From a press release issued by Natura Pet Food, the company is recalling all lot codes, all sizes, all UPC’s of Innova, Evo, California Natural, Healthwise, Karma, and Mother Nature pet foods and treats.
Natura Pet Issues Voluntary Recall of Specialized Dry Pet Foods Due to Possible Health Risk
FREMONT, NEBRASKA, June 18, 2013
Natura Pet Products is voluntarily recalling specific lots of dry pet food because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.
Salmonella can affect animals eating the products and there is risk to humans from handling contaminated pet products, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the products or any surfaces exposed to these products.
Healthy people infected with Salmonella should monitor themselves for some or all of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever. Rarely, Salmonella can result in more serious ailments, including arterial infections, endocarditis, arthritis, muscle pain, eye irritation, and urinary tract symptoms. Consumers exhibiting these signs after having contact with this product should contact their healthcare providers.
Pets with Salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets will have only decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. Infected but otherwise healthy pets can be carriers and infect other animals or humans. If your pet has consumed the recalled product and has these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian.
These products were packaged in a single production facility. During routine FDA testing, a single lot tested positive for the presence of Salmonella. There have been no reports of pet or human illness associated with this product. In an abundance of caution, Natura is voluntarily recalling all products with expiration dates prior to June 10, 2014.
The affected products are sold in bags through veterinary clinics, select pet specialty retailers, and online in the United States and Canada. No canned wet food is affected by this announcement.
The affected products are:
Innova Dry dog and cat food and biscuits/bars/treats
All Lot Codes, All UPC’s, All package sizes
All expiration dates prior to 6-10-2014
EVO dry dog, cat and ferret food and biscuits/bars/treats
All Lot Codes, All UPC’s, All package sizes
All expiration dates prior to 6-10-2014
California Natural dry dog and cat foods and biscuits/bars/treats
All Lot Codes, All UPC’s, All package sizes
All expiration dates prior to 6-10-2014
Healthwise dry dog and cat foods
All Lot Codes, All UPC’s, All package sizes
All expiration dates prior to 6-10-2014
Karma dry dog foods
All Lot Codes, All UPC’s, All package sizes
All expiration dates prior to 6-10-2014
Mother Nature biscuits/bars/treats
All Lot Codes, All UPC’s, All package sizes
All expiration dates prior to 6-10-2014
Consumers who have purchased the specific dry pet foods listed should discard them.
For further information or a product replacement or refund call Natura toll-free at 800-224-6123. (Monday – Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM CST).
Courtney B
June 18, 2013 at 12:29 pm
Thank you very much for always making sure you get this info out to us ツ.❤
julia
June 18, 2013 at 12:42 pm
YOU Always do a great job! thank you — stay strong!
Tim
June 18, 2013 at 12:49 pm
Wow! This seems huge. Do we know how far out Natura sets their expiration dates? Assuming one year, they fixed the “problem” on 6/10/2013 and must have identified it before then. But ALL products and lots produced before then? That is one heck of a lot of cross-contamination. Even as a precaution, this implies they have no confidence in what contamination was going where. So glad I got better educated and jumped that ship when they were bought out.
Thanks as always, Susan. We appreciate you!
Margo Mann
June 18, 2013 at 12:51 pm
Thank you so much, Susan, for letting us know. Wow, this just doesn’t seem to go away. Are they all produced and packaged at the same plant? Is that the problem? It is hard to ever trust these people again because this has been ongoing. So sad.
Margo
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Jessica
June 18, 2013 at 12:57 pm
Thank you for keeping us all current Susan. It’s not looking too good for this company is it? Second recall in as many months, almost to the day…
Carolyn
June 18, 2013 at 1:08 pm
Interesting that both recalls have been since Proctor and Gamble acquired them. :/
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Chgo Denise
June 18, 2013 at 1:01 pm
Again? Already? Only 3 months since their last full recall. The Natura brand name sure doesn’t live up to it’s original owners standards. Maybe it’s time to mark the bags with the P & G name !
