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Fold Hill Foods has announced a recall on several of its hypoallergenic cat foods after reports that the products may be causing a rare and deadly bone marrow condition in pets.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) issued a notice of the recall Tuesday. The agency and Fold Hill Foods say the recall is a “precautionary action” due to “safety concerns” and extends to dozens of cat food products under the Sainsbury, Applaws, and Pets at Home brands, including:
- Applaws Dry Food in Chicken, Chicken & Salmon, Chicken & Lamb, Chicken & Duck, Ocean Fish, and Kitten Dry Chicken
- Sainsbury’s Hypoallergenic Recipe in Salmon and Chicken
- Various AVA Dry Food, including Sensitive Skin & Stomach, Weight Management, Oral Care, British Shorthair, Persian, Maine Coon, Kitten Chicken, and Adult Chicken
A complete list of recalled cat food, along with the pack size, batch codes, and best before dates are available on the FSA recall notice. In addition, point of sale notices will be displayed at retail stores and shops that sold the recalled Fold Hill products.
“There has been an increase in cases of pancytopenia in cats and there is a possible link to the cat food products”, says the FSA’s notice. “Pancytopenia is a very rare condition wherein the number of blood cells (red, white and platelets) rapidly decreases, causing serious illness”.
FSA says that consumers should stop feeding the recalled cat food to their pets immediately.
“If cat owners are concerned about the health of their pet then they should seek immediate advice from their vet”, warns the recall.
Indeed, one UK pet owner told BBC News that her 8-month-old kitten died from the rare bone marrow condition after eating Fold Hills cat food.
She may not be alone. Experts told BBC News that there is a concerning “clustering” of pancytopenia in the UK, with nearly 50 reported cases.
“Typically, we may see one case of this per year, but we have seen now 10 cats with severe pancytopenia in the last four weeks,” said Dr. Barbara Glanemann, senior lecturer in small animal medicine at the Royal Veterinary College told reporters.
Consumers who purchased AVA products can fill out a form on the Pets at Home website. Those with Applaws products can contact the company through its website. Those with Sainsbury’s recalled cat food can contact the company through its website or by calling 0800 636262.
Top Class Actions will continue to monitor this and other recalls to help keep consumers and their furry friends safe.
Have you fed your pets the recalled cat food? We want to hear from you! Tell us about your experience in the comment section below.
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14 thoughts onRecall Check: Fold Hill Cat Food Recalled After More Than 40 Pets Sickened by Rare, Deadly Condition
I lost my boy Dave 2 yrs old Easter Sunday to a mystery blood disorder that was attacking his WBC RBC and platelets to the point where he basically didn’t have any and his bone marrow wasn’t producing any. He was at a specialist Veterinary hospital despite there best efforts being in ITU receiving blood transfusions and various test the decision was made to put him to sleep. I couldn’t even be with him I had to say good bye from the car when I seen him he was on oxygen and bleeding from his nose and mouth it was awful. He just lay his head on my hand and let out a little meow. All his symptoms are identical to ones listed for feline pancytopenia I had been feeding Sainsbury Hypoallergenic both flavours for a long time. I also had an 8 yr old cat Boo also on the same food. Not long after Dave died she just disappeared and I think now she may have had the same disease and went off to die somewhere. It’s heartbreaking
My 7 month old kitten was feeding on applaws chicken dry food for kittens with the bad batch number. He sadly passed away last week after being sick them bleeding from the mouth. Then slowly deteriorated over the course of a week until he could no longer stand. Bloods came back so low they were non existent. This has been a very tragic and upsetting time for all the 300 pets owners who have lost their companions and have no justice from the company who produced this poision.
Hi. Wanted to share my story.
My cat sparkle had a minor illness for months before. She was 10 years old and was otherwise a very healthy cat, she had been eating the sainburies hypoallergenic food as both she and our other cat had sensitive stomachs. She went to the vets because the previous day she was bounding about, then she couldn’t even walk down the stairs. She passed on the 20th may as she had already deteriorated upon arrival at the vets. We chose to end her suffering with euthanasia.
