http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/03/pet_food_recalls90.html

Great links to all sorts of pet food issues

I find it more than coincidence that another cat has clumps of fur in her mouth.  The reason I suspected the Alfalfa in the food is that 3 out of seven now have naked bellies.  One is long haired and literally tears huge patches of fur out.  Never suspected the food until I read about Alfalfa problems for cats.  It just clicked, because this behavior started after I began feeding this food.  One of my 7 is on Felines Pride and doesn't eat the kibble.  So the odds are even higher.  Bobby was the one with the most serious problems he stopped eating, lost a lot of weight, licked his belly bare and had urinary tract problems after all these years.  I am nursing him back to health with semi raw liver.  I discovered yesterday that he will eat raw frog legs (they had them in the store).  I think they'll be O.K. 

I agree with some of the comforting comments that a lot of cats live to a very old age on kibble.  I have a friend who rescued a lot of cats, they all get Friskies dry and canned and most of his cats live to 18+ years.  It seems a lot of rescue organizations and shelters request Friskies for donation food.  May be we are overcomplicating things.  I started having more problems after I tried to change to these super premium foods than I had when I was blissfully ignorant about cat food quality.  I do agree though that raw seems to be best; Sylvester on Felines Pride looks and acts great.  I'll try the kibble topping and see what happens with the others.  They are so finicky, sometimes they will eat canned, seem to like one brand and the next they just give you this "you want me to eat that?!" look and walk away.

I love this forum and the information made available by so many concerned pet owners.

To Kaffe:  All my cats are rescues, were feral and picked me.  2 brothers are 12, those are the only ones I know ages for sure since they were tiny kittens when they showed up at my door.  The others I had between 6 and 9 years, so they are at least that old.  All of them are hard core kibble addicts because I didn't know any better.  I managed to convert 2, the rest go on hunger strike.  I managed to at least get them to try canned food, but that is a hit and miss thing.  They seemed to like Wellness and then all of a sudden ignored it.  Since I did have one cat who got hepadic lipidosis when he went on hunger strike after they discontinued his usual brand, it scares me to death to let them go too long without food.  I have one that finally eats raw food.  He like Felines Pride and the difference this has made in his appearance is stunning. 

About Alfalfa - amazing.  After I got off the board last night I researched some more and found that so many "superior" brands contain alfalfa.  The more I learn about cat food the more I despise the whole pet food industry and their misleading pet food claims.  By now I am convinced that most pet food makers care about only one thing - money.

By the way, thanks so much for the link to Karen Becker.  Wish I had this information years ago.

That's why I purchased it to begin with.  It came highly recommended and after the pet food scare I thought I found a pet food I could trust.  It's also quite expensive.  It really blew my mind when I started researching Alfalfa after I read the warning in the book.  Several better brands have this in it and all sorts of pet supplements contain Alfalfa.  I am almost to the point of going back to Friskies or some other store brand.  They never had any problems with that.  It seems the more I try to feed the superior foods the more problems I get.  I guess even vet produced pet food can't be trusted.  I know Drs Foster & Smith food was involved in the recall.  Unfortunately my boys will not eat people food otherwise I would have a solution to this huge problem.  Wish I would have never started feeding commercial food.  I am so glad I stumbled across this article in the book otherwise I would still be feeding this and further aggravating this problem.  I just hope I stopped in time.

For my guys (7) it's hit and miss, sometimes they will eat it and other times it will sit there untouched - tried various flavors.

Unfortunately so far only one of my cats will eat it and he looks beautiful after just 2 weeks.  Still working on my other 6.  Wish I would have found this food when they were kittens so I could have raised them with it.  I am convinced I would have saved a lot of $$$$$ in vet bills and UA surgeries.

I saw Alfalfa listed in "Herbs that are never safe to use internally or externally" in the book Whole Health for Happy Cats.  I felt like being struck by lightning.  I had started feeding Life's Abundance thinking I was feeding my cats a superior food.  3 of my seven cats developed strange symptoms, belly licking to the point where all the hair is gone, one even stripped his hind legs of all fur.  Bobby my 10+  year old got urinary tract symptoms for the first time in his life, ended up rupturing his urethra.  After he recovered from that he stripped his belly of all fur, refused most foods and lost a lot of weight.  My vet could not figure out what was wrong with them despite blood tests, ultra sound etc.  She said cats do that usually when they are in pain.  After several months of these symptoms (which I never attributed to the new food) I stumbled across that article in the book.  I started researching Alfalfa on the Internet and found several references on toxicity of Alfalfa in cats.    This is one of the references I found and it described my cats symptoms to a T:
Alfalfa powder, alfalfa sprouts
Alfalfa, known also as lucerne (legume), is widely used as a staple fodder plant for livestock, and has application in human health as tonic, antifungal, laxative, diuretic, detoxifier, digestive, nutritive, and anti-arthritic. However, when referencing veterinary literature it is listed as a toxic plant for cats. Alfalfa contains cyanide producing compounds (cyanogenic glycosides) which will only be destroyed by adequate cooking. In humans, these toxic substances are detoxified by the liver when ingested in small quantities, but in the much smaller cat alfalfa frequently cause vomiting, abdominal pain and/or diarrhea. Raw plant matter of any kind, including alfalfa sprouts and alfalfa powder, will lead to severe indigestion in the cat, who is not equipped to properly digest raw plant matter as a carnivore.

