Is Weruva's Cats in the Kitchen a good quailty cat food ?

I'm looking to change up my cat's food to something of a higher quailty as he currently eats Friskies and I'm fairly certain that gives him allergies. I live in a very rural area and Friskies is the only thing readily avaible to me. My local stores in my town and the two neighbouring towns do not carry any form of natural or high end cat food as it's a very low income area.

I don't have the funds to invest in a full raw. Getting and grinder , no easy access to the suppliments, etc. I might go raw in the future but right now my work, funds, and generally being completely daunted by the online recipies stops me.

I've been looking into other types of foods as well and I've settled on Weruva's Cats in the Kitchen's Packets. I'm just looking for opinions on them.  I will be having to get his food shipped to me so the packets being lighter then canned items are a perfect compromise. They seem to be a good quailty food and the flavors offered are right up his alley. They are also in a good price range for me. I can get about two months supply of food for 90$ dollars.

My cat also likes his food to look like people food. He's sat up on the table since he was a kitten, we always wipe his paws before he eats with us, so He will not eat pate style food. So in this aspect too the Weruva seems great.

They are 3oz packets so I'm thinking of also mixing a little of the raw in to make a good round 4oz of healthy food a day. He has four meals a day at 8am, 12am, 5pm, and 9pm, and sometimes a little extra dollop at night if I wake up to use the bathroom.

Also can anyone give me recs for a good high quailty kibble ? I don't intend to feed him a whole lot of this but I like to have a little bit of dry out overnight in case I sleep in so he dosen't go hungry. My cat is not an overeater. He will walk away from his bowl with food still in it and come back to it later.

The kibble I'm considering is Wellness Core Grain Free Cat Food Original Formula is this a good quailty kibble ?

Im not up on all cat foods s I cant help but Ill pass your question onto the advisers and someone wil be able to help you

Those aren't brands I've tried, since we live in Europe, but there are some threads here:

Search Results for “Wellness Core”

Search Results for “Weruva”

and two short reviews:
Great canned food
Go Weruva!

Well, if you're going to be feeding him the Weruva with a little raw, you may find he's fine between meals from night to morning. :nod: When I fed my cats all canned food, several of them would pester me in the wee hours of the morning, but when I switched to all raw, that stopped. I suspect you'll find the higher quality food is more satisfying for him.

The Weruva is one of the highest quality foods there is. And mixing it with some raw is a very good idea, because Weruva tends to be very light on the calories compared to other foods (when comparing amounts). mschauer did an analysis of a number of canned foods - to determine where the calories were coming from (because she's got an obese foster kitty on a diet) - and she found that most of the "higher quality" foods are as affordable as they are (even though they're still more expensive than other options) because many of them have most of the calories coming from fat. Now - this isn't necessarily bad for cats, as they're built to utilize both protein and fat. Weruva was low fat, in fact - but that's part of the reason it doesn't have many calories.

Another brand to consider is By Nature 95%. This had a nice balance of protein and fat with ingredients that are appropriate for kitties (no fillers, etc.).

I should add... you don't need a grinder to feed raw. I mean - if you want to feed ground you do. But if your cat likes human food, then his eating slices or chunks of meat/bones/organs may not be an issue? Because prey model raw is about one of the least expensive (and healthiest, IMO) feeding options there is. All it requires is a knife and/or scissors and access to a nice rotation of meats (I buy most of mine at the supermarket) and organs (again, most supermarkets sell liver, and many sell kidney).

My cats are on mainly raw, but I keep a supply of Weruva on hand for those times when they are being "picky", or when we need something in a hurry and nothing is thawed .  I like the Weruva because it is grain free, although a couple of the "flavors" do have potatoes...why, I have no idea!

I have found the Weruva packets to be more expensive than the cans though!  And if you order enough, you can usually get free shipping, even with canned food, plus you can order 3 oz cans, but in cases of 24 cans.  I just shop around on the internet looking for the best deal.  Many places offer free shipping over $49. 

I'm in Canada so Free shipping never applies to me and all the in Canada stores I've found are more expensive to ship within Canada vs. ordering from the states and having it shipped to me in Canada The cheapest I've found is still 19.95 for shipping to Canada. Which isn't bad when the boxes are usually around 13.99 for the 8 packets.

All the high quailty canned food I've found almost always seems to be in some form of Pate. He does not like Pate style food in any brand I've offered to him. He likes his meals to look like meals  not paste scooped out of a can. Very fussy about that. It's mind boggling. I've even tried shipping a meal and offering him pate style food and he will not eat it.

