Is Tiki cat safe now?

[misstufts]

I am looking for the best possible canned cat food for my cats. They both get sick pretty easily, and have awfully stinky poo.
I was feeding then Natures Variety Instinct Raw, but they wouldn't gain weight, were constantly hungry and is just a bit too expensive for us.
I have looked up recent reviews for Tiki cat, and I'm seeing a lot of issues with black specks, which worries me!
I have a local feed store that sells this I may consider going there if I know it's safe.

What other foods should I try? What can help with the stinky poo?
They never stunk at all, not one bit on NV raw, but their poo was pretty dry and hard. I have them on NV rabbit limited ingredient kibble in the mean time until I can figure out a good canned, but Luci has lost interest after vomiting it up a few times, and both of their poos are huge, mushy at the end and black.
We live in a relatively small house, and there's no hiding the smell.
I need some suggestions soon as I need to toss out this kibble!

 

[2cats4me]

I am looking for the best possible canned cat food for my cats. They both get sick pretty easily, and have awfully stinky poo.
I was feeding then Natures Variety Instinct Raw, but they wouldn't gain weight, were constantly hungry and is just a bit too expensive for us.
I have looked up recent reviews for Tiki cat, and I'm seeing a lot of issues with black specks, which worries me!
I have a local feed store that sells this I may consider going there if I know it's safe.

What other foods should I try? What can help with the stinky poo?
They never stunk at all, not one bit on NV raw, but their poo was pretty dry and hard. I have them on NV rabbit limited ingredient kibble in the mean time until I can figure out a good canned, but Luci has lost interest after vomiting it up a few times, and both of their poos are huge, mushy at the end and black.
We live in a relatively small house, and there's no hiding the smell.
I need some suggestions soon as I need to toss out this kibble!

Hi , I do not feed this food but according to the first post in this thread  the company is working on the issue ...http://www.thecatsite.com/t/304362/tiki-cat-the-black-spots#post_3822524  

 

[misstufts]

Thank you for the link. I still worry with what they stated about older cans with spots still being shipped out.

 

[2cats4me]

Thank you for the link. I still worry with what they stated about older cans with spots still being shipped out.

I don't blame you . It sounds like they are going to use up their old stock first so it may be best to not feed it for awhile if it causes a problem for you kitty ..

 

[misstufts]

Yes definitely. Well do you have any suggestions in the mean time? Maybe I can find something a little better. I'm in need of a canned food pretty soon as their current food is making them sick

 

[2cats4me]

Yes definitely. Well do you have any suggestions in the mean time? Maybe I can find something a little better. I'm in need of a canned food pretty soon as their current food is making them sick

Do you have Petsmart available to you ?  They sell  a brand called Soulistic that is very good .  I think it is similar in texture and flavors to Tiki Cat

 

[2cats4me]

@misstufts

** Correction of my post **   That would be Petco ..

http://www.petco.com/N_23_92_429495...ulistic&cmrefr=2&cmrefid=4294954775&cmrefpf=1

 

[misstufts]

Yes! I've heard of that brand. Lots of debate about the seafood, are there poultry varieties?

 

[misstufts]

Sorry didn't see your link, thank you for the help! I'll have to look into it

 

[lisamarie12]

I am looking for the best possible canned cat food for my cats. They both get sick pretty easily, and have awfully stinky poo.
I was feeding then Natures Variety Instinct Raw, but they wouldn't gain weight, were constantly hungry and is just a bit too expensive for us.
I have looked up recent reviews for Tiki cat, and I'm seeing a lot of issues with black specks, which worries me!
I have a local feed store that sells this I may consider going there if I know it's safe.

What other foods should I try? What can help with the stinky poo?
They never stunk at all, not one bit on NV raw, but their poo was pretty dry and hard. I have them on NV rabbit limited ingredient kibble in the mean time until I can figure out a good canned, but Luci has lost interest after vomiting it up a few times, and both of their poos are huge, mushy at the end and black.
We live in a relatively small house, and there's no hiding the smell.
I need some suggestions soon as I need to toss out this kibble!

I've had that problem as well with smelly poo.

Tiki Cat is a fine food but it is low calorie, you may have to feed more than normal if you need to maintain weight on your kitty. 

Usually raw fed cats produce small, dry and not so smelly stools so that is normal what you saw with Instinct raw.

The gums in canned foods can cause digestive upset in some cats - including stinky poo, when I have fed foods with gums e.g., guar, xanthan, the cats have had smelly poo.  Tiki Cat Gourmet Carnivore is gum free as is the Instinct line of NV. Another gum free canned food is Nature's Logic.

As 2Cats4Me mentioned, Soulistic is a good food but also typically low calorie and some of their formulas contain carrageenan, which can also cause digestive upset/smelly poo in some cats so you'll have to check the ingredient labels.

Have you considered freeze dried raw along with canned? Maybe a combo?  Instinct canned foods are gum free, but expensive.  You could look into Primal, I have found that the FD large bags with 48 nuggets goes a long way with helping to feed my two cats.

 

[lisahe]

We feed our cats Tiki a couple times a week: only a few cans have had the black spots and they haven't caused any problems. Someone else had reported suspecting that a change in the Tiki recipes (I think this was related to a new use of tuna oil but don't rightly remember!) had caused some sort of digestive problem, though.

