Thanks, Eric.  I sent you a message.

Two senior cats 2 weeks ago, complete blood work and urinalysis.  My vomiter had blood work and urinalysis a couple months ago.  Her lab work was perfect and vet wasn't concerned about the occasional vomit immediately after eating after examining her.  She is a heavy cat.  We do the extensive blood work screens, senior wellness screens.  They cover quite a bit.

ETA: I removed my post that this refers to where I mentioned blood work and urinalysis as it has been pointed out to me that blood work and exams don't guarantee there is no problem with food.

What I'd like us all to do is compare notes,  especially for wet cat food, especially pate'-style, all brands, produced during the time period specified above--with expiration dates from about Sept. 2010 to February 2011.  

I'm not talking about the occasional refusal by one cat, or the occasional vomiting episode.  I'm talking about consistent refusals of food that was accepted before, or recurring vomiting, that can be specifically linked to food produced in the specified time period.  What I am trying to do is establish if there is a pattern for other brands.  There seemed to be a pattern emerging on the Wellness thread, and when I saw a similar pattern with the Azmira, that's what started me thinking.

Information that your cats have been OK with similar foods produced during that time period is helpful, too.

The pattern that seemed to be emerging from many people with Wellness could, just possibly, be accounted for by their known formula change--removing the garlic.  But Azmira says they have not changed their formula.

Information need not be only about foods produced by Menu, since, as 5Catmom pointed out, the pet food production companies seem to be closely linked, and may receive ingredients from the same suppliers.

Has anyone noticed a consistent pattern with other brands?

Catbird,
Mine don't fit either.

I did notice the pattern on the Wellness thread about problems with lots from the beginning of the year.  And some cats do refuse foods before others, while some are picky sometimes and not others.  So there could be some variation in the patterns when looking for potential problems that shouldn't be rejected as not important.  During the recall last year, some pets ate the food and got sick or died, some sensed a problem and refused to eat, so they do have variable bad food detectors.

Mine are a bunch of pigs and rarely refuse anything, except that Nov problem last year when 3 refused and some vomited.  I haven't had trouble with the Jan/Feb lots, but then my cans are from the ANI plant out west here.  EricV - you should check to see if yours are ANI packed since you haven't had problems.

Hi everyone. 

I'm the other poster that has been comparing notes with catbird.  When my cats started refusing Azmira a month or so ago I PM'd catbird as I know she feeds Azmira to her cats.  Our cats have similar problems so we feed a lot of the same brands of food.  My cats have eaten Azmira off and on for years and never ever have they refused it prior to a month ago.  Catbird confirmed that her cats had started refusing this food as well during the same period of time.  Also, during this same period my cats began refusing Newman's Own canned food, another food they were eating with no problems.  In my desperation to find canned food my cats would eat that doesn’t include fruits or vegetables, I bought a few cans of a food we had used sporadically in the past called Precise.  My cats always loved this food and they have not had any in several months so I know they can't be sick of it.  They flat out refused to eat it after a bite or 2.  One cat developed vomiting and loose stools after feeding this food, but I can't say for sure that it's related.  Anyway, all these brands that my cats have been refusing mostly have expiration dates between Sep 2010 and Nov 2010.  We know that Newman's uses Menu and I have always suspected that Azmira and Precise do as well, although both these companies use the "proprietary” information line.

After talking with catbird I emailed Azmira (twice) and finally got the following response:
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"We have not changed our formulas but we do use natural ingredients that vary (individual variation not random ingredients) from harvest to harvest as Mother Nature does.

It is not unusual though for cats to suddenly decide they are tired of something either. Occasionally we have customers that will switch to another of the flavors for a bit and when they switch back their cats are very happy so you may try that approach.

In any case, Azmira has a money back guarantee and stands behind our products; return the uneaten portion to your retailer for a refund."
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Pretty standard, not a lot of information there.

JustMe, in answer to your questions I feed only canned food, I don’t free feed and I have been using several different brands.

I don’t know what is going on, but it seems like there is a problem since so many cats are refusing so many different brands of food.

You will also need to factor in when the cans were produced, not just the best buy dates.  Some brands are 2 years, some are 3 years.  

Example.  NV Instinct canned is 2 years , Wellness canned is 3 years.