Carrying this from the Cal Natural thread...

Davis, my cat has some of this, but not to an extreme. I found one thing particularly interesting on your link, they mentioned hyper thyroidism as a possible cause (& allergy as another, which i know is an issue with my cat). I remember the blog stated that 3 of the ingredients in the Felidae I was feeding were toxic for cats & 1 of them (alfalfa? I don't remember for sure) tended to cause hyper thyroidism. As I mentioned previously, my cat was compulsively licking non stop on the Felidae; & by going back & forth from Felidae to Gerber i was able to isolate it to the Felidae.

If Sylvester continues to have his spinal hypersensitivity moderated, I may take a look at Royal Canin, Hills & Felidae & see what ingredients they have in common the Cal Natural doesn't have & if any of them are known to cause this.

Maybe some good will come out of this recall mess.

Are your kitty's symptoms still moderated?

The ones Sylvester has shown from your article in the past are:

1. Sudden bouts of bizarre hyperactive behavior (I always thought this was a normal cat thing)
2. Frenetic self-directed grooming directed along the flank or tail (this one has been only since getting off the royal canin)
3. Tail swishing (I've assumed this meant he's angry)
4. Large pupils/strange look to the eyes (see #1, the 2 go together for him, again I've assumed this is just rowdy cat behavior)
5. Skin rippling/rolling (this happens only when the sensitivity gets real bad)
6. Vocalization, (again I've assumed this is normal cat behavior)
7. Exquisite sensitivity to touch (“hyperesthesia”) along the spine – stroking can precipitate a bout of the behavior. (this has been his big one)

Interesting stuff.

Oh, then that is a bit different from my cat.  But both seem to be affected by an abnormal spinal sensitivity.  Strange that they call it "epilepsy", and now my cat who also has a spine sensitivity is having mild seizure-like symptoms.  I recall the worst seizure-like cluster he had was during a night of horrible spine irritation.  Just wondering if there is a connection with all of this. 

Based on what I'm seeing, I'm currently thinking there is at least some connection.

It would really be eye opening if his spinal condition (which the vets call epilepsy) was caused by what I've been feeding him. Throughout his life it's varied from moderate to obviously painful for him; in retrospect I think it may have varied based on food.

Wow, my cat has a very similar problem.  His back (spine area) sometimes jerks and twitches, even when he's just laying around, as if insects are crawling in his fur.  It can be quite intense at times.  He doesn't always lick or pick at it, but I can tell it's very uncomfortable for him.  He has also recently started having occasional mild seizure episodes (it really struck me when you said epilepsy in connection with the spine irritation) of incoordination, confusion, and odd movements.  I've been very worried, although this has recently decreased dramatically and he has gotten 90% better since I changed his food a few weeks ago.  Not absolutely sure if there was a connection or not.

Sylvester has been dealing with the sensitive spine/epilepsy issues all his life (10 1/2 years). I've been told by vets it's not dangerous as long as it doesn't become painful for the cat (which at one time it did for Sylvester, the pain APPEARED to be also linked to a uti episode) & is reasonably moderate. The only time mine jerks at all is when he's sleeping, his little paws move in rhythm. He's never had a full blown epileptic fit. His second vet wanted to put him on Prozac, which I refused (his current vet says refusing the prozac was the correct decision.). In Sylvester's case the symptoms are mostly: almost instant licking when his spine is touched & a very sensitive tail (although the tail thing seems pleasurable to him). Additionally i believe that needles entering him anywhere there is a nerve that connects to his spine are extremely painful.

I haven't studied this, the above is just my perception from years of dealing with this.  Again, so far this seems to be gone with the Cal Natural! With my guy, I'm afraid to say anything definite until he's been on it for a couple weeks, but SO FAR I'm very happy with the Cal Natural.

I strongly suspect I have an extremely allergic cat, I'm only really seeing how extreme it is now. His vets have pretty much missed this also.

I just realized I need to clarify here. Sylvester's spinal issues mostly occur when someone touches his back (or as I mentioned above I also believe with injections/blood draws).

It would really be eye opening if his spinal condition (which the vets call epilepsy) was caused by what I've been feeding him. Throughout his life it's varied from moderate to obviously painful for him; in retrospect I think it may have varied based on food.

Wow, my cat has a very similar problem.  His back (spine area) sometimes jerks and twitches, even when he's just laying around, as if insects are crawling in his fur.  It can be quite intense at times.  He doesn't always lick or pick at it, but I can tell it's very uncomfortable for him.  He has also recently started having occasional mild seizure episodes (it really struck me when you said epilepsy in connection with the spine irritation) of incoordination, confusion, and odd movements.  I've been very worried, although this has recently decreased dramatically and he has gotten 90% better since I changed his food a few weeks ago.  Not absolutely sure if there was a connection or not.

