Changes coming re: Tiki Cat Gourmet Carnivore

cheeser

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We've been having a heck of a time lately finding Tiki Cat Gourmet Carnivore Chicken with Turkey in stock at Chewy and some of our other usual sources.

So I contacted Tiki Pets to see if maybe there was a recall or something that we missed.

Apparently they have had some kind of a supply issue re: the turkey, so that particular flavor will no longer be available. 


Of course, we were pretty disappointed, since Tiki Cat doesn't offer that many non-fish flavors anyway in the Gourmet Carnivore or Grill and Luau product lines.

But in the next month or so, they're going to be doing a 'label refresh' where the new product will be sold under the name After Dark, and they'll be tweaking with the formulas a bit -- which always makes me a little nervous when any company makes 'improvements.' 


They'll be offering several chicken based flavors, including a couple that are currently available as Gourmet Carnivore, and the customer service rep said that a variety pack will be available.

  - Chicken & Quail Egg

  - Chicken & Duck

  - Chicken & Lamb

  - Chicken & Beef

  - Chicken & Pork

  - Chicken & Liver

The only reference I could find on the internet was toward the end of this article:

http://www.petbusiness.com/November-2016/The-Meat-of-the-Matter/?platform=hootsuite

Just thought I'd pass this info along in case it would be of interest to anyone, or so you can start stockpiling whatever you can get your hands on while you still can. ;-)
 
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cheeser

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Oh, I'm so glad you noticed that Tiki Cat added the word "Luau" to the GC labels!  I thought I had just imagined they hadn't always done that. ;-)

Around this time of year awhile back, we suddenly started having trouble finding one of our cat's favorite flavors from another company.  The guy at PetSmart told us that if a pet food company is going to discontinue or change a particular product, they'll often do it around the first of the year.  But it usually takes until about February or March before the customer is aware of any changes, and by then they've swept the shelves clean of the old stuff to make way for the new, and you can't always depend on the stores having a few old cans on hand to sell you.

Now any time we start having trouble finding one of our cats' favorite flavors toward the end of the year, or the price suddenly goes down pretty dramatically as compared to other flavors or product lines for that brand, we get suspicious.  So if at all possible, we start buying a little stockpile from wherever we can to last us for a month or two, just in case we have to transition our kitties to something else soon. :-)

Good luck to you and your cats! *hugs*
 

lisahe

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No, you didn't imagine the luau, @cheeser! I noticed it when I was at the store and then checked it against the older cans I had at home.

That's very interesting what the PetSmart employee told you. And it does fit with the Tiki situation: the store where I shop was starting to have "backorder" problems in the fall and I noticed items were out of stock on Chewy, too. This was around the time another Cat Site user had noticed differences in the calorie counts for the plain chicken (puka puka, I think? those names make me crazy!) in what I think of as the original Tiki foods, the luau line. That was when (in November) the store wrote to the company and it sounded like there weren't any Gourmet Carnivore changes coming... at least not this soon! I did stock up on some foods. I just wish beef liver and chicken hadn't been the first to be on backorder: that was such a favorite!

Good luck -- and hugs! -- to you, too!
Fingers crossed that this works itself out okay!
 

missmimz

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My guess is these are probably going to be worse changes. Tiki was a good small company, but I don't really know what to think once these companies are bought out because the changes are almost always never good. I don't feed Tiki, but it's a bummer for anyone that does. 
 

lisahe

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My guess is these are probably going to be worse changes. Tiki was a good small company, but I don't really know what to think once these companies are bought out because the changes are almost always never good. I don't feed Tiki, but it's a bummer for anyone that does. 
I can't say I'm optimistic about it, either, missmimz. I do like the idea of new flavors but I'm very interested to see the ingredient lists and whether the new foods are mostly chicken with just token amounts of the other protein, like the chicken with duck and the chicken with turkey. If I'm happy with the ingredients, I can always rotate them but there's no way I'm going to add more Tiki slots in the rotation for more yet chicken!
 
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cheeser

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Good luck -- and hugs! -- to you, too!
Fingers crossed that this works itself out okay!
Well, we've finally decided to give Weruva's TruLuxe Quick 'N Quirky a try as a possible substitute for Tiki Cat's GC Chicken with Turkey.