Darlene
June 18, 2013 at 1:05 pm
This is coming out the day after I received my $43.90 check from their last settlement out of courts. I stopped buying their products almost 6 years ago. It’s been so long I don’t really remember what the check was about, but I’m sure it had something to do with their deceptive product marketing or quality. I just don’t remember, but I will cash their check.
Cindy
June 18, 2013 at 2:58 pm
I just got my check too. It was from bad food in late 2009 or early 2010. My dog died in March 2010. He had eaten the problematic Evo.
Jane Eagle
June 18, 2013 at 1:11 pm
Salmonella can also be mis-diagnosed as panceatitis. One of my dogs was going through this when a second came down with the same symptoms. Since pancreatitis is not contaigous, we diagnosed salmonella. $$$$
Jo Singer
June 18, 2013 at 1:27 pm
Thanks so much for this information, Susan. I JUST got a replacement for the previously recalled Evo cat and kitten food, and now I have to dump that one (safely) and this is just a disgrace. What is wrong with this “trusted” company anyway? I am more than disgusted by now.
I SO appreciate the recall information because I would not otherwise have known about this. Blessings to you.
Jo
Denise
June 18, 2013 at 9:42 pm
I was feeding Evo to all of my cats until the last recall. Stopped at that time due to recall and, since all my pets are seniors, I was advised to decrease the protein level for them. Feeding Blue dry to them (they like) and continuing on with the Wellness canned chicken.
Linda Honeycutt
June 19, 2013 at 5:45 pm
Denise, please read the links I am providing. Senior pets needing to be fed low protein diets is a fallacy as actually they need higher protein because their digestion efficiency has decreased.
Linda Honeycutt
June 19, 2013 at 5:46 pm
http://www.google.com/m?q=dr+becker+low+protein+diets+for+senior+cats
Jo Singer
June 19, 2013 at 6:55 pm
Thank you for that GREAT information!!!! Wish that more vets would get on board about this and give their clients the correct information. I so appreciate your sharing this.
Denise
June 19, 2013 at 6:33 pm
Thank you for your reply. All of my cats range in age from 14 yrs to 20 yrs. One recently became ill and was dx with pancreatitis. I got her through this. Her kidneys values came back at the high end of reference range and at that time I decided to change all of my cats food. The protein in Evo is 50% and the protein in what I feed now, Blue Wilderness, is 40%. I don’t think that this is a problem. What are your thoughts?
Susan Thixton
June 19, 2013 at 7:09 pm
Denise – I’d suggest consulting with a holistic veterinarian.
Dr. Laurie Coger
June 18, 2013 at 1:31 pm
Amazing to recall all product lines and all products! This smells really bad to me…
Sharon
August 4, 2013 at 3:06 pm
It’s NOT all their product lines – just DRY food, which isn’t good for pets anyway – especially cats!
Michelle
June 18, 2013 at 1:32 pm
I have an older cat & two kittens battling salmonella right now. The kittens are two of a litter of five & they are the only two with salmonella. The kittens have been quarantined since their arrival about ten days ago.
The only common denominator are goat’s milk, Blue Buffalo Wilderness dry (salmon for older cat & kitten for the kittens), and Authority canned food (adult & kitten). I also fed Innova canned kitten. The goat milk ( per the manufacturer) tested okay, but I am having it re-tested myself.
The older cat was fed various Science Diet crap during her six days at the vet due to various possible diagnoses of pancreatitis, IBD, and triaditis.
My other cat & dog are also being tested.
Has anyone heard about any of the above causing problems? The kittens seem to be rebounding, but Mimi my older cat, still has diarrhea & is being syringe fed due to inappetance.
Thank you,
Michelle
Jeanette Owen
June 18, 2013 at 2:20 pm
Look into Wilderness. Some bad stuff about it online & a abandoned cat I was feeding this stuff to – got sick & lost a lot of hair? I think it was from Wilderness.
Michelle
June 18, 2013 at 9:10 pm
Thank you – I have a call into Blue Buffalo but I doubt I’ll get much assistance….
