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rcexplorer
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« on: April 08, 2008, 07:45:29 AM » |
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there has been a new recent news posted on NV website : "Nature’s Variety has withdrawn distribution of Prairie Lamb Meal and Oatmeal Medley for Cats with the “best if used by” dates of 12/20/08 and 1/25/09." "Please be assured, this withdrawal does not involve health risks to cats. At Nature’s Variety, we want to insure that all of our products meet our high quality standards. We have found the affected products to be unacceptable because to the following reasons. * The products with a “best if used by” date of 12/20/08 have an unacceptable level of oxidized fat. Oxidation may create an unusual odor. It is very likely that you will notice the smell immediately and that your cat would be sensitive to the smell and will not attempt to eat this food. * The products with a “best if used by” date of 1/25/09 have an unacceptable appearance – this kibble is quite crumbly and very dark in color. Again, this unusual appearance will likely be instantly evident to you, and it is unlikely that your cat would eat this food." "The issues described here relate to our previously identified production challenges during late-2007 and early-2008. As explained previously, we have taken multiple action steps to continually improve and assure the quality of our products for your special pet. " http://www.naturesvariety.com/news.lasso kathy |
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« Last Edit: April 08, 2008, 09:10:37 AM by rcexplorer »
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Sandi K
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« Reply #1 on: April 08, 2008, 08:29:15 AM » |
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RC, Im wondering if you should put this under the recall section in the forums under feline? I am really upset over this. We had bought a bag of this at the feed store this weekend but havent fed it yet. The best buy date is a week before the dates listed on their website but I dont trust them at all now. Didnt we just go thru this with Sandy at NV and he said they would make adjustments and make sure nothing "slipped" by again? And once again they only posted it to their site. We would have never known about it if RC hadnt posted it. Im sorry, but I cant take anymore chances on NV. Shame on you NV, when will these companies start listening to pet owners and be upfront and honest? And I dont know how they can say it doesnt involved a health risk to cats. What is unacceptable level of oxidized fat? Does that mean too much fat? What about cats that have pancreas issues that might be eating this food? And if this slipped by them (AGAIN) what else will slip by them. Its been hard enough trying to get Sophers on a better quality food without stuff like this happening, Im afraid NV has blown their chance with us. Too afraid to trust them now. Plus their statement implies the pet owner should notice the problems, some that have been feeding it for awhile might but for those of us new to NV wouldnt. And I hope their statement is correct that cats wont eat it but Im skeptical, I think some will and some wont.
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« Last Edit: April 08, 2008, 08:49:44 AM by JustMe »
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Sandi K
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« Reply #2 on: April 08, 2008, 08:58:04 AM » |
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Thank you JustMe! We came so close to feeding this to Sophers, with all of her diarrhea issues the last thing we need is to feed her food that has something wrong with it. Aaargh! Me thinks I will be checking in to home-cooking, this was too close.
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rcexplorer
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« Reply #3 on: April 08, 2008, 09:23:06 AM » |
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Thank You Just Me for starting new topic
best wishes to Sophers and Sandi K
kathy
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Robert
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« Reply #4 on: April 08, 2008, 09:32:18 AM » |
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I'm glad that NV was able to pull before it getting to far into distribution. I wonder which facility had the issue? Or if both were involved....
Robert
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------- Robert Davis http://www.jealousofangeles.com - "Because so many are jealous of my good looks and wonderful nature my dad had to make a site to share me with the rest of the world!" Interview with Angeles, Summer 2008 |
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Sandi K
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« Reply #5 on: April 08, 2008, 09:46:09 AM » |
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Im wondering why they waited so long? The dog food that was found to have problems had dates of 1/3/09 and 1/10/09 but the cat food dates are 12/20/08 and 1/25/09, around the same period as the dog food if not earlier. Why is this just now being dealt with when the dog food problem was first announced on Feb 27th?  |
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« Last Edit: April 08, 2008, 01:36:47 PM by Sandi K »
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Carol
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« Reply #6 on: April 08, 2008, 10:31:19 AM » |
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Thanks Kathy---I don't use this for Smudge--and I am glad that I chose not to go back to NV for Lucy and Harry---I just don't like the fact that thngs are going wrong--and that WE should be aware of the changes--- shouldn't the people that make this be more aware than us? Too many unanswered questions--  + |
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« Last Edit: April 08, 2008, 10:36:10 AM by Carol »
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“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” — Margaret Mead
United we stand Divided we fall....
