WELLNESS recall

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I called the company this morning. Appears the the affected product could go back as far as April 2010, although that doesn't mean all were affected.
That makes me quite nervous as Wellness is most of what we feed here, with Fancy Feast sometimes in between, which means they have been potentially eating it for 10 months! The recall notices says that feeding for a few weeks can cause issues.
My old Tom is overdue for a checkup anyhow so I will make an appointment at the vet. Wellness are sending me coupons but I voiced my concerns and that I will contact them again once I have the vet check them out. Worried. :sad:
 
I know , just when we got her to eat the "better" food! I know we've fed some of it as there are cans from the recalled lots in the recycling. I'm not seeing any of the symptoms, but the fact that thiamine aids in the metabolizing of carbs is really a concern for FD cats.

Anyone know if supplementing now w/ B-1 or B Complex would be a good idea. If so how much?

BTW when you call if you have the cans from food that has been fed they will send you extra coupons as opposed to a refund.
 
I called the company a second time today and in addition to the 09/30/13 batch being recalled, they have now added 11/10/2013 to 11/17/2013 to the recall.

Judy
 
drjsiems said:
I called the company a second time today and in addition to the 09/30/13 batch being recalled, they have now added 11/10/2013 to 11/17/2013 to the recall.

Judy
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The website said that the chicken & herring was with the dates 10 NOV 2013to 17 NOV 2013 was recalled. All others were varieties for dates 14 APR 13 to 30 SEPT 13. Do you mean they changed the dates for all others?
 
drjsiems said:
Yes, I was told that all varieties from 11/10/2013 to 11/17/2013 were recalled.

Judy
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They don't seem to have a good grasp on the problem yet. Guess it will be back to Fancy Feast for a while. Kitties will be happy - they just inhale the Fancy Feast.
 
Concerned about this news. I sorted through my food that fits into the posted recall dates. Still have some cans that fall in the November category. Sya has been on this food only for over a year. Finally have gotten her sorted out to two flavors of it. Have had real problems with GI tract troubles if I try any switching of diet . Repeated rounds of metronidizole later, have her stable (knock on wood) GI wise. Really hesitant to run off and switch food brands. She shows no symptoms. Anyone have advice on foods that are comparable to Wellness chicken and Wellness Turkey?
 
The recall notices says that feeding for a few weeks can cause issues.
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Everything I've found says exclusive use for several weeks. :?

My vet felt that because we don't feed exclusively, they'd get enough of the vitamin in the other foods, but our use of Wellness is less than 1/3 of their overall intake in a week.

K.Sya - could you talk to your vet about a suppliment for the B1? It appears that some of their test are low on the B1, it doesn't sound like it is dangerous to feed, just lacking the one vitamin needed if fed exclusively.

The problem will be that they will now be adjusting the food to get the right amount of B1 and any kitties that are now doing well on the food will have to deal with an adjustment :YMSIGH: . My Taz apparently doesn't like B1 because she has liked Wellness more these last few months where before none of them were very exited about it.
 
I called Wellness this morning, and the rep didn't say anything about the dates having been extended. Then again, she didn't seem to be the sharpest tack in the room. Now I'm concerned again, because some of the Wellness I had in the pantry (Chicken) was Best By Oct 20 13, so I thought it was safe. Everything else was in the recall, including, judging from some empty cans in the recycle bin, some cases I already fed.

Anyway, Wellness said for me to submit proof of purchase for the cans that had already been eaten. They'll send me a shipping carton for the full cans I still have.

I also called PetFlow, since that's where I get the food. The rep I talked to there was very helpful and *did* seem to know exactly what he was talking about, but of course he only knew what Wellness had told them. PetFlow has temporarily suspended all orders and shipments of Wellness until they can get all of the recalled product off their shelves. Ordering and shipments will resume next week - the rep even went and checked with somebody who knows more about how the work of pulling the recalled stuff is going, because one of my civvies eats Wellness Chicken exclusively, since his asthma acts up if he gets even a bite of something else. I definitely don't want to change his food. The rep helped me figure out the best way to get the food this cat needs, at the earliest possible time, at the lowest possible cost.
 
Wellness called me this morning and asked my how many cans I have, instead of mailing me a box and a check, "for your convenience", she said, I will receive a coupon to cover 20 cans in 5-7 days. I thought, ya right, Wellness wants to save the sipping cost of these bad cans and money for refund. I was in middle of something so I said fine (and I am tired of it).

But now I start feeling suspicious, for my convenience, Wellness should sent me 20 good cans so I don't have to go out to buy and pay sale tax twice, or simply I just don't want to buy Wellness anymore.
 
The store that I bought from is willing to accept the return of the 4 cases I bought last week.

Yesterday, I called the phone number 7 minutes before 8 a.m. EST and as requested, left a message. No return phone call yet.
 
I spoke to both my vet and the Wellness folks today. I also was told that the only lots affected were the ones they have posted on the website and that any cans I have with later dates are fine. Sya eats nothing but Wellness, so I assume any problems I might have seen I would have already seen, but needless to say I culled out all the affected cans and they said they are sending me a "return kit?" I'm going to go ahead and continue feeding the cans that are supposed to be good according to the company but keep an eye on her and on their website nailbite_smile . My vet agrees that rocking the boat with Sya's GI problems is not worth it at this point as it took so much effort to get her to the good place she is in right now. She just doesn't do well at all if you make any attempt to switch brands, or even flavors for that matter. Wellness chicken and Wellness turkey, otherwise the scene at the litterbox is not pretty
 
I'm confused about what to do. I feed Wellness 95% of the time because of Merlin's stomach issues. He needs grain free food. I need to buy food for his dinner tomorrow night - I'll be out. The couple cans I had this week weren't in the recall batches I saw posted.

