WARNING: Purina pet food has started making pets ill

[sihayadesigns]

Originally posted by boosette at WARNING: Purina pet food has started making pets ill

Originally posted by issendai at WARNING: Purina pet food has started making pets ill

My coworker John told me that his cat was seriously ill--throwing up, lethargic, refusing food, dropping weight. The previously healthy 6-year-old, 15-pound cat had lost a third of her body weight over the last few months. The vet couldn't find anything wrong with her. Blood tests were clean, and she didn't have any known illnesses. Yet she was a few days from organ failure.

That was a week ago. She's fine now. The solution was... to stop feeding her Purina cat food.

When John told me that, and said that friends of his had the same problem with their cats and Purina cat food, I looked into it. Holy shit. Take a look at the consumer complaints about Purina cat and dog food. This exact same problem has been an issue with Purina pet foods since 2007, but since this summer, the rate of complaints has picked up drastically. People who previously had to problems with Purina are reporting issues. Comment after comment sounds the same:

I've been feeding my three cats Fancy Feast canned food Chopped Grill Feast for many years. They have always devoured their meal and licked the plates clean. Last week, I noticed they did not want to eat much and went from plate to plate, ate a little. Next day, none of them would eat it. I kept trying new cans. What they did eat made them vomit and one cat was lethargic for days. I refuse to buy any more of this food. It's very scary. I don't know what is wrong with the food, but I fear it has toxins in it. I switched to another brand and the cats are fine now. Did anyone else experience this?

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My dogs have been eating Purina Dog Chow (green bag) for about four years. They used to eat only Iams, but due to financial issues, we had to go with a cheaper brand. The last bag I purchased was about a week and a half ago. My 14 years old Labrador has vomited about 5-6 times and my German Shepherd has vomited about 4 times. Something is wrong with this food! The food has a kind of metallic smell to it. It just does not smell right. I'm taking it back to the pet store. I am changing my dogs' food, it's just not worth taking the chance to save a few dollars.

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We purchased a large bag of Purina One Salmon dry cat food to give to a needy pet owner. She emailed us a couple of days later ,to say that there were maggots, lots of them with what looked to be like strands or webs with more dead gnats or flies, pieces of web in the food and "shells" of gnats or flies in the bag. Cats would not eat much of the food and, fortunately, they did not get sick. The store had noticed this problem in other bags and was willing to swap out.

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I purchased a 34 lb bag of Purina One Smartblend dog food every three to four weeks for my two Labradors. The last bag I purchased seemed fine until I noticed a new infestation of little black bugs. Upon further inspection through the contents of the bag, I noticed clusters of white "eggs" adhered to quite a bit of the food. Some of these clusters contained larvae in the process of hatching. I immediately threw out the remaining contents of the bag but did save samples for my vet.

We went out of town last weekend and had friends dog sit for us. We originally attributed their lethargy and random vomiting to separation anxiety. Although they are doing better, I am still concerned and will be watching them closely. As stated, I saved samples of the infested dog food for our vet in the event that anything results from this issue.

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I recently switched to the Friskies Poultry Variety pack (32 cans) that says it must be used by August 2013 (12281789 09:31 lo61237) sku (050000454242). I have 5 cats and feeding them this food, I noticed some of them throwing up. There's nothing in it but liquids, no hair ball, no food, nothing. My cats range from 8 weeks to 13 years old.

I switched my own cats to Purina a couple of months ago, and their coats look so much better than they did on the old brand of cat food... but Buffy has started vomiting stomach liquids. Purina and Fancy Feast are off the menu. Permanently.

I have no idea why this isn't news. But if you're feeding your pets any Purina brand, please don't wait for media confirmation that something is going on. Stop feeding your pets Purina immediately.

Great. My cats LOVE Fancy Feast and turn their noses up at the healthier brands. This is going to be a painful transition. Fuuuuuuuu...

Comments

[just-lisbet.livejournal.com]

Thanks very much for the info! My two cats adore fancy Feast too. In fact the older one (14 years old) has become very finicky and wants to eat ONLY Fancy Feast these days. Hmmmm... painful transition is right! But I'll try and see how it goes.

Good luck with yours, too!

[kythryne.livejournal.com]

Woah, scary. We've fed our guys a mixture of Wysong and Purina for years (they're kibble addicts who would wail for HOURS if we tried to give them an appropriate quantity of just Wysong, so we cut in a bit of the cheap stuff as filler to keep them happy) and they were always fine... until this summer when they stopped tolerating it all of a sudden. We switched them over to something else entirely and they're fine now, I figured maybe they were just getting older and touchier about what they ate, but if this is happening all over...

