Cat owners in Finland have reported that their cats have become ill after eating Musti ja Mirri’s Smaak brand grain-free dry food.
Earlier this week, Musti Group acknowledged that grain-free varieties of its Smaak brand dog food had caused severe symptoms in dogs that ate it. The company recalled all affected batches of the dog food, amounting to approximately 33,000 kg of the kibble.
The dog food is being tested in a laboratory. It is suspected that the dog food contained imported potato flakes that may have caused glycoalkaloid poisoning in the animals.
Dog owners have reported severe paralysis-like symptoms in their animals. Some dogs were so sickened by the tainted food that they had to be euthanized.
Now some cat owners who fed their pets Smaak dry cat food have told Yle that their cats have also developed similar symptoms.
Virpi Rajala from Jyväskylä told Yle that she had to euthanize two of her previously healthy cats after they developed paralysis-like symptoms.
Rajala said she took her cats to several veterinarians, but they were all unable to determine the cause of the animals’ symptoms.
She said the cats had been experiencing symptoms for about 10 days. But the suspicion that it could be the Smaak brand food they were eating came on Tuesday this week, when a vet asked Rajala if her cats were eating Smaak dry food.
“The next morning we received information that the recall also applied to cat food,” Rajala explained.
Musti Group’s chief financial officer, Toni Rannikko, confirmed on Thursday that a number of cat owners had contacted the company about the matter, but did not specify how many.
“Apparently the symptoms in cats are very similar to those in dogs, so the description fits the suspicion,” Rannikko said.
Rannikko said an estimated 3,000 bags of Smaak sensitive fish grain-free dog food and Smaak grain-free chicken cat food have been removed from the shelves of Musti ja Mirri stores.
“We have been able to get most of them into stores and warehouses,” he said.
Rannikko said the batches of dog and cat food not affected by the recall should not contain the substances suspected of sickening the animals.
“As far as we understand, this should not be possible. Therefore, for the sake of clarity, we have announced today that we are removing all affected products from sale,” he said.
On Thursday evening, the Musti Group announced that as a precautionary measure, it was withdrawing all of its Smaak Dog Grain-Free Fish and Smaak Cat Adult Grain-Free Chicken from sale “due to the use of potato flakes from the same foreign raw material manufacturer as in the previously withdrawn product batches.”
“We are continually reviewing reports from our customers and gaining a clearer picture of the situation,” the company’s press release said.
