This situation seems more similar to the problem with the fish bones Champion was having with the Orijen last year. If my memory serves me correctly (please correct me if I am wrong), it was not found to be bones that were in any of the Natura products back in 2007. So to not confuse the separate issues, lets keep this thread strictly dealing with any problems concerning any bones found in Wellness.

I don't think we ever found out for 100% certain what was in the Natura. There were LIKELY several different contaminants.  Speculation was plastic was at least one of the items. Reason I brought it up is Betsy's picture looks similar to some of the Natura photos I've seen..

Blue bag. Complete Health 30/October/09 Z3

I am only aware of one variety of "Complete Health". The 1st ingredient is deboned Chicken.

Crap. I just found a piece of Complete Health with a short but VERY SHARP fragment sticking out of it. I would GUESS it's a fish bone.

I did some research on Itchmo as Betsy's photo reminded me of the mess with Natura in 2007. There are 2 threads that folks may find useful:

First, some other people's experience on this issue with Wellness:

http://itchmoforums.com/your-problems-with-pet-food/problems-with-wellness-and-natural-balance-t7284.0.html;msg105483#msg105483

And second, here's a link to the 2007 85 page thread that (somewhere in the 85 pages) includes photos of various items found in Natura kibble

http://itchmoforums.com/news-recall-related/problems-w-innova-and-test-results-t1028.45.html

Important updates:


- Indoor 2lb.: UPC 0 76344-08845 5 -- exp. 31-OCT-09 Z3

B

I was just browsing this forum today, hadn't been here for awhile. You've got me nervous! I'm currently feeding "Complete Health" Current bag is exp 30/10/09 "Z3". I haven't seen any bones, but now I'm going to start going through it with a fine tooth comb!

We've been on Wellness for several months.

Good: Diarrhea is mostly gone. Stools are starting to look normal.

bad: Spinal sensitivity has returned, & it's pretty bad. This is the first I've seen of his spine issues since the recall when we stopped Royal Canin. I SUSPECT it's an allergy; likely either to Salmon or Flaxseed.

Just got a follow up call from OMH/Wellness (spoke to Teresa from "Well Pet").  She said that they haven't gotten any other reports of this & that the fish flavors sometimes get bone fragments but shouldn't be large.  Once she receives the samples she will forward to QA, and then she will call both the store and me back with the outcome.  Whole process should take about 2 weeks.

In the meantime my store recommended 'California Natural' as a similar product and high-quality.  Has anyone tried this brand???  I will continue to feed the Wellness canned and Indoor dry, but I may try to mix in some of the CN brand as an alternative for now.

I've had a lot of problems in the past with cal nat. Please see the threads here & on itchmo from late 2007 & early 2008.

My picture of the Wellness Dry Cat Food Salmon/turkey kibble is too big to attach here (over 500KB) -- so I posted it to our Facebook page (copy/ paste the below to browser & it should take you direct to the photo but only if you are a member of facebook).  If someone has a better way, please let me know, or else I am happy to e-mail it.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16469&id=1356825737&saved#/photo.php?pid=270855&id=1356825737

This is the clearest & closest shot I could get with my digital camera.  The loose bones were some that I had picked out of the pieces in my cats' dish and then the full pieces were pulled from the bag. 

I will keep posting as I get new info & will call the store tomorrow to see how to get the lot#.

Thanks!
Betsy

Could someone with a facebook account please copy the picture here? They're requiring a login to view, & I don't with to give Facebook my info.

I have to ask:
Why not just change servers?

That seems like common sense to me also. I don't know the answer.

My understanding from folks who have spoken with Ben is that there is some technical issue with the company that's hosting Itchmo, & the expectation is that the site will return.

With that said, I've never heard of a hosting issue that would keep any site down this long; but I'm not privy to the specifics.

I fed Paw Lickin' Chicken for several months as the ingredients SHOULD have been ideal for my allergic kitty. Unfortunately, he developed non stop pure liquid diarrhea.

It's slowly getting better on Wellness dry. I THINK the problem was the thickener, which in some cans looks like big globs of fat.

Try Weruva. Their Paw Lickin' Chicken & 9 Livers flaovers are the only commercial foods my severely allergic kitty can tolerate.

From my past experience Cats with any tendency towards uti's should not eat Hill's Science Diet. We were able to isolate Hills as the cause of my kitty's rcurring uti's many years ago. Since he stopped eating Hills, not 1 uti.

BRIEFLY tried Cal Nat Chicken & Rice again about 3 weeks ago at my vet's request. Kitty got sick within 18 hours. Others are reporting bloody stools (I didn't see that) & vomiting.

I've mostly been posting over at Itchmo lately, but I wanted to come back here & mention the success I & others have had with a new brand called Weruva. So far none of us suspicious mistrusting folks (& I include myself in that!) have been able to dig up anything bad on this company. The food looks to be human grade, & is somewhat similar to Sheba Choice Cuts, except it's 1/2 the price & has vitamins, amino acids & minerals.

They have a number of flavors, my kitty can only eat of them due to allergies: Paw Lickin' Chicken & 9 Livers. We've been on this for 2 weeks with great success. No allergies, no vomiting, very little diarrhea. He likes it, too!

Food is said to be packaged in Thailand. Folks more knowledgeable then me have stated on the boards that Thailand is a +. I have not studied that personally.

With all the problems me & kitty have had since the recall, I'm really happy to have found something that he likes, appears to tolerate & appears to be safe.
At aprox $3.50 lb case price it's quite a bit cheaper then equivalent & raw foods I've tried.

http://www.weruva.com/

I just started feeding this tonight. Looking for any info on problems. I noticed that the PFL states that Mars has had some recalls & to check their web site. The Sheba site says there have been no recalls?