Cujo is one lucky cat

Pet food recall saves one Warwick feline Warwick — Mary Jones was immediately concerned about her 17-month-old Persian cat, Cujo, when she heard that Menu Foods, producers of Iams Select Bites, was recalling 51 varieties of dog food and 40 varieties of cat food on March 17, and alerting pet owners that some pets had gotten sick and even died after eating it. Jones took Cujo to her vet even though he didn’t show any signs of the kidney failure that was associated with the tainted food. “I immediately took him to the vet, who, because my cat didn’t show any symptoms, did not want to run blood tests,” said Jones. “We insisted on it and they were run. They came back with very high readings for his kidneys.” Jones and her husband, Art, took Cujo to another vet for a second opinion. Again the blood tests had the same result. Cujo was hooked up to intravenous fluids to flush out his system and hospitalized for three days. X-rays and ultrasound were performed to see the extent of the damage. Was Cujo a victim of the tainted pet food? Quite the contrary. In fact, the recall of the food may have actually saved Cujo’s life. “He was in renal failure,” said Mary Jones. “He had polycystic kidney disease, which is genetic in Persians.” Cujo was just 17 months old and Persians don’t usually show signs of this disease until they are about 6 or 7 years old, Jones said. And he didn’t show any signs of it at all. When he was a kitten, the breeder said he tested negative for PKD, as did his parents. “We had no idea anything was wrong,” said Jones. “We just thought we should have him tested because he had eaten the food from the day we got him.” Now, Cujo is on three medications, takes fluids every other day, and eats prescription food. One change Jones has seen in him is his appetite. “He is eating the prescription food and he eats it all,” said Jones. “I wonder if he knew something was wrong with the Iams? They depend so much on their sense of smell.” Cujo, who, despite his ferocious name, is actually a sweet, friendly, cuddling cat, would have had a completely different outcome had Jones not insisted on having him tested. “It wouldn’t have been long before he would have shown symptoms of the disease,” she said. “He would have been very sick.” Instead, Cujo is as happy and playful as ever. His latest blood test results this week showed that one kidney was normal and the other had improved tremendously since the first testing. “If this had been caused by the food, he would have had symptoms,” said Jones. “Ironically, the food recall actually saved my cat. Thank God something good came out of it.”