Sylvester has been dealing with the sensitive spine/epilepsy issues all his life (10 1/2 years). I've been told by vets it's not dangerous as long as it doesn't become painful for the cat (which at one time it did for Sylvester, the pain APPEARED to be also linked to a uti episode) & is reasonably moderate. The only time mine jerks at all is when he's sleeping, his little paws move in rhythm. He's never had a full blown epileptic fit. His second vet wanted to put him on Prozac, which I refused (his current vet says refusing the prozac was the correct decision.). In Sylvester's case the symptoms are mostly: almost instant licking when his spine is touched & a very sensitive tail (although the tail thing seems pleasurable to him). Additionally i believe that needles entering him anywhere there is a nerve that connects to his spine are extremely painful.

I haven't studied this, the above is just my perception from years of dealing with this.  Again, so far this seems to be gone with the Cal Natural! With my guy, I'm afraid to say anything definite until he's been on it for a couple weeks, but SO FAR I'm very happy with the Cal Natural.

I strongly suspect I have an extremely allergic cat, I'm only really seeing how extreme it is now. His vets have pretty much missed this also.

Mine was intolerant of someting in 2 of the Felidae dry cat foods & developed an allergy to the Chicken & Rice dry; he was pretty much compulsively licking himself 24/7 non stop. I definately isolated it to the Felidae.

Catmom, good luck with the renal kitty. These stories just break my heart. I'm glad your fur friend survived & I feel so grateful that mine wasn't affected. For years all his vets suggested switching to wet food. I'm so glad i didn't; as i bought from regular pet stores i likely would have been using one of the contaminated brands.

I can't believe that I'm still seeing Iams in stores.

This is location specific to Western Washington State in the USA, but I've received a ton of assistance & support way above & beyond the call of duty from the Tacoma store of the Mud Bay Grainary chain & also had a really wonderful experience today at an independent store called Green Cottage Pets in Fircrest.

On the other hand, I've had owners & clerks treat me like i was crazy at 1 store, accuse me of just wanting free food at a second & making me go through hoops to return an unopened bag of Royal Canin at a store I'd shopped at exclusively for 6 years!

He's doing better on it tonight. Energy is back to normal. It's too early to tell for sure, but one possible HUGE bonus is that his entire life his spine has been hypersensitive, to the point where his second vet wanted to put him on Prozac. So far on the Cal Natural, for the first time in his life i can pet his back without him compulsively licking!

Circumstantial eveidence years ago pointed to Hills Science diet as the culprit for his uti's that finally required an amputation of his male organ. It would really be eye opening if his spinal condition (which the vets call epilepsy) was caused by what I've been feeding him. Throughout his life it's varied from moderate to obviously painful for him; in retrospect I think it may have varied based on food.

Up until this crisis I selected food based on what the teenager at the local pet food store suggested & that didn't make him obviously sick.......

Some of the foods he's eaten in the past include Hills, Nutro, Eukenuba, Purina & for the last few years Royal Canin. I'm certain there were others that I don't remember. All have been dry.

Hi Davis - Thanks for the kind thoughts! Don't know if you've read the blogs, but I've partially chronicled Sylvester's journey through the myriad of non-recall pet foods there, it's been a challenge at best! His energy does seem better today.

On varying foods, I've heard differing opinions; on the one side I've read similar to what you mention, on the other my vet's receptionist claims that changing foods can cause diahreeah, & I've read online that we should not do sudded changes (he's probably tried almost 10 foods since the recall started).

It's been an unpleasent learning experience. Hopefully it will result in a longer happier life for my fur guy.

It's been so long since we changed foods that I'd forgotten how food sensitive my guy is. His initial reaction to the Cal Natural Chicken & Rice seems to be to have very low energy. I've run into this with other foods in the past. Problem is if this one doesn't work, short of going back to Royal Cannin with their wheat gluten & closed communication style I'm going to be at a loss. I'm going to give this another day or 2, but I know my cat pretty well & while he definately liked the flavor, his energy level didn't look good. He did perk right up after I got him to eat some gerber (took a couple tries, though to get him interested).

I made a similar decision today, though (unfortunately) the severing with Menu didn't play into it much. I'm getting pretty desperate to find anything other then gerber baby food & Royal Canin that my cat can eat! We've been on Felidae Chicken & rice for about a week & he's showing signs of obvious allergic reaction to something in the food.

He's had 2 feedings from a sampler bag; so far so good. If this one doesn't work I'm going to be at a loss. As I've posted in the blogs, I originally had decided to not use any company at all related to Menu, but with my Cat's allergys I'm running out of options.

I can't find any mention on the internet anywhere of death or major fatalities from Natura.