Pet food company Nutro responds to assertions of dangerous zinc levels in recalled cat food

Late last month, pet food company Nutro announced a recall of dry cat food sold in the U.S. and 10 other countries.  The company told consumers to return dry Nutro cat food with a "best if used by" date falling between May 12, 2010, and Aug. 22, 2010, to the store where it was purchased, citing an error from a premix supplier. 

"One premix contained excessive levels of zinc and under-supplemented potassium. The second premix under-supplemented potassium," read a statement posted on Nutro's website.  The company told cat owners to watch out for symptoms like vomiting, diarrhea, reduced appetite or refusal to eat, and weight loss in cats that had eaten the affected food.  Still, it insisted it had received no consumer complaints and, instead, had issued the recall out of an abundance of caution.

The assertion that Nutro had received no complaints "outraged pet owners nationwide, who have told ConsumerAffairs.com for the past two years that their cats and dogs have experienced" the symptoms noted by Nutro, Lisa Wade McCormick of ConsumerAffairs.com wrote.  McCormick alleged that the website had received more than 800 complaints from pet owners who said their dogs and cats had experienced diarrhea and vomiting after eating Nutro food. 

Despite some confusion around the Web, Nutro is not under investigation by the FDA.  Even so, a few of our readers echoed the doubts expressed by ConsumerAffairs.com in the wake of the recall.  "My thirteen year-old cat is in the hospital with elevated liver enzymes and pancreatitis after eating from a bag of Nutro food with a best buy date of August 5, 2010," C.W. wrote earlier this month. "Before Sunday he was in perfect health, with a clear blood work-up in March."

Just a few days ago, reader Nathan chimed in.  "After eating the affected Nutro food my cat developed many of the symptoms associated with the mineral imbalances and spent an expensive weekend in emergency care," said Nathan.  "The cat stopped eating Nutro after coming home and has since recovered."

And Thursday, ConsumerAffairs.com had more to say on the matter.  McCormick wrote that a group called the Pet Food Products Safety Alliance had hired a Washington, D.C., diagnostic lab to test a sample of the recalled food.  "A receipt provided with the food we tested showed this bag was purchased a day after the recall was announced," according to the alliance.  "It is our understanding the store had not been informed there was a problem with the food." 

The test results showed a zinc level of 2,100 parts per million, the safety alliance said.  From ConsumerAffairs.com:

"The concentration of zinc identified in this report of 2100 ppm is very high," said Dr. Stephen Hansen, a veterinary toxicologist and senior vice-president of Animal Health for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). "That zinc level jumps off the page. It is awfully high and does concern us. It’s certainly gotten our attention."

Do those high levels of zinc pose health problems for cats?

"The problem in this case is that we believe no one actually knows (or at least has published) the effects of 2100 ppm dietary zinc long-term in cats," Dr. Hansen said. "Typically, cats are more tolerant of high zinc than other species, including dogs and humans.

"But it’s certainly possible that those levels of zinc would likely cause health problems in cats that could involve significant intestinal upset and liver and kidney damage."

Nutro responded to the concerns raised by the sky-high levels of zinc in an email today. 

"The lot of recalled product analyzed by pfpsa.org, as well as some of the other recalled product lots is higher than the maximum zinc levels as outlined by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO)," Nutro manager Monica Barrett wrote. 

But, Barrett said, there's a general lack of scientific knowledge about the levels of zinc and other nutrients that are safe for cats.  "Much of the data is extrapolated from other species, and values used in calculating nutritional profiles are based on very limited and old data. As quoted in the National Research Council (NRC) 2006 publication, ‘There are no reports on adverse effects of excess zinc consumption by cats.’

"There are a few studies feeding high levels of zinc to cats that have shown high zinc serum levels in the blood, but no clinical problems resulted," Barrett continued. "High zinc levels can cause a secondary deficiency in copper and other microminerals.  Because of the lack of data on zinc levels for cats, and the potential for causing other mineral deficiencies, we decided to take the measures we did" in issuing the recall.

Barrett insisted that Nutro is "working diligently and on a case-by-case basis with consumers that have contacted us" and that the company's top priority is the health and safety of the animals that consume its products.

That statement doesn't necessarily jibe with the experience of a cat owner identified as Stacy M., who told ConsumerAffairs.com that she called Nutro after hearing of the recall, when her veterinarian had been unable to pinpoint the cause of her cat's odd symptoms.  "And I did not get a response from them for a couple of weeks," Stacy M. said.

But, according to the Nutro website's FAQs section, you shouldn't believe everything you read.  "Many blogs and Internet sites can be a repository for misinformation and hearsay regarding many topics," the website notes. 

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Bags of Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care dry cat food are displayed at a Northern California pet store.  Credit: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Comments

[Sam]

Uh, so I thought they said on their website and their press release that they had received no reports of sick cats? How come this company isnt forced to change their website that says no affected pets & issue a corrected news release? People other than just those with computers need to know the food they might be feeding their cat has been recalled! Barrett says there are no studies but yet somehow she extrapilates that to mean it cant affect cats? Maybe Nutro ought to try using something other than pets as their test subjects.

[Carol]

Shame on you Nutro..especially Ms Barrett....You say there are no studies on high zinc on cats...but you did not say this was safe...shame on you and your company for minimizing such a HUGE MISTAKE OF YOUR QA/QC AGAIN...Let's not forget folks about the melamine disaster with Nutro in 2007..read about California Supreme and how it took a vet at UC Davis one month after recall to tell Nutro the food was affected...and Effem Foods in 2004 (Mars) had the melamine/cyanuric acid contamination happen in Asia but they poo-pooed it as a fungus/mold.I do not use Nutro but would never based on this spin...absolutely disgusting! Nutro needs to speak with Dr Hansen at ASPCA a vet toxicologist to get the real deal!

