Nature's Variety VS Wellness

I have had Phaedra on Wellness kitten formula: http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/product-details.aspx?pet=cat&pid=22#guaranteed-analysis since she was about 8 weeks old. All this time I thought Wellness was grain free.. but it's not, only her canned food is! Phaedra itches at her face a lot and I wonder if it's because of the grains. She did get treated for a bacterial infection in her ear which was the reason for some of the itching, but now she is all cured and she still scratches at her head. She has no fleas either. So I wanted to switch her to a food that doesn't have grains and I decided to try this: http://www.naturesvariety.com/Instinct/cat/kibble/duck .. do you think that was a good decision?

I work for Nature's Variety, but I have fed both foods. 

If you want to stick with Wellness, you can try their CORE line. It's grain free. 

Nature's Variety Instinct is grain free and I've found that most pets really like it. I'm sure you've read quite a bit on the website about it, so I won't go into all of that. One thing that I don't think the website says is that all of the kibbles are coated with the freeze dried raw, so the crumbs in the bottom of the bag are just the freeze dried raw crumbs that have come off the actual kibble. 

Another thing that you can do with NV Instinct CANNED food, if you feed it, is to buy the bigger cans with a picture of a dog on it. It's the same food as the cat one, exactly, and you'll save quite a bit by buying the bigger can. 

When I was feeding my dogs Wellness (I fed both the regular one and CORE), they were always pretty gassy and their poops were always on the looser side, but formed. I've only ever fed Leiki (my cat) the pouches as a treat when I get them on sale, so I haven't really noticed any difference with her. 

I think it is a great choice! And actually, it is best to rotate canned foods anyway. I use Wellness grain free, Wellness Core and Instinct among other high quality grain free brands in my rotations. The cat's love the Instinct.

I don't know why I didn't think of this prior to my post, but if you contact the company they should be able to tell you when they're having a demo in your area. There should be around 5 per month in an area with a demonstrator (some areas don't have them yet, but if you're looking for a great part time job I recommend it!). At the demo, you should be able to get samples of the Instinct kibbles (different flavours) and some small cans to try out. If you decide to buy the dry food, the demonstrator will have a high value coupon to use with your purchase. 

Also, if you subscribe to the Nature's Variety updates, you'll frequently get coupons in the emails: http://www.naturesvariety.com/subscribe

nerdrock said:

I work for Nature's Variety, but I have fed both foods. 

If you want to stick with Wellness, you can try their CORE line. It's grain free. 

Nature's Variety Instinct is grain free and I've found that most pets really like it. I'm sure you've read quite a bit on the website about it, so I won't go into all of that. One thing that I don't think the website says is that all of the kibbles are coated with the freeze dried raw, so the crumbs in the bottom of the bag are just the freeze dried raw crumbs that have come off the actual kibble. 

Another thing that you can do with NV Instinct CANNED food, if you feed it, is to buy the bigger cans with a picture of a dog on it. It's the same food as the cat one, exactly, and you'll save quite a bit by buying the bigger can. 

When I was feeding my dogs Wellness (I fed both the regular one and CORE), they were always pretty gassy and their poops were always on the looser side, but formed. I've only ever fed Leiki (my cat) the pouches as a treat when I get them on sale, so I haven't really noticed any difference with her. 

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Thanks so much for your reply! Somehow it never dawned on me that the food I had her on wasn't grain free, (the wellness kitten dry food). Her canned food (wellness kitten) IS grain free, so I guess I just assumed. lol. I really like this Nature's Variety so far and I've got it mixed up with her old food and she seems to be eating both just fine. Also the NV is about $8 cheaper too for the same amount (well, a .4 difference). That's a plus for me! I will have to keep in mind when nearing the end of the bag and probably just discard it so she isn't just getting all the freeze dried bits.

Sugarcatmom said:

Also, if you subscribe to the Nature's Variety updates, you'll frequently get coupons in the emails: http://www.naturesvariety.com/subscribe

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Thanks! I did it

Feralvr said:

I think it is a great choice! And actually, it is best to rotate canned foods anyway. I use Wellness grain free, Wellness Core and Instinct among other high quality grain free brands in my rotations. The cat's love the Instinct.

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Phaedra is on the Wellness Kitten canned food right now, I will probably be getting her a different kind after this box is up and she seems to be liking the new NV instinct dry kibble so far

The thing is, with dry cat food, any dry food... the "grain free" advertisement is usually a hoax.  Grains aren't really the problem, though.  Starch is.  I read the ingredients on every so-called grain free cat food and there is almost always a grain of some sort in there.   I tried my cats on Nature's Variety when they first put it on the line at Petco.... They were running a special and I couldn't resist.  My cats didn't really take to it.  They didn't hate it.  They just like their Blue Buffalo Wilderness and Pro Plan Selects better.  I give them chicken and turkey slightly cooked as they won't touch it raw... I figure it balances it out.  They need some grain, just as we do.  But not as much fillers so I think it really depends on what kind of grain they put in and how much.  Not that it's grain free.  JMO, though.

P3 and The King said:

The thing is, with dry cat food, any dry food... the "grain free" advertisement is usually a hoax.  Grains aren't really the problem, though.  Starch is.  I read the ingredients on every so-called grain free cat food and there is almost always a grain of some sort in there.   I tried my cats on Nature's Variety when they first put it on the line at Petco.... They were running a special and I couldn't resist.  My cats didn't really take to it.  They didn't hate it.  They just like their Blue Buffalo Wilderness and Pro Plan Selects better.  I give them chicken and turkey slightly cooked as they won't touch it raw... I figure it balances it out.  They need some grain, just as we do.  But not as much fillers so I think it really depends on what kind of grain they put in and how much.  Not that it's grain free.  JMO, though.

