As usual, the first announcement of a recall is usually not the last. The Nature’s Variety raw dog and cat food recall I announced earlier has been expanded to all bags of raw chicken and organic chicken with Best By dates of 2/5/11 or earlier. My dog has just finished an entire bag of the chicken diet–his first time eating the raw food–and has showed no adverse reactions.

Unopened bags and empty opened bags may be returned for a full refund or replacement. Members of the Nature’s Variety e-mail list also received coupons for $3 off any bag of raw diet, $3 off any kibble, and $1 off any two cans.

In positive news regarding this recall, Nature’s Variety is, as of late 2009, using a High Pressure Pasteurization on all raw frozen diets. This unique process kills pathogenic bacteria through high-pressure, water based technology. Recalling the foods that were made prior to this process went into effect will ensure that all Nature’s Variety products on the shelves will have been manufactured with this safe, new process.

Visit Nature Variety’s web site to read the entire press release, posted today.

I am very saddened to report that my favorite pet food company, Nature’s Variety, has initiated a voluntary recall.

This recall only involves their raw medallions, patties, and chubs, and is due to possible contamination of salmonella.

The only products affected are limited to Chicken flavored food with a “Best If Used By” date of 11/10/10. This includes:

* 3 lb chicken medallions (UPC# 7 69949 60130 2) with a “Best If Used By” date of 11/10/10
* 6 lb chicken patties (UPC# 7 69949 60120 3) with a “Best If Used By” date of 11/10/10
* 2 lb chicken chubs (UPC# 7 69949 60121 0) with a “Best If Used By” date of 11/10/10

My cat Charlie just finished a bag of Nature’s Variety Raw Chicken Medallions two days ago. I do not know if the “Best If Used By” date matched, but Charlie showed no negative symptoms while eating the food. He is currently eating the Rabbit and Venison flavors and will continue to eat them for the time being. I believe in this company.

Read the official press release here.

One of the reasons my newest pet is a kitten rather than an older cat is because I wanted to be able to wean her directly onto raw food, hopefully whole prey. It’s going pretty well.

I started first by purchasing a small feeder pinky mouse from the freezer at the pet store. Although it was barely the size of a quarter, I was still amazed to see Aura, my then 9 week old Ragdoll, take it down lightening fast. When she became an extremely picky eater, those pinky mice remained the one food she would not turn down. She would turn down premium canned food like Nature’s Variety and EVO, cheap “kitty crack” canned food like Fancy Feast, and even cooked chicken…but she would always eat those pinky mice.

But I wasn’t going to pay $1 – $2 per pinky mouse when I can get them for as little as $.16 cents each at RodentPro.com. While that price can jump up to around $.50 cents each when you add shipping, I am lucky enough to be abe to pre-order at web site prices and pick up my order at a local reptile show. This weekend I got 50 weanling mice and 50 chicks for $23.

Rodenpro’s feeder prey is so clean and healthy looking! My kitten just loves them – especially the chicks, which I just scored for $.12 cents each! The chicks usually offer her a great workout, too…she loves to play with them for 5-10 minutes before feasting. She likes the small quail too, but I haven’t been able to get her to eat any older, meatier quail yet. She’s not interested. She was also not interested in the Gourmet Rodent mice I bought for her at Petco when I ran out of my RodentPro mice. And I don’t blame her! Those mice were wet and smelly.

I love all animals, and never thought I’d be able to feed frozen whole prey.  But it’s been much easier than I thought; way easier than feeding frankenprey, and much cheaper than canned. I usually pet these cute little guys for a second before throwing them to her, thanking them for supplying my kitten with all the nutrients she needs. Gnawning on their little bones cleans her teeth. They are full of protein, and their organs are full of the vitamins and taurine she needs. Aura highly recommends RodentPro!

I was feeding Aura some frankenprey for a while (chunks of cut up raw meat and organs), but now she isn’t interested in it. She is currently eating the whole prey during the day and some canned at night…the past two days she has started to steal my toothless cat’s pre-made Nature’s Variety raw, as well. She won’t eat it if I offer her her own though, she only wants to steal Charlie’s

My friendly local Nature’s Variety sales rep turned me on to this great coupon for Nature’s Variety Raw food for dogs and cats! “Nature’s Variety Raw Frozen Diets are formulated like the ancestral diet with 95% meat, organs, and raw ground bone, and with wholesome fruits and vegetables.”

Click here to register at their web site to receive a coupon in your email for buy one get one free of their 3 pound bag. This is a great deal!

There is also a coupon to try Nature’s Variety’s all new Sweet Spots, natural frozen ice cream treats for dogs. Get a free carton when you buy any holistic diet from Nature’s Variety.

Enjoy!

When a cat begins vomiting more frequently, or having diarrhea, many cat owners become nervous; myself included. Often we begin internet search before a vet visit, or after one if the vet has no or few answers for us. Early in 2008, both my cats began vomiting a few times a week and, more upsetting, my 13 year old Persian cat started having chronic diarrhea. Here is my in-depth account about how I cured my cat of his chronic diarrhea. I made one change to his diet and the diarrhea never returned.