Would it be better to risk trying a new grain-free food or buying Wellness that's considered "safe"? No clue what to do.
 
I called the company too and was told that only the dates listed were affected. I have some chicken and turkey that have October use by dates and are not in the recall. The rep told me two different times that they would be okay. I asked if they had been tested and she said they were okay. I also spoke to my vet about this and we decided to add a multivitamin for a week or so as a precaution. Since the cans have lower levels than needed and supposedly were not totally depleted of the necessary vitamins, maybe the chewable multivitamin will be what they need to boost them to a better level. My cats ate the vitamin yesterday and this morning. It must taste okay since all four cats ate one. Usually there is one holdout when something is questionable in taste.

I have not been on this website in several weeks and luckily decided to login Monday. If I had not, I wonder how I would have known about this recall!
 
Blackie was fed Wellness Chicken & Turkey exclusively since April 2009. I even syringe fed him Wellness in the week before he died. Do you think the Wellness could have contributed to his illness and death? I don't have any cans left - I returned them to Petco last week, but I do still have some empty cans in my recycle. Should I write a letter to Wellness?
 
Oh Ele, I don't think so. I do not know for sure of course, but I think that you would have noticed the symptoms just after two or three months of use. I also talked again today to the people at Wellness and she said that previous batches were not affected; the only ones that were affected were the ones listed. Applying this to Blackie, I do not believe that the batches he ate from in 2009 and most of 2010 had any thiamine deficiency. In addition, this person said that all recalled Wellness canned cat food had at least some level of thiamine in it. As far as I know, there has been only one case of a cat with thiamine deficiency so I think it would be extremely rare. You could call them, but with the position they are in, they would probably deny it; but in this case they would probably be telling the truth. This was a voluntary recall, and I think that makes a difference as far as integrity goes.

Wishing you peace, serenity, and good memories of your very special boy who I know is waiting for you.

Judy
 
underdawg said:
I called the company too and was told that only the dates listed were affected. I have some chicken and turkey that have October use by dates and are not in the recall. The rep told me two different times that they would be okay. I asked if they had been tested and she said they were okay. I also spoke to my vet about this and we decided to add a multivitamin for a week or so as a precaution. Since the cans have lower levels than needed and supposedly were not totally depleted of the necessary vitamins, maybe the chewable multivitamin will be what they need to boost them to a better level. My cats ate the vitamin yesterday and this morning. It must taste okay since all four cats ate one. Usually there is one holdout when something is questionable in taste.

I have not been on this website in several weeks and luckily decided to login Monday. If I had not, I wonder how I would have known about this recall!
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Giving a multi vitamin is an excellent idea!!! I think you just solved my problem! Thank you.
 
yes, i think Wellness is trying to save the expense of having all those cans sent back. They called me back last night and asked for pix of the cans sent by email.
Even if I had opted to make the actual return I think they still would have sent out coupons rather than actual cans of food. You do have to call them first and get a reference number.

I also asked if the dates of the recall had been extended and was told definitely not, my other cans are OK.

underdawg, I've been wondering about a vitamin supplement. What did you use? I have some 50 mg. B-Complex capsules I can sprinkle on. But how much? BTW, since we were registered w/ Wellness for coupons, they sent us an email notice.

"thiamine deficiency in cats" search Google for this and you will find a number of references listing the symptoms.
 
Both of my cats eat only canned Wellness. I know for a fact they eat at least 4 cases of the recalled cans. I am so nervous with Babee being diabetic and switching foods. I have called Wellness 2 times and gotten different answers. I only have 1 un-opened can left of the recalled cans and thats all Wellness will send me coupons for. I am so un-happy with their handling of this recall.

I am waiting for a call back from my vet. I might go pick up some Missing Link or vitamins when I get some other brand of food later.

What brands are others switching to?
 
Last night at PerSmart I bought all grainfree foods - there weren't too many choices of the higher quality foods. I bought AvoDerm - there were 3 varieties in the little cans - couldn't find any big ones. I got By Nature Goldleaf selects and one other brand I can't remember. He LOVED the AvoDerm and the Goldleaf selects - they are chunky and saucy. He wolfed them down. Now Ihave to watch for his poop to make sure he doesn't get sick. I also got him a multi-vitamin which he loved. So far so good.
 
I am still using Wellness since we just changed to that in January but adding the multivitamin for now until they get the food back where it needs to be with the vitamins.

I found GNC Ultra Mega Multivitamin Plus at Petsmart. They are chewable. The bag says to give 2 chewables per day but does not say anything about how much per pound of weight. I give one in the morning and one in the afternoon. It also comes in a liquid to put in their food or water. i think any multivitamin will work as long as the cat will eat it. I have four cats and they all ate the GNC vitamins. They must taste good or at least one of them would have spit it out. My Himalayan used to love PetTabs for cats. When I could not find them any more, I tried the PetTabs for both dogs and cats but she would not even try those. I think I saw PetTabs for cats at PetCo. They were big vitamins so I broke them into smaller pieces.

I tried to register at Wellness website the other day but it would not let me do it. Guess it was overloaded! I will keep trying. I don't want to go through another recall! At least this one was not as bad as the one a few years ago.
 
Tracy and Boomer
My vet said to add probiotics to my cat food when I switched them to Wellness in January after some of them were vomiting Fancy Feast when i tried to switch to that food. (I think there was an issue with the beef flavor for them.) She said that it would help their tummies adjust to the new food. I found it at Pet Supermarket for dogs and cats. PetSmart had some for dogs. I also saw "pre"biotics at Petsmart in the cat section but I did not know if that was the same so I called my niece later. According to my niece (a Pharmacist), prebiotics or probiotics would work.
 
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