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Wellness Cat Food Recall
- 2-28-2011
- Categorized in: Pet Food Recall
The following recall notice was sent directly to TruthaboutPetFood.com this evening from WellPet.
Contacts:
Consumer Inquiries:
(877) 227-9587
Media Inquiries:
Claire Burke
Hunter PR
(212) 679-6600
WELLPET LLC VOLUNTARILY RECALLS CERTAIN LOTS OF CANNED CAT FOOD
No Other Lots, Products or Dates Affected
Tewksbury, MA (February 28, 2011) - WellPet LLC announced today it has voluntarily recalled certain lots of Wellness® canned cat food.
While recent laboratory testing found that most lots of Wellness canned cat food that were tested contain sufficient amounts of thiamine (also known as Vitamin B1), some of the lots listed below might contain less than adequate levels of thiamine. However, out of an abundance of caution, WellPet has decided to recall all of the lots listed below.
Cats fed only the affected lots for several weeks may be at risk for developing a thiamine deficiency. Thiamine is essential for cats. Symptoms of deficiency displayed by an affected cat can be gastrointestinal or neurological in nature. Early signs of thiamine deficiency may include decreased appetite, salivation, vomiting, and weight loss. In advanced cases, neurologic signs can develop, which may include ventriflexion (bending towards the floor) of the neck, wobbly walking, circling, falling, and seizures. If your cat has consumed the recalled lots and has these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian. If treated promptly, thiamine deficiency is typically reversible.
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 10NOV13 or 17NOV13 best buy dates.
Consumers who still have cans of cat food from these lots should stop feeding them to their cats and call us at (877) 227-9587 Monday through Friday, 9:00 am – 7:00 pm Eastern Time. Consumers with further questions should visit our website at www.wellnesspetfood.com or call us at this same number.
WellPet discovered the lower thiamine levels during independent testing conducted together with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in response to a single, isolated consumer complaint received by the FDA. Although WellPet has received no other reports concerning thiamine in its products, WellPet has taken additional steps with the manufacturer to ensure that this does not happen again.
“As a pet parent myself, I’m concerned for the health and welfare of all pets, and as a company we are committed to delivering the most nutritious natural pet food,” said Tim Callahan, chief executive officer of WellPet, the maker of Wellness products. “Even though the chance of a cat developing a thiamine deficiency is extremely remote, we are voluntarily recalling all of these lots of our canned cat food as an extra precaution.”
The following is a letter also provided by WellPet...
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. For further information, please visit our website at http://www.wellnesspetfood.com.
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,
(Signature of Tim Callahan)
Note: Late this evening I received an email from Greg Kean of Wellpet asking for a phone number to contact me this evening. Because of the hour, I replied via email if we needed to speak or if what he needed to share could be sent in an email. He asked to speak to me directly. What he shared was the above recall information. This phone conversation was before the Associated Press release went public.
I thank WellPet for being more than prompt of letting us know about this recall. Although this is unfortunate circumstances, I appreciate the effort made by WellPet in this recall.
I feed this food, as well as the Nature's Variety raw that was recalled awhile back due to salmonella. Given the relatively benign nature of these recalls (no toxic foreign substances added, for example), I feel confident continuing to feed these foods. I understand that mistakes happen, and a recall can affect almost any pet or human product for one reason or another. I actually feel SAFER in the knowledge that these companies are so forthright in their efforts to inform the public.
This finally makes sense now, as I've been feeding my cats only Wellness can food, and they have shown through the blood tests to be very low on vit B. My vet had to give them high dose of vit B via IV, and I've been mixing into their food additional dose of the vit B complex. I'm glad that this mystery has been resolved! Thank you Wellness for your prompt response.
Susan,
The only reason they are calling you is because of YOUR hard work! THANK YOU!!
Thank you, Susan, for notifying us. I do feed my cat the recalled pet food. I have notified my local pet food stores about this recall.
That they told you first is a testament to the fact that they both respect and fear you!
