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Not too long ago, as many of you remember, there was a voluntary recall on certain varieties of Wellness canned cat foo due to insufficient levels of B1...
All of my cats and dogs were eating at least some Wellness at the time of the recall, and after much debate and going back-and-forth, I decided to take it out of the rotation...not so much because I was afraid it would hurt anyone, but more because I couldn't justify paying that much $ for a product that didn't seem to be making my animals "thrive" in any way and now had been recalled to boot...
So after much trial and error, we have come to a point of happiness around here food-wise, I have finally found 4 canned cat foods that agree with everyone's tummies and taste buds...
Evo, Innova, Blue Wilderness, and Before Grain .
Not only do they lick their plates entirely clean after each meal, they are absolutely overloaded with energy, my 14 year old female literally dives into the brown paper grocery bag I put in the kitchen for her to dive into (), alternating between running up and down the hallway and bag-diving until she's so pooped she collapses on my bed and refuses to move over for me when I climb in . (Gotta love 'em, LOL!)
One of my little dogs had some dry skin issues, which I had attributed to the dry climate and high winds here...now that Wellness has left the building, these issues are a thing of the past! In fact, both cats' and dogs' coats have never looked so beautiful, and I have never seen them this energetic...I am amazed at the difference, and wanted to share this because I truly no longer believe that Wellness is a "great" product...I believed with all my heart that I was providing the very best for my animals in giving them that brand of food, but I now realize they were "surviving, not thriving"...now that I've seen what "thriving" can be, I am amazed that I didn't catch this sooner and that it took a recall for me to see it...(probably because no one got "sick")...but better late than never!
Thanks so much for this post. I will try these foods too. I'm afraid to risk too much variety in cat food. don't know why. Just that I guy a boat load of food when I shop and I'm afraid they won't like a new brand. Wellness canned is what they eat now but with Oscar having UTI problems, I think I will try these others.
This was my experience too, switching my one cat who was on Wellness grain free canned to the Merrick Before Grain similar flavors. Like night and day. You know how you might see a marked difference going from Fancy Feast to Wellness, and think wow the cat is doing so much better on the Wellness, you might think "how much better than this can she get?" (She never was on FF, but years ago another cat of mine was)
I found out when I switched to Before Grain. Incredible difference. That recall has hurt Wellness a lot because surely we aren't the only ones who decided to look further, and found that since the buy out, Wellness has shot downhill. I've suspected it for a long time, and now I will not be turning back. I'm using up what's here, but I am not going to pay premium prices for a sub par food any more.
I have phased out Natura products (Innova, Evo and California Natural) for the same reason, and have had trouble with Blue, so my cats who won't eat the BG are getting Weruva, Soulistic and Castor & Pollux.
Last edited by catsmom21; 06-04-2011 at 05:24 PM..
max is a picky kitty with an even pickier stomach .... i have to rotate flavors and brands of food for him.... we have tried the wellness a few times, but no more after reading these threads..... he absolutely ADORES the Inova foods, well, except for the reduced fat.... wish he liked the Before Grain, but he refuses to even consider it, even after he has just told me that he is S.T.A.R.V.I.N.G. ..... he did like some of the Merrick flavors (grammy's pot pie, turducken, etc.) but no more.....
Thanks so much for this post. I will try these foods too. I'm afraid to risk too much variety in cat food. don't know why. Just that I guy a boat load of food when I shop and I'm afraid they won't like a new brand. Wellness canned is what they eat now but with Oscar having UTI problems, I think I will try these others.
No problem ! I hope Oscar's UTI issues are nipped in the bud soon...I know how frustrating it must be ...hang in there!
