NEWS AND VIEWS: Alex Padovano thinks that her pointed cat Penelope might have been killed by Pets at Home cat food (AVA). She thought she was buying the best for her cat when she started to feed Penelope with AVA cat food since she adopted her at the age of three months. By the age of eight months, she had become seriously ill and she took her to a vet a fortnight ago. She said that she was doing well last Sunday but by Monday “she took a turn for the worse. She was bleeding out of the ears and mouth.”
The vet did a blood transfusion but it failed to save her. Padovano is unsure whether the food is the cause but if it’s proven she said that it would be “horrific and horrendous”. What she means is that she provided the food and I guess that she will feel very guilty although, of course, it is not her fault.
Like other websites I recently disseminated the reported news that there is a major recall of cat food made by Folds Hill Foods Ltd and sold at Sainsbury’s and Pets at Home. Their AVA range is affected. Please click this link to see that page.
It appears to have started with a spike in cases of pancytopenia in the UK. This is an incredibly rare disease by my reckoning because the reference book that I have does not mention it. It is an excellent book. It’s a disease which seems to affect the bone marrow where red blood cells are created causing a rapid decline in red blood cell count leading to serious illness and sometimes death.
A senior lecturer in small animal medicine at the Royal Veterinary College, Dr. Barbara Glanemann, said that typically she sees one case per year but now has seen 10 cats with severe pancytopenia in the last four weeks. The sudden clustering of cases is very concerning. This is why they have recalled a long list of cat foods having found an apparent connection. You can see that list on the page that I wrote earlier (click on the above link for the complete list please).
The Royal Veterinary College is conducting a survey of cat owners who think that their companion animal has been affected. In addition to Sainsbury’s Hypoallergenic Recipe range and, as mentioned, the Pets at Home AVA range, Applaws cat food may also be affected which is why it has been recalled. It is sold on Amazon and that Pets at Home.
The recall was voluntary out of a concern of a possible link. The foods listed should not be used until they’ve been cleared. Pets at Home is supporting the manufacturer’s product recall of AVA and Applaws dry cat food ranges.
SOME MORE ON CAT FOOD:
