Need to make a decision from these foods

o Innova
o Evo
o Wellness
o California Natural
o Royal Canin Feline Nutrition
o Old Mother Hubbard
o Prairie Dry Food
o Prairie Freeze Dried
o Raw Frozen Diets
o Solid Gold
o Sensible Choice/Kasco
o Nutro
o Pro Plan
o Iams/Eukanuba
o Max/Natural Choice
o Bil-Jac

I do NOT want to use any of the recall brands. Unfortunately I believe most of these were in the recall? Which ones weren't? I should look it up for myself but I know there a lot of people here that will know offhand. I am limited to these brands because I don't want to consistently buy online and the only store with non commercial brands only carrys these brands for cats.

The food will be for my 3 month old bengal kitten.

Their should be a link in the recall thread that is at the top of the board to the list of what was recalled.

I know nutro/max WET foods were recalled but none of their dry were, i use nutro natural choice complete care adult indoor with my ragdolls.

I also use California naturals and i have used wellness indoor with them also.

I have tried solid gold and innova evo but none of mine took to it..

With foods of coarse their is no 'perfect' food because so many factors come into play, #1 being whether the cat will eat it since no matter how a great a food obviously it'll only work if the pet will eat it.

Their are quite a few threads here if you do a search on specific brands.

I can really only comment on what i have had success with which again the california naturals chicken & rice, nutro complete care indoor adult and i also use orijen but it can be rather hard to locate and isn't on your list.

i no longer use the wellness indoor but my male cats liked it just it runs somewhat pricey here but i had no complaints about it on the whole.

good luck!

Artharitis, if the choice is between a dry food OR the freeze dried or frozen raw NV Prairie, I would choose the frozen raw. Or did you plan on doing some wet some dry of the others on your list?

One thing about the freeze dried Prairie, it's the same as the frozen at double the price...so I would definitely go with frozen - unless you're traveling or something.

From what is on your list, I (and my cats) like:

Raw Frozen Diets (Nature's Variety) - Most of my cats will eat this - chicken/turkey and beef are the favorites here. Lamb is iffy, 1 or 2 of them like it. Venison and Rabbit were failures here.

Wellness wet - they strongly prefer the 6 grain free flavors...and so do I. If they would eat the ones with rice better, I would feed them - but grain free is on the top of my list any day.

EVO wet - they like this and I do too, they get it among the rotation of Wellness flavors. Only problem is, by itself it would be one flavor day in and day out...so I serve it along with the Wellness cans.

Prairie Dry Food - Mine liked it, and I do too...I wouldn't go with a totally dry diet though, at least 50/50 is good...all wet is even better.

Neither Innova, Wellness, or NVP had any of their products recalled. They are all 3 "associated" with Menu foods, but most companies are.

There are other good foods on your list...those are just the ones that are currently being enjoyed here....i.e. the ones they seem to prefer.

I'm using Royal Canin Special 33 and Beauty&Fit right now - no problems

I've had a hard time getting a good quality dry food that my cats will eat, but so far they like the California Natural Chicken and Rice. I don't feed them only dry, just put some down at night because my cats like to graze and they never eat a lot at any meal. Leaving them the dry food helps prevent being woken up at 2 AM by a hungry cat(s). I feed them canned 3 times a day, and put a bit of dry out at night.

Cal Natural is made by Natura. They make their own dry, canned is manufactured by Menu but not involved in the recall. Mine didn't like the canned.

Originally Posted by beandip

Raw Frozen Diets (Nature's Variety) - Most of my cats will eat this - chicken/turkey and beef are the favorites here. Lamb is iffy, 1 or 2 of them like it. Venison and Rabbit were failures here.

Click to expand...

Beandip, what does the raw diet look like? Is it bits of food or huge chunks of food? Do you heat it up or just take it out ahead of time to thaw? I'm really hesitant to feed raw, because of salmonella and what not.

Originally Posted by Misty8723

Beandip, what does the raw diet look like? Is it bits of food or huge chunks of food? Do you heat it up or just take it out ahead of time to thaw? I'm really hesitant to feed raw, because of salmonella and what not.

Click to expand...

They are little "medallions", small formed patties that are 1.5 inches diameter and almost an inch thick. They weigh an ounce and that's a serving for an average cat. I put them in the fridge about 24 hrs in advance to thaw. Some cats won't eat it ice cold, but you want to be careful how you "warm" it...as it can easily cook, and that's not good. I use 85-90 degree water...put them in a baggie and set the baggie in the water for a minute or two. It doesn't take much to take the chill off once they are thawed.

I use a thermometer for my water, cuz I'm a nerd . But that way I know the water is the right temp. I think it can cook at 116 degrees (?) Cooking destroys nutrients and cooked bone isn't safe.

I like Innova Evo at the moment! It took some getting used to for my cats but they have finally adjusted! I have also had them on Wellness and Nutro before...I tend to like my recent decision over the other two that I have stated! I also like the Felidae wet foods for the time being...Well the Chicken and Rice that is! Good Luck! I would stay away from Iams and Eukanuba... California Natural is another nice one! You have a few good choices to choose from your list!

I vote for California Natural

mine really like nutro natural and nutro natural indoor (we use the senior formula). we've had no troubles with it.

i bought a bag of wellness indoor a couple weeks ago, and the honeymoon is definitely over. stimpy stopped eating it, and when i still put it out, he picks around the wellness to get his nutro. my sister's cats love wellness indoor, so i was kind of surprised that stimpy stopped eating it. i guess he just doesn't like it. we won't be buying it again. i think raven has an allergy to something in it too. he started scratching his ears again. also, the kibbles seem too small for my crew (they like the bigger kibbles like nutro has).

I feed Innova Evo dry to my all of my cats. I have two adult cats that are 12 years old and a 6 month old kitten. The food change over to the Evo went well. I had previously tried to change them from Purina One to Castor & Pollinex but that disagreed with someone's tummy. I switched them back to Purina One briefly to allow their tummies to settle. The swtich from Purina One to Evo went much smoother. They have been eating the Evo for a few months now. I also changed their wet food. They were getting Friskies Wet. The wet food change has been more difficult. I started with Merrick's and they all got sick. I am currently trying Wellness but they don't seem to like it that much. I am going to try the Evo wet food next. If that does not work then I will probably try Tikki Cat.

MOST of them are good ... avoid Kasco Iam Eukanuba and Bil Jac all have By products associated to meat

I use a mix of Natural choice and Wellness Core 66% NC 33% Core ... ZOey loves it and I can afford it as the later is 4$ a lb ...

Cal Natural is a great one if theyll eat ...

Grain free should be easiest( if that is what you want ) with a kitten

My vet loves Evo but Evo doesnt love my girls ...

Cal nat, prairie, wellness, evo, solid gold.

I have tried all. all good. Want to try Wellness dry again.

Now I'm worried!

Anti-Eukanuba folks, are you just recommending against purchasing the wet food, or do you mean the dry food as well? Menu Foods say they only manufacture wet food, but is there any chance of cross contamination to the dry?
My baby has never been fed anything besides Eukanuba dry food, should I be concerned or look into switching brands?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

My feelings on Eukanuba aren't related to the Menu foods fiasco. Eukanuba uses "by products" in their foods, which - regardless of brand - are of questionable quality and origin. There are better foods available for the same price.