Sheba cat food poisoning: do not put your beloved pets at risk with that brand

In January, 2 of our 5 cats fell ill from food poisoning after sharing a tin of Sheba food ("tuna with prawn flavour in gravy", 85g). The circumstances proved, without any possible doubt, that only that tin of seafood could have caused both those cats to be sick: we gave Sheba-Mars precise details of our feeding and watering habits, as well as the very stringent hygiene routine we adhere to, due to one of our cats suffering from a chronic disease, in order to demonstrate that the cats could not have been exposed to any other source of bacteria (the dry food all 5 cats ate on that day and the preceding/following would have made them all sick; the only 2 cats that fell ill were those who shared the specific tin of Sheba seafood. Note that we purchase the most expensive food for our cats, and that the dry food is exclusively special prescription food from our vet's clinic). The 2 cats who shared the tin of Sheba food developed a high fever, vomiting and diarrhoea a few hours after eating (they did not go outside that day at all), showing signs of excruciating stomach pain and dangerous lethargy; we took them to the vet in an emergency. The vet, in her expert opinion, concluded that both cats were showing symptoms of severe seafood poisoning, and told us that had we left them untreated, their lives would have been gravely endangered. The risk of our cats suffering long-term damage to their pancreas from the Sheba tin poisoning was also high. The vet administered antibiotics, and both cats seem to have made a full recovery, fortunately. We contacted Mars, of which Sheba is a subsidiary, to alert them of the grave danger in which they put our beloved companions; and to demand that they refund us for that vet bill, out of principle. Our request was acknowledged by a promise to launch an investigation based on the tin's batch number we had provided. A couple of weeks later, however, we simply received a stock-standard letter making absolutely no reference to our cats, indicating that the case was close for Sheba-Mars. That email looked like a simple "fill-in-the-blanks" form applying to all cases of food poisoning raised to Mars South Africa, with simply my name, and the Sheba tin's reference pasted in the appropriate places. The standard letter, which could have app**** to a Snyckers chocolate bar as well as an Orbit gum, did not constitue a valid response to our detailed vet's report. It vaguely claimed, without any supporting evidence, that all tests had been performed and no problem was found in that ("insert here") batch of seafood. There was no acknowledgement of our request for the reimbur*****t of our vet bill, no inquiry as to the cats' current health; not even a voucher for a new tin of Sheba: in short, absolutely no trace of either customer service, or basic human empathy, that would have convinced us that Mars-Sheba takes consumer safety concerns seriously. This short dismissal of our request led us to conclude that Sheba must deem us responsible for the cats' case of food poisoning; as a consequence, we informed them that we have signed a police affidavit of our animals' impeccable, medical-grade feeding and watering routine. That, however, was left unanswered. Three weeks later, nobody from Sheba Mars has contacted us again to resolve the matter, or even acknowledged receipt of our complaint. At this stage, we are considering our legal options: Sheba cat food poisoning could have ****ed 2 of our beloved pets, and Sheba's ********* dismissiveness of the serious, supported case we presented to them may be representative of a broader lax approach to health and safety standards.

Case ID ********** 8