I've been curious about raw but honestly don't think there is enough of a variety of things avaible in my town to do it. We don't have a butcher and two grocery stores carry basically the same meats. I can get chicken, chicken liver, chicken hearts, etc. but outside of that and other basic grocery store meats, beef-turkey,  the variety is not there. I've lived in this town my whole life and I've only seen duck avaible twice. We also lack a health food store and the suppliment section in my local pharmacy is really lacking as well. I'd be too worried about not being able to give him a balanced meals doing the raw.

I'd be more content with the pouches mixed with raw given that then I know he's getting what he needs from his meals.

I know what you mean about not liking pate.  None of mine like it either, however, they do eat their raw in ground up form vs chunks (weird, huh?).  As to raw, lots of us order our raw food via the internet, because you are correct, most stores will not carry a big variety of food.   Have no idea about the shipping rules to Canada though.  I do know, though, that we have some raw feeders in Canada, here on this site.

If you are serious at all about feeding raw, here is a link to a whole bunch of information. 

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/240809/raw-feeding-resource-thread
 

The typical prey model raw recommendation is three to five proteins, and you listed three or four. I have six kitties and using a per ounce calculation, I reduced my cat food budget in half when I switched from canned to prey model raw, so it's definitely worth looking into from both a financial standpoint as well as your kitty's health. I still save substantially today, even though some of my meats (rabbit and duck, mostly) are purchased online.

I think maybe a good option for you is to use your plan to feed Weruva mixed with raw as a starter point, and if your kitty takes to raw, you can then make the switch over to full raw if you want to. You will definitely have a lot of support from your TCS friends! 

Best regards.

AC

gingercinnaloaf said:

We also lack a health food store and the suppliment section in my local pharmacy is really lacking as well. I'd be too worried about not being able to give him a balanced meals doing the raw.

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With prey model raw, you don't need to supplement. The meat, bone, and organs (in the right proportions) - some offer sardines once or twice a week and raw egg or egg yolk once or twice a week - provide all they need.

I have fed ground raw for 12 years..only chicken..I know they advocate variety...but this was the best I could do...and they have never been sick...and their cbc's are perfect.  I get my supplements from

iherb...and there is free shipping over $20....so you can do it!... I do add liver and gizzards..but you can get those...

Bev

I think Weruva is a great food and i buy it. However, most the pouches are fish flavors and cats should not have too much of that. Their cans are good too. And I think wellness original core is a great dry or you could try dry Evo which is in the top. Both grain free of course and high protein, the later having no fish. I mix weruva with my raw too. Otherwise the cat won't eat it.  

I think you should try the raw prey model, but if you are still interested in commercial cat food, Weruva is a good brand. Other brands which have food that looks like people food are Tiki Cat, Petite Cuisine and Fussie Cat. I don't know about shipping to Canada, but there are companies in my signature that sell cat food by the single can so you can order a few without having to ante up for a whole case only to find kitty won't eat it.

gingercinnaloaf said:

I'm in Canada so Free shipping never applies to me and all the in Canada stores I've found are more expensive to ship within Canada vs. ordering from the states and having it shipped to me in Canada :dk: The cheapest I've found is still 19.95 for shipping to Canada. Which isn't bad when the boxes are usually around 13.99 for the 8 packets.

All the high quailty canned food I've found almost always seems to be in some form of Pate. He does not like Pate style food in any brand I've offered to him. He likes his meals to look like meals  not paste scooped out of a can. Very fussy about that. It's mind boggling. I've even tried shipping a meal and offering him pate style food and he will not eat it.

I've been curious about raw but honestly don't think there is enough of a variety of things avaible in my town to do it. We don't have a butcher and two grocery stores carry basically the same meats. I can get chicken, chicken liver, chicken hearts, etc. but outside of that and other basic grocery store meats, beef-turkey,  the variety is not there. I've lived in this town my whole life and I've only seen duck avaible twice. We also lack a health food store and the suppliment section in my local pharmacy is really lacking as well. I'd be too worried about not being able to give him a balanced meals doing the raw.

I'd be more content with the pouches mixed with raw given that then I know he's getting what he needs from his meals.

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Weruva is shredded, natures variety pride by instinct line is flaked and minced,nutro natural choice comes in minced and sliced. Natural balance stews in pouches also. These are all good with no carageen. Also Soulistic made by weruva is sold exclusively at Petco if you have those stores.

I feed a few kinds of Weruva's Cats in the Kitchen to our cats... but only their canned foods because the pouch foods are pretty high in carbohydrates. (Nutrition information is here.) Like mrsgreenjeens, I also suspect the pouches are a bit more expensive than the cans.