Comments on: Toxic Orijen Cat Food?

By: Jon Tyson

Jon Tyson — Sat, 14 May 2011 14:52:45 +0000

It took a while what with getting a sample of the kibble through Canadian customs and getting it analyzed but the company tested it (with a geiger counter and sent me pictures) and confirmed that it was not the food. From other research it was probably feline heart disease.

Best wishes -Jon

By: Jon Tyson

Jon Tyson — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 14:41:37 +0000

Update -The retailer told me (and it’s possible) that they only buy from their distributor and that all the food came direct from Canada. No reply from the company about testing my sample.

By: Jon Tyson

Jon Tyson — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 14:48:35 +0000

I see that this blog has had no post for a while. But, unfortunately too late, after our feline friend died young and suddenly about a week ago, I did some online research into Origen recalls and found this blog. We purchased the food some time ago and sealed it into smaller bags. The seller had told us he had trouble getting it and had ordered it from…cannot remember. Recently our cat had a bit of wobble in the back legs and a lot of non-hairball related gagging. He suddenly got very bad leg-wise and shortly after had a seizure and died before we could get him to an all-night vet.

We live in NY State and the food could have been from Austrailia or not. I should have been more alert and will be contacting the seller and the company as well and offer to send some of the remaining food to Origen to look into it.

Best and my sympathy to all in similar circumstances.

By: Marina

Marina — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 01:50:34 +0000

We live in the Netherlands. Our 8 cats (4 cornish rexes, 2 persians and 2 housecats) are eating Orijen for a little more than 1,5 year now — the youngest is 2, the oldest almost 17 years.
We never, ever have had health problems with them. Every 6 months our cats get a check up with a blood- and urine test.
They all look great, are active and playful (yes, also the 2 seniors) and healthy.

By: Public Informer

Public Informer — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 13:21:27 +0000

In the public interest
Orijen irradiation

Hullo
I have been following this issue closely for several months

Perhaps you remember this see Page 3
http://www.championpetfoods.com/Australia_Consumer_Release_Mar10.pdf

And you might have read this post on Itchmo forum:
Post # 225 on the link below
http://itchmoforums.com/news-recall-related/problems-with-orijen-in-australia-t6985.225.html

and this one:
post # 479 Point 1 on the link below
http://itchmoforums.com/news-recall-related/problems-with-orijen-in-australia-t6985.465.html

Now you might like to read these documents to compare:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/ahh0aa0/n/2_Orijen_irradiation_Docs_released_under_FOI_pdf

And these supplementary documents – note that this one mentions what happened to the third shipment :
http://www.filefactory.com/file/ahhh99a/n/3_Formal_review_responses_to_questions_pdf

And if you are interested in the procedures and many communications involved over several months to obtain this information:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/ahhh99c/n/1_FOI_Application_procedural_docs_pdf

How to use filefactory:
You will need to have pop-up blocker disabled (or disable it when prompted)
Either click on link or paste the link into your browser bar
Scroll down a quarter page to the two buttons Free Download and Premium Download
Click on Free Download button on the left
Message appears “your download link will appear in 30 seconds”
After the 30 second countdown -
Click on message “Click here to begin your download”

These documents have now been placed in the public domain, in the public interest.
Cross link, cross post, cross-question the responsible parties, use as you will, they belong to everyone.

By: Valerie

Valerie — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 04:56:22 +0000

Get an independent toxicologist or chemical analyst to do a thorough work up on the food and in particular the VIT A content and the Potassium levels.
If you have fed some that was irradiated and returned from Australia then that’s what I would be looking into.
The exact same thing happened in SE Queensland in 2007 with Nutro dried food and still we have had no satisfaction whatsoever from Nutro.
Go girl go!

By: Sara

Sara — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:44:42 +0000

Lol. I never heard of any cats outside of Australia getting sick or dying from Orijen.

By: The Cats Mother

The Cats Mother — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 07:15:10 +0000

Champion contacted your vet?

And why, may I ask, would Champion be contacting your vet if they weren’t worried? If they didn’t have a little bit of doubt surrounding their certainty that it couldn’t possibly be their food?

