Orijen food recall

Hi, this video is of my 2 cats Gus and Maurice who have been poisoned by Champion pet foods Orijen. I urge you to boycott this company for what they have done to my cats and all the other affected cats in Australia. Gus and Maurice cannot run, roll in the sun, climb their cat trees,wash themselves, play with each other and be naughty jumping on the kitchen bench. I don't know if my cats will survive or regain the use of their hind legs or further in time have a major organ failure. This is what 4 months of eating Orijen cat food for 50% of their diet, the rest fresh meat, did to them. Three cats have died of seizures, one of a spinal tumour. Fifteen have been euthanized. Dozens of cats have been affected please join our forum to see our fight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEaXv...eature=channel
http://www.phpbbserver.com/catfoodis...=catfoodissues

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Can you trust such a negligent company as Champion with your pets health, I did like everyone else in Australia who thought they were buying the best for their cats and look what they have done to my beautiful cats. I am so heartbroken and stressed at what they have done to my boys. Do you really want to give Champion your money or their pet food to your pets.
Yours
Wendy
This a letter to Champion pet foods by Topcat3 whose cat Colette is very ill
My cat is totally paralyzed, incontinent and cannot drink or feed herself nor defaecate without enemas.

Your lack of due diligence before entering this market, admitted by you during our telephone conversation of 19 December 2008, and your failure to stay fully informed of what your importer was doing at all times in signing authorities to gamma irradiate not on one shipment, as you claimed in our telephone conversaton, not on two shipments as Michelle Grainger claimed but on THREE SHIPMENTS has caused this devastation among Australian cats.

Both your importer and you knew something was wrong in September/October of 2008 when vets first spotted a link between the syndrome and Orijen cat food. It took you until almost the end of November before a recall was announced and even then many of the retailers were not given a full explanation so they could not tell their customers who were still feeding their cats from recently purchased bags.


A highly restrictive Compassionless Underfund of $100 for supplements and $100 for ancillaries doesn't even come close. And given that standard veterinary consultations, treatments and prescriptions do not apply, once diagnosis has been made and paid for that saves you the bulk of the $1800 doesn't it? Australians have a phrase for that kind of thing - "Mean and tricky".

That is awful i hope your cats will be ok!

I cried watching that youtube video

I would like more information though (the other link you posted required registration to read and looked to be a tiny forum) - what have vets said about this? Is it definitely connected to diet? Is there any information online about the Orijen recall? I need to know more about this before I can post this information elsewhere, for my own legal protection.

Please check this thread before you condemn Champion and Orijen out of hand. The problem is in Australia only, and is apparently as a result of treatment of the food by the Australian authorities. The same food is not causing any problems in the rest of the world.

Originally Posted by rapunzel47

Please check this thread before you condemn Champion and Orijen out of hand. The problem is in Australia only, and is apparently as a result of treatment of the food by the Australian authorities. The same food is not causing any problems in the rest of the world.

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Thanks for that link, would anyone mind if I posted a copy of that for information elsewhere?

Originally Posted by rapunzel47

Please check this thread before you condemn Champion and Orijen out of hand. The problem is in Australia only, and is apparently as a result of treatment of the food by the Australian authorities. The same food is not causing any problems in the rest of the world.

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I feed Orijen to both of my kitties, and I am truly happy with the results... I did a lot of research about this food, because of the problem in Australia. That problem was not due to the food itself, but to the irradiation it went through during importing procedures...
I would feed nothing but the best to my kitties, and Orijen is a great food...

Hi, the problem with Orijen is they knew the food was going to be gamma irradiated but still imported the food without telling us the buyers, only a very small amount of people bought Orijen maybe under 400 but over 100 cats have been affected. Remember the melamine scandal that cost thousands of animal lives in your country.
Rosella
the vet report

Originally Posted by Rosella

Hi, the problem with Orijen is they knew the food was going to be gamma irradiated but still imported the food without telling us the buyers, only a very small amount of people bought Orijen maybe under 400 but over 100 cats have been affected. Remember the melamine scandal that cost thousands of animal lives in your country.
Rosella
the vet report

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The problem with Orijen is the Australian government, not the Orijen product itself. Many of us from around the world feed Orijen and have no problems with the food itself. It is a quality food and anybody outside of Australia should have no fear of feeding this quality food.

