When Roscoe was a kitten, the vet told me all he needed to be fed was a good brand (e.g., Iams) of dry cat food, so that's all he had for his first 7 or so years. He seemed healthy enough, but became seriously overweight, and the vet then said he should be switched to canned or "wet" food, because the dry stuff contains too much carbs. I put him on rather short rations of Science Diet canned "light" food and the Iams "weight control" pouches, and he did lose some weight, but remained healthy until quite recently. Little did we know...

As for proof it was the food that caused his kidney failure, no, I probably don't have anything that would stand up in court (it's not like I kept the old pouches with lot numbers on them... who would?), but the vet said it was very rare for a cat as young as Roscoe to get kidney failure. It's common in cats, but almost always in much older animals. And there's no way of knowing what his genetic background might be (got him from the county shelter at 8 weeks). But we can find no other cause for the problem, and he had been fed the Iams pouches regularly for the past year. No question in my mind.

Guess I'll go call that state FDA office.

Nancy