Experience with Feline's Pride

[thedude]

Hello again, y'all! I wanted to give an update so everyone will have all the info if they are trying to make decisions, like me and The Dude.

I, of course, notified FP immediately upon receiving that bad shipment. They immediately shipped another order before responding to me. It was shipped the same way, 2nd day priority USPS, so I was leery. I was never called, but I have emailed back and forth several times with S (not sure I should use names). She was apologetic and vowed to make it right. She acknowledged serious problems stemming from nefarious (always wanted to use that word ) activity by folks no longer employed or involved in the company.

And yes, I said "WTH happened with my order, if it is fixed, as you say?". She seemed really upset that USPS didn't come through. I also emailed once more with the founder of Feline Nutrition Foundation because I noticed on the page listing their Board, that one of the members was Dennis Gomas, Feline's Pride CEO. She again reassured me that the company is still committed to fulfilling the legacy of Shelby Gomas. She acknowledges that they have had serious problems. She also confirmed that S is part of the company and NOT the disgruntled employee.

Since it is too late to make this long story short haha........... I received my second shipment this morning. All was intact and still frozen. It was the correct foods. I am going to thaw some of the rabbit and get a review from Stevie Ray and Daisy as soon as I finish posting this. I tried to add some pictures but can't figure it out, doh.

Dude, I definitely wish I was in a position to make them an offer! I know what a difference the proper food makes for cats and I will never again stop feeding raw. Obviously, the time has come for me to stop relying on others and make my babies' food here at home! Hope this helps others trying to decide about FP. I want Gerry to know how much I appreciate him and everyone else for being open about their experience. My experience is in no way meant to challenge or throw shade on what happened to those who didn't have a good resolution. I honestly don't even want to imply that my experience was ideal, like my experiences with Only Natural Pet.

If anyone is interested in seeing what my shipment looked like, let me know and I will try again. Happy Feeding and Healthy Cats, y'all!

Thanks for the update, I'm glad it worked out for you. Where are you located? I don't remember if you said and I couldn't find it.

I'd love to see a pic of what the shipment looks like if you can post it here, or you can send me a private message. If you want I can even give you my email address. 

 

[thedude]

Nevermind on the location I see it in your info now! I'm blind!

 

[lesterktty]

Good ol' west Texas, Dude, about 30 miles west of Lubbock. Trying again to show you the shipment:

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• lesterktty
• Mar 26, 2015

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• lesterktty
• Mar 26, 2015

Ugh, hope it works. I'm usually good at this stuff but transitioning from PC to iPad.

I kind of wanted to stress that my experience was not ideal. That first shipment was sooooo putrid. I ahem may have also let the FP rep know I was going to keep a forum posted on how it went the second shipment.

Best to y'all! Lesley

 

[lesterktty]

Stevie Ray "Bout dang time"

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• lesterktty
• Mar 26, 2015

Daisy. "Waitress, I believe I ordered something fishy from Tiki"

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• lesterktty
• Mar 26, 2015

Because Daisy is addicted to the fishy stuff from Tiki but she ended up scarfing it down. Sorry if anyone is grossed out by the cat on the counter. No apologies about the table, it's the designated cat table. Thanks for all the support, I love this forum!

 

[gbin]

Thank you for your kind thoughts and words, Lesley.  My wife and I have gotten our "problem child" (Bear, whose picture as a kitten serves as my avatar) eating again, but still at nowhere near normal amounts and we're still holding our breath hoping that another down cycle isn't going to occur before we even move on with feeding trials.  Until we have him stable again we've gone back to feeding Primal Feline Rabbit Formula, which he clearly doesn't like but at least doesn't get sick on.

I'm glad your replacement shipment actually arrived, and in good shape!

... I ahem may have also let the FP rep know I was going to keep a forum posted on how it went the second shipment.

... And I have a sneaking suspicion that had something to do with it.  ;^ /  Very smart of you!

... She was apologetic and vowed to make it right. She acknowledged serious problems stemming from nefarious (always wanted to use that word ) activity by folks no longer employed or involved in the company.

