Our cat Memeow was one of the cats poisoned by the IAMS food, since we nursed him back to health, he won’t touch wet food. I brought him Wellness brand dry on recommendation from a co-worker and he loves it. He also gets Chicken baby food, yes that’s right. It’s real chicken and cheaper than cat food. He turns his nose up to any other wet. He had a hard time with the poisoning. He had surgery and everything and do you think IAMS would do anything, no. Even though my vet backed me 100% and i had the food at home, they did nothing:(

I’ve tried responding a few times before, but my computer kept crashing, lets see if it behaves better today…

Jamie, I’m so sorry to hear about what happened to your Memeow, but thrilled to hear you got him back. My parents’ two dogs were both affected by the tainted pet food too. It wasn’t IAMS, they were on a combination of different things the vets recommended because they weren’t eating. Little did we know then. What I do remember is that everything they had been fed wound up being tainted: wet, dry, and treats. They were both senior dogs who already had health issues, so no one made the connection to their food until much later. It got to the point where they could barely walk, and the vets had recommended that they both be put down. Then I heard about the pet food scare. My parents switched food right away and the change in their dogs was almost immediate. Unfortunately it wasn’t quick enough. Their oldest recovered a little, but never quite made it back and passed a month or so later. 

I’m trying this post again now because I just saw new info about the contaminated pet food in the news today.  The main gist, there’s been a settlement with the food makers involved in the recall. “The deal would affect people who incurred expenses directly related to the illness or death of a pet linked to the food, which was at the center of the biggest-ever U.S. pet food recall in 2007.” I know that can’t fix any of the emotional rollercoaster you were on, but it should help recoup some of financial hardship you went through to nurse Memeow back to health. Make sure you contact your vet, I’m sure they’ve already hear the news.

Here are a few links:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24790209
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/2008-05-22-petfood-lawsuit-settled_N.htm
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=83850cdd-7eb0-4cd8-96c0-239372cbe0c8

There are more links out there, but so far they’re all saying the same thing.

Btw, LOVED your baby food idea!! I don’t have kids, so it never occurred to me. I wound up reading baby food labels at Wal Mart the other day and scared the heck out of DH! : P I’m pretty well stocked on Naturallife for now, so I’ll keep that option open for later. What’s frustrating me is that I’m still having a hard time finding out who stocks Wellness and the other recommended premium foods around here. If its not in the regular stores, PetSmart, or Petco, we’re kinda outta luck. One online listing says there’s a stand in the local flea market that sells Evo and some other natural pet foods. That’s kinda sketchy for me because they’re only open on the weekend I’m I rarely have off then, plus I’m just a wee bit I’m a wary about picking up pet food at a fly-by-night stand stuck in between the people who sell hot watches and stolen cds.

Thanks for the info. I did look into the settlement but you have to have an attorney which I never pursued because they were in different states and the cost of the attoneys fees would have exceeded the $2000.00 I spent on the care. Sorry to hear about your families loss. The babyfood I get memeow is only chicken, water and starch so not sure what you had seen, but that is all that is in the kind i feed him Take Care

The problem with feeding baby food exclusively is that it’s not a balanced diet.  Over time, you can have problems with calcium/phosphorous, vitamin depletion, etc.  In my clinical practice, I’ve had one cat on an all-meat diet (cooked chicken breasts and baby food) develop taurine deficiency and present with dilated cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure.

I’d encourage you to feed a balanced diet.  As you know, I prefer a canned diet as a predominant or exclusive one, so Wellness, Evo and some of the Fancy Feast flavors would be acceptable.

I do know the anguish that has come from the pet food recall and some cat guardians have a hard time trusting the large pet food manufacturers.  However, please work with your veterinarian and feed a balance diet, so that another (but different) very serious health problem doesn’t occur.

Michele Gaspar, DVM, DABVP (Feline)

Thanks for the imput on the baby food, but he is getting a well balanced diet as he also is feed wellness food. I have consulted with his vet on the food program and he keeps very close attention to MeMeow’s lab work and follow up in his care. Our vet is all for the diet program i have him on and is very in the loop on his care. Thanks

Superb news.  No harm in the baby food, as long as he’s also eating Wellness.  Happy to know that he’s under the care of a veterinarian who is proactive.

Michele Gaspar, DVM, DABVP (Feline)

Charlene—For distributors near you for Evo, check out : http://www.naturapet.com; and for Wellness : http://www.wellnesspetfood.com

Michele Gaspar, DVM, DABVP (Feline)

Pet Supplies Plus, my local pet specialty store (similar to Petsmart and Petco, just a bit smaller) is happy to order things like Wellness and EVO for me! Just thought I would let you know.

My kittens are very cute, I have had them home for almost four weeks now!

Sorry I’ve been gone so long, got caught up with stuff offline for a while.

First off, very happy, I FINALLY found a place that sells Wellness here!!! YAY!!! It’s at Pet Supermarket. They didn’t have EVO, though, but they’re really close to home so I can’t complain too much. I got a few cans of both the chicken and turkey flavours and I’m adding that in to the diet slowly but surely. So far, they don’t seem enthused, but they eat it.

And just yesterday I found a place NOT in the flea market that sells EVO!!! *does happy dance* Just blanked out the name, seems like more of a local operation. That one didn’t have Wellness, but I guess you can’t have everything! The EVO source is far away, but hubby works near enough so I can always send him over for pick ups if it goes over well. They sent me home with a couple of sample packs of the dry to give it a whirl, and I got a couple cans of EVO and regular Innova to see if they liked that any better than the Wellness. I want them to get used to one thing at a time, so we’ll be taking it slow.