Plan Z

Serengeti is another grain-free food.

Originally Posted by followedbydolls

My plan? firstly banging my head on a wall, yeah not in the least productive but at least gives me something else to think about

I got nowhere with the wellness core so i went back to the indoor health which i new they did like because i had tried a sample bag, long before any recalls had began, they seem to be taking to it well..

For now i will mix it in with the DVP UP.. i will NO longer be buying natural balance brands for the cats[or the dogs] i am annoyed, worried and a whole bunch of other emotions with them, my bag said "grain free" the very fact they added, changed ingredients without so much as a "new" label leaves me feeling untrustworthy.

I do need another dry formula, i try not to be only on one brand. I have a sample of a food called performatrin chicken & brown rice it's from my pet valu how good it is i am unsure, but from reading on the site etc..it's sounds ok, but whether anyone will eat it, remains to be seen as i have yet to try it..

website http://www.performatrinultra.com

My wet food options are still undecided.. for now

i am using fancy feast, but i will continue to try other wet brands.. in hopes i can find something they will eat that is not only wheat gluten free but/and better quality.

I am not avoiding all rice, i can't.. firstly my attempts at grain free in the past have failed.. innvoa evo was rejected as well as wellness core, i realize other brands exist but quite frankly they are truly beyond my ability to afford them as a routine/exclusive food, not saying i have totally given up the idea.. i will continue to see if i can find an affordable option that they will eat but it will have to be a secondary food not primary regardless.

I think i just wrote a novel, i'm sorry lol .. i guess i really don't know if i have "a plan"..other than finding a safe food, my purrboxes will do well on, that i can afford and can easily obtain?

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followedbydolls,
I tried performatrin salmon and olive oil formula, as the ingredients seemed ok and it has large amounts of carnitine. My kitties did eat it, but not willingly.
If I left it out and there was nothing else available, they would eventually eat it, but other than that they had no interest in it. I didnt notice any tummy upsets or pukes though.
The food had a very strong fish smell, and is very expensive at nearby Pet Valu. (I paid 19 dollars for 6lb bag), so I returned it, and am now feeding mostly wet.

I switched all of my kitties onto Chicken Soup for the Cat / Kitten Lover's Soul and i am VERY happy with this product and the ingredients

Originally Posted by Jpawz

Plan Z: As grain - free as we can be

A) Avoid wheat glutens
B) Avoid rice protein concentrates
C) Avoid questionable grains & as many fillers as we can

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Your plan is pretty much the same as mine. Mine only eat canned food...so this whole thing has been a challenge from the get-go.

Originally Posted by Jpawz

I may be gambling but I think whole rice and (most 'wholes') are 'good'. As it's been stated various places, when processing begins, who knows what results. So for those worried about the latest rice issues, focus on more 'whole' if at all.

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I agree. Cutting out ALL rice may be a stretch for us. My cats do enjoy the grain free foods, but I'm accustomed to keeping quite a variety of canned food on the "menu" (poor word choice ) ...normally at least 15 varieties, various brands and flavors. I feel more comfortable with variety, not only because of the recall, but from a nutritional standpoint....there are various plusses and minuses on even the best foods.

Originally Posted by Jpawz

Let's regroup. Who is making *more* new changes? Anyone sticking with their current kitty plan?

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I'm going to be avoiding all the heavily processed rice products, until I hear the other shoe drop on the RPC issue. It is scary that the contaminant has been found in more than one grain. As I said above, at this point the 'whole' rice is still on the menu...whether it makes scientific sense or not, it makes me FEEL better. This will be tough for Leopold, as he enjoys his daily taste of canned Nutro MAX (obviously the wheat free ones...but now we're talking RICE). He doesn't share his brothers' and sisters' love for Merrick's and NB...he won't touch them.

Originally Posted by Jpawz

Innova question: There is both an adult cat formula and a kitten/cat formula? Is there a preference as to which to feed adult cats?

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In the regular Innova and the Innova EVO, the formulas are both "cat/kitten"...no differentiation. I am happy with both and so are my cats. They go back and forth on what their preference is between the 2. They get the canned, we've only tried EVO as far as dry goes. They liked it too.

Originally Posted by Jpawz

Innova will be brand new for us.
Chicken Soup has been excellent (and no wheat/rice issues).
Merrick has also been good.
Natural Balance Ultra Dry has had mixed reviews
Natural Balance wet (havent' tried v&p) has had mixed reviews (comments on the wet v&p??)

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We have tried all of those except the NB ultra dry. They all went over well, except a little stinky poo complaint from me on the CANNED Chicken Soup Kitten. Merrick's goes over well but I don't serve it too often as their enthusiasm wanes on it quickly if I do. I'm going out tomorrow to see if I can find some new/different Merrick's flavors for them.

