Feline’s Pride of Elma, New York, said it’s pulling its Natural Chicken Formula in 2.5 pound plastic containers off the market. The frozen raw food with ground bone for cats and kittens included in this action were made on June 10, 2010.
The company sold the products in uncoded plastic containers to private consumers nationwide. Feline’s Pride makes its food when consumers place their orders and its products have a shelf life of about one week. Only those orders placed and shipped from June 10 through June 17, 2010, are included in this recall.
Feline’s Pride and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are investigating to find the source of this problem.
The company and the FDA said they have not received any reports of illnesses linked to the recalled food. But the FDA warned that people handling raw pet food can become infected with salmonella. The risks increase if pet owners have not thoroughly washed their hands after handling the food or touching any surfaces exposed to the products.
Symptoms of salmonella infections in people include nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, minimal diarrhea, fever, and headache. Children, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems are more susceptible to these types of infections and may experience more severe symptoms, according to the FDA.
Anyone who experiences these symptoms after handling the recalled pet food should immediately contact their health care provider, the FDA said.
Pets with salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting, the FDA said. Some pets will only have decreased appetites, fever and abdominal pains.
The FDA warned that infected but otherwise healthy pets can still be carriers of salmonella and infect other animals or humans.
Pet owners with cats that have eaten this recalled food -- and display these symptoms -- should contact their veterinarians.
The FDA said pet owners should not feed the recalled products to their cats and advised consumers to immediately discard the food.
For more information about this action, pet owners can contact the company at (716) 580-3096.
Copyright 2010 consumeraffairs.com
