Just found a grub/worm in cat food! Advice pls...

Hi!

I'm usually an observer around here trying to soak up as much great info as I can from this lovely site.

However, I just ran into a (gross) dilemma that I need some advice on...I'm almost at the bottom of the bag of Purina One that I've been feeding to my foster cat and I found a grub/worm squriming around in the measuring cup. Should this be something that I should be worried about? My initial, instant reaction is to scream (actually more like a yelp) and be disgusted, but I've been told that I overreact to worms/grubs in food (apparently not a big deal to anyone else...kind of a long story and happened a long time ago with worms/grubs in my own food).

I know that this little grub/worm most likely won't hurt the cat and might even provide an extra boost of protein, but it still bothers me and now makes me question even more the quality control in mid-to-lower brands of cat food (btw, I've been transitioning my cat to Blue Buffalo's Spa Select....trying to do this slowly, but now am forced to feed only the new food). Of course, this might also be a pet store storage issue, so actually I can't entirely blame any one source with any certainty.

This has never happened to me before (with cat food)...should I complain to Purina and/or the pet store where I bought the food from? Or am I just really overreacting and just accept an occasional worm/grub as an inevitable part of the natural world? Also, since I was almost finished with the bag, I don't want it to seem like I'm trying to scam either the pet store or Purina (I poured the food in the measuring cup, grub and all, into a plastic baggie, but they could probably say that I put it there somehow....).

Any advice/input would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

p.s. I stored the food in my bedroom, which I believe (I hope!) has been and still is a grub/worm-free zone....

More than likely it is the larval stage of a meal moth.
I would suggest you get rid of the food and replace it ASAP, these guys are pretty harmless, but they will infest your home in no time at all.

Store your food in airtight containers, and if you are buying in small enough quantities, freeze it for 24 hours before opening.

I would call the company and take the bag and the suspect if you have it still to the store ...

Blue spa is a good food glad you are trying to get kitty on higher end food s

Omg I would have cried. I'd definitly complain. No matter how good friends I am with the pet shop.

Originally Posted by WellingtonCats

Omg I would have cried. I'd definitly complain. No matter how good friends I am with the pet shop.

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Truth!

Meal moths chew into the bag, so typically only found in bags that are a bit on the old side.
Usually not rotated on the vendor's end of things.

Are there any holes in the bag? If it chewed through, then you would know it was in the shipping / sitting on a shelf / storage end of things. If there aren't any holes in the bag then the bug was trapped in there at the plant. I would call and complain to Purina and then go into the pet store and show them.
Something similarly gross happened to me and a box of Cheerios once. Except far far grosser. Got a whole bunch of free cereal after we sent the box back and they saw what was inside...

I've had meal moth infestations and It wasn't pretty. I would burn the bag and all.

in my house they come out when something gets old, its soooooooooooooo gross, cuz some of them come with little strings or what seems to be spider webb, but its not...........all I kno its gross lol!

I ran into the same thing with Purina when I was feeding pro plan, I would dump the food into a metal container to keep it fresher, but I always noticed that there were moths in the house and when I would open the container, there would be thing stuck to the lid. It was the most disgusting thing.

I asked my vet and she told me that Purina was notorious for having larvae in their food products. I switched to Iams and while I never had a problem again with moths, that brought up a whole new set of issues that I needed to deal with!! She is now fed Natural Balance Venison and Green Pea as well as the Iams Wet food Pouches.

Originally Posted by ckeller

I ran into the same thing with Purina when I was feeding pro plan, I would dump the food into a metal container to keep it fresher, but I always noticed that there were moths in the house and when I would open the container, there would be thing stuck to the lid. It was the most disgusting thing.

I asked my vet and she told me that Purina was notorious for having larvae in their food products. I switched to Iams and while I never had a problem again with moths, that brought up a whole new set of issues that I needed to deal with!! She is now fed Natural Balance Venison and Green Pea as well as the Iams Wet food Pouches.

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Not going to say it's just a Purina thing, but the first time it ever happened to me, it was with a box of Purina. I'd cut the whole side of the box off to put in a plastic container. Well...when I opened it (fresh from the store)...WIGGLE CITY! My skin crawled for days. Luckily, the store was used to this happening every once in a while and gave me my money back.

Thanks so much for everyone's input!

I've fed Purina ProPlan a few times before and never had this happen, but I also haven't bought it that many times, either. It's a little disturbing that this has happened to some other people with Purina products, also....although, I wonder if this is "normal" to some extent with dry foods? Still....ick.

I immediately took the bag of food outside yesterday and left it out in the back yard for now. I don't think there are any more in the bag, but I also haven't had the courage to take a good look inside after I found the one in the measuring cup. I had horrible visions of what an infestation might look like... I'll probably take it back to the store and maybe also shoot an e-mail to Purina.

Thanks again!

You will probably never get a response if you e-mail them. I would call. Hope it all works out!

Its just such a shame that we have had so many problems with their products. Their Canadian Head Office and mill is right down the street from us and I would like to support companies in our local community, but we have just had way too many bad experiences to continue.

That's disgusting! Out of curiousity, what was use by date on the bag? I would definitely call Purina and give it to them. My cats eat Purina one and pro plan 50-70 percent of the time and I've never found anything, but I'm going to look carefully from now on. I usually dump mine into a canister too. Let us now what happened when you call, and save the expiration and lot code info on the bag, they may want it when you call.

Not that it's right or anything, but I bet my cats would be thrilled to have a wiggly surprise in their dinner- they are going to have fun when the moths come out in a few months!