Champion Petfoods has posted a rather lengthy, and detailed, explanation on their website regarding the recent problems associated with Orijin cat food. Here’s a small bit of it…
On November 20th, 2008 Champion Petfoods announced a VOLUNTARY RECALL of ORIJEN brand cat food sold in Australia.
The recall is restricted to AUSTRALIA ONLY and was issued in response to reports from the Australian veterinary community of 27cats showing neurological symptoms after consuming ORIJEN.
While there is no definitive link between ORIJEN CAT food and illness in the Australian cats, we have recalled our product from Australia as a precautionary measure.
[...]
Q: DOES THE RECALL EXTEND BEYOND AUSTRALIA?
A: No, The recall is for AUSTRALIA ONLYQ: HOW DO YOU KNOW THE PROBLEM IS LIMITED TO AUSTRALIA?
A: WHILE ORIJEN SALES IN AUSTRALIA ACCOUNT FOR LESS THAN ¼ OF 1 PERCENT OF TOTAL SALES, AUSTRALIA ACCOUNTS FOR 100% OF CASES.
- ORIJEN was sold in Australia only for a 9 month period of February through October 2008.
- During this time ONLY 6 PALLETS of ORIJEN CAT food actually entered retail distribution in Australia. This equates to 200 Australian cats fed daily over the 9 month period.
- Of these 200 cats, 27 are reported having the syndrome of which 4 have been unfortunately euthanized and 4 that are thankfully recovering.
- During the same nine month period, shipments of ORIJEN CAT food equivalent to feed 85,000 cats were made to 49 other countries.
- ZERO cases were reported outside of Australia.
[...]
Q: ARE ORIJEN DOG FOODS SAFE?
A: Champion Petfoods has examined the issue of safety in dogs very closely.
- ORIJEN dog diets have been sold and consumed in Australia over the same 9 months that ORIJEN Cat has been sold, only in much greater quantities.
- NO DOGS HAVE BEEN AFFECTED. Dogs and cats are two different species with different nutritional needs and metabolic pathways. For example, cats require higher levels of vitamins than dogs (AAFCO 2008), and cats are highly sensitive to changes in vitamins or oxidative by-products (such as occur from irradiation).
- There are no reports or scientific studies linking irradiation to health problems in dogs.
Q: WILL CHAMPION CONTINUE TO SELL ORIJEN PRODUCTS IN AUSTRALIA?
A: NO.
Veterinarians in Australia have recently reported households where both dogs and cats are present and cases where cats prefer ORIJEN dog food over the brand of cat food they receive.
- Of the 27 cases of illness, at least 2 cases involve cats eating ORIJEN dog food.
- As we are unable to control for cats consuming ORIJEN dog food, there is a small but measurable risk of cross-feeding in dual pet (dogs and cats) households.
- Implemented as a precautionary measure to prevent cross contamination, Champion Petfoods has elected to stop selling ORIJEN dog foods in Australia.
The Orijen website has more information, including an explanation about the irradiation and what it does to the food.
Technorati Tags: Orijen, Champion Petfoods, cats in Australia
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Hello, here is an update for you
Peter Muhlenfeld of Champion Petfoods spoke to one owner by phone and claimed they did not find out about the irradiation until August 2008.
Documents obtained from the Australian Government under the freedom of information act show that their importer told Champion about the irradiation in August 2007 and got their consent to irradiate. Media reports all talk about Australian Quarantine “insisting” or “requiring” the food to be gamma irradiated. This is not the case. It is offered as an OPTION. The alternatives are further moist heat treatment (which might not always be appropriate) or just don’t bother importing it into Australia unless the food is cooked to 100 deg C for 30 minutes during manufacture. The importer (and by implication Champion, since he claims to have corresponded with them to obtain their blessing for the irradiation) were given warnings to take independent advice as to whether irradiation would be suitable for the product before going ahead as are ALL importers. They didn’t bother. Only AFTER the trouble arose did they irradiate samples themselves and run tests. They took over 2 months to recall the food even though the balance of probability was that it was their food causing paralysis and deaths in the cats as it was the only common denominator in all cases and no cat presenting with the issues had NOT been fed Orijen. Meanwhile owners, kept unaware, continued to buy and feed the product. They are failing to meet all the expenses of the affected owners and are failing to communicate with them in anything like a timely or transparent manner.
Regards
C.E.
i have recently had a serious problem with one of my golden retrievers and orijen dog food.
i changed to this food thinking it would be good for my dogs. after about a month and half one of them..the younger one became weird. just not herslf. then she bgan to have seizures, and for a few days had many of them about 2 hours after eating orijen red meat and onwards through the days.
i had her checked out thoroughly at the vets..even heart check etc.. no problems…. and i took her off this food, she has been fine since. i cannot for sure say it was the food, but i will never feed my dogs orijen again.
elaine…anyone else had this problem please let me know.
