Safe, Healthy Wet Food Suggestions?

[Geff]

We saw the vet yesterday for Sylvester's yearly checkup. She was pleased with how he's doing, but when I told her about the current Cal Nat issues, she suggested that it's time to think about transitioning him to wet food. She feels it's relatively safe at this time.

I'm looking for suggestions. I have a lot of requirements. One in my mind is NO Menu (though the vet would like him to try Cal Nat wet since he's done so well on Cal Nat dry.)

Here's our requirements:
1. No Seafood
2. No weird Herbs/Fruit/Vegtables
3. No Garlic or Onion
4. No recalls
5. Strong preference for not made by Menu or Diamond (I hesitate to rule out Wellness & Cal Nat but Menu scares the heck out of me)
6. No Menadione or other banned substances
7. A general consensus that the brand is safe & has healthy ingredients

The vet would really like to see him try a rabbit based food, though I'm not limiting our options to that.

Looking forward to your input. I still have about 6 pounds of good Cal Nat so I hope to transition slowly (though as the Cal Nat gets pretty close to it's late October pull date, kitty is making it clear he's not as pleased with it as he used to be).

To be honest, I hate the smell & look of wet food, but if it's what kitty needs......
Of course with my luck, whatever we choose will be the next food recalled!

Looking forward to your suggestions.

[jenny]

Hi Geff - By Nature comes to mind.   Meat, water, and vitamins/minerals. 

[sylvia]

Geff I would stay away from the By Nature pouches as they are from China.( See By Nature threads on this forum.) I was contacted by one of their reps about two weeks ago - email- to let me know he had By Nature in a local feed store now. I emailed back about the experience I had in April and I never heard from him again. I guess some of their food is still from China. Also difficult to track down where some Blue Seal products are actually manufactured. (See threads again.) I have a friend with a few cats who uses a food called Nature's Variety. She has healthy, long lived cats.
Some of the foods I looked at that I have never heard any problems with at any time:
Bench and Field, Breeders Choice especially Pinnacle, Eagle Pack, Honest Kitchen, mORIGINS,Sojouner Farms, Flint River, Solid Gold, Steve's Real Food including Halo, Timberwolf, and of course Wellness and Wysong. I have no cat now so you will have to do the research. All are on Therese's list as are even more choices. Historically the problems with pet foods in the past have been with the larger companies. Diamond had major problems this time and also in late 2005. Some of these foods are hard to find but worth it to me. There is also a Dr Harvey-raw- manufactured here in the east but I don't do raw. Do love Honest Kitchen dehydrated though. Good luck with your kitty.

[jenny]

The By Nature pouches are made in China  - the cans are not.   I think Geff was asking about canned.  I do have confirmation in email from the company that their cans are not made by Menu - but I did not ask who did make them.

Sylvia -I think some of the companies you listed are dry food only and many others don't meet Geffs special requirements? 

[sylvia]

Hi Jenny,
The pouches are made in China using "human food". Problem is some "human food" in China is DEFINITELY NOT human food here. Out of curiosity I emailed By Nature, Blue Seal Feeds about 9:40am EST asking about the pouches and if any vitamins, other supplements or any products used in the rest of their foods came from China. I specifically asked for their USA canneries. At 9:55 am EST RDeVone@BLUESEAL.com answered and confirmed on the pouches. He answered nothing else except to say Menu did not can for them. I immediately emailed back to reask my questions, especially about the cannery. It is now almost 4:20pm EST. I should have had an answer by now, don't ya think?
As for the foods I recommended to Geff, perhaps he should check them out  for himself. As far as I know most, if not all, produce canned, dehydrated, raw food for both dogs and cats. Some use Menu to can but all readily admit it and NONE have had any problems at all Menu or not. Possibly Geff's parameters are so narrow that he might have to make his own food. I have used no canned of any kind since March but would rather use companies completely up front about it than one that keeps such information secret.  Don't you agree? After all why hide such information? Nature's Variety and Wysong both have the rabbit he seems to want. Maybe some of the others do too. I know many show people use Breeder's Choice, Wysong, Wellness and Solid Gold with great results. All depends on what one's priorities are I presume.
Sylvia, from the BEAUTIFUL Jersey Shore
PS Here is a site with easy,  quick info to help start your own diet. Just the basics plus reference sources. I make some of my own food now and found it a good beginning. No charts, no mess, no fuss. Why should their food be more complicated than ours? If you are having lots of health problems try looking to the vaccines.
http://www.petsynergy.com/diet.html

