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wmarcello

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Let's recap.

- Natural Balance recalls food suspecting tainted "rice protein concentrate"
- Their food was made by Diamond
- Diamond got the suspected ingredient from an American company

So who is associated with Diamond? According to thepetfoodlist.com:

Diamond
Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul
Natural Balance
Nutra Nuggets
Premium Edge
Professional Pet Food
Solid Gold

I think anybody feeding any of these foods should pay attention to their ingredient list, specifically looking for any kind of rice protein, and if possible contact the companies and try to find out some concrete answers. I don't want to sound like I'm trying to induce panic, but we really need some answers here.

Any replies should be posted right away to clear up as much confusion as possible.
 

catk102

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I have just a couple of days ago called chicken food for cat lovers soul and asked them if their food was on a recall or if there were any other problems.They told me absolutly not on a recall and have no problems with the food.
Kat
 

luxum

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I have just a couple of days ago called chicken food for cat lovers soul and asked them if their food was on a recall or if there were any other problems.
Two days ago rice protein was not suspect.
 

catk102

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EEKS you sure?I better call them tomorrow gain.I have bought the bag about a month ago(I tend to stock up on things)and they halfway thru,I wonder if that means anything?
Thanks for letting me know didnt realize that that was a new one.
 

beandip

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Originally Posted by luxum

Two days ago rice protein was not suspect.
My thoughts exactly. Until I learn more, I will be very, very cautious about any processed rice ingredients, regardless of brand or manufacturer.

I went to www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com and looked at the ingredients for the cat formulas, both dry and wet. None of them appear to contain any *processed* rice...just plain old "rice" and "whole grain brown rice".
I am just on the lookout for rice protein concentrate, rice gluten, rice flour, etc...whole rice is fine by me at this point.
 

luxum

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Well, as i said before, i am suspicious of whole rice too since i got what i think were two different bad bags of California Natural chicken and brown rice, same lot number. Unless they just recently added rice protein concentrate to that and also neglected to update their websites.
 

catk102

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Well I will call them again first thing in the morning and see what they say.I am just wondering if maybe "older" or "newer" bags be more/less effected meaning if I feed a bag that I bought say 2 months ago is it more likely or less likely to be ok.
I let you all know as soon as I talk to them,
 

sharky

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Upon giving this info to my vet .. She pt blank said no rice
 
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wmarcello

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Originally Posted by sharky

Upon giving this info to my vet .. She pt blank said no rice
Unfortunately if it comes to that, I think that would completely wipe out every choice I would have for a dry food for our cats. Hopefully our Felidae is still ok with its brown rice.
 

chrissyr

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This is great. My cats just finished off a 6 pound bag of Chicken Soup that I picked up Saturday. Gods I hope they'll be ok. What should I keep and eye out for? Symptoms?
 

kittylover77

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Originally Posted by luxum

Well, as i said before, i am suspicious of whole rice too since i got what i think were two different bad bags of California Natural chicken and brown rice, same lot number. Unless they just recently added rice protein concentrate to that and also neglected to update their websites.
luxum,

Can you please elaborate on what made the bags bad?
I am feeding my babies California Natural and my bag doesn't have any rice protein concentrate in the ingredients.

Thanks!
 

beandip

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Originally Posted by ChrissyR

This is great. My cats just finished off a 6 pound bag of Chicken Soup that I picked up Saturday. Gods I hope they'll be ok. What should I keep and eye out for? Symptoms?
Rice-wise, dry Chicken Soup contains only whole rice. The "problem" ingredient at the moment is "rice protein concentrate", a heavily processed rice product...very different from whole rice IMO. Everyone is going to have to form their own opinion on what is "safe" and "not safe", however with that in mind, I see no problem with whole rice.