It is important that we do not indiscriminately slander a good company because of the insistence of the Australian government to irradiate this food. If anyone should be taken to task, it is the Australian government.

Originally Posted by Rosella

Hi, the problem with Orijen is they knew the food was going to be gamma irradiated but still imported the food without telling us the buyers, only a very small amount of people bought Orijen maybe under 400 but over 100 cats have been affected. Remember the melamine scandal that cost thousands of animal lives in your country.
Rosella
the vet report

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First off, I am very sorry that your cats are sick. It is a horrible thing that no one should ever have to go through, especially at the hands of a food that has been said.

BUT, to me, it is not Champion's responsibility to let the buyer know about your government's import processes. It is the responsibility of the government, and possibly the store that is buying and selling the product to the customer.

Even if it was Champion's responsibility, I'm sure they did not expect such high levels of irradiation. As stated in this statement, the pet food was irradiated at MUCH higher levels than would ever been performed on human food: http://www.championpetfoods.com/orij...er_Release.pdf. It was done solely by the Australian government.

To me, it seems that Champion did the responsible thing. The voluntarily recalled the product, studied the issue, and made statements according to their findings. They have also stated that they will no longer sell cat OR dog food in Australia because there is no way to ensure that no more cats will be harmed (they could easily still sell dog food, and say that if anymore cats get sick, they shouldn't have been eating the food in the first place).

As for a comparison to the melamine recall a few years back, while both are tragic circumstances, they are different. From my understanding, that recall was caused by pet food companies cutting corners and trying to make food as cheap as possible, regardless of the impact on quality. Cheap ingredients, that ended up being tainted, were imported from China.

As I said, I am very sorry for the unfortunate health of your pets. It is very sad for you and other Australian pet owners in similar circumstances.

I'm so sad for what you're kitties are going through, and for all the people in Australia who are going through this. It's brought back so many nightmares from the Menu recalls of a few years ago. Maybe that Menu recall has me gunshy, but my personal opinion is that even though the problem seems to be confined to Australia at the moment, I'm not taking the chance with my cats. I'm also upset that I've seen a post on another forum that states that there is BHA/BHT in the food that they aren't listing on their bag or their web site. http://www.animalsspeak.org/orijen-f...uct-t1376.html I'm going to email the company about that to see what they have to say.

In fact, as far as I can tell, there isn't a thing on the web site about the Australian recall either.

I sort of feel the company may have been too quick to jump on the "irridation" theory to explain the problem, especially knowing that many of the cats affected were not on a sole diet of Orijen. So presumably they would be getting Vitamin A from other food sources.

From this link http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/...491735559.html :

The Sydney cat neurologist who first identified the link between the pet food and the outbreak of illness in the local cat population, Dr Georgina Child, was sceptical of the company's claims.

"There is nothing to suggest any of the cats I have seen are vitamin A deficient … and while all the cats have eaten Orijen, most have also eaten a variety of other foods," she said.

The study quoted by the company was based on the findings of just eight cats and concluded that further research was required to support any link between vitamin A depletion, irradiation and neurological illness, Dr Child said.

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One other thing, and unfortunately I can't find the link right now. I know I read one of the earlier statements from the company stating that they had tested the irridated food and there was no difference in nutrients between the two. I'll keep looking for that link.

The bottom line is, I think it's too soon to feel totally confident that they've found the correct problem. Orijen was just a very small part of what I've been feeding my cats, since they mainly get wet food, so for the time being I'm taking a "wait and see" attitude.

Yes, that link goes to a small forum set up by the AU pet parents of affected AU cats. Posted in that forum is more information regarding factual documentation. This is an on-going project to gather the research.

As I remember Menu Foods, it was Menu Foods who was taking the 'shortcuts' and basically defrauding their client pet food companies, who believed Menu was adhering to the proprietary formulas exactly as written. A lot of good companies got caught in that mess - the only good thing is that many companies took major, and expensive, steps to increase quality control, over and beyond statutory requirements. And, we found out that China doesn't have the most robust quality control measures in place for an awful lot of prducts, including human infant formula.

