Just in case you haven't heard: Nutro brand cat food recall

[riverdeep]

This announcement is a bit old (5/21/09), I hadn't heard of it and when I did a search here, nothing came up, so I'm not sure if it was posted. The news still seems to be disseminating.

Go here for the details from the Nutro site:

http://www.nutroproducts.com/press-recall/press-recall.html

and here is an article explaining the situation (basically, incorrect level of minerals that could lead to toxic reactions):

June 3, 2009
Don’t tell Christina W. that NUTRO hasn’t received any complaints about the cat food the company recently pulled off the market. The Maryland woman and owner of five cats doesn’t believe that claim, which the pet food maker continues to tout on its Web site.

Neither does Thomas R. of Florida, who is certain that NUTRO’s Natural Choice Ocean Fish food -- one of the flavors included in the company’s recalled -- recently caused his cat’s kidneys to shut down. Thomas made the difficult decision to euthanize his cat, Fabio.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/06/nutro_foia07.html

Plenty more stories on google news:

http://news.google.com/news?q=nutro%20cat%20food&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla

[supernova]

1. I bought kitten roasted chicken flavor

for my wee cats last week.

The website says the kitten food isn't affected, but I don't know what to think now.

[sohndrsmith]

2. Thank you for the info - I hope your post is used wisely. n/t

[kestrel91316]

3. I think I posted about it when they announced the recall a couple of weeks ago.

A lot of my clients feed Max Cat and I have not been able to blame any definite problems on it. That said, some of my patients with borderline kidney problems and slightly low potassium might very well have experienced slightly lower potassium for a while because of this.

And I had a single patient with some GI upset issues that theoretically could have been due to the elevated Zn levels.

But AFAIK nobody has been seriously or permanently harmed. Nutro needs to do independent testing on its mineral premix rather than accepting at face value what the supplier claims it to be. This could have been worse.

[riverdeep]

8. The consumer affairs link has some cases from people around the country.

I don't know if that's going to count as reasonable proof or incredible coincidence, but it's something to think about. Also, while looking around I found that initially Nutro denied they were even being investigated by the FDA in April 22, a month before what they term is a voluntary recall.

("NUTRO Bites Back; Denies Probe of Pet Deaths, Illnesses")
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/04/nutro_foia02.html

Would they have issued a recall if they weren't receiving any scrutiny?

[riverdeep]

9. According to Consumer Affairs, the story is even more sordid.

For more than a year, NUTRO Pet Products has shrugged off consumer complaints about dogs and cats becoming ill and even dying after eating the company's food. The company's public relations agents have insisted the food was "100 percent safe" and both NUTRO and the taxpayer-supported agency charged with regulating the safety of animal feed — the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — have denied there is any kind of investigation into NUTRO products.

("NUTRO Recalls Dry Cat Food Sold in 11 Countries")
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/05/nutro_foia05.html

According to them, this has been going on for over a year, with the FDA secretly investigating them, but trying not to cause a panic. They also allowed the company to dictate the press release and allowed them to call the recall 'voluntary'. Consumer Affairs says it has over 800 complaints going back to 2007. Interestingly, the brand is owned by the huge conglomerate Mars corporation. And guess when they bought Nutro foods? 2007.

[kestrel91316]

12. The timing of the Mars acquisition is certainly interesting.

Major corporations' beancounters seem to have the attitude that "it's just a cat". Probably why we see companies like Hill's putting salmon in their "turkey" adult canned food and simply calling it "improved" (fish is inappropriate for cats - they are DESERT animals).

I'm always having to watch like a hawk anymore for the latest boneheaded nutritional gaffes by people who should fucking know better.

[Missy Vixen]

4. We'll never feed Nutro again

Our boys ate Nutro Natural dry for a couple of years -- well, till the first recall. Now this? We've found another food we're comfortable with. It costs more, but we'll go without food before we serve anything to our cats that doesn't seem to care about quality control.