When something gets ground up/ processed/ packaged/ shipped/ reshipped/ repackaged, most likely tens of thousands of miles away from here...and then finally shipped here, there and everywhere before it even arrives at the pet food plant...I worry. That's rice protein concentrate. That's wheat gluten. The whole grain of rice is different. Again just my take on things.
 

jean44

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Originally Posted by beandip

When something gets ground up/ processed/ packaged/ shipped/ reshipped/ repackaged, most likely tens of thousands of miles away from here...and then finally shipped here, there and everywhere before it even arrives at the pet food plant...I worry. That's rice protein concentrate. That's wheat gluten. The whole grain of rice is different. Again just my take on things.
I'd like to think whole grain rice is different, but it could be rice from California or rice from China. Is there a difference in unprocessed rice from those places? I don't know and we don't know where the rice the pet food companies use comes from.

That said, I have 10 cans of NB Turkey and Giblets containing rice flour. My cats have been eating it along with other foods for four months with no problems so I'll finish it. After that it's grain free only until this issue is sorted out.
 

luxum

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luxum,

Can you please elaborate on what made the bags bad?
I am feeding my babies California Natural and my bag doesn't have any rice protein concentrate in the ingredients.

Thanks!
Well, i put them on CN chicken and rice to hopefully clear Rajah's food allergy symptoms. You are right, it does not list rice protein concentrate, only brown rice. The first bag was fine. I transitioned them slowly off the Chicken Soup dry. After they'd been eating CN exclusively for about 4 days, they both got loose stools - no big deal after a food switch, and they firmed up again the next day. The rest of that bag was awesome, no issues.

Then i bought another bag since they were running out. When i put the food down from that bag, their stools became loose again as though it was a completely different food. I figured the new bag must have been a little different from the previous bag (the color was lighter and it smelled a little different) and expected the stools to firm back up quickly. Instead they got worse - it became diarrhea and they both stopped eating the food in any significant amount.

I began to suspect that there was something wrong with that particular bag of food and i brought it back to the store to exchange it for another bag. I requested that he get me a bag from a different lot number, but he only had one lot in the store. He opened a bag of it up for me there and we compared it to my bag. It looked a little different and he claimed that my bag smelled "stale" in comparison - i couldn't smell a difference and i have a nose like a bloodhound, but i agreed to take it.

I went home and put it down, the cats avoided it at first. They started eating it again and the diarrhea returned immediately and did not abate within the first few days so at that point i switched to NB green pea and venison (the bag i got was old enough that it did not contain the rice protein) and their stools firmed to normal immediately - same day.

I still have the last bag of CN chicken and rice at home if you want to compare lot numbers.
 

beandip

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Originally Posted by Jean44

I'd like to think whole grain rice is different, but it could be rice from California or rice from China. Is there a difference in unprocessed rice from those places? I don't know and we don't know where the rice the pet food companies use comes from.

That said, I have 10 cans of NB Turkey and Giblets containing rice flour. My cats have been eating it along with other foods for four months with no problems so I'll finish it. After that it's grain free only until this issue is sorted out.
You've made a good point. I guess what I wanted to say was that I am now *very* nervous about *any* ground up grains...because it is safe to assume that they came from China (or elsewhere), already ground up. "Whole" grains make me less nervous, because it seems that they would be less vulnerable to contamination...because they aren't "ground up" with undetectable contaminants.

I'm thinking along the lines of an example like prepackaged coffee grounds. When I open up the container of grounds, I can't really be sure there's not "junk" mixed in with those grounds. If I can't see it, I can't be sure. If I grind up the beans (which I don't
)...then at least I know what was contained inside the bean was just coffee and not mysterious contaminants. It's not 100% reassurance but it's something.

That said, I cannot find an official AAFCO definition for "rice" or any other seemingly "whole" type of rice product. That makes me wonder if "rice" is really NOT ground up...meaning, are they required to differentiate between true "whole" rice and ground rice? I have seen it listed both ways on various foods, but I'm not finding anything to reassure me that whole rice is not necessarily ground rice. Sometimes I open a can of cat food and SEE the grains of rice, other times I don't ...despite the fact that I see "rice" and not "ground rice" or something similar on the label. So was it ground/pureed at the pet food plant (slightly scary) or ground up over in China (very scary)?


