WARNING Felix - Purina Cat food

[Whatamesssss]

Just thought I would let people know who might have had trouble with their cats not eating the new recipe Felix food. There have been a lot of cats either refusing the food or getting quite ill after eating their food, and most thankfully recovering when different food is fed.

There has been no recall yet but if your cat is ill or not eating might be worth a look.

Here is a link to a Facebook group for more info.

www.facebook.com/groups/250384740220868

@ConfusedDotty Dont bin your boxes - if you contact Purina and give details of your experience they will probably ask for photos of the boxes and pouches and offer to send a return envelope for you to send some of the pouches back for testing.

Well one new Felix portion bounced tonight about 5 mins after the older cat ate it. Joy.

This cat has form for doing this trick. She always bolts her food, and I was stupid enough to forget to shut the kitchen door so she got the living room carpet [bleurgh] but I'm not assuming it's the Felix.

She's now sulking and trying to persuade DS to give her more. She gets dry + a bowl of water when she does this, and not a huge portion either. Sigh.

Having watch the life drain out our 5 year and five month old maine coons eyes this week after seeing him basically turn into a living skeleton and reading now of many other cats going through the same fate, the Facebook page has 10k members now
I am sure everybody believed back earlier in the year that AVA foods were safe and it was just scaremongering
(look how that turned out)
Honestly if you are still feeding purina products like felix, you are basically playing Russian roulette with your beloved cats
We only wish we got a chance to read the
warnings
Maybe Blue would still be alive

Hey @Grumpyoldpersonwithcats - if your cats are fine then great, but there’s thousands of cats who aren’t and who all eat Felix, and who became ill just after the new batches were given to them.
Unsurprisingly in order for there to be factual evidence there has to be a significant number of cases, food testing and vet reports. How long did it take for the previous recall of other cat foods from point of sale to recall date? Surely you’d rather be aware of potential issues and know to look out for any symptoms than not?
No one has explicitly stated it’s definitely down to the Felix and correlation doesn’t equal causation, Purina are testing samples and some owners are using private testing facilities.
I wouldn’t be shocked if you were someone working for Purina and trying to silence those who are voicing the warnings.
If your cats are fine then great, there is no need to complain or do anything else.

My fussy boy has gone off Felix since the recipe changed too. My girl luckily just eats biscuits but my boy has almost no teeth so needs wet food.

I tried Sheba, he ate it for a few days then got bored. He ate about 1/3 of the Whiskas sachet, the reason I changed to Felix years ago was because my 2 suddenly went of Whiskas.

Finding a new food is a nightmare!

@JoanOgden

But which food? Is it one specific type of food, or from one factory? Has anyone made an attempt to gather this information?

The AGAIL seems to be the worst but it is all packs that have the circle that says no added colouring.

My boy went off AGAIL and then the original too. Thankfully he has not been ill.

@Kali0 - Welcome to mumsnet, interesting first post.
I wouldn’t be shocked if you were someone working for Purina and trying to silence those who are voicing the warnings.

Well perhaps I wouldn’t be shocked if you were someone who was sacked from Purina and trying to damage your previous employer by scaremongering?
Literally the only 'silencing' going on is on the anti-Felix Facebook site which states in it's moderation rules
Don't come on here saying you have not had a problem or you'll just be blocked and removed from the group.
It's very good that it encourages open debate. (sarcasm)

I don't deny that cats are fussy, they will go off food and they may not like a receipe change.

I don't accept however that Purina is killing thousands of cats, yet apparently this doesn't merit a recall or an RVC invesigation.

@Grumpyoldpersonwithcats I’m glad you found my first post interesting. It’s a shame you didn’t answer my questions though 😟

I note you don’t deny working for them. I, however, am happy to say I have never worked for Purina or Nestlé. I don’t think my post warrants the label of scaremongering. 🤔

I am neither the creator nor an admin of the Facebook group so have no influence on the rules of said group. I would guess the creator of the group made that rule as the group is specifically about cats who have become unwell after the changes in the Felix food, as opposed to it being a group about Felix cat food in general. I’m sure there are plenty of other places where cat owners can delight in how much their cats love Felix products. I am aware however how groups like this can become an echo chamber.

I believe the RVC have said “the FSA are aware of reports of illness in cats after consuming Felix food. They are working with Nestlé and their Primary Authority and looking into these reports. Investigations are ongoing and, as yet, no specific products have been linked to unsafe cat food. If cat owners are concerned about the health of their pet, then they should seek immediate advice from their vet”.