And I hope your vet applied standard patient-in-confidence and privacy principles in her response?

And politely told them that any information they required regarding the health of your cat must be referred directly to you?

Vittoria the left back leg thing is exactly similar to what most of the Australian cats have shown in the early stages going into and the latter stages coming out of this illness (the lucky ones that are coming/have come out of it). It is so with my own cat.

We have already exchanged emails and I will be in touch again shortly.
TC

By: Vittoria Palazzi

Vittoria Palazzi — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:45:57 +0000

Sorry if I did not post earlier but I lost track of this post as I have been to so many places online….And have been busy caring for Maia.
Blood test results were inconclusive, and nothing of notice showed up. As far as my vet told me, I know these tests need to be interpreted. I know Champion Foods contacted my vet as she told me so.
Maia has gotten slowly better. She is not wobbling when she walks unless she tries to walk fast, but she’s still not jumping up much at all. She is very skittish and scared and turns her head in all different directions very fast when she hears a noise. She is better in some ways but the recovery seems very slow and she seems to have setbacks some days.
I have called various vets and now I am looking into vitamins and antioxidants.

I have gotten in touch through this post w/some of you from Australia and we have discovered that the symptoms are SO similar. When Maia shakes her head she falls/tumbles over to the right, and her left back leg seems to be the one affected the most, almost like it’s stiff or tight. I am still 100% sure it was the food that has affected her and I am looking into independent testing of the food at this time. Please email me privately if you want more information. My email is at the bottom of comment #19.

By: Vittoria Palazzi

Vittoria Palazzi — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:56:49 +0000

Hi all,

I am the person that wrote the email above, under comment #18. The date I wrote the email is listed as 2/10/09 which is tomorrow, but let me assure you it was a slip of my mind as I was in a very upset state.

I wrote the email to some friends on 2/7/09 (Sat am, 2 days ago) and it has spread like wildfire over the internet.

The company has contacted me today and they are not happy at all about what I wrote. They are saying what I have written is factually incorrect and are asking me for a retraction.

What I will say is that I am still convinced that it is the food that affected her, but I have no proof, and who knows if I will have any.

The update on Maia: the vet took blood tests today to rule out other possible causes of her symptoms, and I will know tomorrow and will post here. She seems the same, maybe slightly better.

On another note, I would add that we had fed the same food to our other cat a few months ago (I purchased the food at Western Pet Supplies in Portland OR on Sept 20, 2008. I still have the receipt) and she also had displayed a very mild version of the same symptoms, mostly wobbliness of back legs. We stopped feeding the food as she didn’t care for it and she is totally normal now. It is a weird coincidence for me. (I resumed feeding Orijen dry to Maia just last week as I still had the bag). I am hoping the company will ask for the rest of the bag so it can be tested and have already suggested that to them.

I am writing this only because I want to help other pets out there, if in fact there is something in the Orijen food that affects some cats. I am not after money or want litigation w/the company, which I know is a very good one.
I know friends that have fed that food for years and are completely happy w/it. So, I urge you to make your own choices. I am not saying not to feed your animals Orijen food, I am saying “This is what happened to me, draw your own conclusions”.

Will post tomorrow after I get test results. You can email me at vittoriap@gmail.com

By: Adrian

Adrian — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:52:34 +0000

Here is a RECENT story from a personal friend who’s cat is having reactions to Orijen. This is a REAL problem!

Dear friends, Beware of Orijen by Champion Pet Food

This is a personal story, one of those I never wanted to write. I am besides myself but I have to tell you for the sake of all the other cats out there that could be helped. Apparently it can affect dogs too (if the same food is eaten).

Last night I noticed one of my cats, Maia, was slightly wobbly and her back legs were kind of giving out on her. She was not limping, just not steady on her gait. Maia is a almost 7 y/o, very healthy, active indoor/outdoor cat. My husband also noticed it. I naturally worried and watched her. She also seemed unsure, a bit dazed I would say; walking slowly, and stopping every few steps. I realized then that I had seen something in the way she walked two days prior, but it was so subtle I didn’t pay attention.

