When you buy commercially-prepared food for your cat, it’s because you trust a company that sells pet food to make meals that are nutritious for our feline friends. Some canned cat food from the brands 9Lives, EverPet, and Special Kitty fell short, being deficient in a vitamin that’s essential to cats, and have been recalled.

The important vitamin is thiamine, and a long-term deficiency can be fatal for cats. Early symptoms of deficiency include decreased appetite, salivation, vomiting, and weight loss. Symptoms of advanced thiamine deficiency include ventroflexion (bending towards the floor) of the neck, wobbly walking, circling, falling, and seizures.

The important thing, though, is to make sure that your cat keeps on eating food with thiamine in it. Affected food was distributed to stores between Dec. 20, 2016 and Jan. 3, 2017.

The brands include 9Lives, EverPet, and Special Kitty. 9Lives is a well-known national brand with kitty mascot Morris, and EverPet is a discount brand found in Dollar General stores. Special Kitty is a brand sold at Walmart.

A wide variety of flavors from the three brands have insufficient thiamine, and individual cans and multi-packs are included in the recall.

If you have the affected food in your home, contact J.M. Smucker at 1-800-828-9980 or email consumer.relations@jmsmucker.com.

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