Dehydrated food and bones?

[Buffster7]

I recall several years ago when Primal recalled a batch of their dog food due to bone fragments not being small enough. I was reminded of this when I felt a lot of bone fragments in some dehydrated patties (different brand) I was hydrating for my cats. I picked some of them out and am wondering about the size of these fragments. Are these size fragments safe to feed cats - is there any risk of G.I. or bowel bleeding with this size, or is it fine? They are absolutely crazy about this food, but what a messy hassle to pick out these fragments, and these were about half of what was in one patty:

 

[LTS3]

Are these the Primal frozen food or the freeze dried food? I've never seen bone fragments like those in either the frozen or freeze dried. What protein is this? Have you contacted Primal with a picture of the bone fragments and the lot / batch number of the bag? You might have gotten a bag from a bad batch.

Dr. Lisa has pictures of raw bone fragments that are too large for cats on her web site: Making Cat Food

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Wow! I feed my guy freeze dried raw (a different brand than Primal) and have never run across anything remotely likely that. Every once in awhile, though, when I give my other cat yet another different brand freeze dried UNHYDRATED (little pieces as treats) I hear a pretty load crack and figure he's just cracked a piece of bone. I used to think maybe he broke a tooth, but he had his Vet visit a few months ago and still had all his teeth But those pieces in your pic look really huge for what should be in there, IMHO. I would definitely show this to the manufacturer!

 

[Buffster7]

Are these the Primal frozen food or the freeze dried food? I've never seen bone fragments like those in either the frozen or freeze dried. What protein is this? Have you contacted Primal with a picture of the bone fragments and the lot / batch number of the bag? You might have gotten a bag from a bad batch.

Dr. Lisa has pictures of raw bone fragments that are too large for cats on her web site: Making Cat Food

Wow! I feed my guy freeze dried raw (a different brand than Primal) and have never run across anything remotely likely that. Every once in awhile, though, when I give my other cat yet another different brand freeze dried UNHYDRATED (little pieces as treats) I hear a pretty load crack and figure he's just cracked a piece of bone. I used to think maybe he broke a tooth, but he had his Vet visit a few months ago and still had all his teeth But those pieces in your pic look really huge for what should be in there, IMHO. I would definitely show this to the manufacturer!

Hi, thanks for the responses! This isn't Primal, this is VitalEssentials VitalCat, turkey is the protein. I'm going to call them tomorrow and see what size bone fragments they set their grinder to. As long as it's not a danger to the cat's GI tract.. Looking at the pic above (that's a quarter, right?), I don't think these bone fragments are quite that large, maybe as large as the bottom piece. But large enough to be concerning. I'll email them a pic and see what they say. My picky eater just loves this stuff, so if I have to pick bone fragments out, I can, but there really are a lot of them. Thank you for your input, guys!

 

[LTS3]

No, that's a US dime in the picture. I've fed Vital Essentials turkey before. No issue with bones. You might just have a batch that didn't get finely ground enough.

 

[Buffster7]

No, that's a US dime in the picture. I've fed Vital Essentials turkey before. No issue with bones. You might just have a batch that didn't get finely ground enough.

Good to know that this isn't the norm! My picky eater loves this stuff, and I can sprinkle it one almost any food that he may normally refuse to eat, and he'll then eat it. I finally got hold of someone at VitalEssentials, and I've emailed a pic to her to forward on to quality control. They'll get back with me once they've seen a pic. I took one with a dime for comparison. These bones aren't as 'long' as the ones in your pic, but they're bigger in diameter, and I do feel they're too large - especially for my picky eater who is a petite little guy: