New Natural Balance Recall (not Menu related)

Natural Balance has expanded its recall to include Venison and Brown Rice Treats for Dogs and Venison and Brown Rice Canned Formula for Dogs, as well as the dry Venison formulas for both cats and dogs.

Scary, scary stuff. I don't even know what to think any more, my mind feels paralyzed.

That IS a very good question, regarding what to watch for. Just "rice protein concentrate" or not?

I did some quick googling and found something. I'll keep looking.

This link is to a poorly translated trade site, however it does indicate that feed grade "rice protein concentrate" can also be known as "rice gluten meal" and "isolated rice protein". Take it for what it's worth, I suppose, but it is worth mentioning.

Here's the link...it's the 3rd item down on the right column

http://rice_protein.directory.alibaba.com/

I bolded the "meal" in "rice gluten meal" because I'm not sure how different the "rice gluten" is from "rice gluten meal". More research is needed...it's hard to avoid rice products.

New Balance has expanded its recall to include Venison and Brown Rice Treats for Dogs and Venison and Brown Rice Canned Formula for Dogs, as well as the dry Venison formulas for both cats and dogs.

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Could you post a link to that please? I assume you mean Natural balance?

Yes, I meant Natural Balance - just shows you how incredibly upset I am right now....half the food I switched my kittens over to is NB.

Here's the link http://www.itchmo.com/read/natural-b...reats_20070417

I just called the company and asked the rep. why they haven't pulled the Venison canned cat formula and how can I be assured that the remaining NB products are safe. She told me all their products had been tested, not just the two Venison dry formulas, and everything but the four recalled products tested negative for the melamine.

I want to be reassured, I really do....but I'm not.

I just googled "rice protien concentrate" and the scarey thing is it shows up listed in the ingredients of several very well known dog and cat foods not just Natural Balance. It also shows up in human foods and health drinks.

So???? It appears we are at the mercy of the rice protien concentrate/wheat gluten manufacturers and who knows who else. Do you feel lucky?

How can melamine, a hither to unheard of contaminant, show up twice in rapid succession in seemingly unrelated pet food manufacturers? Hmmmm.

By the way I have been feeding my cats New Balance canned for the past year,with excellent results. I just bought my very first NB dry food this past Friday, a bag of Ultra and a bag of Venison and Green Pea. I decided for no particular reason to start with the Ultra. Wow, we may have dodged a bullet. My friend who heads a large foster network for dogs and cats sent out an email yesterday that one of the foster homes had been feeding NB Venison to their dogs and one of the foster dogs and two personal dogs came down with acute kidney failure yesterday morning. I returned the Venison and Green Pea to Petco today before I heard about the rice protien concentrate and so did not check the ingredients on the lable.

I switched to NB a month ago when this all happened. My cats did not eat the recalled foods previously but the recall made me take notice of the ingredients in the IAMS dry formula and I didn't care for it afterward.

Anyway, my two cats have been eating the NB Ultra Dry for free feeding at night and a rotation of the various NB canned flavors in the am and pm, including the venison & green pea.

Until this week, they seemed to be doing fine altho they now have dandruff and one seems to be shedding a quite a bit.

Over the last several days one cat has vomited up the food three times. Because this happened at night, I suspect it was the dry food as she likes to eat it at night. Today she also vomited up some clear liquid. (The other cat is eating mostly the wet food and seems ok.)

This cat may just not be taking to the food but she has rarely vomited ever in the past and seemingly did well the first three weeks on the food so I am a bit worried that it may be something with the food.

Hopefully they test all the ingredients for contamination and not just the "new" ingredients (rice protein concentrate?).

Until this is resolved, I'll switch to something else although the choices seem limited if you want to avoid Menu foods, wheat gluten, etc.

Originally Posted by Auntie Crazy

Natural Balance has expanded its recall to include Venison and Brown Rice Treats for Dogs and Venison and Brown Rice Canned Formula for Dogs, as well as the dry Venison formulas for both cats and dogs.

Scary, scary stuff. I don't even know what to think any more, my mind feels paralyzed.

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omg.omg.omg i have a tin of the wet venison in my cupboard for the dogs!! i had fed one to them a week+ ago but was recently using the canidae because they went nuts for it...

i seriously want to be ill.

Press release from the Natural Balance site

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/press_release.html

Originally Posted by beandip

More research is needed...it's hard to avoid rice products.

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It certainly is! I noticed that Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care Adult contains rice protein concentrate, as well.. gosh i hope they didn't use the same supplier?

Christmas, who else has rice protein concentrate...

Originally Posted by followedbydolls

It certainly is! I noticed that Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care Adult contains rice protein concentrate, as well.. gosh i hope they didn't use the same supplier?

Christmas, who else has rice protein concentrate...

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Some ultramix dry and organix wet have RPC ...they're not recalled, but they do have RPC.

I'm sure there's lots more, that's all I found so far.

Until I learn more, I am not comfortable with any rice protein concentrate, rice gluten, rice gluten meal, rice flour, brown rice flour, or any other PROCESSED rice product. Plain rice is OK with me.

Hopefully I'll learn something that makes me feel comfortable with the other processed rice stuff, but for now...no.

I don't know what to think at this point. My cats are going grain free. Of course, contaminants might be found in some other ingredient next, but at the moment avoiding grain products seems to be the safest thing.

Originally Posted by momto3cats

I don't know what to think at this point. My cats are going grain free. Of course, contaminants might be found in some other ingredient next, but at the moment avoiding grain products seems to be the safest thing.

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EXACTLY ... My vet said no grain...

what products have NO grain in them??

EVO
Raw instict
Wellness some varieties
some Avoderm
more lattter that is all off top of my head

I just checked the Timberwolf Organics Serengeti ingredient list and that has no rice or wheat.

I just now got on the computer and need to read and find out what the newest bad news is.

I was planning to open a bag of Serengeit and one of Max Cat and mix them together for the fur kids tonight. I guess I'll do some reading to see if the Max Cat is safe before opening anything.

Originally Posted by tru

I just checked the Timberwolf Organics Serengeti ingredient list and that has no rice or wheat.

I just now got on the computer and need to read and find out what the newest bad news is.

I was planning to open a bag of Serengeit and one of Max Cat and mix them together for the fur kids tonight. I guess I'll do some reading to see if the Max Cat is safe before opening anything.

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Yes seregetti

Max has grd rice ... not the ??able rice protein concentrate...

I have too many problem kids so all grain is going out ...

this is an interesting article from the herald tribune which implies that melamine might have been added intentionally to raise the protein content.
"Now, regulators with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are examining the possibility that melamine was intentionally mixed into the wheat gluten in China as a way to bolster the apparent protein content and to meet pet food requirements, according to a person briefed on the investigation."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/11/asia/gluten.php

Originally Posted by heidinyny

this is an interesting article from the herald tribune which implies that melamine might have been added intentionally to raise the protein content.
"Now, regulators with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are examining the possibility that melamine was intentionally mixed into the wheat gluten in China as a way to bolster the apparent protein content and to meet pet food requirements, according to a person briefed on the investigation."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/11/asia/gluten.php

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:censor::censor::censor:!!!! protein requirement??? Via some sort of PLASTIC ingrediant?? How is that a PROTEIN and since when did MELAMINE become an option to fulfill this???