Cat Food Recalls Explained: FDA Safety Alerts, Recent Cases, and What Cat Owners Can Do

Why Cat Food Gets Pulled: Three Major Recall Patterns

Based on FDA records from 2024 through 2026, the most common reasons cat food has been recalled or pulled from shelves include:

Too little vitamin B1 (thiamine) in complete cat food: Cats are obligate carnivores, and they cannot rely on their own bodies to make enough vitamin B1. Thiamine acts as a coenzyme that helps the brain and nervous system use nutrients normally.

One detail worth knowing: cats need about four times as much dietary B1 as dogs. That is one reason dog food should not be used as a cat’s regular diet; it can leave cats short on thiamine.

When a staple diet is deficient in B1, signs can appear quickly, including drooling, head tilt, and seizures. Over time, a deficiency can even cause permanent damage to the nervous system. In one recent February 2026 case, select Quest chicken-recipe freeze-dried and frozen cat foods were recalled because their thiamine levels were too low.
Microbial contamination in raw cat food: Raw food is one of the harder pet food categories to handle safely. If the production environment is not managed well, products can become contaminated with bacteria such as Salmonella or Listeria, which can cause diarrhea in cats. More concerning, these bacteria may also spread through a cat’s saliva to people with weaker immune systems, especially young children or older adults in the home. Recent examples include Viva Raw, Darwin’s Natural Pet Products, and Answers Pet Food.
The risk of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI): Another raw-food concern is that uncooked, unpasteurized products made with poultry ingredients can potentially carry avian influenza contamination and transmit it across species to cats. In 2025, Savage Pet voluntarily recalled its Savage Cat Food Chicken products after the source material was suspected of H5N1 contamination.

If you suspect your cat is having acute symptoms after eating food from a recalled lot, including vomiting, seizures, breathing trouble, unusual thirst, or sudden lethargy, stop feeding the product and contact your veterinarian or a local emergency animal hospital immediately.

Big Brands Can Still Have Problems

Even major brands such as Purina, Hill’s, and Royal Canin sometimes appear in recall records.

In February 2023, Purina voluntarily recalled specific lots of its Pro Plan Veterinary Diets EL Elemental prescription food after receiving two reports of pets showing signs consistent with vitamin D toxicity, including increased urination, increased thirst, and abnormal kidney values.

In 2022, Purina also recalled Pro Plan Veterinary Diets EN canned beef products after damaged equipment during production raised the possibility that small pieces of plastic could have entered the cans. Purina assessed the risk as low, but still chose to issue a voluntary recall as a precaution.

Hill’s best-known recall happened in 2019. It became one of the largest vitamin D excess events in pet food history.

At the time, an error in a supplier’s vitamin premix led to severely elevated vitamin D levels in dozens of canned dog food products, including items in the Prescription Diet and Science Diet lines. The incident was linked to multiple reports of dogs becoming sick, and some deaths were reported globally. Afterward, Hill’s strengthened its supplier review process.

In recent years, Hill’s has not had a large-scale safety recall of the same magnitude. There have been occasional packaging defects or flavor-related withdrawals, but those typically have not risen to the level of an FDA safety recall and are better understood as the company’s own quality-control actions.

Royal Canin may be one of the major brands that appears least often in FDA safety recall lists. The brand was affected by the global melamine ingredient contamination event in 2007 and conducted a large-scale recall. After that incident, Royal Canin shifted toward testing all incoming raw materials internally. Its strict supply-chain controls have helped it maintain a long record without major recalls.

In short, a brand’s size does not make it 100% immune.

A voluntary recall does not automatically mean a brand is terrible, either. In many cases, it tells you something about how the company handles problems: its transparency, traceability, and willingness to act early.

When a brand finds an issue during routine internal testing, such as excessive vitamin levels, an ingredient supplier error, or equipment failure, the more trustworthy response is to notify the FDA quickly, publish the affected lot codes, and take responsibility for related medical costs and losses. Over time, that kind of culture matters.

Brand	Major Recall History	Current Status and Response
Purina	In 2023, Pro Plan Veterinary Diets was recalled for excess vitamin D; in 2022, another Pro Plan product was recalled because damaged equipment may have introduced small plastic pieces into canned food.	The brand tends to report issues early after receiving limited case reports, which helps reduce the chance of wider harm.
Hill’s	In 2019, Hill’s had a major excess vitamin D event involving canned dog food, making it an important case in pet food safety history.	The company strengthened supplier review after the incident. In recent years, its public actions have mostly involved smaller packaging or quality issues rather than large-scale safety recalls.
Royal Canin	The brand was affected by melamine-contaminated ingredients in 2007.	It later moved toward more vertically integrated management and internal testing of incoming raw materials, and it now appears rarely in recall records compared with many major brands.

What to Do If You Bought a Recalled Product

If you find out the cat food in your home may be affected, stay calm and take the following steps:

Check the lot code: Look on the back or bottom of the package for the production date and lot code, then compare it with the FDA recall notice.
Stop feeding it: Even if your cat looks fine, stop feeding the product immediately and seal the remaining food.
Contact the retailer or brand about refunds and claims:
- Retail refunds: Physical stores and online platforms will often provide full refunds when a recall notice applies.
- Medical records: If your cat needs veterinary care, keep the diagnosis, lab reports, invoices, and receipts. Many brands will offer medical reimbursement for confirmed cases linked to recalled products.

Warning Signs by Recall Type

Vitamin B1 deficiency:
- Early signs: reduced appetite, vomiting, lethargy, and weight loss.
- Drooling, head tilt, dilated pupils, seizures, balance problems, difficulty lifting the head, and ventroflexion of the neck.
Vitamin D toxicity:
- Signs can appear within 12 to 36 hours.
- Unusual thirst, frequent urination, vomiting, and loss of appetite. Severe cases can lead to acute kidney failure.
Bacterial contamination (Salmonella / Listeria): Acute diarrhea, sometimes with blood or mucus, fever, and marked lethargy.
Avian influenza (H5N1): Sudden high fever, difficulty breathing, seizures, nasal or eye discharge, and a very high fatality risk.

Does an FDA Recall Matter Outside the United States?

The FDA is a U.S. agency, but its influence is global. If you buy cat food imported directly from the United States and a U.S. factory has a large contamination event, global distributors are usually notified and may coordinate recalls in their own markets.

Some brands operate factories in different regions, such as Europe and the United States. If a problem is limited to one U.S. facility, a formula made in the European Union may not be affected.

Useful recall and alert databases:

United States: FDA Animal & Veterinary
European Union: RASFF, the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed
Cross-border Asia region: ARASFF, the ASEAN Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed

Lowering Risk Starts With Small Habits

Food recalls are a sign that the regulatory system is doing its job. The goal is not to panic every time a recall happens, but to use timely information and the right response to reduce risk around every meal your cat eats.

Take photos: Whenever you buy a new bag, box, or case of cat food, take a quick photo of the lot code and expiration date.

Spread out risk: Avoid buying the same product in large quantities from a single lot over and over. That way, if one batch has a problem, you have not stocked your whole pantry with it. It also helps prevent food from sitting around until it expires.

Subscribe to alerts: MewGuard is preparing cat food safety tracking features. You can download MewGuard on the App Store to follow along as we expand the database.