[kythryne.livejournal.com]

FUUUUUU. I just clicked through the link and read some of those reviews, and realized that since we switched, I'm finally winning the battle with pantry moths that I've been fighting for YEARS now. I thought maybe I'd just gotten the right traps, but I'm betting it's that I'm not bringing a new infestation into the house every few weeks.

Bastards.

[roaming.livejournal.com]

I also get Fancy Feast. So far no problems. . . wonder if it's ALL the food or some cans from certain processing plants. Also wondering if worth waiting to see, or just stop.

Dang. And I just bought a whole bunch on sale, too. . . .

[sihaya09.livejournal.com]

I don't know, honestly. I'm halfway through a 32 can box of the poultry mix, with no problems. We're going to finish it up then switch brands. Better safe than sorry.

[lm.livejournal.com]

Pet food scares happen all the time, unfortunately. The ingredients and preparations that the pet food industry uses are really not monitored at all--"pet grade" meat is considered pretty much anything that won't pass muster for humans, and common ingredients like "bone meal," "meat byproducts," "meat meal," etc. cotain a lot gnarlier stuff than just bad meat (http://rawfedcats.org/toxic.htm).

It's really upsetting to me that people's pets are getting sick from their food, but it also doesn't surprise me at all. I had a pet that died due to her diet, and that's why I don't feed commercial pet food any more :(

[jaysons-lady.livejournal.com]

Sorry your cats are picky for the Purina. I quit buying that awhile back when I started boycotting Nestle and their subsidiaries. I do the Blue Buffalo and 9 Lives, which I think is not a Nestle owned one.

Good luck in the search for a cat food that your cats like that isn't all toxic and stuff.

[aethyrkitten.livejournal.com]

Our cats love Blue Buffalo!

Before that, we fed them Taste of the Wild, which they also went crazy for.

Before that, Innova Evo, which they loved but it was too rich for them, so their poo was extra-stanky and they eventually got diarrhea, which taking them off the Evo fixed immediately. Apparently not all cats can handle it.

And before that, Wellness, which our older cat Isobel liked but our younger cat Kunoichi hated because the kibble was too hard for her, so she'd crack it open and then leave it on the floor.

So, those have been my experiences with the nicer brands. Our cats heartily approve of Taste of the Wild (both wet and dry) and Blue Buffalo (also both wet and dry) and are generally fine. Isobel horks up the kibble from time to time (maybe once or twice a month at most?), but she does that with EVERY brand; the little piglet eats too fast in the mornings and then barfs immediately afterwards if she also has a big enough hairball built up to help the process along. It's a delight to wake up to. -_-

[cleo-eurydike.livejournal.com]

my sister swears by Blue Buffalo. Her cat's health improved a lot when she switched to that (don't know what she was on previously)

[lessthanthree.livejournal.com]

Not sure if you've tried it, but my cats LOVE Merrick. To the point that feeding Six, who had a blockage and has had crystals since when we don't feed him Rx food, has to be fed in our room with the door shut while our other cat eats her Merrick, or else he'll bully her out of hers, too.

[eva-rosen.livejournal.com]

Fuuu..., indeed. Is it worldwide? Because I live in Argentina, and my Tanya won't eat anything else (she even turns up her nose to actual meat in favor of her Cat Chow), so switching would mean weeks of howling (I tried once already because previous cat liked another brand better and I wanted her to eat that too, and she refused it until I had to give up, give the bag to another pet owner and buy her another bag of her preferred food, little beast didn't eat for a week).

[zooropababy.livejournal.com]

Always gave my furballs Purina growing up (it's just what we bought), but had to switch these guys last year when the dog got diagnosed with major food allergies.

Figured it was better safe than sorry. Dog is on Blue Buffalo Basics, and ADORES IT. The cats are currently both on Prescription Diet for bladder issues - no matter what I do, Kopi insists on eating out of Kona's bowl, and I'd rather feed Kopi the special stuff than risk Kona eating her food instead.

I'd rather put them put on the Blue Buffalo they were on now that Kona's anxiety meds are working, but the vet is hesitant...

I might force the issue.

[amara-1783.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this! I will pass it on. I can really recommend Orijen cat food as an alternative:

http://orijen.ca/

Expensive but really worth it!