I also agree it's not right, although understandable, to tar a company with irresponsibility before all the tests are done. It's a horrible shame that the cats are suffering, no matter the ultimate cause, but it will be good to find that cause and resolve it.

Originally Posted by darlili

I also agree it's not right, although understandable, to tar a company with irresponsibility before all the tests are done. It's a horrible shame that the cats are suffering, no matter the ultimate cause, but it will be good to find that cause and resolve it.

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It can be classed as slander and if Orijen wished to sue those spouting that slander it can be costly.

Just to let you know, Gus has not walked for 37 days, is incontinent, needs to be hand fed, hydrated with a syringe and carried everywhere thanks to Champions negligence. Another issue with Champion is accurate information - they haven't released their toxicology reports to owners and treating vets so we can be aware of what we are actually battling and potential issues with our cats in the future.
Champions compassion fund is a insult, the vets cannot prescribe any medication, there is no conventional drugs to help our cats, only time, physio and hopefully supplements may help, which are not covered by Champions compassion fund
Their fund goes to a maximum of $2000.00 Australian dollars which converts to US$1284.00 or Can$1600.00 and finishes at the end of May 2009
If you only saw your vet twice say, at $50 each time that's $100.
Then if you spent $900 on a cage, incontinence sheets, acupuncture treatments from an animal chinese medicine practitioner that wasn't a vet, some physiotherapy sessions with a physiotherapist who was a practitioner for animals as well as humans that wasn't a vet, the most you would get is another $100
Then if you spent over 6 months say, $500 on supplements - MethylB12, antioxidants, the most you would get is another $100
So you could have spent $1500 and only be entitled to receive $300 under this pathetic fund.
From the Champion web site
WHAT IS A NON-VETERINARY RELATED ITEM?
A: Non-veterinary items are limited to the following:
Training Pads I need these because Gus is incontinent
Specialized Litter Boxes Whats a specialized litter box as I have to help Maurice get into his kitty litter box
Exercise Pens I have to place Maurice in this at night and when I go out to keep him from hurting himself
Feeding syringes I need these to hydrate Gus because he cannot drink
I need these because Orijen poisoned my cats and Champion offer me a lousy AUS$100.00 for their negligence


From Raggiesrule whose 5 cats, ragdolls and maine coon, are severely affected with paralysis and her Robbie was PTS
"ORIJEN - a food that truly puts the optimal nourishment of dogs and cats above all else - from Champion website
We believed that - we believed we'd found a cat food that was more biologically appropriate than any other kibble. We trusted Orijen and bought their product.

Five whole months of sleepless nights caring for a very sick cat later I feel like my cats have been in a hit and run accident and Peter,CEO Champion petfoods, is virtually throwing a few bucks out of his fancy car and driving away."
Still want to put your money into their pockets.
Rosella

I am very very sorry for what you and your kitties are going through... I can not even imagine... However, I really can not see why this is being blamed on Orijen and not on the Government??
Did Orijen personally decided how much and how they were going to irradiate the food? Or it is done by customs and the government?

As far as I know, this is decided and done by Customs, which is part of the government...

The only reason why I think Orijen is being held responsible for this, is that it is much easier to sue a company than the Government.

Orijen is still one of the best foods out there, has not been in any recalls, except for this one in Australia, and did all they could to find out what happened and to stop further damage to cats in Australia...

I do understand the frustration and the pain, but I think the wrong people are being blamed here...

From Misty8723: In fact, as far as I can tell, there isn't a thing on the web site about the Australian recall either.

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This is simply not true... If you go to their website http://www.championpetfoods.com/ you will see that the information about the recall is right there, on the front page, with all the updates since they implemented the recall. Just look right at the center of the page.

