Dog Community

Blue Buffalo Kitten Food Recall

Posted : 4/19/2007 4:02:25 PM

[linkhttp://www.bluebuff.com]www.bluebuff.com[/link]

Voluntary Recall of Spa Select Kitten Dry Food Dear Pet Parents:

The Blue Buffalo Company has undertaken a voluntary recall of one production run of our Spa Select Kitten dry food. The production code on the recalled product is:

"Best Used By Mar. 07 08 B."
We have taken this action because the rice protein concentrate used for this run was obtained from Wilbur-Ellis, the same company who supplied this ingredient to Natural Balance. Test results received late last evening (4/1

indicated that this rice protein concentrate tested positive for melamine. This is the first and only time our manufacturing partner sourced an ingredient from Wilbur-Ellis, and we had no knowledge that they had imported the ingredients from China.

We have advised the FDA of this finding and will be working closely with them on this issue.

Of the 4,752 bags produced in this one run, we were able to prevent the majority from ever entering retail distribution. We are working closely with our retail partners to remove this product immediately and will be re-stocking the shelves with Spa Select Kitten dry food that was produced without any rice protein sourced from Wilbur-Ellis as soon as possible.

If you currently have a bag of Spa Select Kitten dry food, please check the code date and if it matches the one shown above discontinue use immediately and return it to the place of purchase for a full refund. If your cat has eaten any of the recalled food, please call your veterinarian immediately to discuss if there are any risks to your pet.

Should you have a specific question call our Customer Service Department at 1-800-919-2833 or email us at [email=info@bluebuff.com]info@bluebuff.com[/email]. We understand your desire for immediate answers and we will be working to get back to you as quickly as we can.

No other Spa Select cat food or dog food, canned or dry, is included in this recall.

As a family owned company whose reason for being is to provide cats and dogs with the highest quality natural foods, we are extremely upset by this recall and can't begin to apologize enough to our customers. From our perspective, it is unacceptable to produce even one bag of food with the potential to cause a pet to become ill, and we will further tighten our ingredient sourcing and quality assurance procedures as a result of this incident.

Sincerely,

Bill Bishop
President
The Blue Buffalo Company

Raja19

Posted : 4/19/2007 4:06:40 PM

This is really out of hand. Now all these "premium brands" that everyone thought was safe. What will be next?

Cazzy

Posted : 4/19/2007 4:08:14 PM

Oh geez....waiting to see whats next to be recalled...Thanks sooner

glenmar

Posted : 4/19/2007 4:11:34 PM

Just got home from work and DS told me about this. Good GRAVY. Although I'd like to say something MUCH stronger.

dyan

Posted : 4/19/2007 4:29:24 PM

[linkhttp://www.itchmo.com/read/melamine-in-corn-gluten-linked-to-south-african-illnesses_20070419]http://www.itchmo.com/read/melamine-in-corn-gluten-linked-to-south-african-illnesses_20070419[/link]

A link to several deaths in South Africa... mentions Royal Canin also.

sandra_slayton

Posted : 4/19/2007 4:36:55 PM

Glenda, back when this all started with the wheat gluten food made by menu being recalled, you said something about you being afraid that was just the start of a night mare. You were right. most thought at the time that if they were feeding premium they were okay, those that were feeding lesser were fearful. This is like a plague, it knows no difference between between rich & poor, black & white, old & young. Any company that bought tainted grain of any kind is spreading this plague of of tainted food. And the flea ridden rats came from China.

In a way i don't think we can blame the companies for this. Who would normally test for somehing like melamine? Pesticides, bacteria, fungus, yes, but Melamine, no. The only real problem i have is the ones that claim all their products (with named exceptions) are home grown and that is not true. If prime food companies make claims like this and it isn't true, it can be true of any company.

If companies have to start testing for any conceivable contaminate the price of food with sky rocket. There is no end to things that contaminate food, dog or human. My take here is if a country is shipping bad stuff, don't buy from that country. There is no way they didn't know that wheat gluten and rice stuff was full of melamine.

You can totally blame compaies for lying about where they get their supplies, where their food is made, what is in their food, delaying reporting tainted food, but i don't think we can blame them totally for being stuck with bad grain products, bad because a totally unlikly contaminate was in it.. I see on the Purina site that they are now testing all batches for melamine. But that only means it could be something different next time.

papillon806

Posted : 4/19/2007 5:13:41 PM

ORIGINAL: glenmar

Just got home from work and DS told me about this. Good GRAVY. Although I'd like to say something MUCH stronger.

Me too

glenmar

Posted : 4/19/2007 5:36:17 PM

Gawd, I hate it when my gut is right. And I'm sitting here wondering if I can possibly squeeze making FOUR pots of food on the weekend into my already bursting at the seams schedule. [

] I'm already tired all the time and I don't think I can make do with any LESS sleep......

M.W.Lewis

Posted : 4/19/2007 6:12:02 PM

What about the dogs foods from Blue Buffalo, the lamb formulas also have rice protein concentrate, yet they didn't recall those. They thought they knew where the kitten food rice protein concentrate came from, but what if they are also mistaken about the dog formulas (?).

Karen

Posted : 4/19/2007 8:51:20 PM

I'm getting sick of this crap! When I get back home in June I am going raw or as close as I can get to it. With 6 dogs and 13 cats you bet you butt it will be expensive but that's just the way it's gonna have to be.

jamcony

Posted : 4/20/2007 10:11:58 AM

Sorry for the double post...didn't see topic listed.

Liesje

Posted : 4/20/2007 10:56:06 AM

F***!!!

I just SWITCHED to Blue Buffalo. It's not the kitten formula, but still...as of the time I went shopping, this was the only brand left that was a) not affected by the recall and b) didn't totally suck in general. I almost picked up Royal Canin to try too!!

Anyone home cook for your cats?

[:@]

brookcove

Posted : 4/20/2007 11:18:08 AM

Home cooking for cats is really tricky. Cats, unlike dogs, really do need a precise balance of nutrients with every meal. This is because they would normally eat one tiny little animal with every meal - complete and balanced, Mother Nature's way.

Cats need meat and a calcium source in the correct ratio just as dogs do, but it's harder because their little teeth aren't adapted to crunching anything larger than a large poultry bone. I used to offer chicken wings, pre-crunched with a hammer, and that worked pretty well.

They have to have organ meats with every meal - including liver and heart (preferably beef heart, which is highest in taurine). Older cats and kittens both need extra B12, choline, and DHA.

I tried doing it myself for about four days then I had to give up - it was too complicated. Surprisingly, there's only one company that sells a premix for cats (compared to three or four that do the same for dogs): http://www.felinefuture.com/cat_food/

It's a powder you add to raw ground meat and chopped fresh liver. Like the dog food I make from scratch, I just mix this up in batches and freeze individual portions in my handy-dandy silicone muffin tins. Then I bag up the "cookies" and take out a couple to thaw ahead. Hemi has gotten to where he'll eat a cookie partly frozen now, but then he's a weird cat. [

]

There are some companies that sell premade raw, but I feel uneasy when most of them claim to be suitable for dogs AND cats. I am a control freak and want to know that my kitty is eating right.

Ratsicles

Posted : 4/20/2007 12:39:12 PM

What about buying prekilled/frozen mice, rats, or chicks for cats? My ferrets get them, and cats and ferrets have similar nutritional requirements. If you don't want to order them online, most Petsmarts sell frozen mice in the same section as their frozen fish food. Just a thought...I might try it with my kitty.

jenns

Posted : 4/20/2007 12:51:20 PM

I believe that Nature's Varity premade raw is for both dogs and cats.