Important recall notice- Proctor and Gamble has issued a voluntary recall for canned cat food which does not meet quality control standards for thiamine content. This recall involves only North America and is for Iams Proactive Health all varieties of cat and kitten food in both the 3 and 5.5 oz cans. Affected lots have expiration dates stamped on the bottom from 9/2011 to 6/21012. Pet owners may call 877-340-8826 for more information.
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Apparently, cats at highest risk for problems would be eating canned food exclusively (and presumable, would be more likely to see problems in young kittens or older pets, particularly those who might have compromised kidney function). Signs of thiamine (a type of B vitamin) deficiency include lack of appetite, weakness, drooling, incoordination, tremors, and seizures. We occasionally see this in kidney failure cats who are losing B vitamins in their urine, and the classic symptom is the "wet daisy on a stem" appearance- they cannot lift their heads normally and kind of peer up at you just by moving their eyes. This is due to muscle weakness which seems to particularly affect the neck muscles. Again, this is primarily an issue of a nutritional deficiency with chronic consumption of the affected foods, NOT a toxicity issue.
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Since my two younger cats eat predominantly this food with a little dry mixed in, and all EIGHT of the cases of various flavors they have been eating from are affected by the recall, I tried to find unaffected cans last night. At the two pet stores I tried, their shelves were totally empty with notices of the recall, so I suspect it is going to be hard to impossible to find any of this food not affected by the recall until they can begin shipping new lots. We will have to either use another brand or they will have to make do with mostly dry for a while.
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I KNOW that I have seriously neglected this blog for a while, and will be making every attempt to store up some blog posts this weekend so I can be a little more regular in posting. I have posted numerous "mental blogs" over the past few months, I just need to get them transferred to my keyboard!
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And on a slightly off topic personal note, I'm sure you noticed the picture of the two absolutely perfectly adorable sheltie pups at the top of this post. Cory is proud to announce that on May 26 he became the father of a boy (left) and a girl (right) who were 7 days old in the above picture (they still DO look mostly like guinea pigs, but I think they are gorgeous!). Both are fat and thriving and we may have extra incentive to post about new puppy issues in the near future...congrats to breeder Tamara Jones and mom O'Sure Grace Like Rain (Zoe). Zoe is OFA prelim Good, CERF, and VWD clear by parentage. She is by CH Belmar's Joker's Wild x O'Sure Educating Rita. You can see more info about Cory at www.edgewoodanimalclinic.org/coryspage.htm. (Neither puppy is likely to be available, at this point we have more interested homes than puppies).
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(And if anyone knows how to keep blogger from getting rid of my paragraph breaks please post and let me know. GRRR!).
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