I don't know where to start, so bear with me please. Just recently (March 1, 2008), I lost a very beloved cat named "Sonny." Sonny was only 10-1/2 months old and had absolutely NO prior symptoms. In the late evening of March 1, Sonny began to throw up/cough up pure blood. He did this twice and shortly afterwards began yowling so loud he woke my entire family up.



Sonny was rushed to an Emergency Vet and he was gone from me within 15 minutes of reaching the vet. They came in and told me that they had him on a respirator and were basically breathing for him. They asked me if I wanted to continue with resuscitation. I was totally blown away. I told them no because I felt within this short period of time while all this was happening that Sonny suffered so very, very much! I couldn't let him suffer even more. When the vet went in the back to stop resuscitation, Sonny was already gone from me! She told me that his little heart just wasn't beating any more. They couldn't tell me how or what caused this to happen to Sonny.



Needless to say, I was absolutely hysterical crying and in total disbelief that something like this could happen so very, very quickly! I had my Sonny-Sonny cremated and his ashes have been returned to me.



Now here's the very hard part for me. I have a friend who has an elderly cat (he's 20 years old). This kitty had been doing fine up until a day after my very own Sonny passed away. My friend told me that she took her cat to the vet and his platelets were at 3 and that he was at "serious risk of HEMORRHAGING to death."



At the time, I just didn't think it could be anything more than a coincidence. However, my friend contacted me again last night. She told me that her Mom was caring for this particular cat at the time and when she asked her Mom what she was feeding this kitty, she said it was "Science Diet Adult Indoor" cat food. I was FLOORED because this is the food my Sonny ate, too! My friend feels that perhaps there is a connection between this "bleeding problem" and the cat food. We have both contacted Science Diet and I said I wanted this food from the particular product code and UPC number tested. I don't know yet if my friend's cat was eating from the same product code/UPC numbered packages.



With all the recalls from last year, this really got me thinking. I had found a couple of websites where people had complained about certain "dry food" products made by Hill's Science Diet, but these particular brands were NEVER removed from the shelves at the time of the recall! Although, the brand I used for Sonny was not what others had complained about, I'm scared to death! Sonny's death was so very quick, there was no time at all to test him for ANYthing, let alone food poisoning!



What I want to know is: Even though I've contacted Science Diet with my particular story, is there anyway that I, myself, can have this cat food tested for anything that may be "tainting" it? Where would I find this information out? Does anyone else have any experience with labs and the cost of this testing? I'm worried and fear for other cats ANYwhere. What do you think?

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