I'm so glad the recall program notice is working. Thanks, Susan. I syringe feed my liver-disease cat with Wellness Chicken and Herring exclusively and the remainder of the case I last bought is included in the recall. I will be returning these and contacting his vet. I will continue to buy Wellness tho, both due to the ease of syringe feeding this product and for their open disclosure. I sure appreciate the heads-up!
Make sure your vet recognizes the connection between thiamine deficiency and liver disease. Wellness conviently leaves that off their, "open disclosure." Smart company lots cats will die of liver disease and by only focusing on the thiamine defieciency they can keep their reputation... My healhty 2 year old cat was treated for the liver disease which was the result of thiamine dificiency, which the vet confused the symptoms with hepatic encephalopathy. She died Sunday. Not worth singing the praises of their, "open disclosure." Still out to make the big bucks $$$$$ as they skip right to the symptoms and avoid saying those symptoms appear only after the liver has become affected.
So sorry to hear about you kitty. Thank you for sharing the additional health issues that can occur with B1 deficiency!
I just happened to google and found this. Been feeding my cats for a year now this WELLSNESS STUFF. Never heard about the recall and should have researched it sooner, beleived in a better product, my cat died 3 weeks ago. He was having weird things going on December last year, couldn't get his breath, weird stuff. Costs a ton of money with IV's and all. Anyhow, thought he was getting better. Had to put him down 3 weeks ago. He threw a blood clot in his hip area. Now, He gets filtered water, oatmeal for his litter box and filtered air and clean sleeping area. And, Acidolphilus in his food. I killed my cat with this cat food and my other Tabby was in the vets all last week, Will have his blood done and see if his liver has damage. This is a tragic for me and them, they were all I have.
It always makes me feels good when a pet food company works so hard to hold onto it's good name and notify people IMMEDIATELY of a mistake. It speaks volumes of a person to acknowledge their mistakes let alone a whole company. It certainly gives me faith in a company if they come forward ASAP rather then if they dance around the topic or try to hide it. Heck, I'm excited when Natures Variety has a recall, cause they always email me coupons. Terrible to say I know.
I am so glad I make my own pet food, no way do I trust my beloved animal's well being to someone else making it. Why did I ever believe that any of these products could be safe. We are all fooled into thinking we cannot make our own food properly, I am old enough to remember when there was no bagged or canned foods for pets, you had to make your own. But now people think they cannot do it themselves or won't put in the right ingredients. Its simple to do, don't forget that all the vitamins and minerals added to processed pet food is synthetic plus subjected to high heat which probably negates its value.
Feline's Pride makes a raw food that is wonderful.
Dr. Lisa Pierson of catinfo.org and Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins of yourdiabeticcat.org have raw recipes, I believe. I feed Feline's Pride and it is a true raw diet with no fruits, grains, veggies, fillers.
Would you be willing to share some of your pet recipies?
thanks for the prompt update Susan - thanks to you, The Pet Pantry was able to call all our clients that purchase these cans to tell them about the recall first thing this morning. We're sending an email out to the rest of our clients who may hear about this in the news to reassure them that they are safe too. Thanks for helping us keep our customers informed!
Isn't this exactly the same problem that caused the Iams recall last year? Are they using the same resource that caused the Iams problem? Susan, I'm so grateful that you're there for all of us.
While I think its great they are notifying people and have put notice on their website. But, to me, it doesnt excuse the fact that this should have been caught before it was put out on shelves for purchase IF they are doing what they say they are doing and that is good Quality Control. They have all sorts of really neat sounding statements at their website:
"We understand that superior products are never created in a vacuum. It takes a series of carefully executed steps to create a food that is as healthy and balanced as ours. Every step is monitored. Every detail is carried out precisely and skillfully. Ingredients and products are tested throughout the entire manufacturing process to ensure that the nutrients are never compromised. These testing's take place before the ingredients are processed, during processing, after production and before the product leaves the plant. Through careful oversight and an unwavering devotion to quality, Wellness is proud to produce a pet food that is safe, wholesome and beneficial to your pet’s health and wellbeing."
I guess that meant for everything except the thiamine.
