Black Spots in Tiki Cat Food, Chicken Flavor Puka Luau

[jessum]

Sorry, I don't have the spelling. I'm kind of freaking out at 6 in the morning when I discovered the food I put out late last night has black spots throughout it, They are solid spots but when you touch them fade. I opened a new can and first didn't see any but then saw there were also black spots throughout, only very tiny. Which makes me think it is mold. I am so worried now as my cat is FIV pos. But he only drank mainly the juice from one can- though it was the larger size. (6 oz?) I had just gotten several cases of food from Chewys.

I have to try and rest now but I just feel so scared that he ate any of it. I'll speak to the company tomorrow and send it back to Chewys but now am questioning the weruva as it also is made in Thailand. I was feeling trusting of the standards and how he liked the food and the way the food looked but now I am not so sure.

I chose it for not having caragenen, and being a whole type food with minimal ingredients. I started home cooking and then felt I couldn't do it properly but now I am feeling I will have to make the effort. I'm so sick of this merry go round. I just want him to have decent food. I'm going to try and get some rest and rethink it in the morning. (sigh) I just really hope he's okay now, he's just gotten healthier acting. I'll write more later and let you know what the can lots are and the companies response.

I think I'm going to have to send the Weruva back now too. Dangit. I haven't used that word in awhile but it seems fitting.

Best.

 

[jessum]

PS, Plus the Tiki has tuna oil which maybe isn't such a good idea anyway.  I'm saying a prayer now for him. I'll make sure he has plenty of fresh water and keep him warm today.

 

[rlavach]

Did the food have black specks in it when you put it out? If it developed after being left out in room temperature for hours, I personally wouldn't be as concerned. I don't think most wet food would do well being left out for hours. I also feed Tiki Cat puka puka luau. I never noticed any black spots, but my cat finishes it in 5 minutes. 

Regarding the fish oil, my understanding was the problem with fish is the mineral content. There is fish oil in many foods & even in raw or homemade food recipes. So I'm not sure I'd stop feeding it because of the fish oil. But black spots when you open the can, that would be concerning!

 

[jessum]

I definitely agree with you about leaving it out that long and I will rethink how I feed him. I keep uneaten food refridgerated and keep his dishes washed but sometimes I am too lax about picking up the food, probably because sometimes he comes back to it in the next hour and finishes. But still, you are right, it's not very hygenic.

But about the spots - no it didn't have them when i opened it - that is I didn't see any and know I would have noticed because I warm his bowl first (just the bowl) in the oven on low and push the food around in the bowl with a fork - so I am really looking at it. I've been feeding the Tiki for about 3-4 weeks rotated with Weruva and Spots Stew.

But these were very noticeable spots about the size of 1/4 pencil eraser, or a round pin head. I opened a new can to look and first didn't see any at first but then I did see that there were black spots but very very tiny, scattered about the food (chicken). The chicken is very light colored so I would have noticed in the last weeks if there was some sort of dark colored bits meant to be in there. I wonder if it was some kind of mold and that by leaving the food out too long (yes, my fault) it caused the tiny bits of mold to grow.

Which means I should never leave food out like that and wont anymore, but also that there was something not right about the food in the first place. He really loved the Tiki too, and had been gobbling it up so its funny that he barely touched the meat on this can. I will try and contact the company now. Chewys was really good about returning it and will send me a pre-paid return label as I think I'm returning the Weruva too. (That could well be an overreaction - I've had no problems at all with Weruva, but I just want to back up and think about what's best for him now. I'm just not convinced about food being made in Thailand though I know the speal about it being excellent.)

 

[jessum]

I just read on another site to give your cat as much as they want for 15 minutes and then pick up the dish. I guess I screwed up. I will be doing this from now.

Just to say last night I put the food down and then fell asleep, and normally only had it down for 1-2 hours. But clearly that wasn't good anyway.

 

[rlavach]

I hear ya on the food made in Thailand. With so many things that we try to avoid in their food, there is always something undesirable still there. Since mine are such chow hounds, they gobble it up almost immediately! But if they don't like it, I'll wrap it in plastic & put it in the fridge. Hey, we all learn along the way. Glad your able to return it.