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Sandi K
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« Reply #7 on: April 08, 2008, 11:40:38 AM » |
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This from Natures Variety post: "It is very likely that you will notice the smell immediately and that your cat would be sensitive to the smell and will not attempt to eat this food." AND "Again, this unusual appearance will likely be instantly evident to you, and it is unlikely that your cat would eat this food." Carol, you are soooo right. So, we the consumer, and even our cats are supposed to know somehow the food is different and either they wont eat it or we will know enough to not feed it, YET it totally escaped the "quality controls" that they supposedly have in place and was put out for sale? Why didnt they notice it? Give me a break. Beating head on desk......I need to go cool off. And also what about all the statements earlier saying it was only the dog food affected? This cat food was made around the same time, did they not check the cat food at the same time or did they and they ignored it? How many complaints did they receive this time? I personally dont care anymore as I wont be feeding NV ever again but these are questions that NV should answer. Regardless, I will be notifying FDA thru their website of this situation t hopefully show that guidelines and rules need to be put in place for ALL pet food companies. |
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lesliek
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« Reply #8 on: April 08, 2008, 12:34:54 PM » |
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In all honesty,most people who have been using it would notice a change. Also most[not all] cats would refuse it. But that isn't good enough,its still NV's responsibility to be sure their product is safe & that people are notified. If there was any question after the Instinct dog food problem,why didn't they notify stores to hold all sales of their food until they checked all the different saved samples ? Also why is it only on their website & not on the news ? Yes some of us routinely check pf websites & others for problems,but not the average person. Think about Trader Joes,the pulled their food til it was checked. That inspires confidence,this does not.3 times I have tried to add a little dry for emergencies & every time something else bad comes out about it. Well this time I'm done for good! Next time there is an emergency or I run out of homemade, everyone is getting scrambled eggs & br rice. Anyone here can prepare that. Even hot dogs or lunchmeat would be better than pet food.
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"the world's most inept extortionist"
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Offy
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« Reply #9 on: April 08, 2008, 12:45:10 PM » |
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Leslie, I think we all have to face the fact that pet foods causing an animal to have diarrhea or to barf doesn't fall into the category of concern for the commercial pet food companies. If it did, it wouldn't have taken any of them the amount of time to react to the recall scandal. And, they had most of us convinced that it could never be the foods - had to be something inside or outside, but forbid we look at the foods. Those times are gone. One of my kitties, BJ (rb age 23 in 1995) would challenge you for pork n beans and let you keep your rice  According to her, life wouldn't have been complete without a Sunday breakfast of bacon & eggs and a Sunday dinner of pork n beans with hamburger. LOL. Yeah, something you never forget. And, maybe human food was smarter than pet food. |
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Robert
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« Reply #10 on: April 08, 2008, 01:56:57 PM » |
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I would bet there are going to be slight variations in most pet formulas since pricing of ingredients have gone up....just not enough to require labels to be changed....unless the company has a strict fixed formula (which most that are worried about profits aren't using a fixed formula)....then how do we know what we feed from one bag to the next is the same consistency?
Talk to you pet food company and see if they can confirm they use a fixed formula ever batch run (i.e. 10% chicken meal, 10% x, 10%, x .....) or do they vary based on ingredient pricing in the market. From what I understand most companies (only ONE I know of that uses a fixed formula) will vary a bit...so maybe less of one meat, more of another, etc... And what is fogotten is the nutritional side of why the % of ingredients was used to begin with.....one ingredient works well with another but optimum at certain levels...but once you start mixing things up because of prices and forget the science, you don't have the same bag of food anymore.
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------- Robert Davis http://www.jealousofangeles.com - "Because so many are jealous of my good looks and wonderful nature my dad had to make a site to share me with the rest of the world!" Interview with Angeles, Summer 2008 |
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Laurie
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« Reply #11 on: April 08, 2008, 03:11:08 PM » |
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Just an FYI, the Prairie foods are not grain free. Only the Instinct line is grain free. I would like to know just where was/is the quality control at the facillity that manufacturers it? If the kibble has a distinctive odor to it would that not have been noticed long before packaging? One would think so.  I noticed that SMGI was logged in on April 4th. Would of been nice if he would of addressed this at that time IMO. |
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Carol
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« Reply #12 on: April 08, 2008, 03:17:43 PM » |
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Just an FYI, the Prairie foods are not grain free. Only the Instinct line is grain free. I would like to know just where was/is the quality control at the facillity that manufacturers it? If the kibble has a distinctive odor to it would that not have been noticed long before packaging? One would think so. I noticed that SMGI was logged in on April 4th. Would of been nice if he would of addressed this at that time IMO. Well now I know that the CEO was here but did not give us the courtesy of a "head's up" about the new news update on his website---I am very glad I didn't go back to his pet food! If he truly understood our concerns I would have hoped he would have posted something---but if he is of the impression that we are those hysterical pet owners--he is right---we are hysterical as we want to feed our pets without killing them or making them sick---and be able to trust QC! Thanks Laurie -I never thought to check to see if he had been here---I assumed he had not! |
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“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” — Margaret Mead
United we stand Divided we fall....
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Robert
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« Reply #13 on: April 08, 2008, 05:48:47 PM » |
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------- Robert Davis http://www.jealousofangeles.com - "Because so many are jealous of my good looks and wonderful nature my dad had to make a site to share me with the rest of the world!" Interview with Angeles, Summer 2008 |
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Sandi K
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« Reply #14 on: April 08, 2008, 05:50:33 PM » |
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Thanks for that info Laurie! I had noticed it wasnt grain-free but had thought about trying for a rotation for Sophers. But not now, no way, no how.  Also I had noticed that the Natures Variety Instinct chicken that we had bought a couple of weeks ago was kind of crumbly too, since Im new to it, didnt know whether it should be crumbly or not crumbly. Its OK cause Sophers didnt like it anyhow but she will eat it for treats and did eat some last night. Bag is now in the garbage can along with the other. Im kind of surprised there arent more comments about this new problem with NV's cat food. Maybe more people fed the dog version of it rather than the cat or maybe people havent had time to log in after work yet. |
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« Last Edit: April 08, 2008, 05:53:48 PM by Sandi K »
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