Rfalconcam Forum

Hi all,

I had received a notice from a local pet store that this food was being recalled because of a smell.  The problem seemed to be a missing vitamin.  However, I just got the following note on facebook from a friend who works at Lollypop Farm (animal shelter):


DON'T USE PREMIUM EDGE CAT FOOD! We just received a notice from Veterinery Specialists and Emergency services that there is an outbreak of cats with seizures and neorological damage, and the common denominator is this food.

Is there any further info available on this?  People with whom I shared the warning are asking...
Thanks!
Carol

Here's more info and also about a quiet recall of some nutro puppy food


http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/10/diamond_pet_food.html (http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/10/diamond_pet_food.html)

also From the LA Times Business Section

-- Diamond Pet Foods has pulled certain bags of its Premium Edge Finicky Adult and Premium Edge Hairball cat food from distribution. The company said it found deficient levels of the supplement thiamine. The recall follows a similar move by Nutro Products, which discovered that a worker's hard hat had left bits of plastic in some puppy food after falling into the company's machinery :o. Concerned pet owners should check both companies' websites for the latest info.

Personally, I'm eerie of all these foods now. Research and cross your fingers seems to be the way unless you cook their food up yourself. I don't think these companies (IMO) give a dang  :( about my fur babies.


 :halloween2:
 

I agree.  I have used premium edge for dogs for several years and this rattled me.  Diamond had a recall of other pet foods a couple of years ago with that major mess of a recall.

I'm so sorry, I think I was asked for more info and didn't have it.  I should have replied

We switched to Diamond's "Chicken Soup" dog and cat food a couple of months ago after reading many glowing reviews and endorsements.  Two weeks ago, our 8 year old neutered male tabby, never before sick a day in his life, suffered an acute urinary blockage.  Two catheterizations and multiple IV treatments later, he has just about recovered.  While I can't directly tie his condition to his recent diet, our suspicions have caused us to abandon Diamond products and return to brands we've used without incident over the years.     

I've almost completely eliminated commercial cat foods from my household, and gravitated to feeding my four cats raw.  The only exception is my senior rescue kitty, who is 15, and likes her Nine Lives canned.  I mix the raw using chicken livers, ground turkey (all human grade from the grocery store), and supplements. Three years in, we have no more dental problems, and the piggy boys have slimmed down.  Anyone who has had Siamese will know what I mean about the piggishness and overweight...
I just got tired of one recall after another, and people losing cats to problems with the trash in commercial pet foods.
Carol
WV

Feline urinary syndrome (FUS) is sooo common in male neutered cats. Im so sorry your kitty got so ill.  I lost my Siamese kitty to FUS many years ago :( But then vets didn't have a clue what caused it. Diet is a huge factor.

A handful of cat moms I know that have male cats that suffered from FUS and bladder problems have been giving their kitties a daily cranberry supplement and they haven't had another problem. Even my girlfriend whose dog had bladder problems had great luck. The vet recently told her whatever ya doin keep on doin it. The only thing she changed was giving him the cranberry supplements I told her about.. Once the kitty has healed from the initial infection of course! I think well researched wet food works best for male cats :)  Barn cats just don't get these illnesses because their mousers and eat bones and raw meat. ewwww.
 I hope your kitty feels alot better though


 :dogwag:

do you mean uncooked? explain further please.


Salem is my first cat and I want to do what is best for her :eyecat:

Feline urinary syndrome (FUS) is sooo common in male neutered cats. Im so sorry your kitty got so ill.  I lost my Siamese kitty to FUS many years ago :( But then vets didn't have a clue what caused it. Diet is a huge factor.  Barn cats just don't get these illnesses because their mousers and eat bones and raw meat. ewwww.
 
I've had mine on raw for almost four years now, and am pleased with the response.  One (neutered) boy is almost 11, the other is 8, and my old Polly is about 15.
Cats' digestive systems weren't designed to eat cereal, they are obligate carnivores.  That means meat :-) :drool:

I agree with Dot in PA's concern about raw food and supermarket meats.  Much of the beef and chicken available to consumers has salt and other chemicals added to enhance flavor - that can't be good for urinary health.  We tried to go grainless with Diamond's Taste of the Wild canine and feline food. The cats loved it, the dogs were so-so about it.  When we read that Diamond will not certify that TOTW products are free of a certain cancer causing preservative, we switched to the Chicken Soup products, also put out by Diamond, until the urinary episode.  Our vet recommend Purina One Special Care for the cats over the more expensive Science Diet.  It gets some good consumer reviews http://www.buzzillions.com/reviews/one-purina-special-care-urinary-tract-health-formula-cat-food-reviews (http://www.buzzillions.com/reviews/one-purina-special-care-urinary-tract-health-formula-cat-food-reviews) and the cats like it.  I know that the corn and grain based pet foods available in the grocery stores get a bad rap, but at this point, we're more inclined to trust the well known Purina brand over the possibly problematic Diamond.

nwfloridafalconfan   

Please note that I did mention Whole Foods, which is organic.  They also sell frozen organic dog and cat foods.  I don't want the preservatives in me and I won't put them into a pet today (I shudder when I have to buy Perdue chicken, but that is another story).  As for Bart - he was a Science Diet cat until the last 5 years when we began the organic, raw, cooked, canned, wet, and dry blended meals.  Crab and lobster were a bit too rich for him to digest at the end, but he also got tiny tiny amounts of that too.  Read that Bart was spoiled :-)

My guys have only eaten dry food since forever.  I had a hard time finding something that Nub (a diabetic Manx) could eat without clogging up his bladder after Agway and their low magnesium cat food left town.  He did well on Science Diet until the end-he was 19.  After that I really didn't think about it much because I had girls until I got Chewbacca.  He started forming crystals as soon as he got off the kitten food.  I've been feeding them the purina special care urinary health ever since and he's been fine.  It works for us.

