Anyone Else Here Feed Primal Raw (frozen) Nuggets?

dan32

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I'm in a little bit of a quandary.. I have 3 cats who've been eating Primal raw nuggets (turkey, rabbit, beef & salmon, chicken) for over five years without any issue.

Sort of suddenly, pre-Thanksgiving, all 3 of them were throwing up (alot) with loose diarrhea and refusing to eat. None of them go out. After taking one to the ER, we got a script for metronidazole (2x for 7 days). A parasitic stool test all came back negative. All during the metro dosing, I continued feeding their Primal raw as before. After about 10 days (3 days past last of the metro), the vomiting had stopped but the stools were still loose.

My vet felt strongly that since the 3 cats do not go out, that the problem had to be with the food - which would point to the Primal. As a precaution, I switched them off of Primal and onto Wellness Core canned for one week to see if the digestion improved. It did, but did that prove that the problem was with the original Primal frozen in the first place - or not?

I had just re-stocked the Primal and have four virtually new 48 oz bags, over $100 of stock.

Do I:
1) resume feeding the Primal again from the stock I had just purchased?
2) bring the suspicion up to the company?
3) ask the store I bought the Primal from for a credit and keep feeding the Wellness canned?

It is kind of scary to suddenly mistrust a manufacturer.

My health post is here: S.o.s. All Three Cats Sick

My good friend has/had two brother cats (10 yo) who also ate Primal - different flavors. One of the brothers suddenly earlier this summer caught something similar - throwing up everything with chronic diarrhea. He later died. She has stopped serving the Primal to the remaining boy and no longer trusts the product. That sort of just leaves me carrying the torch. I had the idea I was doing something great for my guys feeding raw - even if it was a commercial product. Thoughts?
 

Furballsmom

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Hi! I think I personally would get the credit and keep feeding the Wellness.
I am so sorry to hear this!
 

lisahe

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I took a look at your other thread, dan32 dan32 , and see there are a lot of potential culprits in your cats' illness, making it very difficult, if not impossible, to sort out what caused the problem. One of our cats had really disgusting diarrhea (it's all disgusting but this was especially gross and stinky!) at one point and we never figured out how she got it; the other cat was fine. They're indoor cats who both eat the same food but the one that got so smelly had a bad habit of digging in the food disposal for scraps. (I say "had" because she's somewhat reformed now but the "garbage girls" nickname for these cats still stands. The other one ate plants -- we now have hardly any plants. They also eat bugs. And who knows if mice ever get into their screened veranda.)

I'm not sure what I'd do if I were in your position. It's always tempting to blame these problems on a food but given the many known and unknown factors, I'd be cautious about doing that, particularly if no testing was done for bacterial infections like salmonella or other bacterium that can be spread through the litter box and (theoretically, at any rate) might not have originated with Primal. Your other thread mentioned kibble and canned food; both those types of food can have contamination, too.

Any cases like this are, of course, sobering, particularly given your friend's cat's illness -- I'm very sorry to hear the cat died. We feed our cats Primal, too, and I do trust it but I understand your concern.
 
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dan32

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The kibble doesn't seem to be a problem as I have been serving it all along.

I had another talk with my vet today asking again what he thought. He has been my vet for over 20 years. He repeated his suspicion that food was the most likely culprit since none of my boys go out at all.

I called the store mgr. at the place where I have been buying the Primal and they are happy to refund the purchase if I bring the four (new-ish) bags in.

I also called Primal today three times - never got through to anyone - left my number and did not get a return call after three hours.
 

Azazel

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The kibble doesn't seem to be a problem as I have been serving it all along.

I had another talk with my vet today asking again what he thought. He has been my vet for over 20 years. He repeated his suspicion that food was the most likely culprit since none of my boys go out at all.

I called the store mgr. at the place where I have been buying the Primal and they are happy to refund the purchase if I bring the four (new-ish) bags in.

I also called Primal today three times - never got through to anyone - left my number and did not get a return call after three hours.
If you have been feeding the kibble all along then who’s to say that the culprit wasn’t the kibble?
 
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dan32

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Because their stools are back to normal, even with the kibble in their diet. Azazel, are you a Primal frozen raw feeder - you didn't say? They really don't eat that much kibble.

