The California Cat Doctor: Another Pet Food Recall

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Another Pet Food Recall

This time the problem is with Premium Edge, produced by Diamond Pet Foods.

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Diamond Pet Foods has withdrawn from distribution the following date codes of Premium Edge Finicky Adult Cat and Premium Edge Hairball cat: RAF0501A22X 18lb., RAF0501A2X 6 lb., RAH0501A22X 18 lb., RAH0501A2X 6lb. The calls from pet owners or veterinarians regarding this issue have been centered in the Rochester, NY area. All retail outlets shipped the above lots were contacted, asking them to pull the product from the store shelves. The retailers were also asked to contact their customers via email or telephone requesting them to check the date code of the food. However, if you or anyone you know has these date codes of Premium Edge cat food, please return them to your retailer.

Symptoms displayed by an affected cat will be neurological in nature. Any cats fed these date codes that display these symptoms should be immediately taken to a veterinarian.

Product testing proved no contaminants were discovered in the cat food; however the cat foods were deficient in thiamine. Diamond tracked the vitamin premix lot number that was utilized in these particular cat foods and have performed testing on another lot of Premium Edge cat food that used the same vitamin premix, and it was not deficient in thiamine. No other neurological signs have been reported on any other product manufactured by Diamond Pet Foods.

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I thought it was interesting that a few weeks ago, some veterinarians in the Northeast started asking questions about how to handle a rash of ataxic (uncoordinated) kitties. Several of them put their heads together, and one found an article online about a similar problem in the Netherlands a while back that involved thiamine-deficient food, and then they reported it to the FDA, and voila! A recall. This would have been greatly delayed if caring cat owners had not gone the extra mile with diagnosis and treatment of these puzzling cases. Eventually we private practice veterinarians, as a group, figured it out. Yay us!

Diamond has had several recalls in the past, some involving contamination with mold toxins. They need to clean up their act.

About Cat's Meow Veterinary Clinic

Cat's Meow Veterinary Clinic opened as the San Fernando Valley's first FELINE-EXCLUSIVE practice in 1991. For the safety and comfort of our feline patients, we are a DOG-FREE environment, so please keep the pups at home.

We are located at 19909 Ventura Blvd in Woodland Hills, CA, three blocks east of Winnetka Ave on the north side of the street.

Phone: 818-346-7161

Office hours are 8 AM - 6 PM Monday - Friday and 8 AM - 1 PM Saturday. Please call to schedule an appointment. We are a one doctor practice so our ability to accommodate walk-ins is limited. Cat's Meow Veterinary Clinic is closed on major holidays.

After-hours emergency care is available at ACCESS Critical Care, 20051 Ventura Blvd (NE corner of Ventura and Winnetka) in Woodland Hills - 818-887-2262

Dr. Gayle Robison received her DVM from Colorado State University in 1982. She has been in private practice in Southern California since 1983 and opened Cat's Meow Veterinary Clinic in 1991. She is cat mother to Hobie and Momo.