Wellness has announced a recall of its canned cat food:
Wellness Canned Cat (all flavors and sizes) with best by dates from 14APR 13 through 30SEP13;
Wellness Canned Cat Chicken & Herring (all sizes) with 10NOV13 or 17NOV13 best buy dates.
The manufacturer, WellPet, deserves credit for going out of its way to personally contact bloggers (including myself and Susan Thixton of the awesome blog, TruthAboutPetFood.com) to help get the word out to consumers as quickly as possible.
Only one case of illness in a cat is known to have been reported, and WellPet’s rapid and complete response is impressive.
The following letter is from WellPet’s CEO:
Dear Pet Parents,
My name is Tim Callahan, and I’m the CEO of WellPet, makers of Wellness® natural pet food. Over the years, we at WellPet have worked hard to earn the reputation of being a company that does everything possible for the pets that depend on us.
WellPet is committed to delivering the very best in pet food nutrition, as nothing is more important than the well-being of our dogs and cats. So when we found through product quality testing that specific product runs of our Wellness canned cat food might contain less than adequate levels of thiamine (also known as Vitamin B1), we decided to voluntarily recall them.
Please know, the vast majority of products tested had the appropriate levels of thiamine; however, with the number of recipes we offer, we did not want to make this more confusing. Therefore to avoid confusion and in an abundance of caution, we have decided to recall all canned cat products with the specific date codes noted below. Cats fed only product with inadequate levels of thiamine for several weeks may be at risk for developing a thiamine deficiency. If treated promptly, thiamine deficiency is typically reversible.
Though the chance of developing this deficiency is remote, withdrawing these products is the right thing to do and we are removing it from retailers’ shelves.
The lots involved in this voluntary recall are:
Wellness Canned Cat (all flavors and sizes) with best by dates from 14APR 13 through 30SEP13;
Wellness Canned Cat Chicken & Herring (all sizes) with best by date of 10NOV13 and 17NOV13.
If you have cat food from these lots, you should stop feeding it to your cats. You may call WellPet at 1-877-227-9587 to arrange for return of the product and reimbursement. For further information, please visit our website at http://www.wellnesspetfood.com.
No other Wellness products that your pets currently enjoy are impacted, so you can continue to feed your pets Wellness with full confidence. This is an isolated situation, as we have had only one reported issue. We are taking all the necessary steps to ensure it does not happen again.
Speaking on behalf of our entire Company, I apologize for any concerns this may have caused you. As a parent of a yellow lab named Hope, I understand the sense of responsibility we all share for our dogs and cats. Rest assured, product quality and safety will always be our top priority.
Sincerely,
Tim Callahan
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I used to feed wellness grain free last winter before the recall my cats vomited allot more on it then they did with Instinct ( made by natures variety- note the rabbit does come from china and they are tied to wellness I like to believe they have no idea about any of this.) although I saved money/ ( I’m low income and live in a group home) it really wasn’t worth it to me to keep using it after the recall. The sad truth is most cat food sold is garbage and unless your willing to spend $120+. per month on cat food from a few reputable companies or go raw your cat will eat garbage and yes if your feeding dry slowly die from it.
Well this is a repeat. Please cat owners, even if your vet advises a combination of wet and dry food, change vets because he is not up on
tested medical information that dry food should never never be given to cats as it often leads to UTI. I lost my darling Persian boy not yet 4 years old last March to URINARY TRACT INFECTION while on a
dry food exclusively diet. Please read Dr Lisa Pierson D.M.V. on this
subject. If only I knew how deadly the diet my cat was on when I thought the expensive kibble so touted by the company as designed for the special configuration of a Persian’s mouth, nonsense p.r.
by a greedy company says Dr Pierson, best choice for a long healthy life for the sweetest most affectionate cat I’ve ever had.
The final ordeal of emergency hospitalization cost two thousand dollars so much more than money was involved, I will mourn him
always.I have a new little kitty now and have learned my lesson well. He is thriving on a wet only grain free regime.One final
admonition from the good Dr Pierson. She states even the cheapest
supermarket wet food is preferable to dry food.I hear all the time but my cat will only eat his dry food. Well would you eat chocolate ice cream laced with additives plus adulterated high fat sugary cookies as your sole diet? Tastes great of course but at great cost to your health, my analogy is apt. Do not provide dry cat food, it is a sure killer, no hyperbole there!
