Iams Pet Food, which is owned by giant Proctor and Gamble, is voluntarily recalling two specific lots of its prescription renal dry cat food as a precautionary measure, as it has the potential to be contaminated with salmonella. This is the kind of pet food you would get from your vet if you had a sick cat but I thought readers should know. I have used some of this stuff years ago when Ms Thing was ill.
The recalled food is
Iams Veterinary Formulas Feline Renal 5.5 lbs, lot #01384174B4 with a UPC code of 0 19014 21405 1
and
Iams Veterinary Formulas Feline Renal 5.5 lbs, lot #01384174B2 UPC 0 19014 21405 1
... They say that consumers who have purchased dry cat food with these codes should discard it. People handling dry pet food can become infected with Salmonella, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with surfaces exposed to this product. Healthy people infected with Salmonella should monitor themselves for some or all of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever.
Cats with Salmonella infections may have decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. This is especially troubling since this food is prescribed by vets for cats with kidney issues. If left untreated, pets may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever and vomiting. If you suspect this is the case you need to contact your vet immediately.
I always worry about the carelessness of giant companies these days: It seems the only thing on their corporate radar is ever-increasing profits with health and safety taking a backseat. That's how I feel about it, anyway.
One also has to worry about whether the recall will spread to other brands/varieties: We learned from the last giant recall (where Chinese poison killed a lot of cats) that regardless of the brand it's all made by only a couple of companies.
