Thats dreadful for the people envolved. I was planning on changing the dry food I use to Applaws but I don't think I will now! I had considered Orijen as well but I gather that there has been problems with that as well. Raw food is not an option and not all of my cats actually like wet food anyway. Not sure what to use now.

Is there any of the companies that don't use cereal in their dry food that hasn't had a scandal of this type?

Oh no! I've just noticed this post and have been feeding my cats applaws dry small bags (200g) as an alternative to just wet food alone for the past week! Can this cause any damage? What would be the best dry to use?

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~Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.~ Robert Heinlein

Proud Mummy to 3 beautiful fur babies: Tigger - 3½, Simba - 1½, and Nala - 1

Bloody hell! My cats are now on a completely raw diet but I did feed them Applaws dry in the past. Bettie suffered from irritable bowel as a young kitten and this appears to have stunted her growth. For the first couple of months, I was feeding Hills dry because the breeder gave me several bags, but then I stumbled upon raw feeding articles and decided to ween them off. However, my free Hills ran out during the weening process so I bought a bag of Applaws.

I don't think that her irritable bowel was caused by Applaws but rather dry food in general, since Hills was just as bad, although it does make me wonder. She seems to be okay now because the raw has sorted her immediate problems out, but I hate to think that mycotoxins and/or melamine may have been present and caused permanent damage. What really scares me is that there's no way of knowing. Obviously I'm aware that kibble is extremely unhealthy but I was likening it to the human equivalent of junk food, not poison...though you could argue there's not much difference when eaten exclusively!

I know this is what worries me too!! mine are on completely raw now too, but we fed them applaws for a good 6 months and they had bad tums and vomiting throughout...their symptoms stopped as soon as they were off it and they seem in good health some 6 months on now from stopping it, but it does make you worry that some permanent damage could have been done

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Hi
I am sorry for worrying everyone but I know alot of people on here use it so I had to post it. From what I read on link the problems where seen immediately and resulted in vomiting, diarrhoea, heart problems and death in a couple of cats. I am not sure if all the food was affected so if you fed it months ago and your cats are seemingly fine now then I would try not to worry. I dont know wheter a blood test would help i.e help reveal any organ damage if anyone is still worried. Maybe speak to your vets about a full blood panel to look at internal organs including liver and kidneys.

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The problems with Orijen were specific to the importing processes to Australia (basically irradiating all food products that enter the country, which did horrible things to Orijen making it toxic and killing a lot of cats). There have been no issues anywhere else, including the UK. I feed this stuff and find it wonderful. Do not panic

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See related thread with flimsy 'statement' from company: Trouble with Applaws dry

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The Truth Applaws Dry Food :

Some 12 months ago we received a complaint from a customer with regards to sickness in her cat which she believed resulted from the feeding of our dried product.
The customer informed us that she had made the complaint to Trading Standards who would be investigating the complaint. Trading Standards (Animal Health) are responsible for collation of complaints against all animal related businesses, this information is collated using a national database called Consumer Direct. To date Trading Standards have only received 1 complaint.
Trading standards engaged the Public Analyst to carry out tests on our product and concluded that; nothing could be found in our food that was not permitted by Feeding Stuffs legislation. If our company was in breach of such legislation then they would have prosecuted us for that breach.
We take our product quality very seriously and alongside the tests carried out by Trading Standards both the manufacturing facility and ourselves carried out independent analysis on the product and in each case returned the same result as Trading Standards.
The manufacturer of Applaws dry food is approved by the British Retail Consortium, Global Standard for Food Safety, which is used by certification bodies world-wide and is recognised as the benchmark for best practice in the manufacturing and retail supply chain of our pet food. It assures quality by implementing the most rigorous testing at every stage together with total traceability of every raw material and finished batch.
Our products are well received and being fed to thousands of cats both in the UK and in Europe and have been so since its launch 12 months ago. We have many testimonials from cat owners who report significant benefits to their animals as a result of feeding our dried food.
Here is an extract from a letter sent to us from the RSPCA:"Having now used Applaws Natural Complete cat food for the past six months I thought I would let you know how it has been received by the cats in our cattery.Having used Applaws wet food in the cattery; we knew the cats flourished when we fed it, so we were hoping to get the same result with the dried food. I have to say that we were not disappointed, 99% of the cats eat the dried biscuits with gusto. The emaciated cats gain weight at a steady rate, the condition of their coats seems to improve and the cats are contented with the food."
We have been very patient with this customer's persistent negative commentary. However we feel the only course of action left open to us is to instruct our solicitors to begin libel proceedings.
If you require further information please email
customerservices@mpmproducts.co.uk
Assuring you of our best attention at all times

Its not just that cat food that makes cats sick its other's has well.

I would like to make certain comments in response to the aforementioned statement from MPM Products (Roger Wood).
The Trading Standards test results have revealed a number of contaminants. Our own test results carried out at independant labs have also revealed a number of contaminants. Our results have been shown to Roger Wood in order to get this issue addressed. He has never produced any test results despite numerous requests for him to so.
There has been a number of complaints about the dried food not only from the U.K. but also from the continent.
Perhaps Mr.Wood does not consider it a complaint if he has reimbursed the customer the price of the food.Surely the reason they got their money back was because they complained about the food.
If Mr.Wood intends to sue me and my wife then it is highly improper to be publishing statements like his prior to an impending court case.
I hope you will publish my response as a fair right to reply so that people will know there are two sides to this issue,not just Mr.Woods version of events.

Regards,
John Twyman