I feed my cats a different brand of high quality canned cat food each day for this very reason. A constant diet of one food which may be missing a necessary supplement or is tainted by a substance would be more likely to cause illness. I find it a bit disturbing that I had to inform my local supplier of pet food that this recall is happening, but thank you to truth about pet food for this early warning system!
Susan, I recently discovered your website, and am so grateful for your dedication to the topic of pet food safety. My local pet food supplier, Complete Pet Mart, today notified me of the Wellness recall, but I heard it from you, first! My dogs are on a raw diet, one started as a pup and he's 8 now, all are very healthy. I keep leaning toward doing that with my cats, but their needs are so different from dogs, I'm afraid I'll not provide everything they need. Someone should sell frozen, raw, ground up mouse patties! Two great books for raw dog diets: Give Your Dog A Bone by Dr. Ian Billinghurst; and The Ultimate Diet by Kymythy R. Schultze, A.H.I. For cats, The Complete Guide to Holistic Cat Care (just came out), by Jean Hofve, D.V.M. and Celeste Yarnall, Ph.D.
Thank you so much for letting us know of this recall. I had just stocked up on a few cases of the affected food. I appreciate all you do. I would have had some very sick babies if not for your information. I cannot thank you enough.
I spoke with the Wellness representatives this morning, and they were all very helpful and friendly. They'll arrange to have the affected cans picked up by UPS, and to send me a reimbursement for it.
I agree that it's a hassle to have to deal with it, but knowing that they are open about it, that they are willing to assist in the fastest manner, is already calming. Wellness food is one of the most expensive can foods on the market, if not the most expensive, but in turn you get this customer service, and some peace of mind knowing that it is not some toxin in the cat food that ended up there by an accident, but rather insufficient low vitamin. I've seen worse, so I am glad that this is not as bad as it can be.
Thank you for the alert. It is SO demoralizing to pay top dollar and STILL be unable to have confidence in these products. WHAT ON EARTH ARE WE TO FEED OUR LOVED ONES???
I completely agree. One of my cats got sick with the Blue Buffalo recall in 2007, and now requires constant blood work and prescription food for her kidneys. I had been feeding my other cats Wellness ever since and now this happens. I thought I was spending a fortune on cat food to keep my cats healthy. Guess I was wrong, yet again.
Perhpas it's just the intense mistrust I have for pet food companies after the major recall a few years ago, but I find it odd that ALL sizes of chicken Wellness is recalled. My understanding is that all 3 sizes are made in 3 different plants. 2 in US and one in Canada.
If they are are made in different places why are they ALL affected?
Unless something has changed, Wellness is made by Menu Foods too, who we know after the lbig recall, aren't always forthcoming.
Your question is answered in the letter above. They recalled all the canned cat food to make it easier on you.
Make it easier on us? Sorry I don't believe that for a minute. My guess would be that they used one supplement provider to supply each of the plants so all of their production was effected.
Wellness killed our cat, she died Sunday. I looked for recalls as soon as I saw she was sick. We got this information too late, she died Sunday. She was 2 years old. The vet mistakenly treated her for hepatic encephalopathy which has similiar symptoms to Thiamine deficiency which is a common mistake. We now know. Thank you petsumers!
PetFoodExpress indicates they were told its 2 flavors affected. Why are they recalling all flavors, all sizes, if its only 2 flavors affected. I personally think there is more going on than what we are being told. I also am not buying the "we are making it easier for you" line. We arent stupid and this sort of talk from PFC's rather than just being forthright and honest about what happened to cause this is condescending. Just explain and we can understand but this "we are making it easier for you" and "trying to prevent confusion" is a bunch of malarkey, in my opinion.
I agree. They aren't going to recall perfectly good food to "make it easier on us". They are a business, the bottom line is what matters to them. That would be throwing money away. And they also don't recall food unless they REALLY have to. I believe there is more going on then they are telling us. Of course they want it to sound like a benign situation, nothing serious, even if it is serious...it all comes down to that bottom line. Of course they(the PFC & Menu foods) lied during the big recall 3 years ago, what's different now?
