumove.co.uk, your vet, and from our retail partners…are genuine and have passed our rigorous quality checks."

Lintbells advises people who have bought products on Amazon should check their order History to see if they were sold and dispatched by anyone other than Amazon – even if the purchase was made through the company's brand store on Amazon.

If not dispatched from and sold by Amazon only, "it means the product was sent to you by a third party, and it could be counterfeit," it says.

Suspect supplements should not be given to pets, as Lintbells has logged some reports of suspected adverse events associated with the counterfeit products, although overall the risk to animals is expected to be low.

There isn’t a reliable way to determine whether a product is counterfeit or not, and there are multiple versions on the market, said Lintbells.

In 2020, a survey of 2,000 pet owners found that around 10 per cent believed they had been conned into buying fake medicines for their animals.