This grew over night!!! Scared for my cat!

[GrinnyGranny]

This grew literally over night. It's never happened before, I've done nothing different the last 4 years I've fed my cat is been the same routine, but now this happened. I'm scared what's inside my cat. What have they been putting in the food? Can I go after the manufacturing company? I really hope she comes thru this healthy. So far no ill effects but it sure looks scary.I feed her yesterday afternoon(April 15,2024) and my daughter found this today,(April 16,2024).

 

[Kwik]

Hi ,I'm not sure what I'm even looking at covered in mold-it sure didn't happen overnight

I don't know if it's food ,cat regurgitated food or cat poop but whatever it is my guess is your cat found it somewhere in the house( maybe under a couch or somewhere its been hidden(,played with it and left it wherever your daughter found it-- it did not come from inside your cat

 

[mani]

It's mould. It can grow very rapidly. That's why it's important to not leave wet food out for long.

 

[mani]

Phycomyces is a genus of fungus in the Zygomycota phylum. They are known for their strong phototropism response and helical growth of the sporangium. The best studied species is Phycomyces blakesleeanus.

Phycomyces - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Phototropism means these hair like structures grow quite rapidly towards light.
Cats normally don't like eating food that has gone mouldy, but keep an eye on her.

 

[Kwik]

Phycomyces is a genus of fungus in the Zygomycota phylum. They are known for their strong phototropism response and helical growth of the sporangium. The best studied species is Phycomyces blakesleeanus.

Phycomyces - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Phototropism means these hair like structures grow quite rapidly towards light.
Cats normally don't like eating food that has gone mouldy, but keep an eye on her.

Agree completely but it did not come from inside the cat and it seems G GrinnyGranny believes this grew inside her cat- unless I'm not understanding what she's asking.... am I?

 

[di and bob]

It looks like moldy food......

 

[mani]

Agree completely but it did not come from inside the cat and it seems G GrinnyGranny believes this grew inside her cat- unless I'm not understanding what she's asking.... am I?

GrinnyGranny is concerned that her cat ate the food and with what may now be inside her as a result.

 

[mani]

And this diagram shows how quickly the mould can grow

Helical growth during the phototropic response, avoidance response, and in stiff mutants of Phycomyces blakesleeanus - Scientific Reports

The sporangiophores of Phycomyces blakesleeanus have been used as a model system to study sensory transduction, helical growth, and to establish global biophysical equations for expansive growth of walled cells. More recently, local statistical biophysical models of the cell wall are being...

www.nature.com

 

[Kwik]

GrinnyGranny is concerned that her cat ate the food and with what may now be inside her as a result.

Ah,I see---I know how fast mold can develop,I completely misread the OP when she said her daughter " found this" I wasn't even clear on what " this" was (cat food,human food ,feces,vomit)
Thanks

So G GrinnyGranny couldn't hurt to contact the food company

 

[Alldara]

Most foods should mold. Like Mani says that's why its important to follow food safety. That's really excessive for overnight.

Where did your daughter find it?

 

[IndyJones]

It looks more like a moss ball to me. Do you have an aquarium she may have pulled it out of? Kids can be silly sometimes.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I"m curious as to what food this grew on. Brand name?

 

[Umerwhat]

I"m curious as to what food this grew on. Brand name?

Would also like to know. That white stuff on the pate looks like it's deep in there. I really doubt that can happen in 24 hours. I also occasionally miss a hunk of pate because a cat pushed it behind something and they rarely mold, let alone look anything like this post.

 

[IndyJones]

Would also like to know. That white stuff on the pate looks like it's deep in there. I really doubt that can happen in 24 hours. I also occasionally miss a hunk of pate because a cat pushed it behind something and they rarely mold, let alone look anything like this post.

Thats why I'm wondering if DD didn't do something funny with a moss ball. It realy does look like moss.

 

[mani]

Thats why I'm wondering if DD didn't do something funny with a moss ball. It realy does look like moss.

It is growing on the cat food.
It is Phycomycesa a genus of the Kingdom of fungus, but often referred to as mould as mould is a type of Fungi.

It responds to light and grows very rapidly. (see graph in #8)
The light source is directly above it as it isn't bend over (like the left on in the picture above).
The spores may have been in the air in the house, brought in by the cat .. it's hard to know, but it would be very difficult to prove that there were spores in the food before it was opened.

 

[Kwik]

Would also like to know. That white stuff on the pate looks like it's deep in there. I really doubt that can happen in 24 hours. I also occasionally miss a hunk of pate because a cat pushed it behind something and they rarely mold, let alone look anything like this post.

Doesn't anyone remember the wonderful at home experiments with fungi (& moulds) back in elemtary school?Mani has identified this correctly,if you think back we should all be very familiar with this little guy - now given it grows very rapidly ( with a little help of the dampened paper underneath ,right temp and right light) it typically grows roughly 1mm per hour to the amazement of all 5th graders- which means around 1 inch in 24hrs......so we see the hand behind the tiny specimen and it seems way beyond an inch......perhaps DD is having some fun with Mum?

I remember my Mom would not allow such experiments to unfold in her kitchen- it was down in the basement or not happening- I remember using a piece of my dogs poop for one such experiment and I'm not sure which smelled worse ,the feces or the Phycomycesa as it has a very distinct foul odor!