(Yicai Global) Jan. 27 -- Authorities in the Chinese city of Ningbo have started an investigation after a spate of cat deaths possibly connected with pet food imported from Canada, the Beijing News reported.

The market watchdog of the city’s Yinzhou district launched the probe after complaints by more than 100 consumers, the report said. The pet owners said their felines died or had adverse reactions after eating Go!-branded cat food from Canada, the report said. The regulator is looing into product quality and storage.

Many netizens had posted on social media that their cats had diarrhea, vomiting, blood in their stools and kidney damage, with some even dying, after eating Go! Nine-Kind-of-Meat Cat Food sold through online platforms such as Tmall Global and JD.com during China’s Double 11 Shopping Festival.

In this regard, the product’s general agent Petjust Pet Food has twice written open letters to consumers. The Ningbo-based firm has set up an emergency working team, it said in a letter on Jan. 22, saying that it imported the products after quality inspections and formal customs clearance. Petjust will provide a reliable official test report on the products involved or have an authoritative third-party inspection agency test them as demanded by consumers.

Petjust released the qualification report on the products in question when they arrived at its warehouse and is willing to send the products for another inspection, but it will take time to get the results, it said in another letter on Jan. 25.

Tmall Global has stopped selling the cat food as of press time, but it was still available at the brand’s self-run store on JD.com. A Taobao store which sold the cat food via live streaming “will negotiate about refunds as soon as possible,” it said via Weibo.

As of yesterday, Sina’s consumer service platform Heimao Tousu had received over 1,000 complaints regarding the cat food while the topic was trending on Weibo, having been read 310 million times, and 12,000 people had discussed the topic.

Editor: Peter Thomas