Anyone having issues with Purina Cat Chow?

[Squirrelypaws]

I wasn't sure where exactly this belonged... It didn't really seem to fit in WYP. I apologize if I put it in the wrong spot.

Anyway; is anyone having any issues with Purina Cat Chow making their cats sick? Half my crew has been puking since I opened a new bag of food yesterday and I'm wondering if maybe there's a bad batch making the rounds.

I don't think it's a matter of the food just not agreeing with them; we did switch straight from the green Indoor variety of Cat Chow to this blue Complete kind, but we do that quite regularly and have never had an issue.

This particular bag has a new design that I've never seen before, with kind of a "spring" theme; daisies, butterflies, and a quote about "Spring reminds you just how alive life can be". It also has "Available at Target" on it, which seems odd; I did buy it at Target, but literally EVERYWHERE sells Cat Chow.

The food itself seems to be the usual "Complete" variety Cat Chow; it doesn't look or smell any different. The cats are eating it fine. They just all seem to be puking afterward.

I'm also wondering if it's perhaps an issue with how it was stored in Target's stockroom... Makes me skeptical about trying one of the Indoor bags I got from the same store at the same time.

So, yeah; anyone else having issues? Either with the Cat Chow brand or with any dry pet food bought at Target? My specific store is Amsterdam NY, but I imagine if it's a storage issue it could be happening at a warehouse or something prior to getting to the store.

UPDATE: I went ahead and opened one of the Indoor bags, and they seem to be doing much better on that. So I'm guessing it's an issue with that one bag of Complete. Should I contact Target regarding it, considering I threw out the receipt and can't prove I bought it there?

A lot of you guys recommended changing food brands... I would love to try them on something higher quality, but with the number of cats I have I go through 35-40 pounds of dry food a month. So I don't think I could work anything too much more expensive into my budget without having to put myself on an all-ramen diet. Are there any brands that are both good for the cats and a bit easy on the wallet?

[True]

I stopped feeding my cats Purina a long time ago. But it sounds like it might be a weird batch if all of your cats just suddenly got sick out of the blue. Check for recalls, or call the company, they might replace the bag for you.

Other then that, maybe your cats all just got sick at once? o.o

[NovelNerd]

Hmmm mine are eating Purina kitten since they are all under a year old and doing fine.

[Breyer600]

A few of ours still eat the Purina Indoor and they haven't had any problems recently.

[Princess Lala]

Personally I stay far far away from cheap brands. I don't like the grains for other fillers, carnivores can't digest them= more poop. I like cats on a raw diet of chicken or turkey with a bowl of kibble, my choice of kibble would be Core Wellness grain free or Boost raw instincts. There is an even better kibble than those two but I forget the name bu their first 5 ingredients are all meat.

EDIT: looks like they had recalls on their canned food recently, you may have had a bag that is cross-contaminated with something that hurt their tummies or or even just a "bad" bag in general. I personally would stay away from that brand though, they mix a lot of animal body waste including bones and feathers. A lot of online reviews show other pet owners experienced similar symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea etc with that brand.

I hope your cats feel better though, see if you can switch out their meals with something like chicken broth or something bland until their system is back to normal! 
*hugs kitties*

[LNS]

In agreement with, True. If your cats have only been throwing up since this new bag check for recalls. Could be there was a problem with a batch. Afraid I don't feed mine Purina either, they all eat Blue Buffalo Wilderness and no problems in the five years since switching to it. It is the best option I have around here and something they've all done well on. They eat a mix of both the Chicken and Duck mixed together, one of my boys does eat Salmon.

Hoping your cats are feeling better and no more upset tummies for them.

[brightberry]

It may have gone bad in the bag.  How it was stored, how it was shipped or how old the bag is.  Pet food can go rancid.  We had to stop shopping at one petstore because all the food they sold was really close to the expiry date.  It would have been "bad" two days after opening it.

[retrogradenova]

I have to agree with a lot of the other posts. It's either likely the food has gone bad in store, or it's something that may have been recalled or might be recalled soon in the future if it hasn't yet. I'd check for recall notices and depending on how sick they are maybe give your vet a buzz. Personally, I wouldn't touch Purina or any other big name brand pet food with a 10 ft pole. It's been 10 years since I have given any of my cats cat chow.

