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May 2, 2007

Notes from Ferdy - Just When You Thought it Was Safe to Eat Cat Food

A new group of pet foods have been recalled because of possible melamine contamination. These are preemptive recalls pending FDA product tests and are generally because the foods contain imported rice protein.

• Doctors Foster & Smith Chicken & Brown Rice Formula Adult Lite Cat Food, 3lb and 7lb sizes, dated Mar 13, 2009
• Natural Balance Pet Foods: Chicken Formula Canned Dog Food 13 oz, Lamb Formula Canned Dog Food 13 oz, Beef Formula Canned Dog Food 13 oz, Ocean Fish Formula Canned Cat Food 3 oz & 6 oz
• Blue Buffalo Spa Select Hairball Control or Kitten Recipe Oven Roasted Chicken 3oz Cans dated Aug 21, 2009 or Apr 15, 2010
• Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul Kitten Formula 5.5oz Cans, dated Aug 15, 2008, Apr 9, 2009
• Harmony Farms canned food
• Lick Your Chops Lamb Meal, Rice and Egg Cat food, 4 lbs packages, dated Apr 29, 2008
• Blue Spa Select canned food

There have also been several reports of melamine-laced products being used to feed pigs and chickens that have worked their way into the human food supply. It is highly unlikely that this will cause problems. The sad truth is that lab studies showed melamine to be non-toxic. Melamine also had to be vetted by EPA because it is a pesticide by-product. We have every reason to believe it's safe for humans.

The good news is that we now have more information on how melamine is killing cats, and it has to do with a melamine by-product-- cyanuric acid. Cyanuric acid is produced when melamine (C₃N₃(NH₂)₃) is metabolized in water (H₂O): the result is a combination of the acid (C₃N₃(OH)₃) and ammonia (NH₃). Recent experiments have shown that cyanuric acid combined with melamine and cat urine forms crystals that can block the tubes leading out of the kidney. This is probably what is killing the cats. At this time, I do not know what it is in the cat urine that's contributing to the crystal formation. Cat urine, however, is very different than human urine. It is denser and has lower glucose levels. (This last is because we get no pleasure out of carbohydrates and sweets). So, there is reason to believe the melamine is much more toxic to cats than to dogs and humans, which is what has been observed in the field.

Here at home we've been using Purina cat foods, which use corn gluten as the vegetable protein additive. There have been reports of corn gluten contamination in other countries, but the United States is a net exporter of corn gluten, so if the food is manufactured here in the United States, it is unlikely to be contaminated.

I will be SO glad when this is all over.

Respectfully submitted,

Ferdinand T. Cat

# At Wed 10:59 AM | Permalink | Trackback URI | Comments (3) | More Notes from Ferdy | Tags: Blue Spa Select cat urine cats Chicken Soup corn gluten cyanuric acid Doctors Foster & Smith Harmony Farms health risks Lick Your Chops melamine Natural Balance pet food recall rice protein

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Comments

Posted by: Right Jokester at May 3, 2007 6:39 AM

Posted by: Laura at May 4, 2007 9:20 AM

Posted by: JoanneG at June 7, 2007 2:34 PM