I watched her for a while, then got online to read up on that. After over 2 hrs of reading all kinds of horrible things that could cause that, I stumbled upon a forum from Australia that indicated that “if your cat has back legs that give out on her (and much worse than that, indicating paralysis, etc) you need to check out this other forum ABOUT A CAT FOOD THAT HAS BEEN CAUSING THAT”.

I immediately jumped up and ran into the pantry, as I recalled having bought a small sample of that very dry food months prior, and had just started feeding it again to Maia (my other cats eat different foods now, one is overweight, the other has a digestive problem). I had been giving her small portions of it (which may be the only life saver for her at this point) as my cats eat all kinds of raw meats and wet food etc.
The fact that it had not affected my cats before might be that I didn’t feed it to them often, they ate tiny portions over the course of a few months. But just in the last few days I fed Maia more of it….

Can I tell you that by this point I was FREAKED OUT and totally besides myself? I read very quickly as much a I could about this, and I enclose a link to this forum. It is unfortunately 58 pages long, so I have not gone thru all the info. I also enclose here a recall by the company (Champion Pet Food) about this food Orijen. They are saying that the recall is only for Australia, but that is BS! I will contact them today, but I wanted to send this out to you all to spread the word.

The cat food is either irradiated or has something in it that causes cats (and dogs) to have their back legs to give out, bladder incontinence, eventually leading to complete paralysis for some animals, and death! Seems the specialists are saying it is irreversible.

Please, please let your friends know if your animals are not affected. Stop feeding this food immediately if you are. Tell your vet too. I will also go to Western Pet Supplies where I purchased the food to let them know. I am writing this on 2/10/09. The recall was in Nov 08, so I do not know what happened since. I haven’t had a chance to read up on everything yet.

Maia slept during the night and this morning she ate well (apparently losing weight and not eating is another symptom). She is purring, but she is still wobbly and in a daze, and I do not know if she will recover. I will call the vet today to discuss treatment if any. Feel free to contact me via email or ph 971 506-6789

By: Carol Novack

Carol Novack — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 19:24:43 +0000

I live in New York. For the past 2 months or so, my 3 cats have been eating Orijen along with other dry foods, including Core and Before Grains. I read about the irradiation problem relative to Australia, and could otherwise see no reason to stop feeding the cats Orijen, in fact, giving them Orijen as their sole dry food. I just bought 2 huge bags and I’m now nervous. One of the cats, Tequila, is wobbly on his hind legs, but he’s always had a tendency in that respect. About 5-6 years ago, his hind legs collapsed totally and nobody knew the cause. Finally, a vet at Animal Medical Center correctly diagnosed a rare viral disease as the cause.

Wobbly hind legs are not necessarily related to toxic ingredients in cat food.

By: Jesse Shaffer

Jesse Shaffer — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 07:31:05 +0000

Anita, this would only apply to your daughter’s cat if you live in Australia and fed Orijen.

Also, if the previous is true, your request for compensation should be aimed at the tyrants in the Australian government that parade around like they’re scientists and legislated a private health decision. The Australian government is responsible for the deaths of these poor animals and if I were an Australian that lost one of my cats to such bureaucratic nonsense, I would be marching on Canberra to burn down the Parliament building.

It seems like politicians cause just as many deaths in Australia as they do here in the USA… always coming up with grand schemes for “our own good.”

By: Anita Bergs

Anita Bergs — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 00:15:38 +0000

My daughter’s 2 year old cat developed total paralysis of the back legs approx 18 months ago. It was fed on a diet of mainly dry food recommended & purchased from our local vet.The cat was immediately whisked off to the nearest open vet (as it was a weekend & afterhours). The cat was given a barrage of test to find the cause. Numerous blood tests, scans, lumbar punctures. All this caused much stress, cost literally thousands of dollars and to make matters worse the vet could not give a reason for the sudden paralysis.
Upon hearing about the contaminated vet supply cat food I can only believe that this was the mystery cause of the cats illness.
Would my daughter have any recourse..? Ie is there any way for some compensation for the huge amount of cost involved..?
Many Thanks. Anita

By: johnny

johnny — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 11:21:09 +0000

C2pDRT Thanks for good post