[quote Grumpyoldpersonwithcats]@Kali0 - Welcome to mumsnet, interesting first post.
I wouldn’t be shocked if you were someone working for Purina and trying to silence those who are voicing the warnings.

Well perhaps I wouldn’t be shocked if you were someone who was sacked from Purina and trying to damage your previous employer by scaremongering?
Literally the only 'silencing' going on is on the anti-Felix Facebook site which states in it's moderation rules
Don't come on here saying you have not had a problem or you'll just be blocked and removed from the group.
It's very good that it encourages open debate. (sarcasm)

I don't deny that cats are fussy, they will go off food and they may not like a receipe change.

I don't accept however that Purina is killing thousands of cats, yet apparently this doesn't merit a recall or an RVC invesigation.[/quote]
Also @Grumpyoldpersonwithcats you said “I don't accept however that Purina is killing thousands of cats” - I don’t think anyone has claimed they are killing thousands of cats so you’ve blown that one out of proportion.

In what way are cats ill after eating the new Felix? How long goes it take? My two have been eating it and so far are ok. We're literally about to go away in an hour and I have a shed load put aside for them to be fed.

@Kali0
I don't work for Purina or Nestle. But since that won't fit your agenda you probably won't believe me anyway.

My issue is as follows.
The Pancytopenia facebook site was set up because a large increase of that disease had been observed by vets and owners That site, in a calm and measures way helped pinpoint a possible food related link. I commend the people who set it up.

The anti-Purina facebook site however starts from the premise Felix is causing problems and asks people for their 'evidence' to confirm this.
This is bad science, no way to investigate anything and as a result no better than anecdote.

I had contacted purina and sent pics of felix with white pieces all over and in the meat, as my friends cat had eaten this and vomiting, this was a year ago, lots of cats are having probs with this food since the new recipe came out, she was also lethargic,

Just to update, Purina have finally sent a envelope for samples of our AGAIL pouches for testing. Its taken a couple of weeks but they say they'll update in due course so it is worth reporting if anyone has had problems and still have pouches in the cupboard.

Please don't test it
Bin it, I have lost 2 maine coons
The third has had terrible skin problems that are now clearing that she is on different food, please be on the safe side for the sake of your cats
It might just save you the pain and anguish we have had to endure

My cat had horrendous diarrhoea after only one sachet. She normally has lily's kitchen but the shop had run out.

@Gordonr I have no intention of even feeding this stuff again (my cat had started to point blank refuse it anyway thankfully) but having raised a complaint to Purina they asked for the pouches which I still had. I'm happy for them to test them because I know something is wrong and they need to look into it.

I'm very sorry for your loss, its terrible this is happening to so many.

I'm sure Lilly's kitchen is made by nestle/purina too

We have kept some of the sachets for possible evidence, ours are marked PL
Which I have been told is the Polish factory
Code

It is not worth sending Purina the pouches for testing. Apparently their tests are

Checking the pouch for damage/holes etc

Sniffing the food.

PH test

There are no tests on toxicology/contaminates etc

I could easily carry out their tests. It is a joke.

Well I can honestly put my Daphne’s weight loss D And V and lethargy down to AGAIL as soon as they changed it there was a build up and I’d see the odd vomit in random places I didn’t think anything of it until she was noticeably light to lift. I’ve stopped it. Two weeks later she’s a different cat. I just don’t know what to feed her now?

Looking into sending the sachets to the Roslyn institute near Edinburgh, the place that cloned Dolly the sheep

Although I hate scaremongering type stories, without "anecdotal evidence"therecare thousands of conditions both human and animal that would never have been candidates fir further research and investigation. My 3 cats are fed exclusively on Frlix; the eldest has been into vet, skeletal and ill; extensive investigations and iv fluids, no cause found and eventually returned home starting to recover.
Went down hill again as soon as he started his usual diet.
The one year old has started with similar symptoms today and I had no idea about this story and am grateful for the opportunity to consider this as a potential cause

Thanks for highlighting this OP. We switched to Felix pouches two weeks ago. 4 days ago one of my cats didn’t seem his usual self, much quieter and only eating small amounts of food.

Yesterday he refused all food, vomited several times, had diarrhoea and slept all day. I was fully expecting him to still be unwell today and thought we were in for a trip to the vets - surprisingly he’s woken up brighter but again refused the Felix. I fed him a can of supermarket own that I found in the cupboard which he wolfed it down and so far appears to be ok.

Should further add that our cat never goes further than the back garden, doesn’t hunt and has no access to bins.

Check the Facebook page CATS RECENTLY AFFECTED BY FELIX FOOD. In the 'Announcement' section there is a list of possible alternative cat foods.