Itchmo Forums for Cats & Dogs

Hi everyone. First time posting in this thread, but I just wanted to share my latest experience with Wellness.

I have four cats, one of which is a foster kitten. My three adult cats (ages 4-6) have eaten Wellness canned for three years now. I rotate between chicken, turkey, chicken core, and turkey and salmon. About two months ago I started to notice that their stools became VERY smelly, which we never really had an issue with. I took stool samples to the vet and they were all clear and the stools were normal looking, so I chalked it up to the fact that it was a new lot and maybe it upset their tummies a little because of some mild differences.

Two weeks ago, two out of three of my adult cats had terrible diarrhea and vomiting after eating a new lot of chicken and turkey. One of my cats literally projectile vomited all over the living room, it was pitiful. I am such a dummie and don't have the lot numbers with me but I know they were made my menu and the expiration was June 2013, I'll make sure to post all the information ASAP. Again, my cats have been on this food for years with no issues.

So the day after I first noticed the vomiting and diarrhea, my friend calls me to ask if I'm having any issues with Wellness, because her four cats are experiencing very bad vomiting and diarrhea as well as one of her co-workers who has two cats that strictly eat wellness. They were both feeding turkey. Her co-workers one year old cat became so ill that she was on IV fluids, had an ultrasound that was ultimately normal, and eventually a exploratory surgery where they took biopsies of various organs and her intestines. The biopsy from her intestine came back as possible IBD likely due to an allergic reaction from her diet. This could certainly be an isolated incident with a cat that was just diagnosed with IBD, but it really scares me and after careful thought I have taken my cats completely off of the canned wellness.

Both my friend and I took our cats completely off of wellness and noticed that the vomiting and diarrhea stopped almost immediately. She put her cats on a prescription bland diet, Science Diet I/D, and I put mine on Nature's Variety Instinct which they've had in the past.

I'm not trying to scare anyone, I just wanted to know if anyone else has experienced this? I live in North Carolina and buy my wellness from Petsmart.

I'm a little frazzled at the moment so I may have left some info out, but I'm just very curious to see if anyone else has been having issues with the brand. I have always trusted Wellness and have stuck by them through thick and thin, but this is the last straw for me.

Lot # for 5.5 oz Turkey
7WTKS4 19:20
Best by 03 Jun 13


*Edited to add lot #'s

JessicaLC, sorry to hear your cats have been sick!  Is the lot number you posted from your friend's cans of turkey?  Were the cans you had problems with 5.5 oz cans as well?

That lot number was from my can of turkey, I had to search through my email to find it. I will get her lot numbers as well.

I am so sorry to hear about your kitties, JessicaLC.  Have you seen this thread?

http://itchmoforums.com/your-problems-with-pet-food/wellness-chicken-turkey-3-oz-and-55-oz-cans-t11955.0.html;msg182077#msg182077

Jessica, I noticed in one of your older posts that you worked at a Pet Botique. Any customer complaints about Wellness that you are aware of? 

My advice to anyone who asks me is to not feed Wellness canned, especially those produced around the best by June 13.

Peg's kitties have still not recovered.

I think this is important enough to deserve its own thread.  I am going to split this issue off into its own topic for further discussion.  I will leave a link on the Food Experience thread to the new thread about the problems reported by JessicaLC and her friends.

JessicaLC,  You said two of your three cats experienced problems after eating this.  Did the third cat eat the food and not have issues?  Or did the third cat not eat it?

Catbird - All three of my cats experienced diarrhea, or at the very least, loose stools. Only my two boys had both terrible vomiting and diarrhea, my female kitty just had loose stools. It happened once a few weeks ago, I thought it was a fluke or a hairball. So I waited about two weeks before I gave them a can from that lot again. Within the hour that I gave them a can of chicken from that lot, one of my cats flew off the couch and vomited in mid air, and then kept vomiting all over the living room, then had diarrhea all night. It stopped immediately when I switched to a different food.

JustMe - I have not seen that, thank you so much for linking to it. I don't work at the pet boutique anymore, but while I was shopping at the independently owned pet supply store where I get their new food, the manager there told me that she refuses to sell wellness because of "things she has heard lately", she didn't really want to elaborate.  