I had a case of the recalled Wellness Turkey, and I was very happy with the customer service at Wellness. Received my coupons within a week and didn’t hesitate purchasing Wellness again when they restocked. However, I have noticed that my cats do not like the new cans. I tried turkey, chicken, chicken & herring. I’ve had to throw away so much food lately. I purchased cans of Core, which they will eat, but it gets kind of expensive with 3 cats. One of my cats is diabetic, so I have to (want to) feed her low carb. I’ve tried so many different brands, and she USED to like Wellness the best.
I know! It’s hard! Wellness was a good ol’ standby…now my gang of four are down to Merrick, Blue Buffalo, and a few oddballs I can get now and then. They *really* don’t want to eat the Wellness. And with so many brands out of the running since the Iams gobble up of Natura…it’s getting impossible to find trustworthy foods that they will eat!
@Jack Daniels
We’ve had a similar problem, where that cats LOVED Wellness Turkey Salmon, but sometimes won’t touch it. I found certain batches (from the best by date on the bottom of the can) that they don’t eat, and it doesn’t match the recall dates.
We wrote to Wellness to ask if they’ve changed the formula or have more than one factory that may cause changes in the flavor, and they wrote back to assure us that “all cans are of consistant quality” and gave us a coupon. This was about 6 months ago. Before the recall. The last cans they were eating were stamped FEB13, MAR13, MAY13, JUN13, AUG13… they won’t touch APR13, JUL13, SEP13, OCT13, DEC13, FEB14. I hope there is another good date soon, unless they’ve changed their ingredients permanently.
I’m hearing this from quite a few people, with problems going back as much as 2 years. Which coincidentally (not?) is not long after an investment company bought both Old Mother Hubbard (which made Wellness foods) and EaglePack. The new owners expanded Wellness’s market into big-box pet stores. At that time I wondered when the “other shoe would drop”…meaning that there was no way that the supply of good-quality ingredients that Wellness had been using could keep up with the new expanded market. Logic demanded that they *had* to make changes to the recipes, ingredient quality, and/or ingredient sources. It now appears that (despite their assurances to the contrary) indeed they did. A few months ago, I noticed a distinct change in the apperance of the food, and my cats found it much less appealing. Until this recall, l had still included a little bit of Wellness among the foods I give my cats in addition to their homemade diet to add variety…I may still give it to them occasionally because the choices are dwindling fast as the decent companies get gobbled up by the giants, like Natura being bought out by Procter & Gamble (which makes Iams and Eukanuba). Homemade is fast becoming the only reasonable choice, but if you pick that route, be sure to get yourself educated about it and follow a balanced recipe.
I’ve had the same problem as Jack. Throughout all the different types of Wellness I’ve tried, I’ve noticed that the texture can vary by case or can. Sometimes it’s really moist and other dry and firm. I always figured it was a difference in the amount of liquid that had separated from food. Maybe not though? I’ve fed my cats strictly Wellness for a couple years now, originally Turkey, then Chicken & Beef. I would try to get them to eat Chicken, and occasionally gave them Turkey Salmon, but for the past few months I have been feeding Chicken and Herring. Basically, I have to switch when they suddenly refused to eat it. But I have a little boy with a very sensitive stomach who doesn’t respond well to frequent changes in food, and absolutely must have grain free. I have another little boy with HCM who requires a fish/seafood free diet with low-salt. Wellness is one of the few companies that meet that requirement. I also have a anxiety and anorexia prone little girl, but she eats the Wellness (she wouldn’t eat Prowl). And now, although it’s not one of the recalled batched, the Chicken & Herring (date 6 Nov 13) gave them massive diarrhea. Even my HCM boy with a lead stomach got it. With 22 Nov 13, they seemed a *little* better. But then yesterday to settle their stomachs, I fed them boiled chicken for a day and my lead stomach boy was perfect by the end of the day (the other seem to be slowly coming around). So now I’m stuck. I live in the middle of no where with few options. I’d like to use a brand with the same characteristics as my Wellness food, but at this point I don’t trust Wellness. I did report the problem through their online form, and got a message back saying that they’d like to speak with me over the phone. (I had only asked if they made any changes to the formula and mentioned that it seemed the most likely source of my cats’ problems.) Usually I just receive an email saying they haven’t made any changes (not that I write often). But this response makes me wonder if there will be another recall. Any suggestions for what else to feed my cats is greatly appreciated!!! (BTW, my husband and I are too concerned about getting salmonella from our cats saliva – they like to groom us and we like to kiss them- to try a raw food diet.. a homemade cooked diet is an option though… sources?)
As a retailer I was very disturbed to hear this recall from a customer BEFORE I was informed as a retailer. I did receive the canned email customers received but nothing as a retailer until I called Wellness! NOT GOOD!
I just bought several cans this last week at a local pet store. Today is the 15th of March. I just found out about the recall this evening because I slipped in Petsmart and saw the posted big notice.s..with NO CANS on their shelves. Thank you Petsmart! Why the hell was this still on my pet store’s shelves??? I would think that Wellness has access to the companies that buy their products and send would send notification to them. After 11 years using Wellness… I will be switching to Blue Buffalo.
I heard from one of my local small pet stores that Wellness came in and picked up all the effected cans very quickly and replaced them. They told me that Wellness wrote them a check for the retail price plus tax for all the effected cans they picked up. So if you saw on Wellness shelves, they may have already come in and replaced the cans and taken care of the problem. They told me that everything was handled well and quickly.
I still think Wellness is one of the better canned foods out there. I think this was a fairly minor issue and they seemed upfront about it. It’s the first recall they’ve had (and it was voluntary). Many other pet food recalls have been more serious. I really haven’t noticed much as far as changes in consistency. My cats have always liked Wellness. Sometimes there are differences in texture with different flavors, but that is to be expected. I know many people who feed Wellness on a couple of feline health forums (the FDMB and another large site) and no one has reported problems associated with the recall. I had noticed Wellness being bad-mouthed a few other places recently, but I am not seeing evidence that this is not a good food to feed. I actually feed a few types of canned food and raw ~ though I was feeding quite a bit of canned Wellness when my cat went into remission from diabetes about a year ago (and this was after almost 3 years on insulin). I just think it’s one of the better canned options out there for a number of reasons. I wish they didn’t include all the fruit and veggies, though my understanding is that there is only about 5% veggie content which seems okay. My cats and I both like Wellness and I will continue to include in our rotation. I will also say that I have no problem saying that Wellness is not a good food to feed if I see evidence of that.
Wellness has always been one of the better foods, but at this point it’s on my “watch list.” Probably okay, but shouldn’t be the only food a cat eats. Of course, I always recommend variety, which by itself will avoid most problems.
I just finished feeding my 3 cats 1 case(24 can 5.5oz)recalled Wellness Turkey and Salmon(that is the only taste all of my 3 cats like. I do rotate other canned food for them but Wellness T&S is the major food. They seems fine!I thank you for the honesty of Wellness management. I will continue buying Wellness!
I recently had a porblem with Wellness, turkry & Salmon Formula–
I also had problems with Wellness (Turkey & Salmon Formula), as follows: Texture inOK food was smooth. Bad food was more like develed ham.
I also had problems with Wellness, Turkey & Salmon Formula. Texture of OK food was smooth and firm. Not OK food texture was coarse and soft. Smell was quite different. Color of OK food was pink when opened. Color of not OK food was brownish grey. These differencec were significant not subtle. Although the cat loved the OK food, he would not eat the not OK food.
I have noticed a change in texture of canned Wellness in the last few months. I figured it was only a matter of time after their big expansion into the big-box pet discount stores. My cats don’t like it nearly as much any more, though I still occasionally include it in their food rotation. This recall illustrates, once again, why variety is essential for your cat!
I have found Wellness to be very consistent in texture. My cat will only eat Wellness & Natural Balance, and only the grain-free variety. Is there another high-quality, grain-free brand you might recommend? Thanks.
You may wish to try Felidae grain free. Also, Wysong just came out with starch free food.
There are quite a few good grain-free foods available these days. However, recognize that instead of grains, manufacturers typically use starchy vegetables to attain the same texture. Grain free is not necessarily low carb. The Felidae grain-free canned has white potatoes and peas–which makes quite a bit of simple carbs.
I’ve noticed a change in texture, too (more “chunky” in a way). My cat eats only the Beef & Chicken variety (others upset her tummy). This is the second time since starting her on it I’ve noticed they’ve changed the texture, and my cat is no longer terribly interested in it.
Usually I buy flats of the 5.5oz cans. The shop was out, so I picked up a couple 12.5 oz cans. The texture is COMPLETELY different (really a *pate*) — more like the original texture. She’s going NUTS for it! LOL She’s never eaten so well. It’s a good thing, too, because I prefer to slip her meds into her foods rather than force them.
I don’t understand why the sizes would be different, or if they’ve just changed yet again. I really hope they stay with the pate version.
I have noticed that large and small cans of the same brand are often different; I’ve heard that they can be made in different facilities, which will affect the processing.
But…I hope you can get your cat to eat more of a variety. Feeding a single food long-term is a good way to create a food allergy, and as we saw with Wellness, can kill your cat if something goes wrong with that particular item. See: Switching Foods for the “why’s” and the “how’s”!