More than cat 150 deaths linked to pet food recall

The well-publicised pet food recall over fears that it is linked to pancytopenia in cats has resulted in more than 150 deaths. You can read about the recall by clicking this link. The page contains a list of the foods that are being recalled (and there is a list below). Update: The Times reports the belief that thousands of cats have died of this disease. Five hundred cases have been reported with 338 deaths but the majority are unreported, hence the guesstimated true figures.

If you’ve ever bought Pets at Home AVA dry cat food, I would stop using it immediately and call your veterinarian. Sainsbury’s hypoallergenic dry food and some Applaws foods are also affected. Additional batches of food have been added to the previous list. Please click on this link if you want to go to the Food Standards Agency page where they provide an update.

I think one of the problems with this disease is that it appears to be fairly low level and therefore your cat appears to be healthy even if you are feeding these foods. Suddenly your cat deteriorates, you take to the vet and there’s nothing they can do. It is a very serious disease. It’s fatal in 72.5% of cases. The Royal Veterinary College say that they are aware of 209 cat that had been affected but the true figure is likely to be much higher. Many cats are not taken to veterinarians. And only a small number of veterinary practices report their findings to the Royal Veterinary College.

They are still investigating whether there is a link between the foods and this disease. Mrs Kenny’s cat Sushi has recently died of the disease. She fed her AVA dry cat food. She said that it was “such a sudden thing”. She thought Sushi was under the weather and then suddenly she was told that she had to be put down. It was shocking for her.

Mrs Kenny said that “In the space of 4 or 5 day she went from totally normal to being put down”. I don’t think she was totally normal but was suffering from pancytopenia but the symptoms were not apparent until suddenly they were. Sushi showed signs of lethargy and there were some dried blood around her mouth. At that point she took her to the veterinarian.

In a previous post I recall the owner saying that her cat was bleeding from the mouth and ears. This appears to be a symptom. Pancytopenia causes a reduction in the number of blood cells in the blood. These are red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Overall symptoms include fatigue, loss of appetite, bleeding from mouth and blood in stool, urine or vomit.

There is no risk to human health. The products were manufactured by Fold Hill Foods. Pets at Home posted a tweet. See below. At that time they said it was a precautionary measure to withdraw the foods. As time goes by it seems that things are hardening up.

These embedded tweets will eventually disappear please note.

Below is a list of the foods. It might not be complete as things are updated. Please check:

Sainsbury’s:

• Sainsburys Hypoallergenic Recipe complete dry cat food with salmon 1+years 800g
• Sainsburys Hypoallergenic Recipe complete dry cat food with chicken 1+years 800g

Pets at Home:

• Ava Kitten Chicken 300g and 2kg
• Ava Adult Chicken 300g, 2kg and 4kg
• Ava Adult Fish 2kg
• Ava Mature Chicken 7+ 2kg and 4kg
• Ava Senior Chicken 12+ 2kg
• Ava Sensitive Skin & Stomach 1.5kg
• Ava Weight Management 1.5kg
• Ava Hairball 1.5kg
• Ava Oral Care 1.5kg
• Ava British Shorthair 1.5kg
• Ava Persian 1.5kg
• Ava Maine Coon 1.5kg
• Applaws products (with a site reference code of GB218E5009):
• Applaws Cat Dry Chicken 400g, 2kg and 7.5kg
• Applaws Cat Dry Senior Chicken 400g, 2kg and 7.5kg
• Applaws Cat Dry Chicken & Salmon 400g, 2kg and 7.5kg
• Applaws Kitten Dry Chicken 400g, 2kg and 7.5kg
• Applaws Cat Dry Chicken & Lamb 400g, 2kg and 7.5kg
• Applaws Cat Dry Chicken & Duck 400g, 2kg and 7.5kg
• Applaws Cat Dry Ocean Fish 350g, 1.8kg and 6kg