Furthermore: Orijen has just received a Global award for the low glycemic healthiest pet food of the year, 2009-2010. Again, this is a GLOBAL award...
Please see quote below (for full report, please click here):

"The Glycemic Research Institute (GRI) conducts Independent Clinical and Analytical research on Pet Foods and Pet Treats. GRI has examined hundreds of pet foods from 2004 to the present in order to determine the healthiest overall products, focusing on anti-aging, diabetes, arthritis, glycemic, and blood glucose and insulin response, in the canine and feline.
The Pet Food of the Year is a global award presented by the Glycemic Research InstituteÂ[emoji]174[/emoji], for the Best Overall Healthiest Pet Food. This year, ORIJEN was selected against all other pet foods on the market. ORIJEN pet food is manufactured and owned by Champion Petfoods Ltd in Alberta, Canada (ChampionPetFoods.com).
The strict Award criteria involves in-depth analysis of the product and its suitability, based on ingredients, glycemic-response, diabetic-response, anti-aging factors, and biochemical requirements of the species."

Originally Posted by Rosella

Just to let you know, Gus has not walked for 37 days, is incontinent, needs to be hand fed, hydrated with a syringe and carried everywhere thanks to Champions negligence. Another issue with Champion is accurate information - they haven't released their toxicology reports to owners and treating vets so we can be aware of what we are actually battling and potential issues with our cats in the future.
Champions compassion fund is a insult, the vets cannot prescribe any medication, there is no conventional drugs to help our cats, only time, physio and hopefully supplements may help, which are not covered by Champions compassion fund
Their fund goes to a maximum of $2000.00 Australian dollars which converts to US$1284.00 or Can$1600.00 and finishes at the end of May 2009
If you only saw your vet twice say, at $50 each time that's $100.
Then if you spent $900 on a cage, incontinence sheets, acupuncture treatments from an animal chinese medicine practitioner that wasn't a vet, some physiotherapy sessions with a physiotherapist who was a practitioner for animals as well as humans that wasn't a vet, the most you would get is another $100
Then if you spent over 6 months say, $500 on supplements - MethylB12, antioxidants, the most you would get is another $100
So you could have spent $1500 and only be entitled to receive $300 under this pathetic fund.
From the Champion web site
WHAT IS A NON-VETERINARY RELATED ITEM?
A: Non-veterinary items are limited to the following:
Training Pads I need these because Gus is incontinent
Specialized Litter Boxes Whats a specialized litter box as I have to help Maurice get into his kitty litter box
Exercise Pens I have to place Maurice in this at night and when I go out to keep him from hurting himself
Feeding syringes I need these to hydrate Gus because he cannot drink
I need these because Orijen poisoned my cats and Champion offer me a lousy AUS$100.00 for their negligence


From Raggiesrule whose 5 cats, ragdolls and maine coon, are severely affected with paralysis and her Robbie was PTS
"ORIJEN - a food that truly puts the optimal nourishment of dogs and cats above all else - from Champion website
We believed that - we believed we'd found a cat food that was more biologically appropriate than any other kibble. We trusted Orijen and bought their product.

Five whole months of sleepless nights caring for a very sick cat later I feel like my cats have been in a hit and run accident and Peter,CEO Champion petfoods, is virtually throwing a few bucks out of his fancy car and driving away."
Still want to put your money into their pockets.
Rosella

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I understand your frustration and anger but you are directing it at the wrong source. Orijen is a quality food, a quality company. You really need to get in touch with your Australian government to get some answers for your dilemma. I doubt they will give you one penny but Orijen, even though they are not to blame for your problem, at least are offering some monetary compensation which says a lot to me.

You also need to be aware that what you are saying in these posts amounts to slander against the company and if they have staff that look for information on the internet on "Orijen", they could sue you and it may cost you a lot more than what you've already paid.

Slander is not something to be taken lightly and unless you are absolutely certain that it was the Orijen and not the irradiation done by your government, you would be smart to do more research before slamming the company. Just saying!

I've been feeding Orijen for almost 2 years now and it's a wonderful food.

I am truly sorry for what your cats have suffered through and still will in the future. I have been feeding our cats Orijen for about 2 years and they have never shown any side effects. I have also not heard of any Orijen recalls here in the US. Until I do, I will keep feeding them orijen or a mixture with another product.

Since the last pet food recall, I have learned that no food is 100% safe since we do not know what could possibly contaminate any brand.