The raw diets are great, but most are too high in phosphorus for my older cat who is in the beginnings of renal failure. And my semi-feral Abby absolutely refuses anything but dry food. She even turns down chicken breasts, tri-tip and tuna….
Natalie
June 18, 2013 at 1:44 pm
This doesn’t surprise me. When PNG took over Natura, I switched my dog from Innova, which she did amazingly well on (has a very sensitive stomach) to another brand. SO glad I did. With her gut issues, this would have likely made her severely sick!
Anyone who believed PNG when they said they’d keep the product’s integrity is blind. This IS PNG we’re talking about after all…
This isn’t the first recall since they took over and won’t be the last. Hopefully there aren’t too many pets affected.
Thanks for keeping us up to date!
Lynda Loyd
June 18, 2013 at 1:49 pm
Wasn’t Innova bought out by P&G? Haven’t been reading since I switched my dogs to Wellness CORE because of the buyout, but this was the reason I switched. Also ironic, I just received a settlement check from a Natura Class Action yesterday.
It’s always about the bottom line & seldom about the loves of our lives.
Diane Wolak
June 18, 2013 at 3:18 pm
Can someone tell me what Natura Class Action suit/settlement they are referring to? I am interested in knowing when this suit was started. Thank you.
Susan Thixton
June 18, 2013 at 3:58 pm
Here’s a link with more information: http://www.topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/lawsuit-news/4347-checks-go-out-in-natura-pet-products-class-action-settlement#
Vicky
June 18, 2013 at 1:58 pm
I really appreciate these notifications! I feed BARF but many of my puppy people stick to the processed foods (despite the education I provide). At least you can give us the heads up quickly!! Very much appreciated!
Angie
June 18, 2013 at 2:13 pm
Thank you Susan I wish everyone would think cooked or RAW dog food, at that we have control of. I have been feeding raw for a few years now just because of what is happening to the kibbled dog food. When will they ever learn???
My Dobie LOVES his raw food and looks the best I have ever seen him for years now.
Crystal
June 18, 2013 at 2:21 pm
What do you do when you know you bought that but have trashed the bag? Do you have to have the bag for proof?
Jo Singer
June 18, 2013 at 3:26 pm
If you know where you purchased it- from an online store- hopefully, they will have proof that you purchased it. Call them. I bought mine from Chewy and they already refunded my money, and we are going to try Wellness- a new grainless dry. I only feed it as treats.. they get a high quality canned grainless food for their main diet.
Natalie
June 18, 2013 at 4:44 pm
Yes you do. I learned this the very hard way with my cat who ended up with stage 4 kidney failure out of literally nowhere. I didn’t keep the bag so the company just swept me aside and told me I had nothing to prove it – yet I know it was them considering the only change in his life was a change in one of their ingredients. Now, I stockpile my bags.. hard lesson learned. My boy was only 5 when this happened.
Marla Powers
June 18, 2013 at 2:35 pm
Thank you Susan for all you do for us and our pets.
BC
June 18, 2013 at 2:37 pm
I just tried some of their canned EVO for convenience on some kittens in transit- Please let Us know if/when canned is affected.
Jo Singer- there is no such thing as a safely manufactured pet food when you have huge international corporations saving 1/10 of one cent on bulk products –
they are going to get the cheapest crap they can find to add revenue to their bottom line…
There it rhymed!!;^)
Make it yourself or buy from a reputable grinder. That’s the only security we have. Pay now or pay later.
mary ann
June 18, 2013 at 3:04 pm
it was only a matter of time since this company was sold to P&G that this would happen. Not to mention that p&G still does animal testing. I stopped buying Innova as soon as I heard they took over. Same thing for the vitamins I was taking as they were also sold to p and g.
Lynne Bailey
June 18, 2013 at 8:57 pm
Mary Ann, it is great to see another consumer concerned about animal testing as well as pet food quality. We must not do business with companies like P&G. The only thing they care about is profits. Consumers should research all aspects of a company before doing business with them. It will help to make informed decisions. I have not purchased P&G products for over 25 years due to animal testing.