A few years back I had a dog trainer who went through a lot of information with me about all aspects of my dogs lives including their food. One thing he told me was that a lot of these big brand pet food companies are actually used by the big brand human food companies "as a cheap and profitable way of disposing of the waste from their human food manufacturing plants." Purina is one the few brands used by Nestle according to my dog trainer.  I figure it goes the same for the cat food since it's the same company.

Because some of my cats have allergies, I have to feed them different foods, so I've tried several different ones over the years. I like to recommend Acana, EVO, Orijen, Wellness Core, Precise Naturals.  I've tried Blue Buffalo as well, I can't say anything bad about it, though one of my cats seemed to put on extra weight back when I was feeding them that. I'm currently trying a new food I found called Nulo Freestyle.  I really like Precise brand cat and dog foods. My German Shepherd is extremely picky, he'd eat a food brand for a month or 2 and then refuse to eat it. We went through nearly a dozen food brands before we found Precise but he's been eating it for over 2 years now.

EDIT: Thinking more on it, has there been any other drastic changes around your home besides the new bag of cat food? Last year I had one cat out of the five suddenly start vomiting for multiple times a day for a week straight. We discovered that he was simply stressed out because we had started rebuilding our sun porch two days before he started vomiting. He stopped vomiting the day after we finished the sun porch. Some cats just really don't handle change well.

[melodys_angel]

Yikes!  Sounds like a bad batch

Can you return he bag at all?

[Koudoawaia]

After all the recalls they've had, I wouldn't dream of buying Purina Cat Chow for my cats.

[Squirrelypaws]

Thanks for all the input, everyone. ^_^

I went ahead and opened one of the Indoor bags, and they seem to be doing much better on that. So I'm guessing it's an issue with that one bag of Complete. Should I contact Target regarding it, considering I threw out the receipt and can't prove I bought it there?

In regards to possibly changing brands; I would love to try them on something higher quality, but with the number of cats I have I go through 35-40 pounds of dry food a month. So I don't think I could work anything too much more expensive into my budget without having to put myself on an all-ramen diet. Are there any brands that are both good for the cats and a bit easy on the wallet?

[Dainty]

I would go try with Target. I've never worked there but at the place I work we can do returns with the card you used as well. If they don't do that they should be able to give you partial back at least, or store credit.

I only feed wet food because dry food gives my cat seizures but the brand I use, Natural Balance, makes an ok dry food too. Their best is the Limited Ingredient Diet. I'm on a pretty small budget as well. They still have fillers in them especially the dry food, but they're at least a little higher quality.

[joce]

  Do you have a costco membership? They sell decent food there.

Generally what you will see is they will eat less of a food without the fillers like corn. So you may pay more in the beginning but it should last longer.

I use chewy.com or get my food from costco for the cats. Have the dogs rotating on victor grain free and wellness core now.

  Problem with a lot if foods, even ours!!, is that they will process parts in china and it may be mixed with things we react badly to. That's what have killed pets in the past. Even foods labeled as made in US may have china ingredients.

Interesting article!!  This is why we should not feed those cheap dog treats and foods with corn fillers from china as well.

http://www.newsweek.com/2014/10/10/curious-case-chinese-chicken-import-export-business-273699.html

[kaoskat]

We used Purina for our dogs since I was a kid and they spent a lot of time mildly ill but I never thought much of it. We switched them over the last year? 2 years? Not sure.... Anyway, after  noticing garlic in the ingredients list. They are more energetic (which in Nori's case may or may not be a good thing.....) and they aren't sick all the time anymore. I'm at the point where if I don't recognize the ingredients in their food, they aren't getting it. Too many things are dangerous and I'm tired of those things being buried under chemical names. Our dogs and cats are now on Nutrish. I dunno if it's the best but I know what the stuff in it is and my pets are healthier now than they were. And they love the stuff.

[melodys_angel]

I cant help you with finding an alternative brand that's easier ont he wallet.

It might be worth it to try a raw food diet and see how they react? or make your own food.  Then again, usually that's for a pet with some major allergies.