I probably would suspect the Primal rabbit as they all threw that up - almost immediately after I served it. Grantedly, I also moosh up the Primal rabbit together with Instinct's Ritzy's Rabbit (canned) - so I suppose it could have been either of them, but it is probably easier to fault a frozen raw cube over a cooked canned product. I have also not served the Ritzy's Rabbit since either.

My other likely culprit is the Primal turkey as the one cat would not touch it for three feedings during their illness. Again, I moosh that up with Purina turkey (canned) - so I suppose it could have been either of them, but Purina is such a common product that I would think any problems would be instantly reported. I have also not served the Purina turkey since either.

I am not trying to crucify Primal here (who has not btw ever called me back). I had over $500 in vet bills and three weeks recovery time to get the three cats back to normal. But, I did suspend all Primal and associated canned - the only constant really was the kibble.
 

Azazel

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Because their stools are back to normal, even with the kibble in their diet. Azazel, are you a Primal frozen raw feeder - you didn't say? They really don't eat that much kibble.

I probably would suspect the Primal rabbit as they all threw that up - almost immediately after I served it. Grantedly, I also moosh up the Primal rabbit together with Instinct's Ritzy's Rabbit (canned) - so I suppose it could have been either of them, but it is probably easier to fault a frozen raw cube over a cooked canned product. I have also not served the Ritzy's Rabbit since either.

My other likely culprit is the Primal turkey as the one cat would not touch it for three feedings during their illness. Again, I moosh that up with Purina turkey (canned) - so I suppose it could have been either of them, but Purina is such a common product that I would think any problems would be instantly reported. I have also not served the Purina turkey since either.

I am not trying to crucify Primal here (who has not btw ever called me back). I had over $500 in vet bills and three weeks recovery time to get the three cats back to normal. But, I did suspend all Primal and associated canned - the only constant really was the kibble.
I do feed Primal from time to time. It could very well have been the Primal, but vets also have a tendency to blame raw food because of their biases. It could have also been some bacteria on a bad batch of kibble. Or, it could have not been the food at all. It's tough to say.
 

kittyluv387

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I have fed frozen for a couple years before and it had been fine. Now i do freeze dried. No issues here.
 

lisahe

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I do feed Primal from time to time. It could very well have been the Primal, but vets also have a tendency to blame raw food because of their biases. It could have also been some bacteria on a bad batch of kibble. Or, it could have not been the food at all. It's tough to say.
That's the problem: it's so difficult to know for sure, particularly without extensive testing. If only cats could answer questions like, "Did you dig around in the Insinkerator again?" or "Did you lick (or drink out of) the toilet?" These things have been known to happen and who knows what bacteria lurk in places like those, which are damp and conducive to bacterial growth.
 
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dan32

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In the end, I could not re-serve any of the suspect bags of Primal - now that everyone has recovered from our mini-pandemic. I took the four almost full bags of Primal back to the originating store for credit - which I spent up on a whole grocery bag of Wellness cans.

I felt somewhat defeated by giving up on the commercial raw, it took me weeks and weeks to transition them onto it now over five years ago.

Just a side note, I think they may be gaining weight on the Wellness cans vs. the Primal raw. That is eating the same amount ounce per ounce.

Oh and also, the Primal company finally returned my three voicemail msgs I left them probably two weeks ago. Which is not great customer service in my book - not that Mars or Nestle would do any better, I suppose.
 
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dan32

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Right, I always balked at almost $7 lb. for Primal chicken and over $11 lb. for the rabbit, yet the fancier canned foods are about equally priced on a price per pound basis. You would think you could be feeding them fine grade meats for $7 lb. and at least you would know what was in it.
 

kittyluv387

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Right, I always balked at almost $7 lb. for Primal chicken and over $11 lb. for the rabbit, yet the fancier canned foods are about equally priced on a price per pound basis. You would think you could be feeding them fine grade meats for $7 lb. and at least you would know what was in it.
Exactly. Some canned foods are way up there in price too. I did a calculation and I would end up spending the same amount for my canned cats if i made home made raw for them. I just don't think I can coordinate and keep up production for 3 cats so it'll just be for my diarrhea kitty.
 
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