Peas Found In Hound & Gatos Duck!!!

blacksakura6

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WARNING! PEA FOUND IN HOUND AND GATOS DUCK FORMULA FOR CATS!!! Food is contaminated with another food formula from a different vendor!

Posting this in my groups to let pet parents know! Last month it was carrots in their Rabbit formula and now this!!! My cat Graysan has been having continuous allergic responses and we could not figure out why! We took him off of the Hound and Gatos Rabbit but kept him on the Duck. Now we find this!!! I am beyond angry and I have alerted the company! But I wanted others to know to proceed with caution if your cat is sensitive to certain proteins (like pea protein) because their food is being mixed with another brand!!! The machines are obviously not being cleaned in between!!!

The Best By date is 6-2022.

 

lisamarie12

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This isn't the first time I've read about this happening with H&G's cat food, unfortunately, someone in another group had the same issue with peas found (duck also) and posted pics - and that was either early this year or 2018. Definitely sounds like the lines aren't cleaned and it's cross contamination, which doesn't surprise me, sadly.

There was a study several years ago re: cross contamination in pet foods, specifically protein's that were found in canned foods but not listed on the ingredient label (e.g., beef protein in a food labeled turkey). This was the Chapman University study:

Study Casts Doubt on Pet Food Labeling - Veterinary Practice News

The names of the manufacturers were not listed, however, the ingredients for each company that had mislabeled ingredients was listed, making it pretty easy to match up online.
 
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blacksakura6

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Thank you lisamarie12 for the link. I really appreciate it.

It is so frustrating! Our Vet said one of the main issues is co-packing with other brands. He said it is very different in Europe and Canada because there are tighter controls on how the food and machinery has to be handled.

As my husband said you might not expect much from brands like Friskies but as expensive as these foods are they should be more thorough. :mad:
 

lisamarie12

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I checked the other forum where the pea was found in H&G's duck food and it was back in March 2018 with a best buy date of 3/2020. Given your best buy date of 6/2022, obviously it's still an issue with HG, not worthy of continuing to support them, imo. Sorry you had this experience, it's difficult with animals who have allergies, but also duplicitous on behalf of H&G as the consumer is relying on info given on the ingredient label. I don't feed any food with peas either to my cats as I have a cat who tested high positive for various allergies, food / environmental. Omitting peas definitely made a difference with him.
 
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blacksakura6

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I checked the other forum where the pea was found in H&G's duck food and it was back in March 2018 with a best buy date of 3/2020. Given your best buy date of 6/2022, obviously it's still an issue with HG, not worthy of continuing to support them, imo. Sorry you had this experience, it's difficult with animals who have allergies, but also duplicitous on behalf of H&G as the consumer is relying on info given on the ingredient label. I don't feed any food with peas either to my cats as I have a cat who tested high positive for various allergies, food / environmental. Omitting peas definitely made a difference with him.
Thank you for checking into that! I really appreciate it! They have lost me as a customer... Bad that this is obviously something known but they have not corrected it.

I contacted the other manufacturers that I feed. I loved Koha until the recent formula change. Never had an issue and my kitties loved their foods! Koha said they had issues with quality after the formula change so their foods are now processed in Canada. I only feed their Rabbit now. The Duck and Turkey turned my cat's feces yellow! So sad that they discontinued the Venison. It was expensive but my cats loved it. I wish they would have left the food as it was...

Rawz said their food is sourced from multiple places but cooked in the can and processed in Thailand. The CS said other manufacturers are processed there but guidelines are very strict about transitioning between foods. I was surprised to hear that but grateful for their honesty. I have not had any issues with Rawz so far.

May I ask which foods you have found agreeable? And again thank you for your information! I sincerely appreciate it! :thanks:
 

lisamarie12

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Thank you for checking into that! I really appreciate it! They have lost me as a customer... Bad that this is obviously something known but they have not corrected it.

I contacted the other manufacturers that I feed. I loved Koha until the recent formula change. Never had an issue and my kitties loved their foods! Koha said they had issues with quality after the formula change so their foods are now processed in Canada. I only feed their Rabbit now. The Duck and Turkey turned my cat's feces yellow! So sad that they discontinued the Venison. It was expensive but my cats loved it. I wish they would have left the food as it was...

Rawz said their food is sourced from multiple places but cooked in the can and processed in Thailand. The CS said other manufacturers are processed there but guidelines are very strict about transitioning between foods. I was surprised to hear that but grateful for their honesty. I have not had any issues with Rawz so far.

May I ask which foods you have found agreeable? And again thank you for your information! I sincerely appreciate it! :thanks:
Sure, no problem. :) I'm glad Koha rabbit is working out for you. We've been using Rawz, Holistic Select and Weruva canned products, although the cats are on / off with Rawz (turkey and occasionally duck) because they just don't like the food that much. My cats don't have a problem with chicken although I feed Weruva to one cat more than the other.

I'm not thrilled with foods made in Thailand but our choices right now are far and few based on what I try to avoid in commercial canned products.

If Graysan can have pork, Life's Abundance has a duck / pork recipe. Apparently they don't outsource their food to any packers, or so they told me awhile back, they have their own facility so there isn't a risk of cross contamination with other manufacturers.
 
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blacksakura6

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Sure, no problem. :) I'm glad Koha rabbit is working out for you. We've been using Rawz, Holistic Select and Weruva canned products, although the cats are on / off with Rawz (turkey and occasionally duck) because they just don't like the food that much. My cats don't have a problem with chicken although I feed Weruva to one cat more than the other.

