Not nuts at all Geff!!  Just FYI, three weeks ago I (hesitantly) purchased Cal. Nat. Chicken and Rice with a pull date of March 7, 2008. But all three boys have been doing extremely well and with all this talk, I went back yesterday and bought another bag with that same pull date. I don't know what to say about your problems with the feb date, Lacy; produced in a different plant, maybe??  Hopefully it was just an isolated incident unrelated to food; something two months ago, a cat-parent would have just cleaned up and gone about one's day!!

Since all of mine love variety (which is hard to provide right now!), we have also added Fromm's duck into the mix and they all three love that too. I did try Serengeti a couple weeks ago, which they ate but one of them had a little softer stool, so I'm thinking that maybe I need to introduce that a little slower than I'm accustomed, since it is a grain-free recipe. They also eat the Cal. Nat. Herring and Sweet Potato, and I'm waiting yet to introduce the Fromm's salmon and will let you know how that goes.  Lacy, since Cal Nat asked, I'd send them some of the food for testing. It would relieve everyone's mind--most importantly your own. 

Anybody reading this forum have any experience with Life's Abundance? Off their website, I requested a free sample pack of both their dry and canned food, treats and vitamins but want some feedback and will do some research before actually using the products. The Petfoodlist doesn't raise any red flags at this point.

Lacy, our three cats are halfway through a bag we bought just a little over a week ago and all have been fine. I expect the change of ingredient list may merely be a more detailed explanation of their ingredients rather than a "sinister admission" of something. If you click on their explanation of rice on the list, it seems pretty straightforward. I think food companies are finally realizing that we are scrutizing everything on their packages these days and we don't want just a "general idea" of what's in the bag.  How long have your cats been on CN? I hope it's nothing serious and that they're feeling better soon.

Amy, don't get discouraged if you don't get an immediate reply from the customer rep. My first two emails were answered within 24 hours, assuming because they were common questions and the rep had the answers on hand. Last week I emailed my concern that their minerals in their wet (as opposed to the dry) were listed as sulfates rather than the preferred chelated forms (proteinates). I was starting to get a little put off because I waited a week but finally received a response with an apology for the delay because she had wanted to actually direct the question to one of the nutritionists or biochemists or someone of that nature. I really liked the fact that she went to the trouble to actually go to an employee who could give her the answer to my question rather than simply a cookie cutter answer. I was reassured that they indeed have started using chelated minerals for a while; just not updated their can labels yet. I'm sure up until 5 weeks ago they never expected consumers to go over every single ingredient under a microscope so using old outdated cans was a non-issue.  I hope all companies NOW realize we've all become informed consumers and they better step up to the plate. Point being--hang in there; it may take more than the usual 24 hours to get a response to this highly unusual situation with the "missing article," which he may not even be aware of, and I bet there will be more than one email about it.  I look forward to your posting his response (and am hoping for the best!)
Also, on a positive note, spoke to my good friend this weekend who is a breeder of Birmans and Siberians who began Fromm's wet and dry three weeks ago and all of her cats are thriving.  (with this thread being read 243 times, I'd hoped more users would respond about their experience with the food.  )

I'd like to hear, too, from anyone else having success with the Fromm's canned...

Amy, we have one of our three cats who is a wet food eater. And a very picky one. As much as I hated it, the only thing he liked was 3 flavors of canned ProPlan, but with the wheat gluten thing, I stopped him cold turkey and doubled my efforts at finding something safer that he would eat. Many, many cans later, we tried Fromm's and he digs into it like he NEVER did with Purina. He loves all but the beef flavor.  I've had several letters back and forth with their company and have been impressed with their responses. He's been on it now for 3+ weeks and is the most active little mischief-maker of the three. And I think we're going on four weeks now without even having a hairball [knock on wood]. I know many people have responded about their fear of the China manufacturing plant, but I'm reasonably comfortable with Fromm's explanations, the food actually looks like FOOD, and it's reinforced by my cat's health. So unless I hear something concrete to the contrary via an Itchmo alert, it's Fromm's for us.

Although the favorite around here for our three cats is Cal. Natural, we do offer the Fromm's Duck as they like variety. We opened a new bag a couple of weeks ago and all have eaten from eat and are doing fine. Super-energetic as always!! I'm feeling comfortable with it. I have yet to open the Salmon to see if they like that flavor.

We have three cats who have had Cal. Nat. in their rotation for a couple years and happily can say that it's the only one we are still comfortable feeding them these days. We even have one cat with IBD and haven't had so much as a hairball from anyone in over three weeks--knock on wood. We've started offering Serengeti and Fromm's dry because they all like a variety, but Cal. Nat. is still the favorite.  I pray it doesn't let us down...

I have a question about the Serengeti for cats. . . I've been told Evo is really too much protein for their kidneys to handle and have veered away from it. Being grain-free, does Serengeti fall into that same class? 

Amy, frankly I've AWAYS avoided any cat food with beef. Silly as it may sound, I've always been leery of Mad Cow disease. And I've noticed that very few brands even carry a beef flavor, so that means other people steer away as well, cats don't like it, or it's too expensive to produce. I only have 1 out of 3 cats that even go near canned food, but even HE won't eat the one can of Fromm's beef I did try, so he and I are very happy to stick with the chicken and tuna varieties. I sound like a vegetarian don't I? But my husband and I eat beef all the time; I guess we know who ranks tops in OUR family 

Amy, I, too, gave Fromm's canned a try a couple weeks ago after two very prompt, reassuring emails from Bryan. He seemed very forthright, even though my trust is wearing very thin at this point. I liked the short list of ingredients that I actually understood, nothing in it that's made a headline yet, and the look of it is more like people food than cat food. I've never seen my cat dig into anything faster, and he's walked away from literally dozens and dozens of brands. Also, I would MUCH prefer it be made in Wisconsin as their dry food is and hope they can make good on their goal to bring their manufacturing to the U.S. ASAP. I'm sure they're very aware that being in China at this point in time is a marketing nightmare. It still comes down to the fact that the foods in our U.S. plants aren't being monitored well at all; at least Fromm's says that every time they produce their cans in China, Rich Marino, their biochemist, is there to supervise the operation. Obviously that's not being done enough in the U.S.  He's been eating it for 2 weeks; all is well, but I'll make sure and post here if any problems arise.