[Kaleko]

5. K & R for cat owners.

[wildflower]

6. K&R

[Motown_Johnny]

7. Kicking for Kittens

[rhett o rick]

10. Thanks. k & r

[riverdeep]

11. Here's a prescient posting from 2007 from a seller of pet food.

Again, 2007 was when Nutro was purchased by Mars Corporation. The writer was thinking of dog food, but obviously cat food is under the same pressure:

Last week Nutro was purchased by Mars. Owners of Pedigree and Kal Kan. This was very bad news to all of us purists who think that Pedigree would make fine pig food but lacks the integrity to provide our beloved canine friends with real quality dog food. Many of you would consider this blasphemy, speaking so poorly of a company that spends more money on marketing (“Dogs Rule”) than for research and development. It certainly shows in their product.

If you look at past history this sale is truly shocking to anyone feeding a Nutro product. Look what happened when Colgate Palmolive purchased the thriving R and D driven pet food Science Diet. In the day, Science Diet did all of the leg work to develop a quality dog food and other companies just copied them. Now due to a terrible reputation you would have trouble finding a bag of Science Diet in your neighborhood. How about when Proctor and Gable purchased Iams and Eukanuba. This was actually a dog food I fed my own dogs for years. I remember opening a bag of Iams Mini Chunks and salivating. Now you open a bag of Iams and it smells like cardboard. P and G took a premium dog food named Eukanuba and turned it into a shelf space devouring line of ridiculous “large breed”, “small breed”, “any breed” corporate money making dog food. I have never seen a brand name ruined as quickly as Eukanuba. Then there’s Heinz. They purchased Natures Recipe. Remember them? I remember when Natures Recipe was the dog food Nutro is today. Respected and fed by many. Now you can’t even find a bag at any respectable feed store.

I predict this is the beginning of the end for Nutro. Just like Science Diet, Iams, Eukanuba, and Natures Recipe. Look for a bag change, a subtle content change and then the inevitable degrading of what was once considered a fine dog food into something that just manages to keep your animal alive. Long live corporate America and it’s single minded effort to make a buck. In this case at the expense of that breed of animal I live with and love most dearly.

http://www.westcoastpetsupply.com/news/4/mars-purchases-nutro-pet-foods.html

So, it seems bean counters at corporations look for a respectable brand name to add to their portifolio, aquire the company, and go about implementing cost cutting measures until the public catches up with them and the brand is ruined. Rinse and repeat. Meanwhile, pets and their owners get the short end of the stick.

[Merlot]

15. My guess is the corps purchase quality pet foods brands because they

make their own foods look bad. They're in effect lowering the bar for all foods and those few foods that stand out with high quality human grade ingredients or R and D must be eliminated.

Buy up and destroy the competition, the old corporate rule.

BTW, my cats eat Instinct which is very high quality and has NO grains so it's good for cats. Cats don't need grains in their diets, and shouldn't be eating the dry foods either. It's all meat, all the time for our carnivore friends.

[WillowTree]

13. Why would anyone be feeding their cat dry food in the first place?

Cats are carnivors by nature and almost all dry foods are WAY too high in carbs for them. Not one of the Nutro dry foors is less than two-and-a-half times the recommended max of 10% carbs, most are 3-4 times that or more, and are fairly high in calories, both of which account for the surprisingly high incidence of feline diabetes.

I was able to take my diabetic cat from a blood glucose reading of 485 which is downright dangerous to the completely normal range of under 100 in ten days flat just by changing her to low carb canned food and administering very tiny doses (less than 3 IU total) of a specific insulin known to jump start the pancreas in many diabetic cats and she remains in remission to this day just by maintaining the low carb diet (no insulin).

I know well how much more convenient dry food is for the cat owner, but if you care about your cats, please consider getting them on low carb canned foods. Trust me, it's far better for the cat and it'll save you a TON of money in the long run.

[Lugnut]

14. My cat stopped eating Nutro months ago.

Peanut was happily eating Nutro Complete Care Senior for about a year-and-a-half until she wouldn't eat it anymore. She's a very finicky eater so I assumed she was tired of it. Maybe it changed and she simply didn't like it anymore.

[myrna minx]

16. K&R n/t

[Wednesdays]

17. K&R

:kick:

[riverdeep]

18. One last kick. Plus a lolcat!