To be honest, we just haven't tried it before because none of the holistic pet supply stores in our area sell it, and if we bought a whole case from Chewy and our cat didn't like it, we were afraid that we might wind up with a very expensive paperweight. ;-)

For some weird reason, Weruva just shows a picture of the can itself on their website, and not the actual contents like they do for the other flavors. But I did find a photo on another site, and you can get an even better idea of what Quick 'N Quirky looks like by clicking on the pics for the full-sized versions.  The gravy, of course, looks thicker than the broth we're used to for the Tiki Cat GC.  But at least it's not as thick and gloppy as the Fowl Ball (which Buddy does like).

http://palmaskittyworld.blogspot.com/2014/03/weruva-truluxe-quick-n-quirky.html

Also, I contacted Chewy, and they said that if our little guy doesn't like the Quick 'N Quirky, they'd refund our money and cover the expense to have the remaining cans shipped back to them.  So here goes, and I'll let you know if Buddy deems it to be an acceptable offering.  And hopefully our cats will find Tiki Cat's "improvements" to be acceptable as well. ;-)
 

lisahe

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I hope Buddy likes the Quick 'n Quirky, @cheeser! It's an expensive one and there's too much gravy for the money... but our cats really enjoy it, in part because they love the clumps of meat. (Ireland loves to carry them away from the dish to eat them...) It's definitely not as gloppy as Fowl Ball! Good luck, I'll watch for Buddy's review!
 
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cheeser

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Thanks bunches, LisaHE and tiptopper!  I'm already feeling better about having to make this change. 
 
 

sterlingsilver

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Thank you so much for doing the legwork! I've always wanted to try Tiki and was so happy to use Gourmet Carnivore when it came out due to all the non fish flavors. Then out of no where I couldn't get it to save my life and my poor Sterling was NOT happy. I ended up trying their new Born Carnivore dry and Sterling and I love it although the "dry" makes me nervous. 
 

lisamarie12

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Just an FYI re: the second proteins (non fish formulas) listed in both TC's GC and Weruva's Truluxe (and CITK), e.g. chicken and turkey, chicken duck, etc., those second proteins are only 5%, per what I was told by both companies. Anything more than 5% would raise the price point.
 

lisahe

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Just an FYI re: the second proteins (non fish formulas) listed in both TC's GC and Weruva's Truluxe (and CITK), e.g. chicken and turkey, chicken duck, etc., those second proteins are only 5%, per what I was told by both companies. Anything more than 5% would raise the price point.
Yes and the Tiki labels even read "chicken with duck" instead of "chicken and duck"... "with" is definitely more honest!
 
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cheeser

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I hope Buddy likes the Quick 'n Quirky, @cheeser! It's an expensive one and there's too much gravy for the money... but our cats really enjoy it, in part because they love the clumps of meat. (Ireland loves to carry them away from the dish to eat them...) It's definitely not as gloppy as Fowl Ball! Good luck, I'll watch for Buddy's review!
Okay, we finally crossed the proverbial Rubicon, and gave the Quick 'N Quirky a try now that we're completely out of the Tiki Cat GC chicken with turkey.

Buddy didn't eat it with the same gusto that he did the Tiki Cat.  But he's very much a creature of habit and usually doesn't like any kind of change, and we were surprised and delighted that he ate it at all.  And I suppose it did help that there were a couple of really big chunks sitting right on top to whet his appetite. ;-)

I'm just hoping they don't screw up the formula for the GC chicken with duck when they do this label refresh thingy. *nervously bites fingernails*
 

lisahe

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I'm glad Buddy liked the Quick 'N Quirky, @cheeser! And the Tiki Gourmet Carnivore, grrr. Last night was chicken and liver and the cats were both thoroughly annoyed with it until I put some Pure Bites on it. It even just looks a little different. These two are also cats of habit. (I guess they all are, aren't they?!) I'm not quite sure what to do about Tiki since they've been eating it several times a week now just aren't that into it. (Help?)
 