Yeah, while I was still trying to deal with Feline's Pride I heard a number of her vows to make things right, too, interspersed with her sarcasm in response to my questions (always centered on "Why haven't I received my shipment, and when can I expect to finally get it?"), her anger at being bothered, her threats to drop me as a customer, and of course her long periods of just ignoring my inquiries completely.  She never did go so far as to make things right for me, but as I said above, my credit card company did once I finally quit letting her string me along and got them involved.

And although I never heard the particular excuse you mentioned getting from her, I heard numerous others.  One, for example, placed the blame on the USPS for not delivering a box she supposedly sent, and as with you she acted really upset about it; I thought it odd, though, that she never provided me with a tracking number for that purportedly missing box despite my asking for such repeatedly.  In a related example, concerning the box she sent me that arrived late and spoiled, she also vehemently placed the blame on the USPS despite the facts that 1) she put the wrong address on the box (for the first time in the several years I'd bought from them), and 2) the box was packed extremely poorly, with very little insulating material (again, for the first time in the several years I'd bought from them).  While talking with her on the phone I had the impression she was making up at least some of her excuses on the spot.  I don't know about all of them, of course, but I do know that a number of them were demonstrably false.  I think it would be interesting if people were to list all the various excuses they've heard from Feline's Pride in the past several months for why they didn't receive the orders they paid for, nor refunds for same, and for why shipments they did receive were in some way unacceptable.  I bet it would make quite a list.

Lesley or anyone else, have you been able to determine whether S - - - is indeed the head of Feline's Pride, as she so assertively told me on multiple occasions?  If so, I couldn't imagine ever going back to the company as long as that's the case.  The combination of outrageous incompetence and uncaring (not to mention dishonesty) that she displayed would prevent me from ever trusting Feline's Pride again.  That's just me, though; everyone's entitled to make their own decisions/take their own chances.  (Just be sure to pay with a credit card, and keep that link to the Better Business Bureau handy, too.  ;^ /  )

Gerry

 

[pridemark]

I have been a very happy Feline's Pride customer for over a year. However, I did have some issues with recent orders in January 2015.  There was a noticeable change in the consistency of their turkey product. My cat would only eat half of his normal portion.  I spoke with a representative from FP and she told me that a worker had mixed the turkey longer than normal which resulted in a creamier whipped consistency. She immediately offered to replace the entire shipment for me for free - which she did. However, the product I received was substantially similar and my cat will not even touch it. For turkey, I have switched to Rad Cat and my cat readily eats this product. The only slightly negative feature about Rad Cat is that they use bone meal instead of ground bone. I fully intend to start making turkey myself for my cat as soon as I finish the food I have on hand. 

The rabbit formula I received in January was similar to past good orders and continues to be my cat's favorite. There was a delay in getting my order shipped out, but I received a phone call from FP asking me if I wanted to wait a day or two to receive a fresh grind of my rabbit order. I agreed to that and my order was received well packaged and fully frozen. 

I have to admit that I am now fairly apprehensive about placing another order with Feline's Pride. I usually order two months of food at a time from them, but cannot afford to tie up so much money in a food order that my cat may now not want to eat. I also admired Feline's Pride for leaving their Facebook page up during these past few difficult months and negative posts. However, that Facebook page has now been taken down. Unfortunately, lack of communication can certainly breed mistrust.

I  sincerely hope that Feline's Pride returns to the form that has been the delight of so many past customers, including myself. I am certainly rooting for them with all my heart.

 

[lesterktty]

Thank you for adding your experience. I think there are quite a few of us in the same boat and the more people that weigh in with their experience, the better.

 

[luvmymainecoon]

I too was a long time customer of Feline's Pride.  One of the owners died suddenly (I think in 2010) and his brother and wife took over the business best I can tell.  Toward the end of last year service became abysmal.  I was forced to look for other suppliers and settled with Hare Today since they carry my cat's favorite, rabbit.  I purchase the ground with bone and add the Alnutrin supplement.  Some cats can't handle ground up bone and may want to try the boneless grind but just be sure to add the correct Alnutrin blend that is made especially for the grind without the bone.

I had purchased $280 worth of food last December from Feline's Pride and it never arrived, really bad or non-existent communication, outright lies, etc.  so I placed a disputed charge with my credit card company and was eventually refunded the money by my credit card company.  I haven't looked back.  It is really unfortunate.  There was an employee who had worked with the original owner at the company and I believe she was let go at some point last year and in my mind it went down hill after that, over charging for shipping, with promises of refunds that never came.  Just wanted to share my experience.  Buyer should beware.

 

[abbyntim]

Wow, late to this thread. I had looked into Feline's Pride, but shipping (shipping itself plus warm climate ice packs etc) to Southern California was just too expensive.

2)  I want to ask folks here who they would recommend I try for rabbit-based raw meat cat food.  I'm in real need now because of what Feline's Pride had done to me, and I'm really hoping y'all can help me out!

To the OP, I am in a similar situation, as our male cat Tim has an extremely sensitive stomach and was able to eat only rabbit for several months, and rabbit still makes up over half of his diet today. He eats mostly Primal Pronto rabbit, but I have to blend it with other rabbit foods because he won't touch that food on its own. And this is a cat that is not normally picky. I have to add Nature's Variety Instinct CANNED rabbit to Primal Pronto raw rabbit to get him to eat it. I am at 1 ounce of Instinct to 1.8 ounce of Primal; if I drop the Instinct any lower, he won't eat.

The only other balanced raw rabbit I could find locally was Stella and Chewy frozen raw rabbit. Unfortunately, Tim was not enthusiastic about this food, either, even though it does not contain the veggies that Primal contains. And this ultimately did not agree with him. It is a very high-fat food for rabbit, and S&C achieves this by adding olive oil. I think the olive oil caused problems for Tim, as he had diarrhea after eating it.

Taking a step back, Tim's introduction and initial transition to raw was with Rad Cat turkey (at the time, he was eating 100% Instinct canned rabbit). Rad Cat is a very simple recipe and the turkey is quite lean. Tim loves, loves, loves Rad Cat turkey. Have you considered trying this? When I was trying to get Tim to eat Primal Pronto rabbit, I wished that Rad Cat made a rabbit formula. Then I found smallbatch rabbit blend (muscle and organ meats, plus bone). It's not balanced, but Tim loves it and I add a tiny bit to his morning meal to further reduce the canned Instinct.

Because I cannot find exactly what I want in raw rabbit, I took the plunge today and purchased two supplements: taurine and b-complex. I added those to a pound of smallbatch and Tim gobbled up the small amount I gave him. The next pound, I will add another supplement, and so on, until this food is fully-supplemented and balanced. Surprisingly, it wasn't as much work as I expected, as I already spend a lot of time portioning out commercial raw food. To supplement, I used the recipe at catinfo.org and adjusted it for my amount of meat. I will continue with smallbatch rabbit blend, and I am going to try Halshan raw whole rabbit next (local to Southern California). Our holistic vet is very knowledgeable about feline nutrition, so will clear supplements and amounts with her before making my home-supplemented food a larger portion of Tim's diet.

I hope you are able to resolve your issue with Feline's Pride and, more importantly, you find something that works for your cat.

 

[thedude]

Just an update on this. Unfortunately not a good one. My cat was having a hard time adjusting to the Rad Cat so I found another re-seller of FP in my area and bought some chicken. The containers FP use now are not meant to be frozen. They are the deli style really thin plastic containers. Every single time I open one either the lid cracks or the side near the top cracks. And this is for the one's that aren't already cracked. Seems they like to crack during shipping or while in the freezer. I actually found small pieces of plastic in the food from the cracks on a few containers so I threw out the majority of the container out of fear of my cat eating a sharp plastic shard.

Apparently the new owner said they are looking into different thicker containers but can't go back to the original nice containers that I never had problems with because the manufacturer stopped making them. I find it hard to believe they can't find anything similar. I really think they are just cutting corners wherever they can to have a higher profit margin.

I'd say out of the 10lbs of food I bought, I had to throw away 3lbs or so due to risk of plastic shards or freezer burn. These containers if cracked cause freezer burn very quickly in addition to the risk of plastic in the food. Even the ones that didn't crack had freezer burn around the edges due to the thin containers.

Well, my story doesn't end there. Out of the 7lbs that I had left, my cat is very reluctant to eat it. She used to lick her plate clean. But on this last 7lbs, she has eaten about half of what she is given and leaves the other half. She acts very hungry, but then I feed her, she smells it and walks away. I feel bad for her because she eventually returns and picks at it but never eats it all anymore.

The re-seller assured me the product was frozen when it arrived but I think something must have happened to compromise this food since my cat used to love it and now won't eat much of it. My poor kitty hasn't eaten much in over a month now. She is very healthy otherwise. Yesterday, after a month of barely eating this FP, I gave her a plate of RadCat again just because I felt bad. And I'm surprised to say but she gobbled it down so fast when she wouldn't even touch it a month ago. Not only that but she ate it so fast that gave her another plate an hour later and she gobbled that up too. Poor thing must have been starving.

This really tells me that something is very wrong with FP. I should have known but I was desperate last month when she wouldn't touch the RadCat. Sorry for such a long post but I am definitely sticking to RadCat for now, even if it is more expensive. I am sorry to see such a once great company head south so quickly. You can't just change shipping methods, and packing methods something that needs to be frozen and shipped cross country!

edit to add: I sent an email to Felines Pride asking some questions about packaging and shipping a month ago and zero reply. I was friendly and simply asked some questions but no reply at all.

 

[cameo2015]

Is Felines Pride the same company as Oma's pride raw diet for cats and dogs??

 

[mschauer]

 
Is Felines Pride the same company as Oma's pride raw diet for cats and dogs??

No, they are completely unrelated companies.

 

[tournesol]

Thanks, Mickey, for including that tip.  I will go over and check out that section now.

 

[thedude]

Shelby Gomas was the founder of FP and that may be why Oma's Pride sounds familiar.

That being said, poor Shelby would be disappointed in what his legacy has become after his death. 

 

[furpeople]

I know I'm very late to this thread, but I want to add my penny's worth to the mix & I'm not sure where else I can post it. 

I was a reseller/distributor for FP from the time Shelby first started the company back in 2006 until this year when it moved it from NY to Tampa Fla. 

Everything was fine while the company was based in NY, then poor Shelby passed away in 2011 (he cared more about his 20 cats than he did his own personal health issues).

The first I knew about the move was when I received a shipment from Tampa instead of Buffalo last December, it was late & poorly packed.... BTW as a reseller I was buying 140lbs of food every 2 weeks & having it air-freighted via SWAirlines. My next shipment arrived in the same poorly packed condition, was late & short by many pounds. 

My customers started to have issues with the food, specifically the chicken & turkey.

Every subsequent shipment I received was in cracked deli containers, mislabeled & in such poor condition I couldn't/wouldn't sell it, in fact I gave a lot of it away!
So, I'm now grinding my own food, chicken, turkey & hen, for my spoiled boy & for some of my customers who've decided to trust me to make food for their kitties. It's working out to be a lot cheaper than FP & I think a lot better quality! I'm getting fresh meat from Bristol Farms & then adding all the individual supplements as per Anne Jablonsky's recipe (which is what Shelby originally based FP on). So far my boy's coat is softer/better than it has been for months, & my customers kitties are liking their new food. 
FWIW I am not, & have no intention of going into business grinding cat food for a living, I'm just doing it for my baby & a few really good customers who have been with me for years.

My reason for posting is that unfortunately I think FP has gone so far downhill that I would no longer recommend it to anyone.

 

[tournesol]

Good morning and happy Friday everyone.

 Furpeople's post - along with the posts from cameo2015 and TheDude - reminded me of my promise to get back to everyone with my experience once it was time for me to re-order.

As a recap, I had a similar experience the last time I ordered but reached out to FP and, with the belief that one catches more flies with honey, I tried the pleasant approach and was able to get my order.  I was told the same story that many of you have also related about the move from New York to Florida.  I was also told that the website was being redone and things were going to get much better soon.  I was so excited and relieved that I even told a friend/fellow cat owner about FP and she made an initial order.  (She has three cats and a dog so it was a rather large order).

Unfortunately, she experienced a nightmare trying to deal with FP.  It was so negative, in fact, that she is now turned off to the whole raw diet plan.

It is very sad that a company that used to be so great, and was founded with such passion by Shelby Gomas, has come to this.

So, as promised: I went back to the drawing board and did yet more research.  I came across a woman named Natascha Wille.  What is interesting is that she appears to be the predecessor for both Ann Jablonski and Dr. Lisa Pierson, the two individuals from whom I first learned about the raw food diet - and from whom I first learned about FP.

From Natascha Wille I came across TCFeline (TC stands for, "Total Carnivore").  To cut to the chase, close to a month ago I ordered meat from a farm relatively near where I live called Hare-Today and add in the TCFeline supplement. It is a little more work - I order 50% ground meat and 50% meat that I chop up.  I mix them together with the TCFeline and the called for amount of water (1/2 cup per 2 lbs.)  This comes out to about 5 lbs. of food for every 4 lbs. of meat. Stella loves the extra chewing/tearing required - and I think it is good for her teeth and jaws.

I have to say I was somewhat shocked at how nice Tracy of Hare-Today has been.  She was forthright and responsive to the ridiculous amount of questions I initially had.  I received a tracking number, the meat was very professionally packaged - and it arrived on time! Similarly, Sam from TCFeline (actually thetotalcat) was friendly and patient with all my questions.

I am well aware that feeding my kitten a raw diet must be done right and so I wanted to make sure I did all the research and had a good recipe.  It is a bit more work than FP but it is cheaper, the quality is better and Stella absolutely loves the food!

I must say, Stella's coat is, if possible, even shinier and her level of energy is great.

I'm not trying to push a particular brand.  My main point is that I thought I had found a good raw feeding solution for Stella and was very sad when that fell through.  I was at a loss for what to do next but am quite happy to have found a new solution.

I am happy to answer any questions for others who may be facing a similar quandary.

All the best,

- Rich

 

[mschauer]

 
I have to say I was somewhat shocked at how nice Tracy of Hare-Today has been.  She was forthright and responsive to the ridiculous amount of questions I initially had.  I received a tracking number, the meat was very professionally packaged - and it arrived on time! Similarly, Sam from TCFeline (actually thetotalcat) was friendly and patient with all my questions.

I am well aware that feeding my kitten a raw diet must be done right and so I wanted to make sure I did all the research and had a good recipe.  It is a bit more work than FP but it is cheaper, the quality is better and Stella absolutely loves the food!

I must say, Stella's coat is, if possible, even shinier and her level of energy is great.

I'm not trying to push a particular brand.  My main point is that I thought I had found a good raw feeding solution for Stella and was very sad when that fell through.  I was at a loss for what to do next but am quite happy to have found a new solution.

Both Hare-Today and TCFeline are used by many here at TCS with good results. I too am very sorry about what has happened to Feline Pride but it appears the problems they are having are not temporary. Very sad.

You can find information on other pre-mixes like TCFeline and on-line meat suppliers at this link:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264154/raw-feeding-resources

 

[tournesol]

Thank you so much, mschauer!  You are always so very helpful.

 

[thedude]

I have sent felines pride numerous emails asking questions that need answers regarding their processes and such but have never got an answer. That is the only time they were given my email.

Well, over the weekend I got a coupon from FP for 20% or something off my next order. So obviously they took my email address and just decided to never reply but use my email for marketing. Nice to see they are working on giving coupons but don't answer emails from their potential customers. Perhaps they should spend more time on the product and their customers. 

Good riddance FP!

 

[tournesol]

I got the same email!

About three months too late.  I have moved on and am happy with my new sources.