UPDATE MARCH 30, 11PM
Hills has recalled dry feline md, a special diet for diabetes-prone cats. It contains wheat gluten that came from a contaminated batch originally from China, even though it was not made in the same plants as the previously recalled foods. Canned md does not contain wheat gluten, and is not recalled.
The FDA and diagnostic laboratories are still trying to determine what the contaminant or "adulterant" is, but associate it with wheat gluten, an ingredient.
We have seen cats become ill and develop kidney failure while eating the recalled diets. No other Hill's therapeutic diet dispensed at the Old Lyme Veterinary Hospital contains wheat gluten, and no other "therapeutic" diet has been recalled. The canned md products do not contain wheat gluten and are not recalled.
As soon as we learned of the recall (Friday, March 30 at about 6 pm) we called every patient who was dispensed this food after January 1, 2007.
If your cat is eating this food, stop feeding it and call your doctor. We recommend screening tests for every pet who ate hills md dry between January 1 and March 31, 2007. Save the food and do not feed it to any pet.
OLD LYME VETS TIMELINE:
After the initial recall, on March 20, 2007, our staff reviewed the labels of every food in our hospital. Only Hills MD dry contained wheat gluten, an early target of suspicion.
I personally called and wrote to Hills on Monday, March 26 to specifically confirm that they were sure the wheat gluten in this particular product was not related to the wheat gluten in the recalled products. At that time the written response from a veterinarian at Hills was that there was no relation. As late as Wednesday, March 28, when I last spoke with their technical services veterinarian, there was still no concern on their part.
That changed late Friday afternoon. I am not sure how the corporate officers responsible for purchasing and those responsible for safety reached their early, erroneous conclusion that their wheat gluten supply was safe, and I am not sure when they changed their mind. I do know they and the FDA reported that they had changed their mind late Friday afternoon.
Based on:
- our experience in attempting to act in an abundance of caution initially, when as a hospital we discussed pre-emptively recalling the only food we dispense that contained wheat gluten, feline md dry, by ourselves on Monday, but deciding not to, regrettably, based on the personal assurance of a doctor at Hills that it was unrelated to the recall,
and
- the FDA's public statements that as of March 30, 2007, they are still in the process of tracking down all the destinations for the suspect wheat gluten
and
- the reticence of the FDA to publicly describe on their website the supplier(s) and all the potential buyers of the suspect wheat gluten (what they know, when they knew it, and even, out of caution, what they even suspect may be contaminated, but do not yet know for sure), -
I personally now recommend that until the FDA reports that they have secured the remaining contaminated feed stuff, and know where the already sold and processed portion has gone, pet foods containing wheat gluten should be a second choice to those that do not contain wheat gluten, and if you can avoid feeding wheat gluten completely, you should for now.
I know this is difficult for some cats who are accustomed to a particular food, since my own cat prefers a wheat-gluten containing food.
Processing ....