Not all Tiki's foods are low-calorie and some (like the beef and liver Gourmet Carnivore foods) are actually pretty rich; here's a chart with all their nutritional information.

As for the smelly poo issue, I bet things will improve when you put the cats on all wet foods. I agree with LisaMarie12 that raw food could be helpful if smell reduction is a serious priority. (Pretty understandable if it is!

) Even feeding half raw and half canned keeps our cats' boxes at minimal smell. We feed them lots of Primal freeze-dried (it's so handy!), with a little Stella & Chewy's, plus a daily serving of Rad Cat. They also get canned foods from Tiki, Nutro Natural Choice, and Weruva's Cats in the Kitchen, with occasional variety meals from Hound & Gatos, Soulistic, and Merrick. Everything's very low carb (except the chicken/pumpkin from Soulistic, which I drain to reduce the carbs!) and I suspect that's why the boxes aren't a problem.

Good luck!

 

[lisamarie12]

 
Not all Tiki's foods are low-calorie and some (like the beef and liver Gourmet Carnivore foods) are actually pretty rich; here's a chart with all their nutritional information.

Everything's very low carb (except the chicken/pumpkin from Soulistic, which I drain to reduce the carbs!) and I suspect that's why the boxes aren't a problem.

Good luck!

 That's good to know re: higher calorie TC foods LisaHE, thank you for clarifying.

Good point as well re: lower carb foods and less odor in the kitty box.

 

[misstufts]

Thank you LisaMarie for the help.
I looked at NV and saw that the Pride canned variety (the kind I almost purchased!) contains gum but their limited ingredient doesn't. So I may go with that. Their freeze dried meal only comes in 3oz bags and that would be one meal for $10! Not to mention I have two kitties to feed.
I want to stay away with kibble as I've had no luck. I did feed Solid Gold but they changed the formula and made my cats sick. I also fed a moist kibble in the freshpet refrigerated section that worked wonderfully, but they too changes something that upset both cats tummies.
I'll have to look into the Primal

 

[misstufts]

LisaHE thank you!
We would feed raw but they were just never full and giving my Petco only sold the small bag of raw instead of big bags like for dogs it made it more difficult and expensive.
I'll look into Tiki, my local feed mill sells it along with other holistic brands I may go and look at as well. I'meaning towards Petco at the moment as I have a gift card to spoil the kitties with!
I'll have to look into the other brands you mentioned as well, hopefully I can find them in my area

 

[misstufts]

Just made a call to see what my Feed Stire has and unfortunately it has closed down. So I'm limited to Petco Unfortunately.. I'm in a pretty isolated area so not many pet shops (not any really)

 

[2cats4me]

Just made a call to see what my Feed Stire has and unfortunately it has closed down. So I'm limited to Petco Unfortunately.. I'm in a pretty isolated area so not many pet shops (not any really)

Can you buy online ?  www.chewy.com   is awesome .   They have  a  huge selection of foods ..  Flat rate shipping of $4.95  and free shipping after $49.00

 

[lisahe]

Just made a call to see what my Feed Stire has and unfortunately it has closed down. So I'm limited to Petco Unfortunately.. I'm in a pretty isolated area so not many pet shops (not any really)

You're welcome! Petco sells Nutro Natural Choice, which is pretty good food: we avoid the ones with fish and carrageenan. The cats love that brand. Petco also sells Merrick: the cats love their LID turkey and duck, though I want to find out the carb levels in those. I'm not sure how alfalfa rates! I suspect there's not much in the food but it would still be fine for an occasional treat, I think. If you're looking for caloric foods, Wellness Core is a good bet: we've fed their kitten food (our cats still love it as an occasional treat), beef/lamb/venison, and turkey/duck to various cats. It does have carrageenan, though, which I don't like to feed; some of those foods also have potato, which makes one of our cats vomit. (I avoid peas, too.)

@2Cats4Me beat me to mentioning Chewy.com for online purchases! We use them, too, and they're fast and friendly. They do sell Primal, though you might want to write to the company for samples of that before buying a bag: as a matter of fact, I think 2Cats4Me got those!

 

[2cats4me]

Yes , definitely email Primal and ask for samples . They will send you a whole package including samples and a coupon for a free starter pack of frozen raw .. Unfortunately I could not use it becuase no stores in my area sell frozen raw  Primal ..

 

[lisahe]

 
Yes , definitely email Primal and ask for samples . They will send you a whole package including samples and a coupon for a free starter pack of frozen raw .. Unfortunately I could not use it becuase no stores in my area sell frozen raw  Primal ..

And a warning if you do try Primal: just because a cat likes the freeze-dried Primal doesn't mean a cat will like the frozen Primal, which apparently is the exact same ingredients! Our cats used to eat both but only like freeze-dried now.

 

[misstufts]

Thank all of you very much!
I'll visit Chewy and order from there.
I think I have Natures Variety, Nutro, Wellness and Primal on my list!
They enjoyed both freeze dried and raw of the NV so hopefully it's the same case with the Primal. I'll send them an email as well! I can't thank you enough for all the help.
Hopefully I can get them on a food that doesn't make them sick.