I know that Purina dry food isn't on the list for a fact. I have been watching this closely. This is what Oscar eats. I have no idea about Whiskas. I don't think it is affected but I don't know for sure....
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Hills recalls dry food
- Thread starter mia mouse
- Start Date
At this point, I wouldn't feed a cat or a dog any food from any manufacturer that contains wheat gluten. In fact, I'd be very suspicious of any pet food that contains processed grains. They aren't a natural part of a cat's diet to begin with, and on top of that there are obviously contamination issues with the low-grade material spewing out of China.
It's also disturbing that one lab found rat poison in a sample, while the FDA found Melamine (a plastic). What else are they gonna turn up when they test another batch of food? And how long has this been going on?
Clearly Menu Foods wasn't testing either their raw materials or their finished product thoroughly, or they would have detected some form of contamination themselves before so much food made it into the retail chain. Which is kind of disturbing, when you consider they have something like 80% of the North American market for canned food. They clearly have the economies of scale to make such thorough testing a minuscule portion of the cost of manufacture, yet chose not to test, anyhow. Which means most of the other manufacturers probably aren't doing any testing, either.
I have been feeding my babies with Science diet, oriiginal. Recently I bought the Advanced Protection Senior. The label says corn meal gluten and I don't see wheat gluten. I don't have an old package of the other. I am really concerned about the Science diet and am tempted to take it away. But what can I replace it with.
My vet prescribed this on Tuesday for my cat. He called me last night at 10:45pm to tell me to not feed her anymore due to the recall. I'd already heard about it and had thrown out what I had in her bowl and cup, so I was one step ahead of him. I thought it was nice of him to personally call me about it, though.
Stephanie
Stephanie
Innova EVO is a high end canned food that isn't currently involved in the recall (though it's made by Menu Foods, like so many other brands). It's supposedly made from ingredients that are fit for human consumption, unlike most pet food. The good thing about the Innova canned is that at least it isn't full of grains, which means it should be relatively immune from the current issues which apparently involve contaminated grains.
I think all dry foods are suspect in light of this recall, since they're primarily composed of grains, which are obviously not a part of a cat's natural diet.
There are also other high-quality high-protein canned foods out there, but I don't have any personal experience with those. One thing about high-protein food - it can be hard on a cat's kidneys. That's another reason to avoid dry foods, which tend to dehydrate cats, and are often loaded with preservatives to keep the fats in the food from going rancid.
I think all dry foods are suspect in light of this recall, since they're primarily composed of grains, which are obviously not a part of a cat's natural diet.
There are also other high-quality high-protein canned foods out there, but I don't have any personal experience with those. One thing about high-protein food - it can be hard on a cat's kidneys. That's another reason to avoid dry foods, which tend to dehydrate cats, and are often loaded with preservatives to keep the fats in the food from going rancid.
What I find so scary about this whole thing is that realisticly I can not afford to feed my cat's all wet food. Also, I would love to switch their dry food to Natural Balance since that's the brand of wet food I feed, but the last time I tried Isaac's tummy had a bad reaction. Actually it seems with him no matter how slow I make the switch he always ends up with problems. I feed nutro natrual and I believe I saw on their web site that menu foods does not supply their dry food. The prescription diet thing is even scarier because here you get food from your vet trusting that it's good for your cat, but it can have all the same problems as the other foods.
I got this bag about 3 weeks ago, and so far he doesn't seem to be acting unusual, but I'd like to stop using the food just to be sure. I'm just not sure what to give him now, especially considering it's 6 pm here on a Saturday so there isn't anyone at the vet's office to answer.
We have a little bit of the food he had before the m/d left, but I'm not sure I want to give it to him because the reason we switched is because the other food gave him "the runs" pretty awful. After a little experimentation we figured out it was the carbohydrates in the food that was making his tummy upset. So...If we wanted to switch him, even for the weekend, i don't know what to get.
We have a little bit of the food he had before the m/d left, but I'm not sure I want to give it to him because the reason we switched is because the other food gave him "the runs" pretty awful. After a little experimentation we figured out it was the carbohydrates in the food that was making his tummy upset. So...If we wanted to switch him, even for the weekend, i don't know what to get.
Hello and welcome.
While I agree with you on the issue of grains not being part of a cat's natural diet...I think we need to remain calm and look at the facts. There are a lot of people who feed dry food (I'm not one of them) ...and the last thing they need is to be panicking about "all" dry foods. The facts about whether dry is good or bad are irrevelevant to the recall, IMO. At this point there's one implicated ingredient, wheat gluten...and one recalled dry variety, Hills M/D. Nothing else.
I think the soundest advice at this point is to avoid wheat gluten, read and study the recalled food list, and remain calm.
There are a few OTC grain free, high protein dry foods. I don't know if they would be suitable for your cats needs, or if you can find them in your area on a Saturday night. The few I can think of are Innova EVO, Nature's Variety Raw Instinct, and Wellness Core. Sharky could probably be of more help to you on the specifics.Originally Posted by ClaireD
I got this bag about 3 weeks ago, and so far he doesn't seem to be acting unusual, but I'd like to stop using the food just to be sure. I'm just not sure what to give him now, especially considering it's 6 pm here on a Saturday so there isn't anyone at the vet's office to answer.
We have a little bit of the food he had before the m/d left, but I'm not sure I want to give it to him because the reason we switched is because the other food gave him "the runs" pretty awful. After a little experimentation we figured out it was the carbohydrates in the food that was making his tummy upset. So...If we wanted to switch him, even for the weekend, i don't know what to get.
I'm not trying to panic people, beandip, but facts are facts. I'd already given up on dry food years ago because its nutritional value was suspect (at best). Now on top of that, we're apparently seeing contaminated grains enter the pet food system. Again, I don't want to panic people, but I think it's prudent to be more than a little concerned at this point regarding grain-based pet foods. My advice, based on what little we know at this point, is to avoid them if we can, and to avoid "wet" foods that contain grains - especially processed grains - too. It was (supposedly) wheat gluten this time, but there's no reason to assume that other grains and legumes - including corn, corn gluten, oats, oat bran and soybeans - couldn't be contaminated with the same . . . or worse.
Of course, it could turn out the problems were due to contaminated meat - it sounds like the FDA and other investigators don't have a great handle on the situation at the moment. But based on what we know at the moment, grains are the most suspect, and since they aren't a natural part of a cat's diet anyhow, I think this is just another reason to switch to foods which aren't grain (or legume) based.
I'd also recommend organic brands, or brands which use meat which is fit for human consumption. It's my understanding that the meat byproducts and meal used in many foods - especially dry foods - are not fit for human consumption, and frequently come from animals who died prior to reaching the slaughterhouse. Who knows why those animals died. Maybe they ate some poison grain, too . . .
Points well taken, thank you.
There is no wheat gluten in Purina indoor formula. Trust me, I checked. I am more protective now but I checked and double-checked so I knew I was safe....