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cheeser

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I was just about to order some items from Chewy, and noticed that they now carry some some flavors from the new Tiki Cat After Dark product line.  Alas, no variety pack that I could see.  Guess I'll just have to cross my fingers and hope for the best.  I'm always nervous about these sorts of changes, as my cats are rarely impressed with the 'latest and greatest' anything.

It's weird that Tiki Cat hasn't updated their site yet. *scratches head*
 

lisahe

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I was just about to order some items from Chewy, and noticed that they now carry some some flavors from the new Tiki Cat After Dark product line.  Alas, no variety pack that I could see.  Guess I'll just have to cross my fingers and hope for the best.  I'm always nervous about these sorts of changes, as my cats are rarely impressed with the 'latest and greatest' anything.

It's weird that Tiki Cat hasn't updated their site yet. *scratches head*
cheeser, thank you for posting this! I need to make a big cat food order from my local store soon so am especially interested in what's new with Tiki. Then again, hmm. The cats just haven't been into their Tiki lately (unless, of course, I put Pure Bites on it, eek!) and these After Dark foods look like Gourmet Carnivore "Chicken With Liver" with new labels and some other meat in token amounts. The focus really seems to be on chicken and chicken organ meats, led by liver. What the heck?

And why am I not surprised that Tiki hasn't updated their site!?
 

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Here are the new ingredients of the "After Dark" line... it's ok but not great. Chicken BROTH is the first ingredient. I hope they keep the other lines the same and this is only an addition.

Tiki Cat After Dark Chicken Canned Cat Food:

Ingredients

Chicken Broth, Chicken, Chicken Liver, Chicken Gizzard, Chicken Heart, Tricalcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Magnesium Sulfate, Taurine, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Vitamin E Supplement, Ascorbic Acid (Source Of Vitamin C), Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Niacin (Vitamin B3), Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Vitamin A Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Calcium Iodate, Calcium Pantothenate, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Biotin, Vitamin K3 Supplement.
Caloric Content

711 kcal/kg, 57 kcal/can
 
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cheeser

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cheeser, thank you for posting this! I need to make a big cat food order from my local store soon so am especially interested in what's new with Tiki. Then again, hmm. The cats just haven't been into their Tiki lately (unless, of course, I put Pure Bites on it, eek!) and these After Dark foods look like Gourmet Carnivore "Chicken With Liver" with new labels and some other meat in token amounts. The focus really seems to be on chicken and chicken organ meats, led by liver. What the heck?

And why am I not surprised that Tiki hasn't updated their site!?
I dunno what's going on with Tiki Cat.


The GC Chicken with Duck still meets with Buddy's approval, but he'll barely touch the Grill & Luau chicken flavors ever since we started getting the cans with the new labels.

I'm not too thrilled about the liver and other organ meats in the new After Dark line, mostly because I was under the impression that it wasn't good for cats to have so much liver in their diet on a daily basis.  Then again, maybe there's not enough to be concerned about.  You know, like how a can of pork and beans has that teeny-tiny sliver of pork that you practically need a microscope to see. 


Pet360 has the After Dark Variety Pack, but since I don't have an account or any experience with them, I'm hoping that it will become available soon at Chewy.  That way Buddy can refuse to eat the products in a variety of flavors, rather than just one. 
 
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cheeser

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Here are the new ingredients of the "After Dark" line... it's ok but not great. Chicken BROTH is the first ingredient. I hope they keep the other lines the same and this is only an addition.
When I first contacted Tiki Pets to find out why we could no longer find the GC Chicken with Turkey anywhere, this is the response I got:

"We were having a supply issue with the Turkey in the Gourmet Carnivore line, so we have not had a new batch in awhile. We are going through a label refresh for this line and within the next month, it will come out as “After Dark.” The formulas will be different, but still the natural prey concept including organ meat. Because of the supply issue, there will not be a turkey diet though."

IMHO, that sounds like they're replacing the GC with the new After Dark product line, but I'll double check with them when they get back to me about my request for additional nutritional information.  I'm not ordering anything until I know what the protein, fat, and carb content is, or can at least crunch the numbers based on the Guaranteed Analysis and get a ballpark estimate
 
 
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