This was my experience too, switching my one cat who was on Wellness grain free canned to the Merrick Before Grain similar flavors. Like night and day. You know how you might see a marked difference going from Fancy Feast to Wellness, and think wow the cat is doing so much better on the Wellness, you might think "how much better than this can she get?" (She never was on FF, but years ago another cat of mine was)
I found out when I switched to Before Grain. Incredible difference. That recall has hurt Wellness a lot because surely we aren't the only ones who decided to look further, and found that since the buy out, Wellness has shot downhill. I've suspected it for a long time, and now I will not be turning back. I'm using up what's here, but I am not going to pay premium prices for a sub par food any more.
I have phased out Natura products (Innova, Evo and California Natural) for the same reason, and have had trouble with Blue, so my cats who won't eat the BG are getting Weruva, Soulistic and Castor & Pollux.
It really IS like night and day...and I agree, this will definitely hurt Wellness, I know quite a few people at this point who have decided to stop feeding it and are also seeing good results from that decision.
What happened with Natura products? They got bought out too? Their food really agrees with everyone here so far...never had any issues with Blue, either except the pricetag ...that stuff is REALLY expensive, so they only get it a few times a week. Castor & Pollux gave all my animals diarrhea (even the treats ), so that's not an option. Haven't tried Soulistic or Weruva yet, but they look pretty good .
max is a picky kitty with an even pickier stomach .... i have to rotate flavors and brands of food for him.... we have tried the wellness a few times, but no more after reading these threads..... he absolutely ADORES the Inova foods, well, except for the reduced fat.... wish he liked the Before Grain, but he refuses to even consider it, even after he has just told me that he is S.T.A.R.V.I.N.G. ..... he did like some of the Merrick flavors (grammy's pot pie, turducken, etc.) but no more.....
he is a challenging little fella......
Gotta love the challenge, huh? LOL! My BF's cat will not touch anything canned, and we've tried everything under the sun...no dice . If Max loves Innova, he might love Evo too...same company .
Gotta love the challenge, huh? LOL! My BF's cat will not touch anything canned, and we've tried everything under the sun...no dice . If Max loves Innova, he might love Evo too...same company .
i'll keep that in mind.... because based on his history, as much as he ADORES the Innova, next week or the week after, he will be turning his little nose up at it..... ... probably shouldn't even have put THAT out in the universe.....
and this is a shelter kitty from a feral momma.... one would think he wouldn't be quite so difficult.....
It really IS like night and day...and I agree, this will definitely hurt Wellness, I know quite a few people at this point who have decided to stop feeding it and are also seeing good results from that decision.
What happened with Natura products? They got bought out too? Their food really agrees with everyone here so far...never had any issues with Blue, either except the pricetag ...that stuff is REALLY expensive, so they only get it a few times a week. Castor & Pollux gave all my animals diarrhea (even the treats ), so that's not an option. Haven't tried Soulistic or Weruva yet, but they look pretty good .
Natura was bought out by Proctor and Gamble last May, 2010. It usually takes between 1-2 years after a buy out before you start to notice a falling off in quality (in my opinion), but the first thing P&G did was discontinue the Innova Flex Stew line, which one of my cats was thriving on.
I've been searching for a new favorite since then, for this one particular cat, plus the kitten now, too, as they are the finicky ones and will not eat the Before Grain with any consistency. Or the Weruva or the Soulistic or the C&P for that matter.
I usually have a foster dog (or two or three ) here plus I feed four cats....I feed mostly raw but all animals here are used to a wide variety and I'll get donations or whatever of commercial foods.
I'm not a purist about food at all, but about a year ago I gave up on Wellness products because although they look very good, I noticed over the years a lot of soft poo every time I used it.
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. 
), alternating between running up and down the hallway and bag-diving until she's so pooped she collapses on my bed and refuses to move over for me when I climb in 
. (Gotta love 'em, LOL!)
...hang in there!
...that stuff is REALLY expensive, so they only get it a few times a week. Castor & Pollux gave all my animals diarrhea (even the treats 
... probably shouldn't even have put THAT out in the universe..... 
) here plus I feed four cats....I feed mostly raw but all animals here are used to a wide variety and I'll get donations or whatever of commercial foods.
