Key Takeaways
- If you have Steve’s Real Food Chicken Recipe Freeze Dried with lot code C26022 and best-by date January 22, 2028, stop feeding it immediately and contact your vet — even if your pet shows no symptoms yet.
- Cats are more susceptible to thiamine deficiency than dogs and can deteriorate quickly. Early symptoms like decreased appetite and vomiting can escalate to seizures and ventroflexion of the neck within days.
- Emergency vet treatment for thiamine deficiency, including neurological assessment, hospitalization, and IV supplementation, can cost $1,000 to $5,000 or more. Accident-and-illness pet insurance covers these costs if symptoms develop after your waiting period has passed.
- The product was sold online as well as in retail stores across 20 states, so the distribution footprint is larger than the state list suggests. Check your pantry against the lot code regardless of where you purchased.
Stop feeding it. Check the lot code first, then read the rest of this.
On June 8, 2026, Go Raw LLC expanded its February 17, 2026 voluntary recall to include one lot of Steve’s Real Food Freeze-Dried Chicken Recipe. The recalled product: 1.25-pound bags with lot code C26022, UPC 6-91730-16402-7, and a best-by date of January 22, 2028. The reason is potentially low levels of thiamine, also known as Vitamin B1, which is essential for normal neurological function in both cats and dogs.
The FDA published the expanded recall notice on June 8. The product was distributed through retail stores in 20 states, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin, and was also sold online, which means the actual distribution footprint is larger than that list suggests.
Go Raw says it does not believe the product remains available for purchase and issued the expansion “out of an abundance of caution.” No illnesses have been reported as of the June 8 FDA notice. That’s the good news. The bad news is that thiamine deficiency doesn’t announce itself quickly, and the window between early symptoms and serious neurological damage is short, particularly in cats.
What doesn’t appear in FDA recall notices is how thiamine deficiency presents at the vet’s desk in real time. The owner brings in a cat that’s been wobbly for two days, maybe not eating. The vet runs a neurological assessment and starts thinking about toxin exposure, inner ear problems, or a brain lesion before they think about diet. The connection to a recalled food only surfaces when someone asks what the animal has been eating, and most owners don’t lead with that. By the time the thiamine deficiency is identified, the animal may already be hospitalized, on IV supplementation, and running up a bill that crosses $2,000 before a definitive diagnosis is confirmed. That diagnostic detour is expensive. It is also entirely preventable if the owner checks the lot code before the symptoms start.
Cats face a higher risk than dogs here. Their dietary requirement for thiamine is greater, and their ability to compensate for a deficiency is more limited. Early signs in both species include decreased appetite, vomiting, excessive salivation, and weight loss. In cats especially, those early signs can escalate quickly to ventroflexion of the neck (a distinctive downward curving of the head), mental dullness, vision changes, wobbly walking, circling, falling, and seizures. The condition is generally reversible when caught early and treated with thiamine supplementation, but “early” matters significantly.
The original February 17 recall covered three Quest Cat Food products: Chicken Recipe Freeze Dried Nuggets (10-oz, lot C25288, best-by October 15, 2027), Frozen Diet 2-pound bags (lot MCD25350, best-by June 16, 2027), and Frozen Diet 12-pound bags (lot MCC25321, best-by May 17, 2027). The June 8 expansion adds Steve’s Real Food under the same umbrella, which signals the production-level issue is broader than a single product line.
On the cost side: veterinary prices rose an average of 6.57 percent from 2024 to 2025, according to Vetsource data, and 81 percent of veterinarians in a recent American Veterinary Medical Association survey reported clients were more sensitive to costs than the prior year. An emergency vet visit for a neurologically symptomatic animal, assessment, diagnostics, hospitalization, IV thiamine, runs $1,000 to $5,000 or more depending on how advanced the deficiency is and how long the animal is hospitalized.
Pet insurance covers this. Standard accident-and-illness policies will pay for diagnostic workups and treatment for thiamine deficiency if it develops as an illness, that is exactly what these policies are designed for. The catch is waiting periods. Most pet insurance policies have a 14-day waiting period for illnesses from the effective date of coverage. If your animal develops symptoms and you don’t have a policy in force, you’re paying out of pocket. If you’ve been meaning to look at best pet insurance options and haven’t yet, a recall like this is the prompt. Compare pet insurance cost now, before you need to file a claim.
One more thing worth checking: the product was sold online, which the FDA notice flags specifically. If you purchased Steve’s Real Food Chicken Recipe Freeze Dried through an online retailer in any state, the 20-state distribution list doesn’t define your risk. Check the bag for lot code C26022 directly.
If you have questions about the recall, Go Raw LLC is based in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. The FDA recall notice published June 8, 2026 is the authoritative source for product identification details and contact information for the company.
