Just got off the phone with VP of Natural Balance

[Furryland]

He stated that yes, they were removing the dry dog and cat venison formulas.

He said they had received some reports of dogs vomiting. He said i was to stop feeding my cats the venison and green pea formula.

They are in the process of updating the website and he stated to check back there often for any further updates.

i want to scream, i have just transferred all of my dogs and cats to DVP, although the dogs do not use the venison dry only the cats.

what do i do? natural balance is obviously going to run tests, i don't think they know what is wrong

and here i thought my kibble problems were over:sad:

[technodoll]

from another forum:

I called Natural Balance office and spoke with the guy who started the whole business with Dick Van Patten. He assured me that only the Venison kibble has been affected and that it will be up on the Natural Balance web site today . He said about 12 dogs have been sick and throwing up.. and they have the labs working on WHAT is going on. He assured me that the Venison is the only one that has been affected. Not the canned food but just the kibble.

the only safe alternative anymore IMO is home-prepared food. nevermind inconvenience, the safety and health of our pets should come *first*. this is getting pretty mind-boggling.

[Tommysmom]

Yep, same info here, just got off the phone. Some doggies throwing up. They're not sure if they have a bad batch or if it's a transition thing due to so many pet owners switching food these days, but they're pulling all bags with a September date code on it until they can figure it out. They didn't want to say that other dates are safe, they recommend switching to another flavour, but the complaints concern the September date batch.

If you call them, they will also send you a voucher for another bag if you are currently feeding the venison formula.

I have to say, they're the nicest company I've ever dealt with on the phone, too. We'll see what happens, but I really do like this company.

[Furryland]

Originally Posted by Tommysmom

Yep, same info here, just got off the phone. Some doggies throwing up. They're not sure if they have a bad batch or if it's a transition thing due to so many pet owners switching food these days, but they're pulling all bags with a September date code on it until they can figure it out. They didn't want to say that other dates are safe, they recommend switching to another flavour, but the complaints concern the September date batch.

If you call them, they will also send you a voucher for another bag if you are currently feeding the venison formula.

I have to say, they're the nicest company I've ever dealt with on the phone, too. We'll see what happens, but I really do like this company.

I agree they did seem quite nice. I stated i had not seen any signs of illness among my cats who are feeding on it but stated i should stop regardless[i was going to anyways]

The Sept date code? do you mean the best by date? mine has a sept 08 coding.

My global will take it back, they do with all the foods so i am not worried there, it's a pretty new bag too only picked on the 7th.

My problem is where i go from here? my one male was almost only eating the venison and green pea, he hasn't taken to the original formula like the other two have.

now he has no kibble. Does someone else make a good venison? although i do know he likes wellness indoor kibble from a sample i tried weeks back, i just am not fond of their menu foods association..

[One Beagle Girl]

Their website now says this:

NOTICE:
We are receiving consumer complaints regarding the Venison & Brown Rice Dry Dog Food, and Venison & Green Pea Dry Cat Foods. We do not know what is wrong with the food at this time, but we have heard that animals are vomiting and experiencing kidney problems. Please discontinue feeding all Venison and Brown Rice Dry Dog Food, and Venison and Green Pea Cat Food.

We are working closely with the FDA.
We will update this website today, as more information comes available.

kidney problems is a far cry from gastric upset

I read on itchmo that someones dog died after eating this DVP formula, and that there were crystals in the kidneys that looked similar to those in pets with kidney failure from eating the recalled menu foods. It's sooo upsetting to keep seeing different companies recalling more food every week.

Here's the comments from itchmo, the one I mentioned is about 7 from the top:

http://www.itchmo.com/read/natural-b...70415#comments

[Tommysmom]

Must be the best buy date, that's the only date code on the bag at all. So yeah, I guess your bag is one of the ones they mean :sad: .

[Furryland]

Originally Posted by Tommysmom

Must be the best buy date, that's the only date code on the bag at all. So yeah, I guess your bag is one of the ones they mean :sad: .

Seems like it

[Furryland]

Originally Posted by One Beagle Girl

Their website now says this:

NOTICE:
We are receiving consumer complaints regarding the Venison & Brown Rice Dry Dog Food, and Venison & Green Pea Dry Cat Foods. We do not know what is wrong with the food at this time, but we have heard that animals are vomiting and experiencing kidney problems. Please discontinue feeding all Venison and Brown Rice Dry Dog Food, and Venison and Green Pea Cat Food.

We are working closely with the FDA.
We will update this website today, as more information comes available.

kidney problems is a far cry from gastric upset

I read on another forum that someones dog died after eating this DVP formula, and that there were crystals in the kidneys that looked similar to those in pets with kidney failure from eating the recalled menu foods. It's sooo upsetting to keep seeing different companies recalling more food every week.

i just started a thread on the fact they updated their site.

yeah, kidney problems :sad: omg. my cats all seem be acting fine, but geez.. i get them off recalled wet food[nutro] to go to recalled dry food!!

[One Beagle Girl]

Awww Furryland and Tommysmom I really feel for you, after everything now you have to switch foods again. :sad:

[Prin]

I hope Tommy does ok on just the solid gold...

I wish these testing companies would stop listening to the huge companies and just test the crap out of all these foods. Everybody is involved, so stop protecting these companies and just do it!

[celticfox]

The vomiting issues dogs are having on the DVP has me concerned.

I tried our girls on DVP Natural Balance in December because of Raven's allergies and of all the brands we've had them on so far the DVP is the only one that she has ever had vomiting issues with. We had them on the Duck variety first and we thought the duck might have upset her stomach when she started vomiting bile on it. Raven quickly went downhill from there. We ended up taking her to the vet because in addition to the vomiting she had become very lethargic and completely lost her appetite. We didn't know whether the food had caused the problem or a raw soup bone that we had given her and Rusty around the same time we started the food. I posted about it here:

http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=34272

Two months later I reluctantly decided to try them on DVP Fish and Sweet Potato because I wasn't having any success finding a food that didn't make Raven itch. Things seemed fine at first and then Raven started vomiting again:

http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=37101

At the time I thought it might have been the flaxseed in the formulas but she's been on other foods that contain flaxseed since without experiencing any vomiting.

Rusty didn't vomit on the DVP but she did get gassy and didn't care for the taste of it. It's so hard to know whether Raven was just very sensitive to something in them because of her allergies or if there's something in the food itself that shouldn't be there. I certainly hope that isn't the case. :sad: