Wellness Food Brands

On the advice of a certified animal behaviorist, I was told my cat's diet is similar to the Americanized diet of starchy foods and sugars and bad stuff , he recommended Wellness brands. No fillers, no by-products, all good stuff that cleans out your kitty's system.

Does anyone have any feedback on this? Also a really stupid question, does anyone know if it would be sold at a mainstream market, like Whole Foods (they cater to organics and real foods)?

They sell it at a shi-shi upper scale yuppie pet store in the neighborhood I live, but I am looking to see if i can avoid it. If not, no biggie, i'll have to frequent there now .

Some of their products contain garlic, which can irritate your cat's esophagus and, over time, interfere with your cat's red cell production, which can be fatal. It is best to read the ingredients and make sure there is no garlic. My kitty eats Nutro brand foods. They don't have by products, garlic or any other bad stuff.

That's the exact thing I was going to post. I won't feed Dori Wellness because it contains garlic. I feed her Innova which is a good quality food as well. It is actually similar to Wellness, but Innova stopping using garlic in their food several months ago.

As far as purchasing the higher quality foods, I have to drive about 30 minutes away to a Holistic pet store to buy her food. You can always check into ordering the food online, but take shipping costs into consideration. I would rather drive to the store than pay additional for shipping because that gets expensive.

I agree with the above, Wellness is a very high quality food that can only be purchased in specialty stores, but I will not serve it to my girls due to the garlic content which can potentially lead to a certain type of anemia. The closest available store for me to buy Sierra's food is one hour away, and further for Serenity's. I most often order online or mail order from the store itself.

I didn't know that about Wellness, but I don't feed it anyways (never have, though I was thinking about it). I feed California Natural, which is another good food. The kits are currently finishing a bag of Innova, after being on Cal Natural, and as soon as the bag runs out in a few days, I'm putting them back on California Natural.

Originally Posted by dawnofsierra

I agree with the above, Wellness is a very high quality food that can only be purchased in specialty stores, but I will not serve it to my girls due to the garlic content which can potentially lead to a certain type of anemia. The closest available store for me to buy Sierra's food is one hour away, and further for Serenity's. I most often order online or mail order from the store itself.

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Oh my goodness!!! i had no idea the product contained garlic, and that is was so potentially hazardous to my babies That's why I love this board, so informative!! Thanks very much!!!!

Sierra has eaten Innova wet for many years. I strongly support and recommend the Natura products!

HI Group, I was feeding my kittens wellness brand, but after reading this info I see it has garlic in it. What is a good food for kittens with sensative tummys. They get diarrhea pretty easy, so I don't want to upset them too much. I was told hills diet is good. But I have also heard from others that hills isn't a very good pruduct.


Francine

I've tried Wellness with both my kitties and dogs. They don't like it.

Originally Posted by Lndscpsam

I've tried Wellness with both my kitties and dogs. They don't like it.

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This was along time ago .. and then I forgot to read a label recently and flavors looked good( lmao dont not read the labels ) ... neither cat would touch it..


Innova is good , I suggest a few trips to different pet stores big and small... I go to three to five store for my "kids" to get what they like in the flavors theyll eat..

I tried this brand when I was trying cooked food a while ago, and Cupid wouldn't eat it. I bought a whole case online and ended up donating it.

I just spoke to a lady who has been dealing with cats for the past 30 years and she said the amount of garlic in Wellness brand isn't dangerouse. I found this site online here and it tells of the good and bad cat foods. Now the person is a bit vulgar, but it sounds like some good advise is given. http://catfoodguide.com/goodbadandugly.htm

The article did contain some very good advice. However, it makes you wonder why people feel they need to use such vulgarity to get their point across? If the article hadn't contained the vulgar language you would have assumed it was written by a fairly intelligent person. I'm a receptionist at a veterinary clinic and have to speak with people on the phone and in the office every day. People are so used to talking like this in their everyday life that they don't realize that this language offends some people (including me). When people start talking like that it really lowers my opinion of them (regardless of how nice they may seem). Oh well, like I always say, "some people just don't know any better."

Originally Posted by frawri

I just spoke to a lady who has been dealing with cats for the past 30 years and she said the amount of garlic in Wellness brand isn't dangerouse. I found this site online here and it tells of the good and bad cat foods. Now the person is a bit vulgar, but it sounds like some good advise is given. http://catfoodguide.com/goodbadandugly.htm

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Well the statement about Nutro is NOT TRUE! The food has been tested for both phenobarb AND dog and cat DNA, and none were found. Nasty false rumor, which makes the rest of the site irrelevant to me.

