November 24, 2008

The two Oddy family cats that were paralysed and subsequently euthanised.
UNEXPLAINED chronic illness and death among Sydney cats has been linked to a gourmet imported pet food withdrawn from stores over the past three weeks.
A cat neurologist, Georgina Child, has put down five cats over the past week and treated or consulted with other vets about more than a dozen others suffering from paralysis.
Dr Child, who is based at the University of Sydney's veterinary hospital and the Small Animal Specialist Hospital in North Ryde, said the only factor that linked all the cats was a specialist pet food called Orijen, which is imported through a Canadian company, Champion Petfoods.
"There is a highly suspicious link because this is an uncommon expensive food in this country at the moment, and not sold in supermarkets," Dr Child said. "But all tests that have been done so far haven't given us an answer."
First symptoms included wobbliness or weakness in the animal's hind legs, which could then progress to the front limbs. The condition did not appear to be infectious, Dr Child said, nor typical of a nutritional deficiency.
"Most worrying is that the cats showed no signs [of illness] while on the food," she said. "It seems to be happening weeks or even months later."
The marketing manager of Champion Petfoods, Peter Muhlenfeld, confirmed yesterday the cat deaths had been traced back to Orijen's dry cat food, and the problem appeared to be restricted to Australia.
He said samples sent back by the Australian distributor had a "strange odour". The company is investigating whether irradiation upon entry into Australia was the source of the contamination.
The Oddy family of Dundas has lost two cats in the past week. "They were the children's pets; it's awful," Sarah Oddy said.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/cat-de...7375062012.html

i just wanted to share this news!

To all forumers here, anyone of your cat having this problem feeding Orijen? My friend, a pet shop and cat/dog rescuer facing this problem as well. some of their cats having same syndrome of back leg problem, then paralysis, in the end forced to be euthanized.

There are few cases in one pet rescuer already, everyone here having same problems please stand out for yourself, at least, ask for refund.

Thanks.

omg...

im feeding my dog orijen -.-

Phew, luckily im using Science Plan. Thanks for the info.

bro, frankly tell you, SP is not as good as you think though...

It is the time for recall world class pet food. this is second time facing problem, since they pet food have sharp fish bone, but they try no recall.

Dongdong can i know which is the petshop cum dog/cat rescuer ? there is only one in the klang valley selling orijen n i didnt get any complain fron them at all... i m the marketing personnel for champion pet supplies which is the importer of acana n orijen n as at today there is no complain from any of our client n i hope u can furnish me with the name of the petshop cum pet rescue so that i can go n confirm on this matter otherwise i hope u don simply mention it out cos it can be quite harmful to our company image n i hope u can cooperaqte with me by giving me the name n contact no. of ur fren so that we can refer this matter back to our supplier in canada.. tq

Mako,
forum always have talk only, where have pet rescue eat orijen pet food, I also want to know for which. you from champion malaysia? are you mark?

But this is the best one and the cheapest brand around in KCH. If RC, i will be starving.

if u dont believe u can contact me anytime, i will bring you here. plz do not simply talk ppl like that before you know anything. They consume more than 30 bag of 7kg Orijen per month, you can ask mako. he/she certainly know which rescuer i m referring to. thanks.

Hi mako, i bet you know which pet shop i m referring to. i think it is one of your largest customers also, not because they have a lot pf customers, but they have over 170 cats. furthermore, i m just mentioning the possibility, not as a conclusion of feeding Orijen. since it is mentioned in australlia, so i would certainly link paralysis in the rescuer's cats. sorry if cause any discomfort for you.

I must declare that it is a possibility only.

He have mention "can i know which is the petshop cum dog/cat rescuer ? there is only one in the klang valley selling orijen n i didnt get any complain fron them at all" That why i said forum just talk only. because he said work for this brand.

ok whatever you say, mako will have to find it out.

do you want have a look the Orijen Manager from Canada wrote memo about this issue? If like , I can post here.

Clementcpteh...yes i m mak from champion pet supplies sdn.bhd.... i know there is always talk only but please talk sensible things cos if u were to read dondong posting it states that the pet rescue have already got the same incident rhat happened in australia but i can say its a big lie cos i went to my pet rescue ppl n asked them n the answer is negative.. furthrtmotr we don have any client having 170 cats n feeding them with orijen... i don think any breeder in right mind will feed 170 cats with only orijen ....dongdong ur statement might land u up in legal suit if u cant prove that u r right cos its tarnishing the name of orijen and also a very reputable petfood manufacturer in canada.... please priovide me with the supposed petshop cum pet rescue name so that i can clarify everything for u b4 i send ur posting in this forum to the principal in canada n let them decide what actions they wanna take.. u can call me if u don wanna reply in this forum ..012-3590666...tq..clement can i know how u know me ? tq

I'm a orijen customer. I'm a lil bit paranoid when i get to know about this issue.

