Or could one of us have picked up the flea outside and brought it indoors on our clothing?

Yup!

What should I do - are flea collars effective? Comments & tips would be appreciated. What a way to start my day off. 

Flea collars are not only ineffective, they are dangerous to cats. Terrible stuff.

Flea combs are good for low level flea problems (and one flea classifies as low level ), and vacuuming is good to catch any possible eggs in the carpet (be sure to empty the vacuum in an outside right after vacuuming).  Any of the topical flea treatments, i.e., Advantage, Revolution, Frontline, are good ... but any other topical drop like Hartz is very, very bad.

Good luck.

Sharon

Yeah, all the bags of Evo that I purchased had the same "powder" at the bottom of the bag. Orijen, which I also tried, was the same, tho to a lesser degree.  Wellness Core dry breaks up into smaller pieces, but doesn't seem to have that "powder" issue.

Evo seems to be higher in everything I don't want to give my cats, e.g., i.e., phosphorus, magnesium, fat, calories, etc., except taste. They go nuts for Evo. Not so nuts for Wellness.

Sharon

I was just wondering if your cats like this food. 

No. At first it looked good, but after the new food novelty left, I was left with a lot of cans. Luckily my neighbor was switching food at the same time and her cats liked the Organix canned so they didn't go to waste.

The Caster & Pollux Organix canned is made by Menu, but very few brands are untouched as Menu seems to be the Walmart of pet food manufacturing. With the Organix, even if made by Menu, there was an extra level of oversight, control over ingredients, and additional storage and handling requirements because of the USDA organic certificate.

I am a bit disappointed that my cats refused to cooperate ... but that's cats for you.  I'm back on the Wellness grain free  varieties.

Sharon

It may be quieter, but, at least for me, not out of mind. As a consumer my habits have changed. I suspect that the real impact will be measure in long-term trends and not short-term noise.

Sharon

From the BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6540157.stm
> -- China hospital food sickens many
> The focus of the investigation is on rat poison.
> One person has died and more than 200 have
> fallen ill after eating porridge suspected of
> containing rat poison at a hospital in China, reports say.

I'm sure that this link has been posted before, but the NYTimes' David Barboza was held hostage in a Chinese factory while investigating the lead paint on exported toys and the local police could do nothing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/24/weekinreview/24barboza.html
> --My Time as a Hostage, and I’m a Business Reporter
> AS an American journalist based in China, I knew
> there was a good chance that at some point I’d be
> detained for pursuing a story. I just never thought
> I’d be held hostage by a toy factory.


Just from the little bit of information getting out, the Chinese economy appears to be run by small scale robber barrons determined to make buck at any cost. I am also paying *very* close attention to labels and country of origin.

Sharon

How did Cougar's vet check go? 

Higher phosphorus/magnesium and calories levels are something that all the grain free varieties seem to have in common. I feed my kitties far less of the Wellness than I did of other foods because of the calorie issue so I'm hoping that even with the higher phosphorus/magnetism levels they are getting a comparably lower or equal amount than what they ate in the past.

Sharon

It was nightmarish to try to switch from the cats regular food in the aftermath of the recall, so just in case I rotate between all the Wellness grain free flavors … I don’t want them to ever be dependent on just one flavor again.

The two indoor/outdoor kitties are 7lbs and 10lbs and of perfect weight. These two are under 5 years.  The two indoor only kitties are much larger in bone structure, and older … they will be 7 soon. They would happily be a slender15-16lbs, however they are just over 18lbs. The larger of the two has not gained weight, and as I’m slowing weaning all the cats off dry food onto canned, I expect that he will start losing eventually. It is just one cat that I have concerns about. He doesn’t eat much dry … just a nibble or two, but is still gaining pretty steadily on canned.

I have started pulling up all the leftovers right after the others have finished and I hope that will help. I should know in the next month or so.

/Sharon

By the way, they are very nicely loosing weight on the Wellness. One had lost 9 ounces in a month when we had him checked a few weeks ago - I think  he has lost more since (he was up to 18.5 lbs at one time - our goal for now is 16 lbs).  The other lost about 12 ounces in about the same time (he has another lb to go to get just below 16 lbs).  The key is to not overfeed.  Most cats don't need more than 5-6 ounces of canned food in a day. 

I'm using the 5.5oz cans split between 4 cats 2x a day. That's approximately 4oz/day per kitty. The two indoor/outdoor kitties are doing just fine weight wise, one of the indoor only kitties, while big, is not gaining weight, but the other indoor only kitty seems to be growing rounder every day. 

I'm going to try picking up the food right after meal time as he leaves his food to go nibble off of the other plates. He seems obsessed that everyone elses food is better than his

Sharon

Switched to Wellness grain free canned and Wellness grain free Core for dry. The cats like the canned, will eat the dry (tho they much, much prefer Evo) and being grain free is a comfort ... less chance of cheap tainted imports finding their way into the food.

The only issue is that the calorie in the Wellness canned is much higher than what I was feeding my cats. One of my cats has taken on the shape of a blimp ... I'm trying to adjust a bit here and here.

According to this news article (link found via http://petconnection.com/blog) the initial customer lost was Proctor and Gamble. P&G pulled the "cuts and gravy" line from Menu, but still kept it's solid food there.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070613.RMENU13/TPStory/Business

Sharon

Another guess would be Nutro, which was recently purchased by Mars (Pedigree, Whiskas, KalKan, etc.). Mars manufactures its own food.

Sharon

I haven't tried the canine forumulas, but the feline Ultramix canned had some recalls due to cross contamination at the Menu Foods manufacturing plant.

Note that if you were interested in Organix for the organic quality the Organix dry (at least in the feline brand) is not USDA certified organic, only the canned carries the USDA label. While the dry does have organic ingredients, the USDA certified organic lable means very specific quidelines with respect to percentage of organic vs. non-organic, storage, handling, and manufacturing.

http://www.tilth.org/about/FAQ.html

I've emailed OMH at least 10 times and on the questions that are routine, i.e., how many calories in X product, etc. I get a direct response via email.

But it seems that any question submitted via their webform that might in anyway be involved with pet food quality gets special attention. The email response might be canned, but if you call the 1-800 telephone and give the reference tracking number they will have your information and will respond very specifically to the issues raised.

Some answers I haven't liked, but I do give them credit for trying to communicate with their customers in the method least likely to cause confusion.

Sharon

[So. Korean firm recalls animal feed product made from Chinese wheat gluten]

So. Korean firm recalls animal feed product made from Chinese wheat gluten

SEOUL, May 4 (Yonhap) -- A local animal food manufacturer has recalled products made with Chinese wheat gluten that may have killed pets in the United States, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said Friday.

It said a food importer and manufacturer had bought 42 tons of wheat gluten in January, and used 16 tons of the material to make feed sold to fish farms across the country. The fish food was sold in March and April.

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/Engnews/20070504/440100000020070504184540E4.html