Is Rachel Ray cat food really high in sodium?

bananafish · Mar 19, 2017

I have 5 cats. I bought a few bags of Rachel Ray cat food two weeks ago and yesterday I noticed one of my cats had a large lump under his chin. Took him to the vet - they did a full blood panel and it came back with extremely high, almost deadly levels of sodium. He's 3 years old. Does Rachel Ray cat food have really high sodium? I've thrown it away now and replaced it with Acana but I really want to know if that cat food is poisoning cats?

orange&white · Mar 19, 2017

Food mnfcrs don't have to disclose the mg's of sodium on the bag. The only way I know to find out it to contact them and ask about it.

Is there any other source of salt around your house that the cats could get access to? Any other treats or foods? If not, then I would definitely tell the Rachel Ray people what just happened with your cat's sodium numbers. Any of your other cats sick?

Watch for recalls and check new customer reviews for the food on Amazon and WalMart to see if there is an outbreak of cats getting sick. It may be one bad batch and they need to do a recall. Which flavor/mix were you using?

Sorry that happened with your kitty.

orange&white · Mar 19, 2017

Well....Out of curiosity I did a quick search on what else might cause blood to test high in sodium. The PetMD site indicates that a high sodium test is rarely related to food.

Did your cat recently have any of these problems? -

Symptoms and Types

Increased thirst (polydipsia) and consumption of water
Confusion and disorientation
Coma
Seizures
Other symptoms may be related to underlying cause

Causes

Vomiting
Diarrhea
High water loss through urine (as seen with diabetes)
Intravenous fluid therapy containing NaCl
Lower water intake
High oral sodium intake (rare)

source for full article: http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/cardiovascular/c_ct_hypernatremia

bananafish · Mar 19, 2017

Hi, thanks for the reply. There is no other source of sodium in my house that I know of (we have a turtle pond but it's not not salt water) and all my my other cats are fine which is why it's so confusing. I bought two bags of Rachel Ray. One was beef then that really ran out and yhe other one was Nutrish chicken and brown rice. I hate to blame the food but I think it has to be to blame for this.

IndyJones · Mar 19, 2017

Do you have any of those salt block lamps around? I read that some cats will lick them because they like the taste.

bananafish · Mar 19, 2017

Hi, yes yesterday I looked it up too and he had NONE of those issues. Only thing was a lump under his chin which turned out to be swollen saliva glands. Vet has me giving him prednisone and squirting water in his mouth.

orange&white · Mar 19, 2017

I looked at the Ainsworth Pet Nutrition website to see what other foods they make. The Rachel Ray looks like the best of their products. Their other food brand "Dad's" looks pretty awful. The only other thing they produce is one brand of treats, which look like mostly corn.

It wouldn't hurt to contact them and ask them about the sodium and tell them about your cat. They won't help you out any, but hopefully they keep a complaint log on file.

I didn't see a Rachel Ray beef cat food (they do make a beef food for dogs). Their chicken and rice looks fairly decent as far as kibble in general goes.

You made a good move to Acana even though I know it's a lot more expensive. Have you thought about just switching your cats off kibble to canned food?

bananafish · Mar 19, 2017

I thought it was beef but that bag has been thrown away so now I'm not certain. I have no salt lamps here and he doesn't have access to the outdoors other than a deck where the turtle pond is. The vet says his sodium level was about two points from going into a coma but he wasn't acting sick AT ALL. It's all so strange

orange&white · Mar 19, 2017

That is strange. That website said that fluid therapy will resolve the problem as long as there is no underlying medical condition like diabetes. You may never know what happened.

Did the swelling in her glands go back down to the right size, and did the vet ask you to come back for a follow up visit to re-check her sodium?

bananafish · Mar 19, 2017

The lump is about half the size now but still there. Yes, I need to go back tomorrow or Tuesday to draw blood to retest his sodium levels. Now he's scared of me because of the pills and water being squirted in his mouth. Poor guy. Thanks for helping me!

orange&white · Mar 19, 2017

Yes, poor kitty. He'll forgive you. He knows you're just trying to help him feel better.

