Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Recall Alert-Wellness Canned Cat Food


WellPet, makers of Wellness® natural pet food, are voluntarily recalling some lots of their canned cat foods due to potentially insufficient amounts of vitamin B1 (also known as thiamine).From Wellness:
The lots involved in this voluntary recall are:

  • Wellness Canned Cat (all flavors and sizes) with best by dates from 14APR 13 through 30SEP13;
  • Wellness Canned Cat Chicken & Herring (all sizes) with best by date of 10NOV13 and 17NOV13.
If you have cat food from these lots, you should stop feeding it to your cats. You may call WellPet at 1-877-227-9587 to arrange for return of the product and reimbursement.
Early signs of thiamine deficiency may include loss of appetite, salivation, vomiting and weight loss. In advanced cases, signs may include ventroflexion (downward curving) of the neck, wobbly gait, falling, circling and seizures. If treated promptly, thiamine deficiency is typically reversible.Please contact your veterinarian immediately if your cat is displaying any of these signs.
You can return any affected product to your local PSP store for a full refund.
Read full letter from Wellness CEO Tim Callahan about this recall below.
Dear Pet Parents,
My name is Tim Callahan and I'm the CEO of WellPet, makers of Wellness® natural pet food. Over the years, we at WellPet have worked hard to earn the reputation of being a company that does everything possible for the pets that depend on us.
WellPet is committed to delivering the very best in pet food nutrition, as nothing is more important than the well-being of our dogs and cats. So when we found through product quality testing that specific product runs of our Wellness canned cat food might contain less than adequate levels of thiamine (also known as Vitamin B1), we decided to voluntarily recall them.
Please know, the vast majority of products tested had the appropriate levels of thiamine; however, with the number of recipes we offer, we did not want to make this more confusing. Therefore to avoid confusion and in an abundance of caution, we have decided to recall all canned cat products with the specific date codes noted below. Cats fed only product with inadequate levels of thiamine for several weeks may be at risk for developing a thiamine deficiency. If treated promptly, thiamine deficiency is typically reversible.
Though the chance of developing this deficiency is remote, withdrawing these products is the right thing to do and we are removing it from retailers' shelves.
The lots involved in this voluntary recall are:
Wellness Canned Cat (all flavors and sizes) with best by dates from 14APR 13 through 30SEP13;
Wellness Canned Cat Chicken & Herring (all sizes) with best by date of 10NOV13 and 17NOV13.
If you have cat food from these lots, you should stop feeding it to your cats. You may call WellPet at 1-877-227-9587 to arrange for return of the product and reimbursement.
No other Wellness products that your pets currently enjoy are impacted, so you can continue to feed your pets Wellness with full confidence. This is an isolated situation, as we have had only one reported issue. We are taking all the necessary steps to ensure it does not happen again.
Speaking on behalf of our entire Company, I apologize for any concerns this may have caused you. As a parent of a yellow lab named Hope, I understand the sense of responsibility we all share for our dogs and cats. Rest assured, product quality and safety will always be our top priority.
Sincerely,
View Press Release

Reprinted from About.com
22710 Haggerty Rd. Farmington Hills, MI 48335                                                        © 2011 Pet Supplies Plus "USA"
www.petsuppliesplus.com

25 comments:

  1. Thanks for the heads up on this. I feed Wellness canned and Evo dry to my two. I'll have to check my cans when I get home tonight.

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  2. @The Whiskeratti you are most welcome! Before Cody developed his allergies and was put on Royal Canin I used to feed him Wellness (both canned and dry)...I was shocked to see this come through and I know I used to buy it at Whole Foods so I decided to get the word out. I hope you don't have the recalled cans.

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  3. eep! thanks for this! Smidgie and Hollie eat Wellness! Can't wait to get home and check the cans!

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  4. I hope everyone pays attention, it's sad when wellness goes wrong!

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  5. We will Tell our kitty kat friends
    Benny & Lily

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  6. @Cara you are welcome!! Cody used to eat Wellness before his allergies...I used to buy it at Whole Foods (I know Petsmart also sells it now too)...I hope you don't have the cans in the recall. xoxo

    @Brian thank you sooo much! So do I! I agree, I was SHOCKED when I saw it was "Wellness"

    @Benny and Lily thanks very, very much! You are good doggies!!

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  7. OMC !!! This is pretty serious !!
    Thank you so much Caren !
    xxx

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  8. It's wonderful when responsible bloggers as you are, post these much needed information blogs. xoxo

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  9. Thank you so much for the heads up, we had Wellness canned in our cart at Amazon for ordering Thursday, our mom is going to go to another brand until this is cleared up!We appurr-eciate it!!!

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  10. @Mr.Puddy yes it is and you are most welcome! xoxo

    @Admiral Hestorb thank you very much! I know it is a super popular brand and one you would never think that something like this would happen xoxo

    @Kathie you are most welcome! My Cody used to eat Wellness before his allergies started and I know a lot of people love it! xoxo

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  11. Yup. Just checked. My cans are in the affected lot. DRAT!!!!!

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  12. Hi Caren,
    not feeding those, but thank you for alerting everyone.

    We supplement with boiled chicken, they love it.

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  13. @The Whiskeratti well thank goodness you didn't serve it to them...or did you????

    @Antares Hi, I am glad you aren't! You are welcome! Cats LOVE boiled chicken!

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  14. The boys don't eat that food, but thanks for the alert. That's what's so great about the blogs... we can all keep each other informed.

    pawhugs. Max

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  15. D'oh! My cans were in the date range! And I had fed Smidgen some. Once again thanks for posting this, I don't know how soon I would have learned about it otherwise.

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  16. @Max thank goodness! I agree, we all have some different followers from each other and the more we all spread the word about important issues/topics the better!!

    @Cara oh noooo! I am sure Smidgen will be ok but I am so glad you found out so that you can get rid of the food xoxo

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  17. Thank you so much for this post. M did go check my cans to make sure I didn't have any, and I dont'. She hadn't heard about this one yet, so your blog post is very timely.

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  18. @Mario you are welcome! I am so glad that you are safe and sound! Please be sure to give your Mom a big hug from me!

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  19. Aunty Caren,
    Mama and Dad have been doing some calculations. It's cheaper to feed us fresh stuff - meat, chicken, fish - than those canned ones. But lots of work, she said. We'll see how it goes. Phew! Thanks for the news. We've never had Wellness but will be on the look out with other feline families in our circle. purrr....meow!

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  20. Well, I guess it's just as well I turned up my snooty little feline nose at Wellness when the Human tried out a few cans on me, MOL!

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  21. Oh dear, it's so sad. Thanks for telling us about it. I'll inform my neighbours too even though I don't know what they feed them :)

    Btw, Eva is confirmed to have her girlie surgery on 7th March and will come home the next day morning. The vet has been busy and he finally gave us a slot in.

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  22. Thanks for posting this. Many times the local news channels will not carry the information on pet food recalls and it's up to consumers to let each other know. Also, many stores will just replace the recalled food and have a sign up for a week or two when many people shop monthly or every other month and would never know about any recalls.

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  23. Thank you so much for posting this. I had a few cans of Wellness chicken, but fortunately they're just outside the date range. Phew!

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  24. Shanks for posting the recall notice. It's wonderful to see a CeO take responsibility and do the right thing for once. We use Wellness dry and wet as part of our diet. (You know mum, she mixes 3 types of food together, just to be on the ready for instances like this.) We'll check our cans.

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