Could Wellness be dangerous?

I would like to introduce some wet food into my cats' diet, if the vet agrees. I only plan to supplement with wet, because I have finally found a dry food that works for both of my sensitive cats (no more vomiting or diarrhea) and don't want to change their diet too much and make them sick all over again. I would like to add a little canned though to add some variety and prevent future urinary problems. This brings me to Wellness. As I was researching different foods, I found that some of the Wellness Signature Selects varieties do not contain any of the lengthy list of food ingredients that I have to avoid or the potentially cancer-causing carrageenan. This all seemed great until I read some more and found out that the product is made in Thailand. With all of the recalls that happened a few years ago due to contaminated rice from China, I am not sure that I want to risk buying a product that comes from Asia, or anywhere overseas, for that matter. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think that the practices in Thailand are any better than in China?.

I've read before that the practices in Thailand are not at all like in China.  There are a lot of high quality foods with great reputations that are made in Thailand, such as Weruva, Soulistic,  BFF, and Tiki Cat, and I think they're made in human food facilities.  I read one article that said pet foods made in Thailand are actually under stricter control than the US. I feel safe using food made there.

Honestly, with global sourcing of pet foods made in the U.S., I don't worry about where foods are made. Unless you're buying from a small or local food producer, or a food that guarantees it is ALL sourced in the U.S., it's likely there are ingredients in the food that are sourced from China.

But yes, many reputable foods are sourced in Thailand, and according to those manufacturers, the process is very regulated.

Of course, with the ingredients that are allowed to be in pet food, I'm not sure how meaningful that is.

I looked at the cans of Wellness Core and those are made in the US. So were the cans of Wellness cubed and the pate. Was it the dry food that is made in Taiwan?

It was the cans of Wellness Signature Selects that I was looking at on the Petsmart website. When I clicked on Product Details and scrolled down, it said "Country of Origin: Thailand." I did not actually look at the cans in person, so it is possible that the website has wrong information. I hope that is the case.

Interesting! Are those the pouches? The "signature select" name wasn't ringing bells for me. 

lauraG said:

 
Interesting! Are those the pouches? The "signature select" name wasn't ringing bells for me. 

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Nope, the signature select ones are the gravy/shredded kind. The pouches have a different name - Healthy Indulgence or something.

Some of the cans of Wellness Signature selects contains carageenan - only 1 flavor I saw did not. All you have to do is google Thailand poison danger food & you will see countless stories and reports of HUMANS being poisoned in Thailand - can you imagine what they are doing to the pet food if people are getting deathly sick? Scary - Greedy .

I think it's very ironic, OP, that you are worried about the safety of one brand of wet food on the market, yet you admit to feeding an all-dry diet that you want to only "supplement" with wet food. You do realize that ALL dry foods are unhealthy due to the extremely low moisture content alone? You are aware of the dangers of low moisture content, & the fact that cats don't have a high enough thirst drive to make up the difference between eating a wet diet vs. dry? The best way to avoid urinary tract problems is to stop feeding dry food entirely!

Also, a vet worthy of caring for cats realizes the importance of wet food in the diet; if yours does not, ditch him/her and switch to one who does.

i trust wellness.  factory practices and safeguards in thailand are much, MUCH different than in china.  i also appreciate the fact that, when i contact wellness, they are forthcoming with information (i have had bad experiences in the past with blue buffalo and that, among many other reasons, is why i no longer feed anything from blue).   if you're dead set on dry food for your sensitive kitties and are just looking to supplement, have you considered freeze dried raw?  my cats loved stella & chewy and i found it to be very cost effective for me.  i have a sensitive kitty and a very picky kitty and they both loved the chicken and turkey flavors.  i would put a few nuggets in their dish, smush it up, add warm water, and let it sit for a minute or two.  they would hound me while i was waiting for it to reconstitute!  if you have a local private pet store (not petco, etc) they may carry it, or you can purchase it online.  i think it's definitely worth it.