Jo Singer
June 18, 2013 at 3:27 pm
BC doing my best and I hear you!
linda broglan
June 18, 2013 at 3:37 pm
What’s similar to California Natural… my cats love it and they didn’t regurgitate, like with the Blue Buffalo. Looks like rabbit pellets just like when it was in their bowl.
I wish CN would get at least their feline grain free back in production.
Karen Arkin
June 18, 2013 at 4:17 pm
Linda, you’re much better off feeding cats a grain free, canned food diet (even better, a homemade raw one), than feeding kibble. If you must feed kibble, I recommend a grain free one such as Wellness CORE.
Michael
June 18, 2013 at 9:17 pm
Linda,
I switched to Wysong Epigen90. It’s 90% meat and organs, and starch free. My cat loves it.
http://www.wysongepigen.net/epigen90.php
Cheers!
Allison
June 19, 2013 at 1:08 pm
My 7 year old maine coon was addicted to California Natural dry but easily took to Now Fresh Grain Free Adult Cat Recipe without missing a beat and loves it. My other cats also like this brand. It does look like rabbit pellets btw.
My other cats also like Orijen Cat & Kitten 80/20 and ProNature Holistic Turkey & Cranberries, as well as ProNature Salmon.
My cats all love(d) California Natural but I am no longer taking any chances since this is the 3rd recall since the beginning of the year (if I am remembering correctly). All they ever offer me (since I only keep the UPC codes from the bags and pay cash when I shop locally) is a coupon for a free bag. It was only a matter of time once P&G took over.
Lauren
June 18, 2013 at 4:11 pm
I only buy the canned for my cats, since dry in any form is bad for them. I have never had a problem with the Evo Ancestral Diet (grain-free canned)95% Chicken and Turkey and I will continue to buy it. I mix it with Nature’s Variety Raw Chicken. Wellness is expensive (also recently bought out by a larger company) and they changed something in the formula for their grain-free canned chicken about a year and a half ago. I could tell the difference right away, by it’s consistency and color, and it started making my cats sick. They claimed they didn’t change anything, but I know better.
debbie with fussy cats
June 18, 2013 at 4:38 pm
Geeezus crips, cant these people get it right? IM really angry.. now let me go home and check the two brand new bags I just got in the mail days ago !!! Arggg &*^% @#$# #@
theresa
June 18, 2013 at 4:49 pm
Does this include Innova Kitten Food dry? I’m feeding that to my kittens now and the expiration date is prior to 6-10-14.
Grateful
June 18, 2013 at 11:11 pm
All Natura dry food with expire dates prior to June 10 2014. ALL dry.
Really, if only everyone would stop feeding dry food.
JK
June 18, 2013 at 4:55 pm
Yes, Proctor and Gamble bought out Natura a few summers back. (saw someone asked this above), and dropped the line almost immediately after finding this out. I see the recalls now one place I used to buy the Natura line, said not to have a kneejerk reaction to them being bought out, while a smaller place we frequent, refused to carry it when the area rep couldn’t convince them things wouldn’t stay on course with the lines. Glad I made that kneejerk reaction in hindsight
Debi
June 18, 2013 at 5:27 pm
Does anyone know if Ziwi Peak is still trustworthy?
Debi
June 18, 2013 at 5:28 pm
Susan, thank you so very much, forgot to tell you, again, how much you are appreciated.
lis
June 18, 2013 at 6:15 pm
THANK YOU!! Much respect!
Irene
June 18, 2013 at 6:27 pm
Wondering if this applies to their dry KITTEN food as well?
I am 3/4 into a bag that expires OCT 2013….
Susan Thixton
June 18, 2013 at 6:52 pm
If it is kibble/dry food – yes it would include it.