Hopefully this is just something simple and the prednisone and fluids will take care of it. Ask the vet if the high sodium and the swollen glands are two separate issues, or if high sodium could cause the glands to swell...(if he didn't tell you during the first visit).

MORG · Jul 22, 2018

orange&white said:
Well....Out of curiosity I did a quick search on what else might cause blood to test high in sodium. The PetMD site indicates that a high sodium test is rarely related to food.

Did your cat recently have any of these problems? -

Symptoms and Types

Increased thirst (polydipsia) and consumption of water

Confusion and disorientation

Coma

Seizures

Other symptoms may be related to underlying cause

Causes

Vomiting

Diarrhea

High water loss through urine (as seen with diabetes)

Intravenous fluid therapy containing NaCl

Lower water intake

High oral sodium intake (rare)

source for full article: Excess Sodium in the Blood in Cats | petMD

I would not trust any site that says sodium intake by food does not affect cats... of course it would as does to humans, I also tried RR wet food for my cat and my gut told me it was high in sodium, so I called the company and some of the wet food contains.18 grams of sodium, this is more than 10 times the recommended sodium intake for the entire day, I will no longer be buying her food.

MORG · Jul 22, 2018

bananafish said:
I have 5 cats. I bought a few bags of Rachel Ray cat food two weeks ago and yesterday I noticed one of my cats had a large lump under his chin. Took him to the vet - they did a full blood panel and it came back with extremely high, almost deadly levels of sodium. He's 3 years old. Does Rachel Ray cat food have really high sodium? I've thrown it away now and replaced it with Acana but I really want to know if that cat food is poisoning cats?

I found this link after giving my cat Racheal Ray wet food, for some reason I suspected it was very high in sodium, so I called the company and asked. I was told for example one can of TUna flavor wet food for cats contains.18 grams of sodium, that equals to 180 milligrams, according to my search the recommended amount for the whole day is 16 milligrams.. I am disappointed and will be returning the food.

Willowy · Jul 22, 2018

MORG said:
I was told for example one can of TUna flavor wet food for cats contains.18 grams of sodium,

1 tablespoon of regular salt is 17 grams. So I'm not convinced that any can of cat food could have that much salt in it and still have cats eat it (that would taste very nasty). You may want to contact the company to clarify. Perhaps they meant 18 milligrams, which is still more than recommended for cats but is much more believeable.

sabrinah · Jul 22, 2018

I can't contribute to the food issue but my cat has chronic impacted salivary glands. If your issue is like mine, something is blocking the duct and causing it to fill with saliva. If it's a stone it's easily fixed, otherwise, it can be a permanent issue that requires frequent aspiration or surgery to remove the salivary glands completely. I've noticed that feeding more wet food and less dry (my cat eats half raw and half dry, so for her, I add a ton of water to her raw food) causes the glands to drain a bit more and keep the lumps at a manageable size.

MORG · Jul 22, 2018

.18... there is a dot there before the 18, so that means 180 miligrams

Willowy said:
1 tablespoon of regular salt is 17 grams. So I'm not convinced that any can of cat food could have that much salt in it and still have cats eat it (that would taste very nasty). You may want to contact the company to clarify. Perhaps they meant 18 milligrams, which is still more than recommended for cats but is much more believeable.

, 10 times thre reccomended amount, too much.

Willowy said:
1 tablespoon of regular salt is 17 grams. So I'm not convinced that any can of cat food could have that much salt in it and still have cats eat it (that would taste very nasty). You may want to contact the company to clarify. Perhaps they meant 18 milligrams, which is still more than recommended for cats but is much more believeable.

there is a dot before the 18... point 18 grams which equals to 180 milligrams still way too much.

Is Rachel Ray cat food really high in sodium?

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