My cat poison warning was ignored: Owner who saw his three pets die in a week claims he was ‘fobbed off’ by Sainsbury’s when he flagged up food risk

Glenn Harmon, 56, told Sainsbury’s his vets believed their hypoallergenic recipe was responsible for killing all three of his pets in one week on April 22

Pet food suppliers were warned about the cat ‘poisoning’ scandal two months before the full product recall but did nothing, the Daily Mail can reveal.

Glenn Harmon, 56, told Sainsbury’s his vets believed their hypoallergenic recipe was responsible for killing all three of his pets in one week on April 22.

But the store replied nearly a month later saying it had carried out a ‘full report’ which found ‘no issues’ and claimed they had ‘no other complaints of sickness for this product’. 

Mr Harmon flagged that vets were finding cases across the country on May 29 and says he attached a full post-mortem report for one of his pets but got no response. 

Two weeks later the Food Standards Agency (FSA) issued a voluntary recall of Sainsbury’s hypoallergenic recipe as well as Applaws and Pets at Home’s AVA.

A direct link has not yet been proven between the premium brands which are made by Fold Hill Foods but the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) and FSA are investigating. 

Mr Harmon, an architect who lives with his beekeeper wife Jodi Moger, 55, in Shipham, Somerset, said: ‘They are trying to spin the narrative.

‘They wanted to make it out that this was some mystery illness that had nothing to do with the cat food, but it was clear there was a link. We are not after revenge, we just want someone to hold their hands up and apologise.’

The couple first noticed something was wrong when Lucy, their nine-year-old ginger cat, collapsed ‘out of the blue’ on April 16. 

Collapsed: Lucy was thought to have leukaemia

Struck down: Five-year-old Siamese Dagney

They had to put her down and the vets believed she had leukaemia – until their five-year-old Siamese, Dagney, was struck down just 48 hours later and also had to be euthanised. 

Mr Harmon brought in Lena, his one-year-old moggy, to run tests as a precaution but they showed she had dangerously low counts of platelets and red and white blood cells. She deteriorated rapidly and didn’t make it through the night.

‘It was absolutely devastating,’ said Mr Harmon, who has a daughter Fuchsia, 16. ‘It is probably the worst thing my daughter has ever experienced. I know you can say they are just pets, but they are also part of the family.’ He has since got two new kittens, Daisy and Rosie.

Mr Harmon’s vets told him to contact Sainsbury’s because their working diagnosis suggested the pet food was responsible for the pancytopenia – when blood cell count falls rapidly. 

‘Basically I had to alert Sainsbury’s that their food was the smoking gun and they needed to recall it and run tests.

‘It was the only link. But they were not accommodating. They were immediately defensive. They took three weeks to come back to me and basically washed their hands of it.’

Tests: Lena, aged one, deteriorated rapidly and died

The RVC said it first notified the FSA about an increase in cases on May 24 – exactly a week after Mr Harmon says Sainsbury’s told him it had not had any other reports. The recall was issued on June 15. At least 330 cats have died from the illness, according to the RVC, but the true number may be higher.

On Saturday, the Mail revealed a case from March, three months before the recall. Fold Hill Foods said: ‘We continue to fully co-operate with both the FSA and the Royal Veterinary College as they continue to investigate all potential causes of the pancytopenia cases, feed and non-feed related.’

Pets At Home is working with experts to find the source of the illness. Sainsbury’s previously said it was supporting the investigation and urged customers who had already bought the selected products to return them immediately.

The supermarket did not respond to a request for comment on the latest claims. 

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