A vet prescribed antibiotic, but the diarrhea only went away for 2 days and returned midway through the antibiotic treatment. The vet said if the antibiotic didn’t help, he would need to start performing tests for more serious ailments and it could be anything, even cancer. But I thought before going that route, I’d start researching cat food to get a better idea of what I was feeding them.

I had been feeding them Nutro dry and canned for years, and although I knew it wasn’t the healthiest brand available, I was comfortable with it because it was more healthy than the grocery store brands and one of the best at PetSmart.

After some research, I tried to switch him to California Natural, which was marketed as being free of fillers and better for “sensitive systems.” I started learning that cats bodies can start to reject a food that is fed to them too long, and their bodies can become “allergic” to it. No vet had ever said anything like that to me. I would later learn about IBD (Irritable bowel disease).

My cat’s diarrhea and vomiting did not improve even after a very slow, very careful switch to California Natural. The more reading I did, the more I kept seeing the phrases “grain free” and “raw food.” At first, I scanned completely over any article that said “raw” because that seemed too far off the deep end to me. I also didn’t think you could feed RAW food to a cat that was having diarrhea…after all, the vet had prescribed antibiotics because of bacteria, so how could I give my cat bacteria laden raw food?!

Then one day I stumbled upon a post from a cat owner on a pet forum whose cat was having the same symptoms as mine – diarrhea every day, vomiting every few days. She gave her cat raw food one day, and the diarrhea stopped that very same day. She said one month later, the diarrhea had not returned. Wow. If the result was that immediate for her, maybe I could give it a try. If the seemingly best commercial cat food out there (California Natural) and raw food didn’t help, then I’d go back to the vet for those tests.

I researched and researched raw food for cats and found a site by a veterinarian that explained it fully. She explained how to make it at home and even recommended a couple of pre-made brands that she felt were the next best thing if you really didn’t want to make it yourself. So I thought I’d buy one of these brands just to see if there was any change in my cat.

The brand I bought was Nature’s Variety. (Side note here: although I would love to sell their food at my pet gift shop, GoFetchGifts.com, I am unable to get it from any distributor because I do not have a loading ramp. So rest assured I don’t sell this food, I simply love the brand for saving my cat.) They sell three pound bags of one-ounce medallions. My cat, being a small 8 pounds, would need about 3 medallions a day. I defrosted one and put it in his bowl. Much to my surprise, Oscar–who had always been an OK eater but not an enthusiastic one–wolfed this medallion down like it was his first meal in weeks, then stared at me waiting for more! He had NEVER been that excited to eat in his life, except maybe the day I found him in a cold alley in Chicago during the winter of 1997. He never wolfed down aroma filled canned food or even dry food that fast. I couldn’t believe it and quickly defrosted another medallion for him, which was again wolfed down. My other cat wanted nothing to do with this weird raw food but I didn’t care about that right now, he was more healthy than Oscar.

So I sat back and waited, and watched. At this point, about two months after Oscar’s diarrhea had begun, he was leaving me about 5 runny piles per day (all over the house!); so I didn’t have to wait long. For the rest of the day there was no diarrhea. The next morning, he used the litter box and left a mushy, but almost solid dropping. The next day, completely solid. And that’s it. I kept feeding him Nature’s Variety raw, and the diarrhea and vomiting NEVER returned!

I got another surprise, too. Being a Persian cat, Oscar at one time was very fluffy. He hadn’t been fluffy for years, and I attributed that to his age. I had told vets that he had lost his fluff, but none of them ever said anything about it or seemed worried about it. Two weeks after Oscar’s start on raw, I looked at him one day and said to my friend, “am I crazy or does Oscar look a little fuller in his coat?”

One month later there was no mistaking it – Oscar’s fluffy undercoat was growing back for the first time in years!!! He was also more energetic. He was playing again. He was singing songs and chasing “ghosts.” He was a kitten again, at the ripe age of 13! Here I had been crying, thinking he was so old his body was failing him…thinking the tests at the vet would be so expensive I’d have to put him to sleep because I wouldn’t be able to afford care. And all I needed to do, for now, was change his diet.

So what had happened? Oscar had either become allergic to the food I’d fed him for so long, or his body could no longer break down and process any nutrition from dry food or even processed canned…possibly due to age. But I am now convinced that I hadn’t been giving his body the proper source of nutrients. He is a cat and I was not feeding him like one. And the entire pet food industry made me feel like I was feeding him the best. My friends and I had sworn by Nutro canned and dry for years. My cat was simply one of those cats that could not handle processed foods.

There are many options in feeding cats raw food. Click here to learn about the different ways to feed raw to cats. Some cats do fine on dry and canned food. But some cats don’t, and I would recommend all owners of cats suffering from diarrhea, allergies, and IBD to try raw food. It is unprocessed and grain-free, and it might be just what your cat needs.

There are also some natural treatments for diarrhea in cats that can be given instead of, or in conjunction with, antibiotics. These include probiotics and slippery elm, safe treatments you can buy today at a vitamin store.