The Best Feline Friend cat food removal follows reports of cats allegedly becoming ill after eating the product.
In Australia, every can of Best Feline Friend cat food has been pulled from pet food retailers Petbarn and City Farmers, reported the Herald Sun.
Although the Herald Sun called the removal of the cat foods from retailers a "recall," Ryan Tarver, director of marketing for Weruva International (maker of Best Feline Friend), told Petfood Industry that there had been no official recall.
The removal of Best Feline Friend cat food follows hundreds of reports of cats allegedly becoming ill or even dying after eating the canned pet food, reported News.com. Pet owners posted stories on Petbarn’s website. One owner stated that their cat vomited bile, “ran a high fever, became dehydrated, developed an eye infection and experienced enlarged lymph nodes.”
Company response to cat food incident
US-based Weruva manufactures Best Feline Friend cat food from tuna at a facility that the company web page states is human-grade. The facility is based in Thailand, reported Now to Love.
Weruva president David Forman said that the canned cat food “may have been produced outside of intended formulation guidelines,” in a statement to the Herald. Forman said the cat food would remain off shelves “until our analysis is complete”.
“While this matter affects no other products or markets, we are taking additional steps to ensure quality and confidence across our entire global food assortment,” he said. “These efforts include aggressive testing of ingredients and finished product by independent laboratories in addition to our routine testing and quality assurance measures.”