Ash
June 18, 2013 at 7:07 pm
UGH! I just saw this and am really questioning if this has anything to do with what happened to my foster kittens a few weeks ago. Because they could not find anything wrong with them, and I was feeding the now recalled EVO dry. They were 4 6 week old kittens, they had Conjunctivitis when I got them. They were on meds and doing really well for a week and a few days. Conjunctivitis was gone. They had been wormed and were They were transitioning to EVO turkey & chicken for cats and kittens from the Purina that the clinic I was fostering for had given me. Then I started seeing some loose stools. On day 11 they were all fine, and an hour later 1 had watery stools all over herself, was lethargic and close to death. Rushed her to the e-vet and besides still having a few worms, they could not find a cause. Said she had low blood sugar due to watery stools. Tuesday we were all back at the clinic I was fostering for. They decided to keep the 4 kittens there and have one of the vet techs foster them since the 1 kitten was still not doing as well as she should be. She died that night. A 2nd kitten died 2 days later and a 3rd died the day after that. As far as I know, the 4th kitten is still alive. They tested the 2nd kitten for everything parasitic and all common kitten illnesses when it got sick, but all turned up negative. They had all been wormed again, so that wasn’t it. They tested the 3rd kitten for everything after it died, all negative. Who knows what it could have been, as they were orphaned ferals and so young, but this makes me wonder if it was the food. I still have half the bag and it is in the new recall.
Janine
June 18, 2013 at 8:45 pm
I lost my dog from Blue Wilderness and it sickened two others. Too much vitmin D causing calcium toxicity. Paid
all vet bills but never reimbursed me for my doberman. He
was a beautiful dog and I still miss him.
Very difficult to get ANYONE to return a call! Took sever
days and multiple calls to CUSTOMER SERVICE!!
I now feed raw and know exactly what goes into their food.
Mary Anne Latham Kennard
June 18, 2013 at 10:42 pm
Again? Really? They have got to be kidding! It’s been a whole 3 months since the last recall. How hard can it be?! I cook everyday & nobody has gotten salmonella in 30 years! It’s just not that hard folks!
Alison
June 18, 2013 at 11:08 pm
I would like to give Natura credit for doing this massive recall. They did it voluntarily and certainly lost a great deal of money. Many companies will fight recalls even when the government orders them to (i.e. Chrysler). My dogs and cats have always done well on Cal Nat. and Innova and I’ll probably go back to it. (I also feed home-cooked food to my dogs but with 3 large dogs I just can’t do total homemade.)
Marcia Fox
July 7, 2013 at 2:29 am
Alison, I would be very careful before I would use any product made by Proctor & Gamble, their Turkey and Chicken dry food KILLED MY CAT, yes he is DEAD. He suffered for 10 weeks after eating from the recalled bag several days. It was horrible, bloody diarrhea, vomiting, incredible pain, he was so scared and so was I and now he is dead and they won’t take responsibility or pay his vet bill. They still insist that no animal got sick from their food. I am still a wreck from what I went through, over $4000 in vet bills and now I have a little can of ashes and I am still so upset.
Peter
June 18, 2013 at 11:37 pm
It seems that “independent” foods are becoming scarcer as the major agribusiness conglomerates target pet foods as a profit center and acquire (“merge” sounds better) pet food brands. Management at the store where I shop diligently stays abreast of these issues, and dropped the entire lines of Natura. Consumers may not realize how burdensome these persistent quality control issues can become for retailers, with endless pages of items to be pulled and surprisingly archaic (even inequitable) processes for returning/credit or destruction of tainted foods and treats. Many of these retailers really care about their customers and their pets, and recalls are quite stressful for them.
Kelley
June 20, 2013 at 9:35 pm
We fed our dogs California Natural. Both our dogs have been very sick. One required a two night stay at the vet. He was extremely ill. Our other dog had to be medicated, but did not require a stay at the vet. Both are still not 100% back to normal. They had the classic symptoms of salmonella. We have some of the California Natural food left. How can we find out if it is contaminated?