Originally Posted by Duchess15

...Since the last pet food recall, I have learned that no food is 100% safe since we do not know what could possibly contaminate any brand.

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Duchess15- I couldn't agree with you more...and this latest tragedy shows that, even when we believe we have done all our research and homework, we still won't know for certain what's in the bag.

Originally Posted by Yosemite

...Orijen is a quality food, a quality company...

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Yosmite- Like you, I live in Canada and again, like you, I've been feeding my brood Orijen for (almost) two years. I'm curious..."in your books", what makes Orijen a quality food? And what's your criteria for 'quality company' status?

Originally Posted by BLAISE

Duchess15-

Yosmite- Like you, I live in Canada and again, like you, I've been feeding my brood Orijen for (almost) two years. I'm curious..."in your books", what makes Orijen a quality food? And what's your criteria for 'quality company' status?

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It is high in protein (cats need protein) and not full of useless grains and I like the other ingredients - that's a winner in my books. My vet, however, has warned me to keep an eye on Bijou as she says a food that high in protein can cause other problems, particularly in neutered males, and I have to admit I cannot remember what she said as I wasn't there - our daughter had taken Bijou to his vet appointment so I'd have to ask her.

Still think it is the Australians governments fault, anyone can find this why could n't negligent Championpet foods
The Australian Quarantine website clearly states the level of irradiation to be used for pet foods- 50 kGy minimum. This information is easily navigable and in the public domain.

Their claim earlier on was that they did not know it would be irradiated.

Then it shifted to they didn't know it was at such a high level

Now it's shifted to they believed the Australian Government when they were told it was safe.

It was still their responsibility to check.

The Authority to Treat that had to be signed clearly states that gamma irradiation renders the product fit for quarantine purposes only i.e. pathogen free. This is a direct copy/paste from a sample Authority to Treat form. It couldn't be clearer than this, could it?


AQIS APPROVED AUTHORITY TO TREAT GOODS
Date ……………………………… For Attention of ......……………………………………………
Agent/Importer ………………………………. Broker Reference …..……………………………..
Phone …………………………………. Fax ..……………………………………………………..
Vessel…………………………… Voyage No…………………………. Container……………………...
The following goods………………………………………………………………… ……………………...
Covered by AQIS Entry Number………………………………………………………………†¦â€¦â€¦â€¦
Require treatment with Methyl Bromide Gamma Irradiation Ethylene oxide or Heat treatment
At a rate of ……………………………………………………………………†¦â€¦â€¦â€¦... to eliminate
an identified quarantine risk.

The treatment described is one of a number of treatment options and will render the goods safe for
quarantine purposes only. The owner/agent should make their own enquiries as to the suitability of
this or other treatments for the end use of the goods.
I/ We are fully aware of and understand that treatment with Methyl Bromide/ Gamma Irradiation,
Ethylene oxide or Heat treatment may cause damage to my / our / their goods.
I/We also understand that the above-mentioned goods may have plastic wrapping slashed or
removed if the treatment so requires.
I/we authorise treatment of the above-mentioned goods and will not hold AQIS, the {insert name of shipping line}
Container Services or their contractors liable for any damage caused.
I/We agree to pay for all costs incurred in this treatment or for any damage caused to goods by this
treatment.
I agree that I have been informed that this treatment may damage the goods and I agree to this
treatment under section 44AA of the Quarantine Act 1908. This is a requirement under the Act.
Please proceed with treatment.
Signed by…………………………………… Printed Name ……………………………………………..




Their importer would have had to sign one of these.

Not once, it wasn't a one-off asleep-at-the-wheel scenario, but three times.

Over three consecutive shipments.

It gives all the appearances that they were not keeping a close eye on what their importer was doing, what was happening to their precious biologically appropriate product, and that it might not render it suitable for its intended end use.

The Australian Government has indemnified itself against any blame by requiring signed authority to treat by gamma irradiation. They are not legally liable for the outcome.

Champion are.

Their "Compassion Underfund" paperwork has a disclaimer of liability at the foot of every page, stating that this is not to be construed as an admission of liability.

What a joke.

Their product.

Their importer's signature on the Authority to Treat.

Their legal liability.
Rosella