Changes in Tiki cat?

I've been feeding Tiki cat, the two chicken formulas, as part of my girls' rotation for a couple of years now. I just started a new batch and the Puka Puka Luau is full of little black specks.

Since I recently received my next order, and it is a different batch I opened one of those and that, also, has a ton of little black specks in it.

I have written to Petropics, twice, asking for information on why this is so. Is there something wrong with the food or did they change the formula? I have received no answer.

Incidentally, when I contacted the on line store I bought the food from, they refunded my purchase price for the first batch (this was before I opened a can of the second batch) no questions asked.

So I am of course deeply concerned, wondering if this food is contaminated, it looks like mold, actually. Has anyone else noticed this?

That does sound a little odd I mean why would they refund you when you ask them what is wrong with the food and describe the issue. And why would they take so long to reply (most companies would at lest say they were going to look into the issue).

also have you tried phoning the company and stating your issue? Some companies will take their sweet time replying to emails/ website contact us emails.

If you have not already smell the food if it smells odd bin it because chances are the whole thing is bad and I would not give any of it to eat.

There was a previous thread about this (here)... it's apparently harmless spots. Oddly, I hadn't seen it in our cats' food until very recently.

Yeah some of us noticed this a few months ago.  I don't think anything is wrong.  I've continued to feed and just ordered 96 cans when I got a deal.  I honestly haven't been paying attention to the spots in the past couple months.  I've mainly continued to order small amounts at a time, 16-24 cans from Chewy.com, but I got a new customer coupon from PetFlow and stocked up.  I hope the cans are fresh, I didn't really look yet, although they're always stamped with a best before date that is 3 years later.  My cats get two daily meals and one of those meals has been the Puka Puka for a few months.  I haven't noticed anything unusual.

As I noted back then (April) there did seem to be a change in the formula sometime just before that thread started.  I am quite certain that it didn't always have tuna fish oil.  But that change is not so recent anymore; the ingredients have been posted that way since at least April so 4 months.  Unless you had a large stockpile of cans that you were finishing, it probably isn't the new formula you are noticing.

So, there are two possibilities.  One is that the current formula of the food ALWAYS has the specks in it.  The other is that it only SOMETIMES has it.  The latter is much more concerning, as is not getting an answer from the company.  (No matter how insignificant the question they should at least answer, particularly when someone is concerned with the quality of the food.  Although as noted above, sometimes these smaller companies don't have a good way of handling emails, whereas you can get someone on the phone.)  I will try to watch and see if I see the specks or any other difference between my prior order (2 cans left) and anything out of my newest order (which may or may not be sourced from the same lot, most likely not).  

All that said, even variability between lots may not matter.  Back in April they were apparently working on these specks not being so visible, but they put the cause as a new supplement formulation and they claim the spots were not harmful at all, didn't affect the taste, etc.  If you click into the other thread you will find the full text of their response back then.  It doesn't excuse them not answering you now but at least you can know what their answer would be.

By the way, it's not unusual for some online pet food retailers to just refund upon such a complaint, no questions asked, whether or not there was any problem on their par or any known issues with the food.  They do this because the goodwill of the refund is cheaper than other ways of gaining new loyal customers.  That said, I suppose it's not impossible for bad handling at the warehouse or in transit to cause some oddity in the food.  Shipping and warehousing can expose the products to temperature extremes if nothing else.  But probably not enough to do anything.

Thank you for the replies. I will have a look at the other thread.

I DO "stockpile" canned foods. An order is never used for at least 3 months after it arrives here. I do this deliberately to ensure I have heard of any recalls before starting a new batch. I always check dates and numbers and mark down in my cat journal when starting a new batch.

So this is the first I've seen of the specks.

I also always read the labels of new batches and yes I did notice the "tuna fish oil", which has replaced "fish oil" as the listed ingredient.

Thank you.

otto said:

Thank you for the replies. I will have a look at the other thread.

I DO "stockpile" canned foods. An order is never used for at least 3 months after it arrives here. I do this deliberately to ensure I have heard of any recalls before starting a new batch. I always check dates and numbers and mark down in my cat journal when starting a new batch.

So this is the first I've seen of the specks.

I also always read the labels of new batches and yes I did notice the "tuna fish oil", which has replaced "fish oil" as the listed ingredient.

Thank you.

Click to expand...

It is not mold and apparently safe, the new slightly fishy smell is off putting to me

bonepicker said:

It is not mold and apparently safe, the new slightly fishy smell is off putting to me

Click to expand...

I've actually always thought that Tiki smelled too fishy, but attributed it to the "fish oil" ingredient. It does seem fishier than before, though. I am not thrilled with "tuna fish oil" but then I wasn't thrilled with unidentified "fish oil" either. Nor am I thrilled with "sunflower oil".

I am also not thrilled with their lack of response, and poor customer service.

But, it meets my criteria for low to zero carb, no carrageenan, and no menadione bisulfate.


Jennie and Queen Eva do eat it every day,(rotating both chicken formulas) but it is only less than 1/4 of their daily intake. The rest is raw.

I have read the other thread. While I am glad it is not mold, I would like to know the source of their "new vitamin mix" and why they switched.

otto said:

I've actually always thought that Tiki smelled too fishy, but attributed it to the "fish oil" ingredient. It does seem fishier than before, though. I am not thrilled with "tuna fish oil" but then I wasn't thrilled with unidentified "fish oil" either. Nor am I thrilled with "sunflower oil".

I am also not thrilled with their lack of response, and poor customer service.

But, it meets my criteria for low to zero carb, no carrageenan, and no menadione bisulfate.


Jennie and Queen Eva do eat it every day,(rotating both chicken formulas) but it is only less than 1/4 of their daily intake. The rest is raw.

I have read the other thread. While I am glad it is not mold, I would like to know the source of their "new vitamin mix" and why they switched.

Click to expand...

I'm pretty much right there with you.  The Puka Puka chicken is my cats' favorite food (especially the smaller cat; no other cans have ever held her interest enough for her to finish a serving quickly), and in general the ingredients are good with nothing that seems really bad.  But I don't like that it is shipped from halfway around the world and they are not as forthcoming as some other manufacturers (although they do get more descriptive than many other manufacturers in their several page document on the web site).

BTW, I think the sunflower seed oil is how they are getting vitamin K instead of the menadione.  Way back when, Tiki used to have menadione in it.  There's a very picky store in this area (too far to go regularly, but I've been there once) who put Tiki on their no stock list because of such switching around of ingredients.  If you ever wanted a super cautious list of what foods to not use, here is that store's list of what they don't carry and why:  http://animalnature.net/unnaproved-product-and-maufacturere-listing.html  You can see what they say about Tiki (and a lot of others!) on there.

Now, I've always figured that Weruva was the co-packer for Tiki.  Although the plant where Weruva is made in may not be the only USDA and European-certified human food plant in Thailand that also cans pet food, how many could there be?  The consistency of Weruva chicken and Tiki chicken is similar.  And so on.  It may not be the case, but it's hard to disconnect them in my mind so I find it odd that someone is trusting Weruva but not Tiki.  That said, Petropics (TIki) would ultimately be the one in charge of what gets into the can, I suppose, so there could be reason for that disconnect.  But I doubt that food safety is an issue here.

I'lm looking to reduce my use of the Tiki but it's mainly due to cost!  The possible issues with being "shady" are secondary.  Even though a can at 220 calories actually makes 3 portions for these little cats, it's still notably more expensive than even the freeze-dried raw I'm buying for their other meal.  I just got a good deal on what will be a 3+ month supply if fed at the same rate as now, but I also just bought U-Stew to try making some cooked food at home.