 

[cody]

Hi Jessum. Did the company ever get back to you about what was in the food? I recently purchases the same Tiki Cat food and it definitely has dark spots interspersed. All 8 cans were the same way.

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• cody
• Apr 11, 2015

 

[2bcat]

The black specks are right out of the can, not sure why, but the one recent change that I know of is that it has tuna oil.  It didn't used to.

 

[felineempathy]

Although this really isn't on topic.  Those black spots remind me of this time I decided to use up a can of Libby's Pumpkin for pies that was a few months pass the expiration date.  When I opened the can, it had black spots in it.  The black spots remained in the filling after cooking it as well.  Turned out to be perfectly fine though.  However, there definitely shouldn't of been black spots because I always use Libby's for pumpkin filling.

Check the expiration date, look for a manufacturer code, and cal the company.

 

[cody]

So your cans have the same black specks? I've ordered from two different distributors (amazon and wag.com) and all cans have had them. The best by date on the cans is Nov 2017.

 

[cody]

I left a voicemail with the company and also facebook messaged them (longshot, I know). I had tried to contact them through their "contact us" form on the website weeks ago with no response. I'll update here with any information I might get. In the meantime here's another picture (look closely):

 

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• cody
• Apr 21, 2015

 

[riley1]

Chew's is great!  They will credit you for the food & you don't need to send it back. I would worry about the spots as well!

 

[cody]

Here's the official response:

At Tiki, we are always looking for ways to improve our products, and recently, we upgraded our supplement mix. The black specks you are seeing is a result of the chelation process between copper and sulfur in the supplement mix. Chelation of those minerals helps them to be absorbed more easily during digestion. We are currently working to fix the process so that black flecks are not produced in some of our chicken, whitefish and salmon products.

Our whole food format has made this change in supplement mix more noticeable. Please be assured that this product is perfectly safe for your cats, and in fact, should not affect the palatability of the product as far as they are concerned. That being said, we know that our customers, like you, deserve the very best we can offer not only in product quality and palatability for your cat, but also in the visual appearance that you have when opening a can. While we work on the appearance, please feel confident in the quality and safety of the Tiki products you are feeding.

 

[alanahf]

Thank you so much Cody! I've thrown out countless (in my mind "defective") cans of Tiki Cat because of those exact black spots and as such my cat is out of food since her Wag.com order was delayed. All I had on hand was the spot-laden food. Really glad someone had already contacted the company to ask what was up and that the food is actually safe to eat. Weirdly, I haven't noticed the black spots in any other Tiki cat flavors.

 

[luvmybirmans]

OMG, thank you.  I have had the black spots in a few cans and have been very upset about it because the food is so expensive.

 

[riley1]

I sent them an email & told them I did not like the amount of water in some of their cans but have heard nothing.

 

[luvmybirmans]

My cats absolutely love the broth. They lick it up first then eat the chicken.

 

[lisahe]

My cats absolutely love the broth. They lick it up first then eat the chicken.

Our cats love the broth, too, particularly in the Gourmet Carnivore foods!

 

[wendalore]

I'm online looking to find out about the black specks in Iams Gourmet Chicken Pate Kitten food, small can.  The food is mostly very light color- and then there are these black specks throughout  But far apart, you know? So it's not like PART of the food . I don't LIKE them.  I mash up even pate for my cat, and I see these black specks as I do it, there one is, then it goes under. Oh, there's another one.

. Sometimes I pick them out.  I suspect they are from some kind of vegetation, but I feel that if there are so few of them how can they be doing my cat any good? So I wish they would do something so there aren't any black specks, yucky looking!  I get the food VERY soft and fine, and my cat sucks it up when he's hungry!  He doesn't seem to notice the black specks, and they don't look to me like mold at all.  I can mash them with my spoon and they behave like vegetation, they sort of stretch out and get a little flatter.

Just putting in my 2¢ !!

 

[molly92]

I have no experience with Iams, but I'm glad you brought this thread back! I was trying the succulent chicken Tiki flavor with my cat a couple months ago and one batch of cans all had those black spots and I got nervous (in the same boat as Jessum with an FIV positive cat!) and because my cat seemed to prefer pate style food anyway, I stopped feeding them. I still have those cans though, so now I can donate them without worrying. Thank you!