First i was surprise that there's a pet rescuer feed orijen to 170 cats? wow.. i never come across that at all. that pet rescuer must be coming from very rich sponsor then.

Secondly, i agree with Mako the Champion food distributor, people cannot simply accuse and pretend to have the problem straight away after 2 cats in australia died. If you have problem with your cats, and wanted to sue or refund... fist go to your vet and ask for approval. You cannot simply use the word come from your mouth to blame the company and distributor.

So now, before you putting bad name to other people, get you prove from the vets, a letter showing that 170 cats is suffering illness due to eating ORIJEN. Then call Mako so mako can send that vet approval letter of illness to Orijen Canada for immediate action.

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as i surf the net today i found this PDF letter by Champion PetFood Manager. You can download it here - http://www.championpetfoods.com/orijen/Aus...mer_Release.pdf

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Orijen people posted:

Q: WE'VE HEARD NEWS OF POSSIBLE CONCERNS WITH CATS IN AUSTRALIA
A: this concern affects the AUSTRALIAN MARKET ONLY and is associated with IRRADIATION applied to ORIJEN upon arriving in Australia. The process and concern is unique to Australia and does not affect ORIJEN products sold anywhere else in the world.

Q: IS ORIJEN IRRADIATED ANYWHERE OTHER THAN AUSTRALIA?
A: No. The irradiation process is unique to Australia.

Q: WHY DOES AUSTRALIA IRRADIATE ORIJEN?
A: The Australian government is concerned about the IBVD virus present in fresh chicken meat. Foods cooked at less than 100C for at least 30 minutes require gamma irradiation at 50 kGrays when entering Australia. As ORIJEN is made with large amounts of fresh meats, irradiation is required upon arrival in Australia.

Q: HAVE ANY OTHER FOODS HAD A PROBLEM WITH IRRADIATION?
A: Our research department has uncovered a study linking "possible nutritional, metabolic, or toxic causes" among cats fed a major brand of irradiated cat food. A summary of the study is available on the internet. LEUKOENCEPHALOMYELOPATHY IN SPECIFIC PATHOGEN-FREE CATS
http://www.vetpathology.org/cgi/content/full/44/6/912

Q: ARE THERE CONCERNS FOR ORIJEN IN ANY OTHER MARKET?
A: Absolutely not. Australia is the only country that irradiates ORIJEN and is the only location where any concerns are reported.

Q: WHAT ACTION HAS CHAMPION TAKEN?
A: We have removed ORIJEN cat foods from Australian shops and have stopped all future shipments.

Yes, I able read your writing Mark. thanks for return here, i still doubt pet rescue able using Orijen pet food. He would like bring us to there place, If can you may follow him and same time might make a new friend. You also bring another supporter coming for help. For me the forum just a talk song only. Don't speed too much time for it. By the way for your information. Have one large USA pet supplies company going plan open business at Malaysia. Tip for you.

This post has been edited by clementcpteh: Nov 26 2008, 06:58 PM

the orijen sold in malaysia is import direct from CANADA or AUSTRALIA?

sorry wrong information here, it is ACANA mix with Orijen. you may think whatever you want to think, they are rich or i m bluffing, or what so ever, that is your problems. i doubt why mako know so little about this. or maybe there is a communication problem.

but i just want to ask whether any cat owners facing the same problem? am i directly condemning champion pet food? and yes the fact is that some cats eating Orijen facing this problem. thats all. even though it is not proven that Orijen is the cause. and yes i do have friend saw a sharp fish bone in Orijen kibble as well, believe it or not it is up to you.

clement if you think that forum is just a place to talk song than no point staying here. actually i with my friend have personally convinced quite a number of forumers to switch to Orijen. Orijen was the best food in my mind. you may go Cari.com.my to find out how many forumers are feeding Orijen now.

btw i have pm mako...

Thanks your explanation, it no doubt to me already. you have a right to speak what you like, forum is a place open talk. As i read you are no directly condemning.
About Cat deaths linking cat food, That is so sad.,Cats are much more sensitive than dogs. During the melamine scandal in Spring 2007 many more cats died than dogs. How awful to lose your pet this way.

I just heard/read of this news.

I am also using Orijen for my Cat.

Anyhow, even in the first recall article, it is mentioned that this is a unique/restricted case in Australia.

So far my cat has had no problems what so ever since the past year I've been using Orijen.

Although a little concerned, but I am not that worried to continue using Orijen. Most of the explanation is clear and should be able to clear people's doubt(outside of Australia).


KP

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Elfreakz PDF findings is clear enough that we shouldn't be worried. Read through the whole PDF, it explains everything.

This post has been edited by krynzpeaches: Nov 27 2008, 11:11 AM