It may sound odd, but out of all of the NB canned flavors, I am most comfortable with the venison/pea...because it is the only one with no rice. It has pea flour. It is definitely my cats' favorite flavor. I have 2 that have been eating the canned venison/pea almost exclusively for 2 weeks, and they are not only fine, but better than they have been. One is my underweight heart patient, Precious - she finally gained a whole quarter of a pound on this food! The other is Momma, who has a sensitive tummy...but she's done very well on this food. For now, they'll still be getting it. I'm still undecided on the rice flour flavors, I may exchange them...they are the less loved ones anyway. I just bought about 50-60 cans of NB (last week), as there was an outstanding sale going on at Petco.

Originally Posted by StarryEyedTiGeR

I switched all of my kitties onto Chicken Soup for the Cat / Kitten Lover's Soul and i am VERY happy with this product and the ingredients

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Hey your post # was 9,999! 9 is my fav number. Just thought I would share WHOOPS I was looking at your bank. My brain is completely fragmented lately.

Starryeyed, do you use both the CHicken Soup can & wet? Mine are less thrilled with the dry (Isn't that always the case! DANG DRY FOODS!)

Originally Posted by kittylover77

followedbydolls,
I tried performatrin salmon and olive oil formula, as the ingredients seemed ok and it has large amounts of carnitine. My kitties did eat it, but not willingly.
If I left it out and there was nothing else available, they would eventually eat it, but other than that they had no interest in it. I didnt notice any tummy upsets or pukes though.
The food had a very strong fish smell, and is very expensive at nearby Pet Valu. (I paid 19 dollars for 6lb bag), so I returned it, and am now feeding mostly wet.

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Thanks for your thoughts on the perfromatrin. I have a chicken and rice sample, none of mine are fond of fish.. well the baby will eat a bit of tuna but they seem to be chicken, turkey lovers.

I'll probably give a try tomorrow, everyone has settled down for the night.

Beandip~

Thanks for the Innova clarification. I figured that was the case....I look forward to trying it.

I grabbed a handful of Merrick's last weekend and my cats did cartwheels over the "Thanksgiving Day Dinner" . Smelled pretty good too ( I am crazy sensitive over cat food smells). There is a "Cowboy" something or other that we haven't dipped into yet....I liked the ingredients and so far I am pleased.

The Chicken Soup has been good--my only complaint was the food was kinda...well...soupy . Poops have been consistant but since I offer dry for free feeding, that probably assists in bulk.

It may sound odd, but out of all of the NB canned flavors, I am most comfortable with the venison/pea...because it is the only one with no rice. It has pea flour. It is definitely my cats' favorite flavor. I have 2 that have been eating the canned venison/pea almost exclusively for 2 weeks, and they are not only fine, but better than they have been.

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What you said here interests me. I have a bunch of V&P cans untouched as of yet. Good to hear your take on it.

I had a few minutes today to actually *gasp* shop the grocery store without CHILDREN. So I read the ingredients one by one, brand by brand, out of curiosity. It really amazes just how many have wheat glutens listed in the first line, and litany of creatively worded rice combinations. *sigh* One positive in all this is that people who never paid attention to the small print on the bag/can are now understanding what all those fancy words are.

One of my pickiest cat's favorite wet foods was Fancy Feast--Elegant Medleys. Not recalled, but -- Wheat Gluten. No rice, but other ???ables.

Grain = The bane of my existance right now.

ITA about having a solid arsenal of cat food variety. They bore so easily. Anything can set them off too. But once it's all accepted by them, it all works together. Time to reconstruct the arsenal!

I think if you let kitties be picky, they will be picky. They are royalty after all.

I've been feeding Avoderm dry, and the cats like it a lot. But my pet food store owner-lady says they are changing the formula and she doesn't like what they are doing so she won't carry it any more. Anyone know what the story is on that?

Oh, Beandip~~

d. For now, they'll still be getting it. I'm still undecided on the rice flour flavors, I may exchange them...they are the less loved ones anyway.

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Did it give you any peace of mind when Natural Balance addressed the rice flour:

"Are Rice, Rice Flour, Rice Bran and Brown Rice affected by the contaminated rice protein concentrate?

NO.
Rice, rice flour, rice bran and brown rice have no relationship to the rice protein concentrate.
The concentrate is a specially prepared product and is not associated with the rice, rice flour, rice bran and brown rice."

btw--just saw their FAQ page. I generally still feel very good about NB and think they had excellent reaction all around.

Hey all, nice thread BTW
I just got home from the long trek to the feed store to buy some GRAIN FREE food I ended up just grabbing samples today(but spent $15 in gas) because I wanted to make sure that they would actually EAT the grain free stuff. I got EVO and Raw Instinct. I put them in seperate bowls to see which is the preferred food and of course Tucker, my picky one, won't even try either of them and Diesel who had given up his dry food for RAW decided that they were the best thing in the world. Yes, I mean BOTH kinds of dry foods
What a pain in the !!

Originally Posted by kittiesx2

Hey all, nice thread BTW

I just got home from the long trek to the feed store to buy some GRAIN FREE food

I ended up just grabbing samples today(but spent $15 in gas) because I wanted to make sure that they would actually EAT the grain free stuff. I got EVO and Raw Instinct. I put them in seperate bowls to see which is the preferred food and of course Tucker, my picky one, won't even try either of them

and Diesel who had given up his dry food for RAW decided that they were the best thing in the world. Yes, I mean BOTH kinds of dry foods

What a pain in the

!!