The past two years I have fed my two dogs three varieties of Acana (fish, chicken and Lamb). Several weeks ago the pet store told me about Orijen Red, thinking my dogs would like the meat I purchased it. I fed Orijen Red to my 22 lb and 85-90 lb dog, they both began experiencing diarrhea, throwing up shortly after they ate and dry heaves throughout the day. At first I thought both dogs had the flu, however after 1 ½ weeks I became suspicious about the food especially since they are house dogs and the food is the only thing newly introduced. Yesterday I called Orijen letting them know how ill my dogs are and that I am stop feeding them Red and then I called the vet. I do not know for sure if the symptoms are related to the food, but it seems coincidental that both dogs were healthy and now very ill. I have them both on a bland diet they seem to be improving.
I had switched my Shepherd cross to Orijen Adult last fall due to allergy concerns. I eventually switched to Orijen 6 Fish in January of this year. In April, my dog experienced a minor seizure. The vet had no answers. I thought maybe he got into something in the back yard. 6 weeks later, he had another minor seizure and then onther a week after that. Blood work and disease screeing came back negative. My vet is still at a bit of loss diagnostically. I don’t know if the food is involved, but I suspect it. I’ve switched him to a Medi-Cal brand and he seems completely back to normal. I, as well, will never recommend or buy another Orijen product. How is your dog doing now?
Hi Elaine
So sorry to hear you had that scare with your dog.
There have been four isolated reports of cats who have developed neurological symptoms after being fed Orijen cat food in the UK, Malaysia, and the USA.
Those of us in Australia who were affected during the Orijen recall have been watching this brand very closely indeed. In our case in Australia, the food was irradiated upon import and caused neurological damage (ataxia, paralysis and seizures) to our cats due to the irradiation (substantiated by scientific research which has proved that this is an effect of feeding irradiated food to cats). During the many forum discussions that took place, some four owners of cats IN OTHER COUNTRIES who had been fed NON-IRRADIATED Orijen reported seeing neurological symptoms. In one instance the manufacturers silenced her with threats of litigation. There is no substantive evidence in any of the cases that it was Orijen that caused the symptoms but it’s a mighty strange coincidence, and now I read your experience it really has me thinking. Many dog owners feed it and swear by it in the USA the UK and elsewhere, but no matter where I lived I would never touch this food again for any of my pets. The way the manufacturers, Champion Petfoods in Alberta Canada, lied about foreknowledge of the irradiation, failed to meet all costs of the owners and the way they handled the recall etc, was not good (see the post above yours).
Elaine, I hope your dog is absolutely fine now and its health is not in any way impaired by the experience. Goldies are lovely, my sister used to have one.
Hi again Elaine
I just found this – another reference to a cat with ataxia after eating Champion Petfoods products – Acana this time
http://www.petproductnews.com/headlines/2008/12/01/champion-petfoods-pulls-out-of-australian-market.aspx
Again, no firm proof, all circumstantial etc etc – but why aren’t we seeing these reports in relation to any other manufacturer’s food?
Both dogs are doing much better after we stop feeding them Orijen Red and putting them on a bland diet for a couple of days.
I would encourage pet owners to thoroughly research and compare pet food ingredients before tossing out anecdotal information.
You have basically three choices when it comes to food for your pets:
1) 100% natural food- ideal provided you’re wiling to invest the intiial research to truly understand dog/cat nutrional needs, can afford the extra costs, and can commit the time to prepare meals.
2) Mainstream pet foods which are loaded with inexpensive carbohydrate fillers (corn, rice, beet pulps, etc) and proteins which are little more than road kill in many cases.
3) A quality, expensive product from a family-ownede, non-multinational company like Champion. High quality ingredients in the correct ratios for carnivores like cats and dogs.
Bottom line: do your research, and then decide which option you want to pursue. If you want to cheap out, then please stay with the lower cost food- your vet will thank you because you’re a guaranteed revenue stream.
I want my dog and cats to be healthy, so the foods I feed them will be the right ones, not some crap product better suited to fattening livestock.
Peace out,
Dan
l oltman,
I have been feeding my dog Orijen since I rescued her when she was 4 months old. Our vet asked me what I feed her because her coat and teeth are perfect. She is healthy and happy times 100! I’m not sure why your dogs got sick but you said, several weeks ago…. It can take several weeks to change a dogs diet. The pet store should have told you that you need to gradually introduce new food into a dog’s diet. It would explain the vomiting and diarrhea and it would make sense that bland food would help settle their tummy’s. If the pet store didn’t explain the fact that you can’t just give your dogs a different type of food, I hope you’ll go in there and tell them how sick your dogs got. : o ( Either way, I am happy your dogs are feeling better, that must’ve been really frustrating.
SEEMS LIKE ALL THESE FOODS ARE SHADY!! PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE AND PEOPLE LOVE MONEY. MONEY & GREED & CHINA MAKE ALL THESE FOODS BASICALLY TOXIC.