Susan Thixton
June 20, 2013 at 9:49 pm
Kelley – please report your pets illnesses to FDA. They can (should) test the pet food. You can report online here: http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/SafetyHealth/ReportaProblem/ucm182403.htm
Kelley
June 20, 2013 at 9:58 pm
Thank you, Susan. I need to know if this is what made my dogs sick, so I am definitely going to report it.
Ann
June 23, 2013 at 4:11 pm
This week I returned the recalled bag of dry Innova from the June 2013 recall which was a replacement bag for the one I returned from the April 2013 recall. I told the pet store owner that I did not want to get another bag of Innova. He told me that he is discontinuing carrying Innova, California Natural, and Evo Pet Products altogether.
He gave me a letter which he had prepared for his customers which states in part: “…We have been very careful in choosing the brands we invite into our store and decisions such as this are difficult to make. However, with two significant recalls in the last three months we simply feel that we can no longer comfortably support or recommend any of their lines of food at this time.”…”We apologize for any inconvenience and hope that you will understand our reluctance to continue doing business with Natura and Proctor & Gamble.”
This is the kind of action that will motivate P&G to clean up its act when its profits start to be negatively impacted.
Denise P. Shea
June 23, 2013 at 11:11 pm
Love this!!
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Wilfred
June 25, 2013 at 11:20 am
This one is shocking hearing P&G on the headline. The bottom line, we should be extra cautious of the foods that we fed to our dogs.
Bob
June 25, 2013 at 11:36 am
The integrity and reputation of independent retailers that promote “quality” pet food has been seriously compromised by the recent recalls. Not only has it effected the retailer, it ‘s a major blow to the “pet food” industry.
Regarding Natura/P&G, the negative stigma of “large international” corporations are obviously true!
Jayne
July 4, 2013 at 2:56 pm
Please help me save my little guy.
I have a 4 month old Komondor that was eating my English Setter’s CN Grain Free Chicken.
On June 8, 2013 the new puppy arrived and was never really a fan of the food he came with so he would eat the grown-up dogs food (vet said okay as long as it was not his main meal source).
When the recall on June 18, 2013 came out I instantly committed to changing foods. Three recalls in less than three months made this food too risky with a rather sick Setter. A transition plan was created for both dogs to get them to Instinct Raw, and the last feeding of California Naturals was 6/24/13. I have since thrown the food away so that no one would think it was “good”.
Yesterday (8 days after last feeding of California Naturals) puppy became seriously ill. Ill as in 18 hours later they are only giving him about a 30% survival rate. His platelet number is 15,000 (200,000 is normal) and it has not gone up any since first testing, heart rate is high (200 bpm), vomiting (36+ times in last 24 hours, has not in 14 hours now), 1 diarrhea episode (had some blood in it).
I know 9 days seems like a long time for on-set to start, but vet is not ruling it out. They are going to call California Naturals tomorrow, but they have told me not to get my hopes up that he will live that long.
Anyone seen symptoms in their dogs from this food?
Pat Pierce
July 8, 2013 at 11:25 am
I had purchased a bag of Evo Red Meat, as the next dry food in the rotation for my 2 Australian Shepherds. I was out of town when the recall was issued, and off line. When I returned home after a big weekend in Michigan for the UKC Premier and All Stars events, I opened up that bag of Evo to start the multiple day food transition. In 36 hours (only 3 meals later – which meant each dog received less than 1 cup of food over the three meals because of the rotation), my male Aussie was vomiting blood! The female seemed to have no adverse reaction to the food change. THEN, I checked my emails that came in while I was gone, and discovered the recall. Thankfully, my dog checked out OK from the vet – but we dumped the entire bag of EVO and replaced it with one of the Victor brand foods. Both my Aussies run on super high protein “rocket fuel” foods because they work hard for a living; finding a food with comparable high protein and fat levels that is grain free, is a challenge. I am fortunate to have several independent retailers of high-end dog foods in my area, and available choices to change brands and rotate foods. All these stores are now posting notices they will no longer carry any Natura Foods, thanks to these consecutive recalls. My dogs were EVO dogs before P&G, but no more.