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You know, after all the grain 'bashing', I should clarify, at least imo, how it should be taken.

Despite the fact that I am paying closer attention to labels and *decrease* grains (and more importantly, *identify* exactly which grains, if any, I will be feeding), I don't think grains are the devil.

The pet food manufacturering standards are the devil!

It is true that cats dont' require grains, and too many, (and too many crap grains) aren't adding up to an optimum diet. Cats are carnivorous predators of old. We can offer a range in the diet, grains too, but it just should not comprise the *bulk* of the ingredient label. And ideally, grains should be whole. Even in OUR diets, ideally we benefit from whole grains. With cats, as with humans, some actually thrive on grain free foods. Certain health factors simply require that.

So while I am being viligant, I am not entirely discarding grains. Going from one extreme to another is never healthy anyway--so if you are changing over I suggest a gradual change. Cats are Olympians when it comes to gastric challenges. There are cats who just will not accept a premium food, or at best, still want their 'old' food on occasion. Then you will have a multi cat household who have their laundry list of wants, needs and preferences, which of course may change daily

And meeting those demands, even if some are for less then premium foods, well....that's okay We cant stress too much over what we can't control, we just do the best with what knowledge we do have. The recall list should be branded into your brain and then go from there.

Originally Posted by kittylover77

I think if you let kitties be picky, they will be picky. They are royalty after all.

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I believe it was Morris the cat who said :

"The cat who doesn't act finicky soon loses control of his owner."

NB Chicken & Liver Pate has no rice/grain and no rice flour in it for those looking for foods without grains. i picked it because it was the only flavor (besides V&P) that had no flour in it. my cats like it, but like all the foods they eat it must be in a rotation.

my cats are also on Ultra dry. they like it really well. we've tried a few premium brands and this one they took to right away. there wasn't any upset tummies from it either.

we tried the NB reduced calorie a while ago and that was definitely a flop. they didn't like it, plus something in it made them barf a lot. and we tried NB v&p dry about 6mo-1yr ago and they wouldn't touch it.

Littleraven~

I am going to keep offering the NB Ultra Dry in rotation as well. Overall I trust NB. A couple of my guys weren't all atwitter about it, but I think it fills in the variety quota nicely.

It can just take extra time for cats not exclusively on premium foods to take to them. They can be little pills in the meantime

Glad to hear your guys all did great with the NB Ultra.

Originally Posted by kittylover77

I think if you let kitties be picky, they will be picky. They are royalty after all.

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How do you get them not to be picky? I would truly love an answer for that one

Originally Posted by Misty8723

How do you get them not to be picky? I would truly love an answer for that one

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Yeah, me too. Ginger will refuse to eat anything if I don't give her what she wants. She went over 24 hours without food once just because I wasn't serving her properly.

Originally Posted by Misty8723

How do you get them not to be picky? I would truly love an answer for that one

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I call it, tough love.
If my kitties are being picky about a particular wet variety, I just leave it out. My baby girl usually will give up her strike within 10 minutes, and eat it even if the flavor is not to her liking.
My overweight girl will wait for 45 or so minutes, until I give in, I no longer do, and she will eat wet food as well (no more dry for her).

If you always give them what they want, they will be picky. Kitties are so excellent at begging and whining.
Within reason of course. I would never let them go hungry for more than half a day.

Originally Posted by kittylover77

I call it, tough love.

If my kitties are being picky about a particular wet variety, I just leave it out. My baby girl usually will give up her strike within 10 minutes, and eat it even if the flavor is not to her liking.
My overweight girl will wait for 45 or so minutes, until I give in, I no longer do, and she will eat wet food as well (no more dry for her).

If you always give them what they want, they will be picky. Kitties are so excellent at begging and whining.

Within reason of course. I would never let them go hungry for more than half a day.

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Probably depends on the cat, my one went almost a week with no wet after that Menu recall because he refused what i offered instead..

Some can be pretty darn stubborn and the others like my 17yo DSH who passed on a few years ago, will eat absolutely anything

Originally Posted by kittylover77

I call it, tough love.

If my kitties are being picky about a particular wet variety, I just leave it out. My baby girl usually will give up her strike within 10 minutes, and eat it even if the flavor is not to her liking.
My overweight girl will wait for 45 or so minutes, until I give in, I no longer do, and she will eat wet food as well (no more dry for her).

If you always give them what they want, they will be picky. Kitties are so excellent at begging and whining.

Within reason of course. I would never let them go hungry for more than half a day.

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If Cindy doesn't like what I'm serving, she just won't eat. I could leave it out for 24 hours (which I wouldn't do with wet, of course) and she wouldn't eat it. If she doesn't start on it in the first couple seconds after I put it down, she's not going to eat it. I truly think she would starve rather than eat something she doesn't want