Friends lot numbers:

Wellness 5.5 oz Turkey
Best By 17 JUL 13
7WTKS4 09:16

Wellness 5.5 oz Chicken
Best By 22 JUL 13
7WCCS4 07:47


Friends co-workers lot numbers:

Wellness 5.5 oz Turkey
Best By 13 JUL 13
7WTKC1 (Didn't get time stamp info)


*Edited to add lot #'s

I wish I could elaborate.  I'm probably never going to feed canned again. When the "good" foods have this kind of problem, it destroys faith in the safety of all foods. At least for me. I realize that from time to time there will be a problem with food for any number of reasons, but this one is too much for me.

Jessica,

You should contact Wellness about this if you haven't done so already.

JustMe - I'm contacting them first thing tomorrow, and I've already filed a report through the FDA reporting portal. My friend called wellness last week and they were very, very vague with her and said that they had no complaints whatsoever.

NedF - I'm with you. This is all so overwhelming. I've put them on another canned food out of restlessness, but I'm already doing research to start a homemade diet. I've had it with this, I'm tired of living in fear that every meal I give my cats could ultimately be fatal.

Jessica, thank you for your post.

I also had trouble with Wellness and many of my cats had horrible diarrhea, and there have been others here who have had similar issues.  (I also started a thread http://itchmoforums.com/your-problems-with-pet-food/is-canned-wellness-giving-my-cat-diarrhea-t11486.0.html   )

I have completely stopped feeding any Wellness. 

My trouble seems to have started after buying the labels that were slightly different colors than the original (I live in Tokyo so we didn't get new labels until much later).

Quote from: JessicaLC on January 02, 2011, 02:10:00 PMBoth my friend and I took our cats completely off of wellness and noticed that the vomiting and diarrhea stopped almost immediately. She put her cats on a prescription bland diet, Science Diet I/D, and I put mine on Nature's Variety Instinct which they've had in the past.

I've been having nearly the same problem with the Nature's Variety Instinct canned Rabbit formula, except that my cat isn't vomiting.  I ordered a new box (expiration date: Oct. 24, 2012) and this one seems to be the problem.  The first can from this batch caused her to have several movements in one day and the last one was like pudding.  Normally, she poops once a day or every other day.  She's been on Nature's Instinct for about four months and this is the first time this has occurred.  

Here's my thread which discusses it in more detail:

http://itchmoforums.com/your-problems-with-pet-food/natures-instinct-canned-rabbit-formula-for-cats-and-diarrhea-t12420.0.html

Quote from: NedF on January 02, 2011, 07:14:32 PM
I wish I could elaborate.  I'm probably never going to feed canned again. When the "good" foods have this kind of problem, it destroys faith in the safety of all foods. At least for me. I realize that from time to time there will be a problem with food for any number of reasons, but this one is too much for me.

Ned,
I hope you will try to find a canned food that your kitties can eat without any problems.  A steady diet of just dry food is just not a very good alternative, and have the added worry of Salmonella, which you don't get with canned food.  I personally have not had a problem with any of the Wellness that I have used, but Mandy doesn't like it very much, so I am not buying it now (she doesn't seem to like the texture - too smooth and pasty).  I use Fancy Feast, and, although this food has been looked upon as not very good, I have had success with it for many years.  There have been a few occasions of inconsistencies, but overall it has been fine.  I use the non-gluten varieties.  Purina has a good record of not having recall issues in my opinion.  I'm not convinced that any of these new so-called premium foods are any better, and those smaller companies seem to have more issues with recalls that make me hesitant to even try them.  I have had cats for 44 years now and the majority of those years I fed them good old Friskies without any major problems at all.  To each his own, but this is just my personal point of view. 

We stopped using Wellness because of vomiting, and stopped using Nature's Variety due to finding unidentified material, food refusal, and NV's poor customer service.

Wellness is now a large company and they no longer make their own food.  There may be significant variation in food that is manufactured by all their different contract manufacturing companies.  Before dropping Wellness, I talked with them several times.  They weren't helpful in providing any real technical information about their food or their manufacturing processes, had "no complaints" about the food, and didn't have a clue about what could be causing my kitties to vomit.

Nature's Variety just doesn't seem to get it.  I UPS'd food to them which contained unidentified materials, and received a very unsatisfactory response.  They just weren't interested, IMO.

If you're having problems with Wellness or Nature's Variety, please be sure and call these companies.  If they receive enough complaints, maybe they'll do something.

Could go on and on about pet food companies which started out as famility owned businesses and then decided to go "big time" by taking on co-packers and equity partners -- but I won't.  Suffice it say that the quality of their food doesn't seem to be the main goal, IMO.

Also, I agree with Mandycat's comments about Purina .