I agree with you both but coming from a microbiological view this raw food scares me. It's not safe for humans, why would our pets fare better. Almost all raw chicken has Campylobacter sp., turkey has Salmonella sp. (can't cook stuffing in the bird anymore) and beef has hemoragic E.coli which can effect the kidneys. Had a cat who stole some fresh raw chicken scraps. It was not pleasent.
Please cook all meats for your pets.

This is the first time I've tried to reply to anything on the forum so let's see if it works!
Regarding raw feeding:  I've been doing it with my dogs for over 8 years.  You can't compare what they can eat to what humans can eat because their digestive systems are much shorter.  Basically, things that would harm us pass right on through before they can be a problem.  When my now 11 year old dog developed a life threatening grain allergy at about age 2.5, there were no grain free kibbles available.  I had no choice but to make my own food.  I am lucky in that I live near a free-range poultry farm and the chicken parts I get from the farm make the basis of his diet.  Sherlock, at 11, is still doing agility classes and making therapy visits.  My other dogs eat/have eaten raw as well even though they don't have to.  Of the 3 cats who have been in residence since I started doing this, only one showed the least interest in the raw food.  The Elder MaxCat would sit by the grinder and munch away on the mince I made as it came out of the grinder.  As he lived to 18, I don't think it did him any damage.  One thing I have always read about homemade cat food it that you need to be sure that it includes taurine which is a necessary component for a feline diet.
Kapi in VT

Here Y' go :-)
The recipe, not necessarily precisely measured each time, starts with ground turkey 85/15, as cats have a high fat requirement.
I put in the blender:
1 1lb tub of fresh chicken livers
1/2 tub of water
about a quarter cup of plain (miller's) bran
1 tbsp cod liver oil
1-2 tbsp bone meal
5-6 capsules L-Lysine, 100 mg., emptied and the capsule shells dropped in as well
1 capsule Taurine 100 mg., emptied and the capsule also included
1 tbsp Fruit Fresh powder (this is Vitamin C, used to preserve freshness and color, as cats make their own vitamin C if they eat meat)
Sometimes a "glug" of olive oil

Blend very well, until it looks like a smoothie
Pour half into the tub the livers came in, and freeze for the next batch.  Add the remaining purée to 3 lbs of ground turkey and mix well.

I buy the supplements online, you can compare prices and get what works for you.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE:  NO garlic for cats!  The onion and garlic families cause Heinz Body Anemia in cats, and you sure don't want that. 

Carol
WV

Another note re: feeding cats raw...
Raw chichen necks are great, as they help clean and stimulate gums.  The ads for crunchies all say they clean teeth, but really all they do is coat them with carbs  :crying:
My cats, however, just bat them around all night, and the outside kitties get them in the morning.
Carol
WV

Since cats are obligate Carnivores, we cannot expect them to thrive on cereal, which is what dry cat food is.
Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins, one of the premier feline nutrition researchers, and other Vets who do research, and are not beholden to the food companies that provide them with bags of kibble,highly recommend a good raw diet for optimum health for cats.
More can be found at http://www.felinenutritioneducationsociety.com/ (http://www.felinenutritioneducationsociety.com/)
Raw bones, including poultry bones, are OK for cats, they don't splinter like cooked ones.  If a cat doesn't get the calcium from bones, he must have it as a supplement, ie: bone meal in a raw mixture.  Whole ground chicken or rabbit, bones and all, are great for cats.
Cats' digestive systems are designed to eat raw meat.  People shouldn't, of course, because of things like salmonella, etc., but cats with healthy immune systems are not bothered by salmonella.  Cats are not little dogs either, and are much more susceptible to obesity, diabetes, and urinary troubles as a result of eating  kibble than dogs are.
Mice and birds may well carry various parasites, and vets and breeders do not recommend that cats eat them.
But the myth that kibbles are good for cats is just that, propagated by the manufacturers.
Cats need to eat meat.
Carol
Tokira Siamese and Oriental Shorthairs since 1970

More Info on Cat and Dog Nutrition:

National Report -- The Association for Pet Obesity Prevention (APOP) estimates half of the dogs and cats in the United States are overweight or obese. That’s 33 million dogs and 51 million cats, according to APOP.

On Wednesday, the APOP hopes to raise awareness about the dangers of pet obesity during the third annual National Pet Obesity Awareness Day. Veterinarians are being asked to gather data on the weight of the pets they treat, and pet owners are invited to log on to APOP’s Web site to answer questions and report their animals' size and weight.

"Pudgy pooches and fat cats are now the norm," says Dr. Ernie Ward, founder and president APOP. "This is the first generation of pets that will not live as long as their parents. Even worse, the majority of today's overweight pets will endure painful and expensive medical conditions -- all of which can be avoided. We're loving our pets to an early -- and painful -- death."

The biggest cause of the obesity epidemic is carbs, according to Ward. Today's pets consume high carbohydrate and sugar treats and foods that create changes in their brain chemistry, causing them to crave these foods even more, he says.

Too often veterinarians aren't taught how to prevent obesity -- only how to treat the consequences, which is why APOP has partnered with the Student American Veterinary Medical Association (SAVMA) to heighten discussion at the nation's veterinary medical schools.

For more information about Wednesday's events or APOP, click here.
http://www.petobesityprevention.com/ (http://www.petobesityprevention.com/)

Carol
WV