[Read about It]

Zinc Toxicosis in Small Animals Raymond Cahill-Morasco, MS, DVM Melissa A. DePasquale, CVT http://tinyurl.com/lo7npm

"TOXIC EFFECTS
The median lethal dose (LD50) of zinc salts in animals is approximately 100 mg/kg, and diets containing dietary zinc levels in excess of 2000 ppm can cause chronic zinc toxicosis in many domestic species."23

23. Osweiler GD: Metals and minerals, in Osweiler GD (ed): Toxicology:The National Veterinary Medical Series. Media, PA,Williams & Wilkins, 1996, pp 204–205.

[Penny]

Ms. Barrett needs a refresher course in problem analysis.

"No reports" DOES NOT mean that 2100 ppm of zinc is safe for cats.

That's pet food company logic for you: If there's no proof that 2100 ppm of zinc is harmful, then we'll put it in the food.

The US pet food industry is a cabal dominated by special interests of the industry and the FDA.

Be careful what you feed.

[Mary]

Speaking of misinformation posted on websites, I see that nutro products dot com is full of it.

For example, Nutro continues to deny that they've had ANY complaints from pet owners.

We know that isn't true.

[LabCat]

"But, Barrett said, there's a general lack of scientific knowledge about the levels of zinc and other nutrients that are safe for cats. "Much of the data is extrapolated from other species, and values used in calculating nutritional profiles are based on very limited and old data. As quoted in the National Research Council (NRC) 2006 publication, ‘There are no reports on adverse effects of excess zinc consumption by cats."

That sounds like the same thing that the FDA/Vets/CVM pet food companies were saying about Melamine.

The whole time they were doing that, animals were sick, dying, damaged, dead... now there are plenty of case studies on Melamine damages to cats.

In Austraila there were no cases studies on the effects of irradiated cat food - there were enough sick, dying, damaged dead cats to have the law changed to ban irradiation of cat food.

It is NOT ok to turn our cats or dogs into lab animals in our own homes with us paying the vet bills and suffering the insulting "no data" spills from marketing & communications representatives of companies.

It is NOT ok to put private citizens, believing the advertising on pet foods, in the position of providing case studies for pet food companies nutritional claims.

Clawing Mad Cat

[Petlover]

"But, according to the Nutro website's FAQs section, you shouldn't believe everything you read. "Many blogs and Internet sites can be a repository for misinformation and hearsay regarding many topics," the website notes. "

After reading about very similar complaints from cat owners about how they are treated on the phone by Nutro.. I Can't help but wonder if some of that misinformation may be on the Nutro site as well...

[Alisa]

I am also appalled by that statement from Nutro:
'"Many blogs and Internet sites can be a repository for misinformation and hearsay regarding many topics," the website notes. '

My cat had to go to the emergency room after eating Nutro dry cat food for unresolved reasons and possible pancreatitis. A month after the hospitalization, when I finally found out about the recall ( announced about 2 weeks after my pet's illness) I was only able to find useful information on possible recall-related symptoms by searching online at other legitimate websites.

Nutro's phone message and recall press releases/website had no useful information for me as a Nutro customer and pet owner about the actual details of the "mineral imbalance" nor about possible symptoms and potential health issues! The damage caused by the "mineral imbalances" (high zinc, low potassium) is IMHO potentially very very serious, and not adequately communicated by Nutro. Pet owners are left no choice but to resort to searching online for information!

I found the following online information most helpful related to the recall and symptoms to watch out for. This article was what actually helped me understand what was going on w/ my pet and the Nutro recall implications. It is written on the Examiner.com by an actual vet!
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-7468-Providence-Pet-Health-Examiner~y2009m5d27-Nutro-cat-food-recall-Symptoms-to-watch-for-in-cats-fed-these-diets?
I told Nutro about my cats symptoms, and they started to deny that they were related to the recall, so I mentioned what I found out about zinc and potassium imbalance symptoms and about finding this vet's recall-related information online, and they did not have a response.

[Penny]

Alisa,

Sorry about your kitty. Is he/she OK, now?

A good place for info is Itchmo forums. The Itchmo folks have been working together for over two years. Lots of good research and info about pet food and recalls.

www.itchmoforums.com

Still need for good media sites, like LA Times to help get the word out as with this great article.

Tks LA Times. Your reporting has saved lives.

[Mary]

It's important to report Nutro problems to your FDA Consumer Complaint Coordinator. The complaints go back to FDA CVM in D.C.

http://www.fda.gov/Safety/ReportaProblem/ConsumerComplaintCoordinators/default.htm

[C.W.]

I am the C.W. quoted above. And while my cat survived (after spending over a week in the hospital), I have lost thousands of dollars and now must keep him on expensive prescription cat food for the rest of his life. He can no longer have cat treats, eat with the rest of the cats in the household, or ingest anything that might send him spiraling into pancreatitis again. And NUTRO has yet to contact me. The first receptionist said their company cared so much for my poor, sick cat. But no one called me back. After that first conversation, I got idiots who said they were only "helping out," had only pens and paper to take my information, and subsequently had no access to computers to pull up my complaint file number. How convenient. They care as much for our pets as we the affected now care for them.