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THanks for that info! IT seems that the starches I can see in NV instinct is Tapioca and Pea Starch. I didn't find anything about Pea Starch but this is what I found on Tapioca:

"Tapioca is an ideal carbohydrate source for allergy sufferers because tapioca is virtually devoid of protein and will not cause immune-mediated reactions like those observed in animals fed grain-based diets (NRC, 2006).
There are no known canine or feline allergies to tapioca. The only known reaction to tapioca was documented in a woman with extreme anaphylaxis to latex. Apparently, the body mistakenly identified tapioca for latex, causing a cross-reaction (Gaspar, 2003). This is a rare occurrence and still not completely understood. Many scientific studies investigating food allergy triggers in humans and animals commonly use tapioca as the control diet because there are no allergies to tapioca (NRC, 2006).
Grain-free diets that include tapioca, such as Nature’s Variety Instinct, do not intend tapioca to supply protein or any nutrients other than carbohydrates. Protein is supplied by animal meats and organs. Carbohydrates are supplied by tapioca. Vitamins and minerals are provided by other ingredients and supplemented by direct addition. Some brands that include grains are utilizing them to boost protein content using less-expensive plant proteins, especially in the form of protein concentrates such as wheat gluten, corn gluten meal, soy protein concentrate and rice protein concentrate."

Full writing here: http://www.itchmoforums.com/pet-foo...singredients/tapioca-in-pet-food-t7743.0.html

So I'm not really sure about either of the starches.

As much as I would love to, I just can't afford to buy her blue buffalo right now! One day maybe!! The NV is $16 (with my coupon and pals card) while the BB is $25.

FleshFlowers said:

So I'm not really sure about either of the starches.

As much as I would love to, I just can't afford to buy her blue buffalo right now! One day maybe!! The NV is $16 (with my coupon and pals card) while the BB is $25.

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Mine didn't hate NV... They just prefer their high dollar, expensive foods better!  Haha!  They have expensive tastes!!  So, my advice is try it... Can't hurt!
 

FleshFlowers said:

 I will have to keep in mind when nearing the end of the bag and probably just discard it so she isn't just getting all the freeze dried bits.

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When you get to the end of the bag just dump the "dust" at the bottom into her bowl. It's the raw medallions that have been freeze dried and ground up (basically the same as the Boost supplement). She'll love it!

If you've already bought the Instinct line just make sure to do the transition slowly. It'll be pretty rich compared to a food with grains. We usually recommend switching to the Prairie line and then making the switch to Instinct - the transition is usually easier for more sensitive cats to go from a food with grain to another food with grain, then to a food with similar ingredients without grain. Once you have made the switch over to Instinct, if you decide to stick with the brand, slowly introduce the other flavours as you would if you were introducing a new food. Once you have gone through all of them, you should be able to switch "cold turkey" through the flavours. The ingredients are pretty much the same in all the flavours, unless you go to the LID (Limited Ingredient Diet), which doesn't have the freeze dried coating and has fewer ingredients. 

I don't know if it's the same for cats as with dogs (in terms of the quality of the formula) but BB doesn't rate that well as a food on the majority of food analysis sites (for dogs), the only line of theirs that does is the Wilderness line. 

One thing that I would be calling or emailing the companies about before switching would be whether the grains in the food (if there are any) are genetically modified, where they come from (if they're imported), if the meat contains antibiotics or hormones and where it comes from (again, if it's imported). A food can rate really well by looking at the label and reading the ingredients, but where the ingredients come from and what they contain is also something that should be looked into, IMO. NV is free from genetically modified ingredients, the animals are feed food that isn't genetically modified and it's hormone and antibiotic free. 

Someone else was asking on another topic about the rabbit in the food, because it is imported, and I do have an answer for that. I had a training seminar on Friday, the rabbits are raised in China under Western husbandry standards with western veterinary care, then sent to France where they are then sent to the US. I was told the reason that they were sent to France first, and for the life of me I cannot remember right now (I'll check my notes when I do my report tomorrow). The shortage on rabbit was caused by the dock workers strike in France and seems to be sorted out now. 

P3 and The King said:

The thing is, with dry cat food, any dry food... the "grain free" advertisement is usually a hoax.  Grains aren't really the problem, though.  Starch is.  I read the ingredients on every so-called grain free cat food and there is almost always a grain of some sort in there.   

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You can't really say that it's a hoax because the foods are grain free. There has to be some sort of binder in a kibble to hold it together, otherwise you'd end up with a bag full of crumbs. 

Yes, Nerdrok, that's what my point was... There has to be something in there to bind it together... It depends more on what type of grain and how much they use.. If it's beneficial, it's OK.  You need to worry more about starches. 

She has the NV instinct mixed in with her old food.. is that okay?

FleshFlowers said:

She has the NV instinct mixed in with her old food.. is that okay?

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It's fine, just make sure to do the switch slowly and if you notice runny poop use a little less until she adjusts. 

As far as BPA concerns, Nature's Variety Instinct cans are BPA free in the NV Instinct 5.5 oz., and NV Instinct 3 oz. cans only. Not sure if or which of the the Pride cans are BPA free.  

The rabbit  formulas have meat from China.

The canned Pride has Guar Gum.

I have decided to switch from Natural Balance to Nature's Variety canned cat food Instinct. Natural Balance is now made by Del Monte and it has made my cats very sick after the take over.

I want to try the NV LID turkey formula. The rabbit meat in NV used to be imported from China and France, but is now being imported from France only. The larger 1 3 oz cans are NOT BPA FREE...  but the 5.5 and 3 oz. cans ARE BPA FREE.

It seems that my cats are healthier, not getting sick, and their poops and breath don't stink bad like it did on Natural Balance. Also, they devour it , they love it so much!