Hey Pet Parents & Pet Lovers,
Today I’m going to stray away from telling cute cat stories, and talk to you a little bit about what happened to us this weekend.
On November 10, my partner called me into the kitchen saying that he had found something gross inside of Beau’s cat food. We have been feeding Beau Science Diet Urinary Care with Chicken consistently for over a year, and until that day we haven’t had much trouble with it. (Other than some damaged cans which ended up having to be chucked.)
The substance we found in Beau’s food was a round filmy material and my mind immediately questioned if it was some sort of intestinal byproduct. So, we refrigerated it and I e-mailed my vet a picture asking if she had seen anything like it before. Unfortunately she hadn’t seen anything like it before responding to us with the following:
I’m not entirely sure what that is. It does look a bit like un-ground food, but it’s difficult to say. No one else has mentioned it to us, but I think it is a good idea to contact Hill’s Science diet about it.
So, I went forward and contacted Hill’s Science Diet to see if they had any more information for me, to which they responded (November 13):
Dear John:
Thank you for reaching out to us. We apologize for the frustration this may have caused.
The material which you describe may be a chunk of meat or meat tissue. When this product is manufactured, the meat is ground through one-fourth to one-half inch plate, depending on the product. Small pieces are expected as they may pass through the plate and are not harmful in any way. Many pets find these meat pieces very appealing.
We would like to gather some additional information, so we can provide a complete report to the appropriate departments. We would like to request a reply to the following:
Where and when was the package purchased?
When was the package opened?
Where and how do you store the open package?
How long have you fed this specific product to your pet?
What is the name of the product on the package?
What is the package size?
What is the UPC/bar code?Again, we apologize for this situation. We offer a 100% guarantee on all of our products if you would like to return the unused portion of this product to the place of purchase for a refund or exchange.
I have to say, I’m thankful that Hill’s responded fairly quickly as a number of bigger pet companies can take weeks to respond. It’s also good to know that the substance found inside of Beau’s food was not toxic or bad for Beau and although we will not be feeding it to him, it’s good to know that if we did that he may have found it “very appealing.”
For those of you feeding the same food the following is the batch information: T13314441A 27459 (BB 7/20)
So moral of this story, always look inside of your cat foods because you never know what’s inside. Also never hesitate to contact your vet or the manufacturer just to make sure that everything is okay! It’s better to be safe than sorry!
Thank you again to my vet as well as Hill’s for your help with this situation.
I know this is years later but I found the same thing in my Fancy Feast wet food a few days ago, glad to see someone else saw it too. Ours was still a complete ring too
EWW! Dishing up wet food for my cats is one of my least favorite things to do. It turns my stomach more often than not … but of course, the cats love it.
For sure :’)
I like Hill’s, my Sammy is on the urinary chicken stew. That photo is icky though.
Sorry that you had to see such an icky picture! I thought it may be helpful for folks who may have seen the same thing in their food. I haven’t tried the stews yet for Hill’s, only because it doesn’t come in 5.5oz cans. 🙁
Nice to know that Hill’s was so prompt in replying to you. I do find them to be a reputable company.
Absolutely! It’s good to see them being so responsive. I know it frustrates me when companies either don’t respond or get too defensive, especially because both of our priorities are to make sure that our animals don’t get sick.
The Hubby and I both scan the cat food for anything weird, and I’m glad that you took the extra steps to ensure your kitty wasn’t ingesting something ‘wrong’. I appreciate that Hill’s Science Diet stepped up to the plate.
That’s a good choice! Yeah, I’m glad we’re fairly alert when it comes to foods. We’ve definitely had spoiled cans of food in the past that could have easily gotten our cats sick (luckily, those weren’t this brand.)
Hope you find out what is. That’s awful. Are you going to keep buying this food for Beau?
For now, yes we’re going to have to stick with this food since it’s the only one helping us with Beau’s condition. However, I’m fairly comfortable with their answer and I’m not worrying as much now!