send samples to: California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory at UC Davis

The team there is also looking for urine samples from sick pets.  They believe they can come up with a urine analysis test for melamine. They have noticed 5 yet unnamed manufacturers about the rice.

My cat is recovering from toxin tubular poisening, and eats only Purina Friskies products, loaded with wheat gluten, and Friskies Variety dry food, with Corn Glutin.  But she also eats Max Cat dry food which is primarily Corn Glutin. Now she is only eating EVO dry, without any grains at all.

Taz,

Thanks for the reply. Here is another must read article forwarded to me from my vet.  She has a network of UC Davis Vet School grads, like herself, who are sending her info from the US and Canada. As I stated in my post, I am suspicious that corn Gluten is also beefed up with Melamine. Well, here is an article about South Africa.  Australia is reporting melamine contaminated Corn Gluten too.  If you just go to Google and enter Corn Gluten, you will see the major providers are also Chinese.

http://www.thestar.com/article/205491

Luckily my cat is accepting and eating EVO dry food from Natura Pet Products which is not made with grains. At first she wouldn't eat it, but last night I heard her crunching in the kitchen, and this morning the handful I left was gone!!!! It has 50% Crude Protein, which she needs right now since this robust 14.5# female dropped to 11.5# during her kidney toxin illness.

Still want to hear from primarily Friskie (Purina) cat feeders out there. 

Have you wondered how the melamine got into the feed and why? Well here is an article that explains a probability, and since it is linked to the "bottom line", which dominates corporate concerns, it is very probable.

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/156967.html

But I am also here to ask anyone who uses almost exclusively Purina products if their pet has become ill with kidney disease just prior to or within the recall timeframe. 

My cat turned three this month. I have had cats all my life (I am 64) and many have passed from kidney decline. So if my cat was 17, I wouldn't be pursuing this topic. But my cat is three and just returned from 4 days at the Vet on fluids.  About two weeks ago she began drinking copiously and urinating copiously. Her luxurious coat turned ratty and she lost some patches of hair on her neck. She is an indoor cat.  I took her to the Vet and after exhausting blood and urine work, it turned out to be a kidney problem.  To make a long and expensive story short, she responded to intravenous flushing, her renal panel is now normal, but I have to have another done next week.  The Vets concluded it was a toxin and tubular, the same pattern as seen in pets made ill by recalled foods, or those not yet recalled.

Because she in a Purina cat and wheat gluten is a dominant ingredient in many of her wet foods - Friskies, Fancy Feat, Elegant Medleys, and even is in her favorite dry food, Friskies Feline Favorites - I called Nestle Purina.  To their credit, they called me back, took some data, and are going to call my vet.  However, I was told  I was the ONLY one with a sick cat who is on Friskies.  I can't believe that, and I can't believe that Friskies has not sourced its wheat gluten, and now rice (read the article) and I wonder about corn gluten, which is also sourced from China. So I would like to hear from any other primarily Friskies using owners who have had pets come down with kidney problems attributable to toxins during this period.  Thanks for reading.