Our other cat, sheeba was a few weeks later. She went to vet as she was acting odd. Vets on the 11thjune said that she seemed healthy, no anemia, no temp, all good beside what looked like a possible infection on her lip. Monday 14th, she again, deteriorated, would not eat. Acting totally different (lethargy etc). Took her to vets, again, severely anemic. Chose to pts on vets advice.
They were both eating Sainsburys hypoallergenic range.
I was to take action when it is applicable.
We lost our gorgeous 11 month ginger kitten Spartapus to vet-confirmed Pancytopenia, he was fed Applaws Kitten dry and Applaws Adult dry with the Folds Hill factory code. He bled from the anus, bled and bruised internally, his ears were bruised and his gums white and struggled to breathe, couldn’t walk and had WBC and RBC and platelets so low the machine couldn’t read the results and it had to be redone by hand. He was put to sleep within 24hrs of the first symptom when it was discovered that his bone marrow was irreversibly damaged and there was no treatment.
His tiny brother now has it too.
Our 5yr old girl cat also has it and her results show she is likely to die this week from it, and our 4th cat is borderline.
These are therapy cats for our autistic children and we may lose them all within a month.
We lost our 18 month old healthy Ragdoll at the end of May, quickly and suddenly due to Pancytopenia. She was eating AVA adult chicken biscuits. She had many of the symptoms listed and we are sure there is a link between the food and her passing. We want answers and are waiting for the confirmation.
We lost our beautiful boy Sterling at the start of all this on 13 June who was eating the AVA food and treated by the RVC. When they confirmed the link to the food we reported it to the FSA and Pets at home immediately but they took several days to investigate. I am in contact with a group of about 60 extremely distressed families in the same position. As soon as the link is proved we want to take legal action.
My beautiful 10-month old kitten is currently in urgent care at the RCV. I had been feeding him Applaws Kitten Chicken flavour on a recommendation by a friend and he has now been diagnosed with pancytopenia (confirmed). Not only am I looking at a vet bill near £15k and growing… my own mental and physical health is seriously suffering. I am unable to sleep, am having an outbreak of stress-related eczema on my face, and I am unable to focus on work, or anything else. I am overcome with anxiety and worry and guilt; feeling as though I’ve poisoned my beautiful little cat. This is unspeakable… as is the behaviour of both Applaws and Fold Hill – both of whom claim that they have recalled the foods ‘as a precaution’. But I work in reputation management and know full well that companies NEVER recall products until they’re pretty certain they are in some legal jeopardy/are likely to bear significant responsibility. I’m horrified, sick, scared, and absolutely furious. But mostly… I am glued to my phone, waiting the next call from the hospital.
Our beautiful healthy 3 year old fur baby died on 3rd June. He became ill very suddenly and passed away within 4 days, showing all the symptoms of this pancytopenia disease, the vets couldn’t do anything to save him. We gave him Ava Cat food from Pets at home… It was a mystery why he died until we heard about this recall on this catfood.
I’m certain this is the cause, we need answers
Our 7 year olds cat died on Thursday 17th June and reading about the symptoms I am sure this was due to her eating Sainsbury’s Hypoallergenic Recipe complete dry cat food with Salmon 1+ Years.
Hi, We had a litter of 4 kittens in March, from May we were feeding Applaws Kitten cat food to the kittens and parents were fed Applaws Salmon Cat food, two kittens were given away in the beginning of May and they still healthy. While two other kittens then were kept fed Applaws Kitten Food died on 15th and 17th of June 2021. One of the kitten was coughing showed the vet said he is fine it may be reverse sneezing. However after the cough went away he died within couple of days and was not able to breath.
Another Kitten which died on Monday, started feeling aick Saturday, after vet visit was dehydrated and died within two days.
Adult cats (Three) Developed a cough early this week(Same as one little one), we bringing them to vet but we believe they may be affected of the food and worried that they may die.