Ad Blocker Detected
Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker.
A healthy and happy two-year-old cat was an hour away from death after eating pet food, which has since been urgently recalled after a number of worrying cases.
CharlieBoy Stubbs’ owners Gary and Yasmin were shocked when they finally discovered the reason for his near death experience after thinking it might be somehow to blame.
As a precautionary measure, the Food Standards Agency and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have warned cat owners to stop using brands from the manufacturer Fold Hill Foods immediately.
The warning comes amid an outbreak of panzytipenia in cats – an illness often fatal in cats – with more than 130 cases of the rare disease reported since April.
Pancytopenia is a rare condition in which the number of blood cells (red, white, and platelets) decreases rapidly, causing the animal to become seriously ill.
CharlieBoy Stubbs had exactly these symptoms, but no one could identify the cause.
Speaking to the Mirror, owner Gary, a teacher from Slough, said, “He was a healthy cat, he woke up and we gave him breakfast, but when we got home from work at 5pm it was like it was he’s another cat. “
CharlieBoy Stubbs was in intensive care for over two weeks
(Image: Instagram)
They took him to the vets where he was given antibiotics on the assumption that he had an infection. He then picked up Mieze for a couple of hours.
But when symptoms returned, Gary and Yasmin returned to the vets and received devastating news that CharlieBoy Stubbs was about to be euthanized.
Desperate for an alternative, they were told they could try a blood transfusion at a veterinary clinic half an hour’s drive away. When they got there, it was clear whether CharlieBoy Stubbs would survive.
Gary added, “They saw him and said he hadn’t long ago and they gave him a blood transfusion straight away.”
CharlieBoy Stubbs, who has his own Instagram page, spent the next two weeks in intensive care and is still not out of the woods.
But what his owners didn’t know was the food they took to make him feel at home, which may have made him sick.
Nobody knew what made him so sick
(Image: Instagram)
He was still being fed his AVA cat biscuits throughout his stay, which Gary said he loved.
It wasn’t until they got information from the veterinary clinic that the cause might be his diet that things suddenly started to make sense.
Gary added, “We love this cat, it’s not even three years old. To find out that the food hurt him, we’re angry.
“The hospital had no idea, we had no idea, we were worried it was something we’d just done after we moved and we thought it might be something in our new home that had affected him.
“We were so stressed we really thought we were going to lose him and worried it was our fault.”
A government investigation involving the Royal Veterinary College and the Animal Plant and Health Agency, along with authorities across the UK and the pet food supply chain, has been launched to investigate a possible link between certain cat food products and cat pancytopenia.
He quickly went from healthy to seriously ill
(Image: Instagram)
And since the first recall, a second batch of products has now been added to the list.
A government spokeswoman said, “At this point there is no definitive evidence to confirm a link.
“No unsafe cat food was identified, but the manufacturers and brand owners concerned are taking the precautionary recall action based on previous investigations and are withdrawing cat food products that have been associated with affected cats.
“There is no evidence that this outbreak of pancytopenia in cats poses a risk to human health.”
The recalled products are:
Applaws Cat Dry Chicken
Pack size: 400g, 2kg and 7.5kg
Batch code: NA
Best before: All date codes
Applaws Cat Dry Chicken & Salmon
Pack size: 400g, 2kg and 7.5kg
Batch code: NA
Best before: All date codes
AVA Adult Ripe Chicken 7+
Pack size: 2kg and 4kg
Batch Code: All batch codes
Best before: All date codes
AVA Senior Chicken 12+
Pack size: 2kg
Batch Code: All batch codes
Best before: All date codes
He is on the mend, but not out of the woods
(Image: Instagram)
AVA Sensitive Skin & Stomach
Pack size: 1.5kg
Batch Code: All batch codes
Best before: All date codes
AVA weight management
Pack size: 1.5kg
Batch Code: All batch codes
Best before: All date codes
AVA hairballs
Pack size: 1.5kg
Batch Code: All batch codes
Best before: All date codes
AVA oral care
Pack size: 1.5kg
Batch Code: All batch codes
Best before: All date codes
AVA British Shorthair
Pack size: 1.5kg
Batch Code: All batch codes
Best before: All date codes
AVA Persian
Pack size: 1.5kg
Batch Code: All batch codes
Best before: All date codes
AVA Maine Coon
Pack size: 1.5kg
Batch Code: All batch codes
Best before: All date codes
by Sainsbury’s Hypoallergenic Recipe Dry cat food with salmon 1+ years
Package size: 800g
Batch Code: All batch codes
Best before: All date codes
Applaws Kitten Dry Chicken
Pack size: 400g, 2kg and 7.5kg
Batch Code: All batch codes
Best before: All date codes
by Sainsbury’s Hypoallergenic Recipe Dry Cat Food with Chicken 1+ years
Package size: 800g
Batch Code: All batch codes
Best before: All date codes
Applaws Cat Dry Chicken & Lamb
Pack size: 400g, 2kg and 7.5kg
Batch Code: All batch codes
Best before: All date codes
Applaws Cat Dry Chicken & Duck
Pack size: 400g, 2kg and 7.5kg
Batch Code: All batch codes
Best before: All date codes
Applaw’s cat dry ocean fish
Pack size: 350g, 1.8kg and 6kg
Batch Code: All batch codes
Best before: All date codes
Applaws Cat Dry Senior Chicken
Pack size: 400g, 2kg and 7.5kg
Batch Code: All batch codes
Best before: All date codes
AVA kitten chicken
Pack size: 300g and 2kg
Batch Code: All batch codes
Best before: All date codes
AVA Adult Chicken
Pack size: 300g, 2kg and 4kg
Batch Code: All batch codes
Best before: All date codes
AVA adult fish
Pack size: 2kg
Batch Code: All batch codes
Best before: All date codes
Fold Hill Foods says products from Sainsbury’s hypoallergenic recipe range and Pets at Home’s Ava range are being recalled.
Applaws products sold by Amazon and other pet food stores can also be unsafe.
Fold Hill Foods said pet safety is its priority, adding the recall is the “safest course of action” until an exact cause is identified.
General Manager Ben Mankertz said, “As cat owners we know exactly how worrying and stressful this situation is for families and while diet has not been confirmed as the cause, we would prefer to act now to ensure the absolute safety of the cats . “