The more I learn, the less I am comfortable with any grains...but going totally grain free may or may not be practical.

I've talked myself in a complete circle....not sure where to go from here.
 

catk102

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Here is the answer I got from diamond foods regarding the recall.The natural balance food that has been recalled contains rice protein concentrate,this is a byproduct from making rice syrup according top the person I spoke to.
Chicken soup for cat lovers soul(now here is a name that needs an abbreviation lol) does NOT rice protein concentrate.
It contains whole rice and is therefore a different product and so is NOT affected by the recall.
Thats what they told me so at least for now it is still safe,altho seems like every day another food gets recalled.
 

chrissyr

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Originally Posted by beandip

Rice-wise, dry Chicken Soup contains only whole rice. The "problem" ingredient at the moment is "rice protein concentrate", a heavily processed rice product...very different from whole rice IMO. Everyone is going to have to form their own opinion on what is "safe" and "not safe", however with that in mind, I see no problem with whole rice.

When something gets ground up/ processed/ packaged/ shipped/ reshipped/ repackaged, most likely tens of thousands of miles away from here...and then finally shipped here, there and everywhere before it even arrives at the pet food plant...I worry. That's rice protein concentrate. That's wheat gluten. The whole grain of rice is different. Again just my take on things.
I would imagine that if something was going to happen, I'd see it by now. I know they got loose stools from trying to switch but I just put them back on their Nutro. I went to the website and saw that Chicken Soup doesn't have the rice protein but I'm still concerned. All these recalls and nobody is sure what's being recalled next bothers me to no end. I read labels and avoid the wheat gluton like it's the new plague. Now I'm adding the rice protein to that list. *sigh* Thank goodness we're switching over to raw.
 

kittylover77

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Originally Posted by luxum

Well, i put them on CN chicken and rice to hopefully clear Rajah's food allergy symptoms. You are right, it does not list rice protein concentrate, only brown rice. The first bag was fine. I transitioned them slowly off the Chicken Soup dry. After they'd been eating CN exclusively for about 4 days, they both got loose stools - no big deal after a food switch, and they firmed up again the next day. The rest of that bag was awesome, no issues.

Then i bought another bag since they were running out. When i put the food down from that bag, their stools became loose again as though it was a completely different food. I figured the new bag must have been a little different from the previous bag (the color was lighter and it smelled a little different) and expected the stools to firm back up quickly. Instead they got worse - it became diarrhea and they both stopped eating the food in any significant amount.

I began to suspect that there was something wrong with that particular bag of food and i brought it back to the store to exchange it for another bag. I requested that he get me a bag from a different lot number, but he only had one lot in the store. He opened a bag of it up for me there and we compared it to my bag. It looked a little different and he claimed that my bag smelled "stale" in comparison - i couldn't smell a difference and i have a nose like a bloodhound, but i agreed to take it.

I went home and put it down, the cats avoided it at first. They started eating it again and the diarrhea returned immediately and did not abate within the first few days so at that point i switched to NB green pea and venison (the bag i got was old enough that it did not contain the rice protein) and their stools firmed to normal immediately - same day.

I still have the last bag of CN chicken and rice at home if you want to compare lot numbers.
I am not sure where to find a lot number, but do have the bag right here, if you tell me where to look! Thanks!
 

followedbydolls

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Originally Posted by catk102

Here is the answer I got from diamond foods regarding the recall.The natural balance food that has been recalled contains rice protein concentrate,this is a byproduct from making rice syrup according top the person I spoke to.
Chicken soup for cat lovers soul(now here is a name that needs an abbreviation lol) does NOT rice protein concentrate.
It contains whole rice and is therefore a different product and so is NOT affected by the recall.
Thats what they told me so at least for now it is still safe,altho seems like every day another food gets recalled.
Thank you for posting that, i really wasn't quite sure what RPC was..
 
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