Wellness Chicken Cat Food

[garypen]

Before I feed it, does anyone know of any other negatives with Wellness wet?

I know this probably doesn't matter now, as you seem to be doing well with the CalNat again. But, both of my cats LOVE the chicken and the turkey formulas. I've never seen them both act that way with a canned food before.

They also have a nice, fluffy texture (the foods, not the cats) that I have never seen in canned cat foods before. My guess is that is due to lack of grains which normally act as a sort of cement or glue.

I believe the Wellness cans are manufactured in the SD plant, the only one not involved in the recall, which has also recently been sold to Mars. (Mars wanted more control on its high-end canned foods, they said.) This may mean that Wellness canned will be manufactured by Mars. That would be interesting to find out for sure. (The same would be true for Natura.)

[eternaljester81]

Garypen,
So your cats don't have a "nice fluffy texture"? 

I've also noticed the "fluffy" texture of the Wellness canned. It's different than other canned foods I've seen. Most of the others I've seen have a sort of pastey quality to them. The Wellness also smells better, to me at least. The chicken smells like canned chicken, and the chicken & herring smells like fish (not in a bad way). Other (cheap) canned foods have always smelled horrible to my nose.

[garypen]

Garypen,
So your cats don't have a "nice fluffy texture"? 

They're definitely harder to mash up with a fork.

I've also noticed the "fluffy" texture of the Wellness canned. It's different than other canned foods I've seen. Most of the others I've seen have a sort of pastey quality to them. The Wellness also smells better, to me at least. The chicken smells like canned chicken, and the chicken & herring smells like fish (not in a bad way). Other (cheap) canned foods have always smelled horrible to my nose.

I have been very happy with both canned and dry Wellness formulas. (My cats like them, too.)

[eternaljester81]

Garypen,
I can honestly say that I've never tried to mash up my cats with a fork. I think if I tried I'd probably lose an arm.

By the way, which dry formula are you feeding?

Also, I think you're right about the Wellness cans being made at the SD facility. I also looked up the documents about Mars buying the plant from Menu. It looks like Mars doesn't trust Menu anymore, so they simply ended their business with them and bought the plant where their (Mars) higher end food (Royal Canin and Nutro) is made. I don't know if this is a good thing for Wellness, but I certainly don't think it's bad news. If you'd like to see the article, let me know and I'll try to find the link again.

[garypen]

I started out using the Complete Dry. They liked it. I thought it looked and smelled great. I wanted the Indoor, at the time, but that store didn't have it.

After the Complete ran out, I was giving them a 50/50 mix of Indoor and Core. I wanted them to have the benefits of the Indoor (fiber, glucosamine, less fat, etc) They liked it, and my older cat seemed to gain muscle, get his younger physique back.

After that ran out, I wasn't able to get the Core, and have been feeding them Indoor only. The older guy has lately been behaving like a younger cat, as well. So, I may stick with only the Indoor. Not sure. I do like the idea of the higher protein by mixing Indoor and Core.

I think the dry food affects Lucky, the older cat, more than Lucy because he eats more dry food than her. She prefers the wet food.

Prior to my switch to Wellness, I was using Innova Senior Dry and Lite canned. Prior to that, CalNat Chicken Dry and Merrick Canned. They look and act healthiest with the Wellness, followed by the CalNat/Merrick. They were the worst on Innova.

[eternaljester81]

Garypen,
The Indoor is the dry that my five cats are eating also, just to let you know.