I'm not thrilled with foods made in Thailand but our choices right now are far and few based on what I try to avoid in commercial canned products.

If Graysan can have pork, Life's Abundance has a duck / pork recipe. Apparently they don't outsource their food to any packers, or so they told me awhile back, they have their own facility so there isn't a risk of cross contamination with other manufacturers.
Thank you so much for your response! I will check into the foods you mentioned! I really appreciate it!!!
 
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blacksakura6

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For those who saw my posts about Hounds and Gatos not cleaning their machines between their foods and other manufacturer's brands I finally received a response. This came after I alerted all of my cat boards, my Vet, my pet shop and Chewy.

Finally, I posted an alert on the Hound and Gatos' Facebook page and I guess that triggered them to write me. I just want to keep our loved ones safe. And of course I will not accept any of their foods. <3


"First of all, all of us at Hound and Gatos apologize for these unfortunate events. Finding foreign material in your beloved cat's food is not the expectation of our company nor should it be the expectations of our pet parents and pet customers. We are still assessing the foreign material found in the food to determine the origin of the material. Our quality control and quality assurance group is doing a root cause assessment on the issue as a means to ensure this type of issue does not happen again.

Patrick McGarry, our General Manager, would very much like to speak with you tomorrow about your experience and to share with you directly about what Hound & Gatos is doing in our internal investigation of what happened and address your concerns of cross contamination of other proteins in the rabbit formula. He is aware of Grayson's health and he is, as are all of us, worried about Grayson.

I will be the conduit to set up the meeting depending upon both of your schedules. I will reach out to you in the morning via telephone, or please send us a return email with good times for Mr. McGarry to call you. We will all do our best to work around your schedule.

I'm sure your know we are happy to replace your current recipe with a different lot code (i.e. different production date). We also know what you will want to talk with Mr. McGarry before you decide on whether to accept our offer to replace our food.
Thank you for letting us know about this issue and for working with us to find the cause. We sincerely appreciate it."
 

darg

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Was feeding some Hound and Gatos Turkey and never saw anything like this. The cans I got were all consistent, no problems. My cat doesn't really like it too much so I haven't been through more than maybe a dozen cans of the product. It's a shame that this happens with what seemed to be a decent food, ingredient wise anyway. And the price isn't terribly high. Hope they get it sorted out for those cat parents who feed this brand.
 

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I think H&G had to change manufacturers/canning company over a year ago. It was during that time, that Artie was eating their food. There was a shortage at that time.

Perhaps the manufacturer/canning company is now becoming sloppy, or they had to change again.

I am really shocked to find these issues with H&G. They have won so many awards, in the past, for transparency and having very good formulas.

Shame.. cannot trust anyone anymore.

I did find them to be a caring company with high concerns about quality control.
 
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blacksakura6

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I just got off of the phone with Mr. McGarry who called to speak about the ongoing issues with Hound and Gatos' inconsistencies. He informed me that he normally does not speak with consumers but there have been multiple issues including mine and he wanted to reach out to me directly. Especially after seeing that the food triggered an allergic reaction in Graysan.

He told me that the packing facility has not changed and it is the same one that has been used by Hound and Gatos for years. He said that they take these reports very seriously and any foreign object, whether it is a rock or a carrot is thoroughly investigated. When I found bone shards in the Rabbit food in July he reported to me today that they did DNA testing to make sure the bones were from the same protein source and they were.

They have now hired more people to test for allergens after multiple reports. The facility is supposed to clean thoroughly and mark that it was done between batches so they are looking into why that may have failed. I asked if he would be clear with me and tell me if the facility also runs Nature's Variety because I had the same issues (bone shards and carrots in the LID foods... Also NV puts whole peas in their foods) and he said he would look into it. If the cross contaminated food is Nature's Variety then it will have pea protein in it... Something that Graysan has a sensitivity to that may have triggered his allergic response.

He then told me that Hound and Gatos is taking this so seriously that they are going to partner with a company in Canada. He said the new facility has very high standards and he was happy with their quality control methods. Once they begin packing there the USA flag will also have the Canadian flag beside it. He assured me that he is also a pet parent and he would not want this to happen to his pet's food. There are too many complaints for them to continue with the current plant.

Mr. McGarry also said that he will send me the analysis report of their investigations when they come out within the next two weeks.

I told him that everything he and I discussed would be shared with members on my various pet boards because there are multiple pet parents that are concerned about the tainted food and he gave me permission to do so. I also told him that I would have far too much trepidation to feed Hound and Gatos and he said he understood completely.

He said that once the food is being packed in the new facility he would send me a case of their Rabbit for my inspection. If I wanted to feed it I could or I could donate i. I told him that I would consider it because I did say that the only way I would feed the food again is if they went to a new packing plant and that is exactly what they are doing. If I decide to test the food I will not give it to my allergen prone cat (Graysan) but to my other two that have no health issues atm until I feel safe about the way the food is handled by the new facility. I never had problems with Hound and Gatos' food so all of these issues have been quite surprising to me.

I really appreciated Mr McGarry reaching out to me and it made me feel that Hound and Gatos is actually looking into this seriously. This message is going to be shared on my pet boards to give this information to other concerned pet parents.

I will keep you up to date.
 
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