Unfortunately much of this food has already been consumed by our precious cats. I hope somebody does some independent testing on these lots of food.
Thank you for always posting recall information as soon as possible. I'm a small independent retailer who stocks Wellness. The fact that I heard about the recall from a third party, rather than my WellPet rep or my distributor's rep makes me wonder what heck they've been doing since Monday night.
My 13 year old cat died on Monday. There was no reason for this! He started showing symptoms over the weekend (not wanting to eat, vomited and some other symptoms), took him to the vet and he was rehydrated. The vet didn't know what was going on and causing his symptoms. Blood was taken and we had an appointment to come in Tuesday morning for the vet to see him again. Unfortunately come Monday night my cat had lost all bowel function, he couldn't walk.. he started seizing on the ride to the ER vet, I watched the stages of death. His regular vet and the ER vet didn't know what to think... now we do.
http://www.2ndchance.info/oldcatcenter2005.pdf
I guess I'm really confused about the length of time a cat must be fed this Wellness vitamin deficiency and death due to liver damage?
??
The way our vet put it is the course could be different in different cats. It might also be more more than thiamine deficiency. Because thiamine is so important to so many processes, in sufficient amounts could trigger other problems.
And the symptoms of thiamine definiciecy look like liver disease.
We had just adopted our 2 year old cat and she ate canned Wellness. She also had a really good record of care at the cageless shelter from which we adopted her. Our other cat also got sick, but the symptoms were less severe.
We talked with several vets, who reminded us Wellness is a for profit company. They may be disclosing a viatimin deficiency, but that's to protect themselves.
Our cat was too young to just up and die. She had basically been eating Wellness for 4-5 weeks, before she showed symptoms. The day after she died, the recall was issued.
We buy Wellness in packs of 24 ahead of time, so she was eating food from the same lot.
I purchased 12 cans of this last month, and all of them are on the recall list. I feed my cat kibbles for breakfast, a raw meal for lunch (Feline Instincts TC) and some canned in the evening. I'd already given her 3 cans of Wellness (1/3 can per meal) before hearing of the recall, and she seems to be fine.
Two things bother me about this recall. One, it says in the alert: WellPet discovered the lower thiamine levels during independent testing conducted together with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in response to a single, isolated consumer complaint received by the FDA.
Does this mean if someone hadn't filed a complaint with the FDA, the problem would have gone unnoticed?? It sure looks like that's the case.
When I called Wellness to let them know I have cans on the recall list, they said they will send me a box in which to return them, along with a coupon. I asked if there was an option to receive cash instead of a coupon, in case I don't wish to purchase more Wellness, and they said "No". I'm not too happy about that; I'd prefer to get my money back.
"in response to a single, isolated consumer complaint received by the FDA"... since when does any company or the FDA pay attention to one single consumer complaint? that doesn't sound right.
my cat is getting fat with it... -_-
Please take this recall seriously folks. Thiamine is necessary for survival. I am also the owner of a small retail store also. One of my customers has already posted about their cat dying from this and we are heart-sick over it. As a retailer we can only trust that we stock foods that are higher than the standard out there. Wellness is to be one of those foods. But when they start to mass-produce a food to supply *everyone*, they must have cheapened the quality of the product and cut their quality control. And now the consumer and the pets pay the price. At both stores we have now pulled all Wellness from the shelf. There is a difference between an FDA witch hunt (the Nature's Variety salmonella recall a while back) and a vitamin deficiency. In an already ill cat where the customer comes to us (the small retailer) for help, we can only count on our producer for their quality control to assist the animals. And when they drop the ball, the pets and people suffer. We have been on the phone with my distributor, the Wellness rep., my stores, and our customers who special order cases today about this recall. Unfortunately, this is going to get bigger. Additionally it is a food I trusted personally. My parents feed Wellness to their cats, I feed Wellness to our shop cats (the pouches), I feed Wellness to my home kitties (along with a raw diet). I trusted Wellness but I will no more. I am ashamed of them and crushed over what they have done to their food in an effort to take over the market. They really messed up here and pets and people are paying the price.
Why do you say it is going to get bigger? Is this something you specifically heard in your phone calls today or is it a hunch?
Thanks for the alert Susan and for all you do to get us vital and impartial information. I love how the CEO's always start a recall by assuring us how much they love their pets. They did the same thing in 2007 when so many cats and dogs died. I always want to ask what they feed their pets.
I do buy Wellness for my cat and have yet to be able to check the dates on teh cans i have. I just happen to look up cat food recalls in a google search .... thank you for the info.
@Jack. It is a hunch. We're technically just 2 full days in to this and the information is just getting out there. I only heard about the recall Tuesday AM from here. I didn't hear anything from Wellness/WellPet.
We just heard this morning that our customer's cat had passed. I can only imagine that many people are just finding out about this. At one of my stores we have no food left that was recalled. At the other there are over 6 cases. So that just means that at the one store, we sold it all already as we turn it faster there, and the cats already ate it. We can only hope that it is not the case but I do suspect that there will be more ill cats from this. As of today, my personal cats are off of Wellness eating only their raw. Tomorrow we'll do a little Weruva, Petcurean, Felidae, Evangers, and see what else they can get used to. They don't eat their raw consistently enough to just do raw. So, I too have to find something else. Frustrating.
I've been in contact with WellPet and have been pleased with their responsiveness. I've received several call-backs. I've also talked with my vet to discuss the advisability of blood tests.
Between us, a friend and I have already fed several cases of the food affected by the recall to our cats. All are fine, including the two 18-year-olds who were seen by the vet just last month.
In fact, about an hour ago I received a call back from the director of QA at WellPet, who confirmed the actual food affected is limited to a small portion of the total being recalled. Since I live in Alaska, she was concerned about my ability to acquire replacement food (I live in Anchorage so that is not an issue).
Susan, if you talk with Wellpet, would you please ask them to explain how this happened?
Since other companies have recently had the same problem, didn't Wellpet require their many, many co-packers to test the premix?
I realize they can't test everything for everytihing (or so they say), but once a risk has has been identified, pet food companies should try to prevent a reoccurrance.
These pet food companies seem very negligent, IMO.
Yes, Susan. Please investigate this further and reprt back! So many of us want to know what is really going on and we trust you to get that information. Thanks again for all the great work you do!
Wellness had a great reputation when it was owned by the Scotts, but it’s now owned by Berwind (an investment firm), and is a completely different company.
Wellness’ “new” CEO came from Berwind where he had a “position” at the firm. Prior to that, he “served as an executive for Kraft Foods, H.J. Heinz and PepsiCo, specializing in consumer packaged goods and foods”.
http://www.petproductnews.com/.....lahan.aspx
IMO, it’s not clear that Wellness’ CEO has any background in manufacturing or quality assurance, and dealing with all those co-packers (11, I believe) would take a very experienced manager.
Over the years, we’ve seen what happens when privately owned pet food companies are gobbled up by public corporations and investment firms - the food is quickly cost reduced and quality suffers.
We should never underestimate the effect of changes in ownership, corporate structure, and leadership. All of which have a direct bearing on the quality of their products.
Make sure you eat a natural diet too, because you don't want your precious kitties eating anything bad when you die alone in your apartment and become cat food yourself.
A Wellness user at Pet Connection recently lost a cat. She tested the deceased kitty, and also her other cats for serum zinc levels. All were high.
See Pet Connection comment by mainecoonpeg, March 3, 2011 @ 3:40 pm
Sully,
Thanks for your concern, but I don't want my precious kitties to eat anything bad REGARDLESS of how I die, whether alone or surrounded by friends.
Those of us who follow the pet food industry, take pet food safety seriously, and we realize there's a fine line between safe pet food and safe human food.
I had my cat examined after the recall and my vet told me he also suffered from a deficiency in vitamins A, E and beta carotene. I spoke to several friends whose pets ate the product. All their cats are on dialysis now!
TNReedy,
Maybe check out Alnutrin supplements at knowwhatyoufeed.com
http://www.knowwhatyoufeed.com/