Alone the fact that alfalfa alkalizes the body makes it a dangerous substance to use in the cat's diet. Cats depend on a slightly acidic acid-base balance; a high body pH - as induced with the use of alfalfa - will put the cat at greater risk of developing urinary crystals.

Some years ago, before being aware of its toxicity, we mixed alfalfa powder in our cats' food, because it was so highly acclaimed as a mineral supplement. Shortly after ingestion of the food with the added alfalfa powder (1 tsp/1kg of food), 80% of our study group suffered of severe indigestion accompanied by burping and regurgitation of the food. We did not repeat this experiment.


The following is adapted fromTable 39.1 Reference Guide: First Aid for Plant Poisoning. The Cornell Book of Cats 2nd. edition
Type of Illness: Lower Gastrointestinal Common Plants: Plant Toxin:
Intestinal irritation: nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea immideatly after eating. English ivy
Alfalfa
Beech
Daphne
Iris Saponic glycosides Coumarin glycosides


"Lima and kidney beans are toxic uncooked. Both beans contain cyanide producing compounds (cyanogenic glycosides), which can be destroyed by adequate cooking. Small amounts of cyanogenic glycosides will be detoxified by the liver. Cyanogenic glycosides are also found in fruit pits millet, sprouts, yams, maize, chick peas, and cassava root."
Excerpt from: Food Chemistry: Chemical Stressors and Toxins in Plant Foods and Herbs.
Stephen Gislason, M.D. www.nutramed.com

"Alfalfa alkalizes and detoxifies the body. "
Adapted from Prescription for Nutritional Healing 2nd edition, James F. Balch, M.D., Phyllis A. Balch, C.N.C., page64

Needless to say, I have stopped feeding this food and hope my cats symptoms will go away.  Since my vet could not figure out what's wrong with my boys I hope I stumbled on the solution.  Has anybody else experienced anything like this?  I hope in my attempt to feed better food to my boys I haven't permanently damaged their health.

Just wanted to give you an update on Sylvester.  He had surgery yesterday.  The vet did not shorten his urinary tract as originally planned.  She found a thick ligament attached to his bladder wall when she opened him up.  The ligament was pressing on the bladder and she removed it.  I had another cat with the same issue.  He had constant UTI's, during surgery the same ligament issue was discovered/removed and he has been fine ever since.  Apparently this condition is quite common in cats. 

Thanks for all the well wishes.  Sylvester has been totally blocked twice.  Last time his kidneys and pancreas were affected.  He has at least three serious Urinary tract infections a year.  He had both, Oxalate and Struvite crystals.  I have tried everything with him, Cranberries, extra water in canned food, you name it.  A major part of his problem is stress.  Every little change around the house he gets sick.  Never failed - about a week before we try to go on vacation he gets sick.  I get sick - he gets sick.  It's totally nerve wrecking.

You just made my day.  Wellness pouches.  I think I died and went to heaven.  My Nutro pouch addict will finally eat non kibble again.  I read the ingredients, no wheat gluten, I just hope I can get it here.

Geff, Sylvester is having surgery tomorrow.  My catvet will "reroute" his system and hopefully he will not block again.  I have spent well over $3000 on that cat so far and I am just about at the end of what I can tolerate.  I used to feed Nutro until the petfood mess started.  Then switched to EVO and California Natural.  They were hardcore kibble addicts and I finally managed to get them to eat Wellness canned (hit and miss).  Bobby, my older cat had urinary tract problems the first time on Saturday.  I have him at a different vet and he put him on Science Diet c/d.  I don't like Science Diet but he swears it helps with these problems.  Also, C/D only comes in kibble no canned and everything I have learned about urinary tract problems tells me he should be on canned food.  Sylvester's vet swears by Royal Canine S/O canned.  Bobby's vet does not like S/O and claims he had a lot of problems with it.  They are driving me crazy.  Did you feed prescription Science Diet or regular?  By the way I have 2 vets because I take my difficult cases to a cat vet 1 1/2 hours away.  For my "normal" stuff I use a local vet.  The more research I do on petfood the more confused I get.  Seems when you ask 5 different vets you get 5 different and total opposite answers.  I tried to get my guys to eat raw or home cooked, but they want nothing to do with it. 

To Geff:  4 pound bag, expiration date:  06/11/08.

After the petfood mess started, I switched my cats to California Natural dry (they refuse to eat the canned).  Two of my cats have now serious Urinary Tract issue.  One had problems before, but my older cat, who had never Urinary tract issues before, blocked on Saturday after eating this food for about 3 months.  I fed only California Natural Chicken and Rice to him because he never ate canned food.  Also, my other cats all of a sudden refuse to eat the California Natural Chicken and Rice.  I live in Oklahoma.

Thanks Eric, happy to hear that.  Wellness is one of the few canned foods my cats will eat.

I have been feeding Wellness canned various flavors.  My vet does not like Wellness because it contains garlic.  She said garlic has the same effect as onions - causes anemia.

Has anybody ever heard of this?