Nutro Natural Chunky Turkey Suddenly Causing Diarrhea

So my cat eats 1 3oz can of food and about 1/2 scoop of dry food everyday.  My cat got diarrhea one day but I just thought maybe he ate some foreign object?  His stools firmed up nicely the days after.  But today it happened again!  I'm pretty sure both times it was the days he ate Nutro Natural Chunky Turkey.  Thing is, he has eaten this canned food just fine several times before.  I'm so puzzled.  And lucky me, I bought a whole case of this stuff not too long ago.  But the set he was currently eating were individually bought from the pet store.  He also eats Chunky Chicken, but I haven't given him that to eat the last couple of weeks.  I guess once his stools firm up again I should see how he tolerates the Chunky Chicken.  I do not believe it's a protein allergy because there's turkey in his dry food.  Any thoughts?  Should I bother feeding him chunky turkey from the brand new cases I bought or should I just avoid feeding this to him?  No idea why this is happening.  I always get a good look at his food because I add extra water in it, and I never noticed anything looking odd.  I'm so sad because this is my ex stray cat with a tough stomach!  My other one can only eat raw so I always loved the fact that my ex stray could eat anything.  They get more and more expensive! ><

You have to remember that just because a canned food has the same name and manufacturer, it is NOT the "same thing" he has been eating.  Each new can is a "new" food because each can could have some contaminant in it.  Sometimes an entire batch is bad (same dates and numbers on the cans) but sometimes only one or two cans in a batch are bad.  Sometimes the manufacturer changes the food by ordering one ingredient from a different supplier, for instance.  When there was that huge pet food poisoning outbreak in 1997, it was different brands, different batches, and eventually it was traced to an ingredient (wheat gluten) from China that contained melamine - evidently an "acceptable" filler in China, but it killed many pets here.  Even the brands were not a clue because Friskies canned, for instance, has NO wheat gluten in its pate varieties, but wheat gluten in all the ones with texture, i.e. shreds, pieces, bits, tender morsels, anything with "gravy," etc.  I was lucky in 1997 because at that time I never fed any food with wheat gluten in it just because it isn't anything cats need to eat, not because I had any clue that there was bad wheat gluten coming in from China.

Do make a note of what batch of what food you are using at any given time, i.e. the case you got is probably the same batch, but check and make sure.  Also, when having a problem like this, be sure to note what batch or cans you are feeding as you go, since you said the last few cans came from a shelf, individually, not a case. You can either write it down, or you can save the cans and rinse them and write the date you fed on each can and toss them into a bag to save.  All the big pet food chains will take back ANY case you have if it doesn't agree with your animal for any reason, so don't feel like you are stuck with a case.  (Do hold on to the receipts for all pet food until it's gone, however!)

Along the same lines, every new bag of DRY food you open constitutes a "new" food also.  Be especially suspicious if digestive upsets occur right when you have opened a new bag of dry food.

We have to be the first line of defense for our pets.  Recalls only happen after many, many people have complained, and sadly, often after many pets have become ill and/or died.  When in doubt if food is the problem, buy some chicken and boil it, and feed them something basic.  It's so sad when people keep putting down the same food over and over and their animal either stays sick or else refuses to eat and the human gives them no alternative but bad food or NO food.

Thank you. Unfortunately i threw the cans away but i will definitely save them next time this happens. I guess i should see if the ones from the new case does the same thing. I got the individual cans from pet supplies plus and the cases from amazon. I will update with the batch information if the individual chicken or turkey from the cases continue to cause problems. Luckily he really does have a good stomach and his stools go back to normal quickly after eating different canned food.