Is Wellness safe?

heidinyny

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Hi,
I've been feeding my girl Wellness wet. Wellness is manufactured by Menu Foods. Wellness wet does not contain any wheat gluten, but they haven't come out and said for sure that wheat gluten is causing this. Do you think Wellness is okay to give?
Is anyone here feeding Wellness wet and noticed any problems recently? Thanks a million.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by heidinyny

Hi,
I've been feeding my girl Wellness wet. Wellness is manufactured by Menu Foods. Wellness wet does not contain any wheat gluten, but they haven't come out and said for sure that wheat gluten is causing this. Do you think Wellness is okay to give?
Is anyone here feeding Wellness wet and noticed any problems recently? Thanks a million.
If there is no wheat or wheat gluten I am using it ... That is sad we find yet another high end company using these two plants
 
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heidinyny

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hi sharky!
thank you. and thank you salemwitch, too. my concern is that noone has said definitively that it is the wheat gluten causing this,,, i am scared that all foods that have gone through the menu foods plants may have been tainted... maybe this is just me being paranoid. anyway, thank you again, and my thoughts are with everyone affected by this.
 

beandip

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Originally Posted by heidinyny

hi sharky!
thank you. and thank you salemwitch, too. my concern is that noone has said definitively that it is the wheat gluten causing this,,, i am scared that all foods that have gone through the menu foods plants may have been tainted... maybe this is just me being paranoid. anyway, thank you again, and my thoughts are with everyone affected by this.
I'm curious, how did you know Wellness is manufactured by Menu Foods? Is there a list somewhere (besides the recall list)?
 
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heidinyny

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hi beandip...

i called wellness this morning, and spoke with a woman who said that although wellness uses menu foods as a manufacturer, wellness does not contain wheat gluten.... i do not feel so reassured by this.

here is another source - http://www.petfoodexpress.com/petfoo...&Section=About

specifically, it says on this website -
"There are several brands that are produced by Menu Foods-- Nature's Variety, Newman’s Own Organics, Wellness, Wysong, and Innova-- that have not been recalled and that the parent companies assure us are safe to consume. Because of their assurances and the excellent reputations of these brands, we will sell them to people who understand the recall issues and accept the possible risks. Please be clear, however, that we cannot vouch for the safety of these products at this time."

Again, if anyone has any further info about wellness, and can vouch that it has not caused any problems with their kitties, i would really appreciate it. you all are the best.
heidi
 

vanillasugar

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That is really interesting to see Innova on the list, as I was positive the president of Innova told me they had their own manufacturing facilities to ensure quality control.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by vanillasugar

That is really interesting to see Innova on the list, as I was positive the president of Innova told me they had their own manufacturing facilities to ensure quality control.
I was told by a few Nutro high ups that they had there own facilitys ... so at this point I am glad that two eat no canned and the other one eats canned and raw
 

aussie_dog

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Buffy eats Wellness canned, so now I'm going to be paranoid watching her. My dog eats Nature's Variety Prairie dry, which obviously isn't wet, but I'll be watching him as well, just in case.

Another major bonus for those of us who feed the top premiums: we don't have to worry about the cruddy food that have wheat in them. We just have to worry about the possibility of contamination transfer or something (so we could have problems too, but I don't think it'd be as severe a degree as the cruddy foods cause). I do feel for the general population that feed the canned foods that are on the Menu Foods' lists, since I know what it's like to be stuck without food and not know where to get more (well, in my case, the store I typically get the food may be closed, so I'd have to resort to buying Friskies from the grocery store, which I REALLY don't want to do, lol). And those without internet access, if they're hearing all this from TV, they probably aren't getting the list of foods that are on the list, so they don't know what to buy that'll be safe.
 

jean44

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I'm very surprised to hear that Wellness and Innova are both manufactured by Menu Foods. I'd like to think that higher end brands like this would have their own facilities. My cats eat both Wellness and Innova. Fortunately neither food contains wheat gluten. Now I have a nagging suspicion in the back of my mind about these foods.
 
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heidinyny

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fyi - i spoke with a vet here in the city earlier tonight... she suggested that is better to err on the side of caution and hold off on feeding any foods that go through menu foods until they are able to pinpoint what is causing this.
i am going to stop giving her the wellness until they know exactly what is causing this...
again, my heart goes out to everyone affected by this.
 

mamakitties

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The odd thing about this wheat gluten is that why does it take so long to even test it and yet they still can't pin point exactly the root cause of it. I'm guessing it's more than just wheat gluten they are testing. Honestly, I don't see why they needed to test these tainted food on animals either. That just angers me even more. If human feces can be found in vegetables (recent news in CA), I can't imagine what else gets added to pet food. I'm getting paranoid now.

Has anyone visited these plants before?
 

jenniferd

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Originally Posted by MamaKitties

The odd thing about this wheat gluten is that why does it take so long to even test it and yet they still can't pin point exactly the root cause of it. I'm guessing it's more than just wheat gluten they are testing. Honestly, I don't see why they needed to test these tainted food on animals either. That just angers me even more. If human feces can be found in vegetables (recent news in CA), I can't imagine what else gets added to pet food. I'm getting paranoid now.

Has anyone visited these plants before?
Who else could they test the food on?
They had reports some animals have died after eating the product. However there was no way to tell for sure what caused the deaths of these animals as they did not die in a controlled environment.
So they did the test. We are talking about multimilion $ losses here.
To recall the food they would have to make sure the food was actually causing the deaths and not something else.
 

salemwitchchild

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I emailed wellness since there is some concern that they do business with Menu foods. Here's the reply I got

Dear Robin,

We are aware that Menu Foods has initiated a recall. No products made by
Wellness & Old Mother Hubbard are affected in any way.

Again, no Wellness, Old Mother Hubbard, or Neura products are part of this
recall.

While we do have some of our products made at Menu Foods, we do not use the
specific ingredient that has caused the recall to take place. In addition, we
have strict cleaning procedures in place to prevent cross-contamination.

If you would like more information, feel free to write us back or call our
Consumer Affairs line at (800) 225-0904.

Nicole Bibeau
Specialist
Consumer Affairs
 

auntie crazy

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How can they say they do not use the "specific ingredient that has caused the recall to take place" if that ingredient has not yet been identified?

Hmmmm.......
 
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heidinyny

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i don't quite understand how they can they say that they "do not use the specific ingredient that has caused the recall to take place " when that ingredient has not yet been definitively identified.
 

icklemiss21

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Originally Posted by vanillasugar

That is really interesting to see Innova on the list, as I was positive the president of Innova told me they had their own manufacturing facilities to ensure quality control.
I called them, they said they 'share' a facility with menufoods
but it is the one in North Dakota and that facility is not involved in any recalls
 
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heidinyny

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thanks icklemiss for that info.
 

xocats

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I am beginning to think that none of the companies are being forthcoming with us.
I just bought Innova Lt. today...
Now I really am afraid to use it.

Until we know for sure what the problem is...
it's not worth risking the lives of my kitties.
What a mess.
 
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