I got a notice in my email today and wanted to use all ways of getting this message out there as soon as possible.
Info below is the press release from Wellness:
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 http://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.”
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I feed Frank Wellness as well as another brand of wet food, so this affected my household, which is scary. I called the # and the rep asked for my name and address then assigned me a customer #, which would be necessary should I call back they can pull up my info. They then asked me for the UPC code, flavor and best by date on the cans that were affected by the recall. They confirmed that the ones I had were and that they'd be mailing out a preaddressed/mailed box so that I can send the recalled food back to them. Once they receive the box and process it through their system that I'd get a "coupon" as replacement for the food that was recalled.
Now I figure some people may not like this because you're not getting a check for money spent on the food but essentially a credit to buy Wellness food again. I suppose this is why I have tried to feed my cat 2 brands of cat food in case something happens, but it's still stressful.
Pls. pass this message on to those that may be affected by this recall.
3 comments:
Glad you found out before Frank got sick.
But, Sweetie, don't you think they have gone above and beyond in rectifying the situation? I would feel very good about the company. Stinky won't eat canned food, so she gets Blue dry food, but if there were a recall and they responded that way, I would be thrilled. Accidents do happen and Frankie is going to be fine. I do completely understand the worry, though.
Thanks for the head's up. I had thought about buying some for my cats the last time I was at PetSmart. Glad I held off. Although, that's one of the better brands, so I won't let it deter me from buying it in the future. Heck...even Children's Tylenol got pulled recently. : ( Makes me wonder what kinds of things I ingested as a child before all these tests were necessary. O.o
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