Found hard black pieces in CN Dry cat food

[himimom1254]

I just opened a new bag before I left on vacation for my cat sitter to feed and now today after 10 days I return and find some of the pieces have hard "black" stuff sticking out of some of the kibble.    Some of the particles are big enough for me to pull out with my fingernails.

I'm freaking out and just called Natura.  They told me it was flax seed and I said no the pieces are rough and jagged, not smooth like flax seeds.  She then said perhaps it's the vitamin premix.  She is sending me a form to submit 2 cups of kibble to be tested.

Has anyone else found anything like this in the CN Chicken and Brown Rice dry cat food?

Carol in IL

[Davis]

You are not alone.  This is sort of old news now.  Make sure you save a generous portion of the food in case you need to get it independently tested.  There has been a huge controversy over this lately, specifically black chunks,  It seems to me that they have had a few bad runs of food.   The fact that they played dumb when you called them does not speak well of their honesty (or lack of).  They are currently under fire for this very issue.  If you haven't already seen it, please read the thread below.  Follow all the links in the thread, which will tell you the full story.

http://thepetfoodlist.com/forums/index.php?topic=533.0

[Geff]

Carol, What is the pull date on the bag? I recently heard of this with the dog food, but this is the first I've heard of the cat food.

THIS BITES.

[Geff]

I also posted this in the Innova forum & apologize for posting twice, but this is very important to me:

I've read part of the Itchmo forum, but i can't go through 67 pages. Have ANY pets been reported as killed or seriously injured from this issue?

Since I opened the latest Cal Nat Chicken & Rice bag (though it is an old bag with a pull date of October) Sylvester needs a lot more coaxing then normal to eat it. His health does seem fine, & I haven't noticed ANY foreign matter in the kibbles.

[Davis]

I also posted this in the Innova forum & apologize for posting twice, but this is very important to me:

I've read part of the Itchmo forum, but i can't go through 67 pages. Have ANY pets been reported as killed or seriously injured from this issue?

The answer is no, absolutely not.  I think the verdict is still out on this, but I'm not happy with the way the company has handled it. 

Since I opened the latest Cal Nat Chicken & Rice bag (though it is an old bag with a pull date of October) Sylvester needs a lot more coaxing then normal to eat it. His health does seem fine, & I haven't noticed ANY foreign matter in the kibbles.

Geff, there were some reports of people seeing little tiny black specks in the Cal Nat cat food, but I don't know that this is any big deal.  On the other hand, what is being described above sounds more like the problem the dog food had.  There are pictures of the specks on that Itchmo thread and it was very obvious.  I have examined my food carefully and have not seen anything in it that concerns me.  My cat is still eating it and has not had any ill effects.  He seems fine, but I still worry.

[garypen]

Just an FYI. I had already lost complete confidence in Natura brands from just the Innova dog food situation. This CN news has clinched it. Bye bye Mr. Atkins and Natura. I've switched to Wellness.

BTW, the pieces that himimom describes, sound exactly like the pictures of the affected dog food. I wouldn't feed it to my cats.

[Geff]

I have a suspicion that changing brands is going to be necessary; at the latest in about 2 months when I run out of the older bags of Cal Nat I stockpiled (& the pulldates on most of it is October anyway). Short of raw, I'm running out of ideas.

We believe my cat is allergic to Seafood. Also from the samples I tested during the recall, he doesn't seem to do well on Cranberries, alfalfa, herbs, etc that are in most premium cat foods.

I'm very open to suggestions. I wish to stay on dry foods, at least for the moment as they've still had far less deaths then canned. My sister is using Wellness for her cat, but I believe all their dry flavors have seafood.

[Geff]

Just spent a bit more time on the Itchmo forum. Here is a link to excerpts from a book that claims that dead cats & dogs are used in pet foods.
http://204.50.24.183/render.htm

This is hard to read without getting really sick to my stomach, but............................

[Davis]

Himimom (Carol), you are active on the Itchmo forums, so you are aware of the controversy with black chunks in Natura's food already.  Not sure why you didn't say so.  It would have been helpful, so that our responses would not repeat what you already know or give you links that lead to things you have already seen.
Your Itchmo Post
http://www.itchmoforums.com/profiles/kittymom1254-u812.html;sa,showPosts

Since the woman named Donna has posted her story, lots of people are now finding chunks and other things in their Natura food.  It seems a bit odd and almost cult-like, but if there was a bad run with clumped premix in it, then I think we at least want that confirmed and want to know if it's tainted   I have not experineced anything like this with my Cal Nat, and it doesn't seem that others here on this forum have, but I guess we just got lucky.  I think you should have it independently tested.   Please keep us updated and let us know what happens, since some of us do not have time to read Itchmo or keep up with what is going on over there.  Thanks for bringing this to our attention!

[jenny]

Here is another itchmo link - it has a summary of findings so far with Innova/Natura foods:
http://www.itchmoforums.com/news-recall-related/recap-gathered-information-on-innova-pictures-posts-tests-t1455.0.html

[himimom1254]

The pull date on my bag of CN is 05/03/08.

I plan to keep all that I have left in case I decide to test it. 

I'm sorry if I posted something that people already knew, but I hadn't read anything about the black chunks in cat food, only dog food.  The stuff I found is identical to the pictures that Donna has posted from her Innova dog food.

[jenny]

Hi - hope you don't mind but I posted a link to your post on itchmo.  They are trying to track all reports.  This is the first I have heard of chunks in cat food - someone else mentioned bits but from the description it sounded different.

Thanks
Jenny

[himimom1254]

Thanks Jenny, I saw it there!

I'm so worried because Andy does not do well on Wellness (loose stools), but I don't feel there are many other good choices left.

Carol

[Davis]

Just spent a bit more time on the Itchmo forum. Here is a link to excerpts from a book that claims that dead cats & dogs are used in pet foods.
http://204.50.24.183/render.htm

This is hard to read without getting really sick to my stomach, but............................

I have read lots of articles on this type of thing.  It's just horrifying.  The whole rendering process turns my stomach, even if it's just chickens.  I feel uneasy about the process in general, and the questionable methods and standards that are being used.  I think what we want to watch out for the most is foods that list "meat-by-products" in the ingredients.  Those are most likely to contain a rendered soup of who knows what.  Can you point us to the thread that you found that link on Geff? 

[Davis]

I'm sorry if I posted something that people already knew, but I hadn't read anything about the black chunks in cat food, only dog food.  The stuff I found is identical to the pictures that Donna has posted from her Innova dog food.

No, I meant telling us that you knew about the dog food so that we didn't tell you something "you" already knew..  No need to apologize.  It's just that I had realized that the info I had given you was something you were already aware of.  Also, I assume that you knew someone else had posted on this forum about finding chunks in cat food, since you were interacting in the thread and posted after this post.

Well I was on the California Natural Chicken and Rice Dry untill this whole Natura thing happened. I just bought a new bag, expiration date May 08, and I examined it and found it had big black chunks embedded in it.

http://thepetfoodlist.com/forums/index.php?topic=561.0

The thing that bothers me the most is Natura's response when you called them.  Did they say anything about other customers having this problem, or that they had tested food due to other complaints? I'm glad you're keeping some food for potential testing, but I would make sure you specifically keep pieces with chunks in them.

You're so right Carol, our choices do seem to be more limited all the time.  I have the same dilemma.  But my cat has done well on this food, so I don't want to be too hasty.  I think the more information we have and the more independent tests customers do, the more we will be able to make the right choices.  But it is very sad that it has come to this.