Here's a link to the report on the Nutro website: http://www.nutroproducts.com/reportinfo.asp

Amber

I did not have a good experience with Wellness cat food. It gave Levi horrible diarreah, & Jordan Mild diarreah. Levi was so bad they had to go on a perscription food for a time to get his bowels to calm down. Then I slowly switched them to Nutro Natural & they love it and are doing very well on it.

I looked up Nutro kitten food, and the ingredients started off with Chicken Meal, not a good sign to me. Where as Wellness brand starts off with Whole Chicken. They boil it right off the bone and put it in the food. It does cause diarrhea at first because it is such a rich food, and natural. But if you give it a bit of time it does work well. And there are just some cats that can't handled it. Sensitive tummy's and all. So there is nothing wrong with finding a cat food that will work for them. Though I have to admit my kittens also can't handle the richness of Wellness brand. It is because they have had junk food all there little lives. But I do know of other cats that are doing quite well on it. So I wouldn't quite put it down. As for the nasty wording on the site I sent everyone. I also feel it is no good to speak like that, and hence the reason why I warned you about it. In my eyes when some one speaks like that, my respect for them has gone right out the door. But in this case, I have done a lot of research also, looking at good brands and bad, and I thought this person made a lot of sense in the ones that they picked to be good. Now I am no vet, so I can't say that they are all great, but just do the research that the person states and you can tell for your self.

Whole chicken is raw and will shrink quite a bit, so the wellness food is NOT based on chicken. The second ingredient will be the largest volume in the finished product. I'd rather have chicken meal. I fed Nutro for several months before I became a demonstrator for them, and I've looked at everything out there. My cats look great, don't shed too much, and don't stink up the house when they poop. This is what they'll eat for the rest of thier lives.

Amber

HI Amber, I am not trying to attack, I am just going by what I have read. I know meal isn't that bad, but I do like what I have seen with other cat owners and they feed wellness brand. I have also been feeding my dogs wellness brand for 2 years now, and love what they look like, and they are very healthy. So it just comes down to what you like and don't like. There can be other products out there that are just as good if not better then Wellness (like raw diets)

Many of us just would like no questionable things in our foods ... wellness has many in my book.. it is a very good food just for the money most of us think there are far better foods at better prices..

Originally Posted by frawri

HI Amber, I am not trying to attack, I am just going by what I have read. I know meal isn't that bad, but I do like what I have seen with other cat owners and they feed wellness brand. I have also been feeding my dogs wellness brand for 2 years now, and love what they look like, and they are very healthy. So it just comes down to what you like and don't like. There can be other products out there that are just as good if not better then Wellness (like raw diets)

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I probably came off differently than I meant to on that. A little tired and cranky tonight! But I agree with sharky, that there's better foods for the cost. And I've been doing a lot of reading on a dog board lately, and I'm thinking the raw diet isn't all it's cracked up to be, either. What is the absolute best way to feed a dog or cat? Honestly, I do NOT know! If I did, it's what I'd be feeding. But I think a combination of a good quality kibble, and a good quality canned food, like Nutro, is the best I can do for my pets. I let thier condition and health tell me how it works for them. I've got minimal shedding (especially with my shepherd/collie mix dogs, with thier dense undercoats), minimal waste odor, and minimal waste. They've got healthy, soft, shiny coats, bright eyes, and good breath. They are all the picture of health, and that makes me happy, and makes me confident that I'm doing right by them in the choices I made. And the fact that it doesn't cost me an arm and a leg to feed them is nice, too. They eat better than I do, and I spend less on their food than I spend on mine. And I say none of that because I work for them, I was saying it before I even knew my job existed.
But, if it works for you, that's GREAT!

And about the link, I stopped reading it after the false info about phenobarb in Nutro. If the first thing they mention is incorrect, what about the info on the rest of the site? Has all of that info been carefully researched and found to be true? I'm not confident that it is. Credibility was already ruined for me.
I've read LOTS of sites, lots of info. And you get lots of conflicting info, too. One says this ingredient is good, another says it's bad. And they both make convincing arguements. That's why it's so hard to know exactly what to do. But I went over my feeding program with my vet, we tweaked it a bit to add the canned food for Gizmo's weight (which she won't eat, *sigh* she only likes her dry food), but he concluded that I've got a good solid program and that my animals are benefitting from it. So I'm convinced that I'm doing exactly what I should.

Amber