Pat,
     I hope your kitties recover quickly!

Pat- Hoping they are feeling better this morning ? Good luck ! You are right, food should make us all healthy,not sick.It would be wonderful to just be able to buy it & eat it without all the checking & questioning we now have to do.

Update on my cats who vomited violently after eating FF Gourmet Line Varieties (Turkey & Giblets, Chicken & Liver, Salmon Feast, and Gourmet Chicken) from plant 1160, dated 10/2009 and 11/2009. 

The one who had the most impressive vomiting (she splattered everything within a 180 degree radius of the top shelf of her cat tree with reddish-brown vomit!) somehow seems to have gotten over this OK without Veterinary intervention.  I've had to syringe feed her A/D and baby food meat products for 2 days, but this morning she's eating Innova Evo Canned food on her own (grudgingly . . . she doesn't seem to like the flavor). 

The one who saw her Vet last Friday and received fluids, steroids, pain meds (for her additional problem with rear subluxating knees that became painful . . . of course the steroids also boost cats' appetites and feelings of well-being), and antibiotic (treating empirically for possible early infection), is doing very well today and eating on her own as of this morning with no further need for syringe feedings.

The other one who saw her Vet Friday for bloodwork (which was fine except for evidence of dehydration), subQ fluids, and an appetite boosting medication, is still needing to be syringe fed several times a day, but is today finally beginning to show an interest ONLY in Innova Evo dry food.  She won't touch ANY canned foods yet . . . those I have to syringe feed to her.  Saturday she had to go back to the Vet to be checked for any possible gastric or intestinal obstruction, since she was having trouble swallowing the soft food slurry I was feeding her by syringe.  She simply wouldn't swallow and instead the food would ooze back out the sides of her mouth.  No sign of obstruction on the x-ray, but she's reallyi slow to develop an appetite of any kind.

The last one, who I'd thought was going to be OK without treatment, was still needing to be syringe fed as of last evening.  Then she threw up everything I'd given her and later in the evening spit up about 2 tablespoons of blood-tinged mucus on the kitchen floor.  Needless to say, shw went to the vet today and was treated with subQ fluids, steroids, and antibiotics.  Hopefully she'll bounce back as well as the first kitty who received that same treatment.

PetSmart Manager kindly took back all of the Fancy Feast last evening and is returning it to the manufacturer.  Both of our Vets agreed it was a good idea they sent the cans back rather than reselling them.  Obviously we have no definitive proof that the food was the source of the problem, but there was no evidence of infection in any of the four cats and no evidence of any other contributing systemic problem in any of the four.  I've written to Purina to let them know what we experienced and given them the lot numbers, plant numbers, dates, and varieties of the suspect foods.  I saved one can of each in case they're needed for testing.

So . . . no more Fancy Feast for my guys for quite some time to come, if ever.  I simply don't trust it anymore.  Am now shopping around, reading labels and purchasing small amounts of various "safe" foods to see what works for my guys (i.e., what they'll deign to eat!).  FYI - My cats really liked the newest 6 oz. cans of Innova Evo 95% protein Turkey & Chicken variety.  It smells much more like turkey/chicken, looks less like pinkish-grey textureless paste (that's what the 85% protein Evo looks like), has no grains at all in it, and evidently has a better mouth feel to them.  They dove right into it!  It really bothers me though to have read that Innova foods are canned by Menu!! 

Will post again should any of the cats worsen and, of course, should we discover any additional data regarding the saved FF foods . . . that is, if we must or can afford to have them tested and something turns up in their test results that folks should be aware of.

Thanks,

- Pat

Pat, I sure do hope all your kitties get well very soon.  Sorry to read they got so sick.  Thank God they didn't eat anymore FF.  In my opinion what you are feeding now is very good food.  Mine don't care for it so I have them on something else.  Please keep us posted.  How are YOU holding up through all this now?

I have been consistently feeding FF.  The Salmon and the Ocean Whitefish makes Ling vomit. I don't feed those anymore. I know Scooter has an allergy to "something" in some pet foods (Her lower lip swells, but she doesn't vomit. This doesn't happen with the canned FF.) and Ling can't eat the canned fish or will vomit every time no matter the flavor/brand, Miss Kitty eats it and does fine. So, on the fish, we're passing even with a case of the Ocean Whitefish & Tuna  best by Oct 2009 7296 1160 L21651839 on hand. I admit that I worry about all the fish food coated with melamine from the US company and what other fish could be affected and impact the pet foods.

Here's what I'm feeding & have been out of the cases:

Gourmet Chicken Feast best by Nov 2009 7320 1160 L11341828
Tender Liver & Chicken Feast best by Oct 2009 7296 1160 L21781404
Turkey & Giblets Feast best by Dec 2009 7339 1160 L21800619
Tender Beef & Chicken Feast best by Sep 2009 7271 1160 L11301120
Tender Beef Feast best by Sep 2009 7255 1160 L21770859

I've had no problems with those batches or any of them, and I use 5 cases a month.

I think part of what is important is getting the full identification of the batches that are causing problems as well as knowing what are not causing problems. That might help narrow down a section of a manufacturing run or help identify an individual animals allergies or reactions.

Ann

I've been giving my 2 a few pieces of Natures Logic dry along with their homemade. So far no problems with it.I'm basically just using it so if there is an emergency I have a dry as a backup.Tried the dog 1 also but all 3 had the runs or constipation from it. I only tried the duck & salmon,they do have chicken,venison & rabbit also. They are only getting about 5 pieces once a day.

Offy, many years ago I used to feed the single cat I had that cheap cat food with that horrid red tuna in it.  Her lip would swell up quite a bit from it.  I never thought about allergic reactions then as it was still the dark ages before pet food enlightenment.  I know that red tuna is also supposed to be bad for cats, ties up some kind of nutrient & they end up with deficiencies.  Maybe the foods you're using have some of that tuna in them, even if it's only one of the unspecified flavorings.  Of course, the lip swelling might be a reaction to anything, but you might check to see if it's that particular ingredient causing it.

GoingNUTZ - I'm not feeding dry to my cats right now, but several of my family members have switched their junk-food addicted cats to Wellness dry formulas & they seem to be doing well on it so far.  If I have to add dry food to cut costs in the future, I'll probably try their Indoor Health formula since I've heard it has lower phosphorous levels, important for my CRF kitty.