[lacy]

The first thing that came to mind to me was By Nature also. The cans are made at Evangers. I stopped using Evangers do to the bones I found, but I might pick up some By nature tonight and examine it and see how the cats like it.They have had it once before and liked it.  We are using Wellness, but they dont always like it. Most of the time they turn their nose up, although I will keep trying to find a flavor they like. One food they do like is Merrick. I know there is a lot of controversy over it, but in the end their arent many safe canned foods and I feel Merrick is safe. Good luck!

[jenny]

Since Geff wasn't asking about pouches I only commented on the canned By Nature.  I wouldn't use the pouches myself.     As I mentioned earlier, they are not canned by Menu - but I don't know who does can them. But the cans do fit Geff's criteria.  They aren't favorites of my cats, but may work.  Lacy - I stopped using Felidae for the same reason - not sure if By Nature has had the same problems as other Evanger's canned foods.

I actually have about an 80 page document comparing all the canned foods - I put it together during the recalls so if some new flavor came out I wouldn't have it listed.  Geff - I would be willing to email it to you if you send me a note.  The file has notes about any recalls associated with the company, nutritional analysis, ingredients, and some info from other web pages.  It doesn't include any of the supermarket brands.

Two of my cats eat Wellness - and with Geff's requirements it would not be a good choice.  Too many veggies, although the garlic is being phased out.  Solid Gold would also be out as it contains seafood.  Halo (i.e. Spot's Stew) would be out - LOTS of veggies.   I'm paging through my binder on Breeder's Choice food and it looks like they all have seafood except Select Cuts - which is made in China    Eagle Pack was one that I had recommended for my IBD cat - but it looks like it contains peas, carrots and potato.


The following I believe make dry food only and were already ruled out by Geff due to their containing either seafood or veggies:  Timberwolf (Serengeti), Flint River Ranch, Bench & Field (although it appears they have a new dry that does not have seafood - does have some veggies).

And I think the following are raw:  Steve's Real Food, Honest Kitchen, mORGINS.  I think Sojouner Farms is something you mix with raw food?

I'm not sure if Wysong has any canned food options that meet your criteria.   I've heard that some people love Fromm and it is very simple food - but also made in China. It does contain some tomato paste and potato starch.

Good luck Geff - let us know what you decide!

[sylvia]

Jenny what would Geff do without you?  However, he may want to read this himself!

Geff  FYI :
http://www.blueseal.com/petOwners.php

PS Maybe Lacy would too.

[jenny]

Hey Lacy - my info about By Nature simply says they are not made by Menu.  But I have heard someplace else that they were made by Evangers just like you said.  Did you have communication from them on that?

[sylvia]

Seems the cans ARE made by Menu and  they won't tell. Also guess I got no answer on imported products in the food made in the USA as they do use imports. Wonder what's from China
By the way, Therese's info says Blue Seal is manufactured by Menu. Nothing about Evangers making it on her lists. She does an A+++ job on those lists don't you agree. I still use them regularly.

[jenny]

Lacy- never mind.  I just found the answer to my question regarding them being made by Evangers:

http://thepetfoodlist.com/forums/index.php?topic=312.0

Sylvia - their Blue Seal brand is made by Menu - the By Nature food is not.  That much they made clear to me in my email.

[sylvia]

That link is not from the company. It is a post on a forum. If its true why aren't they saying so???  I am only interested in answers from the company. I believe Brandon Farms is also canned by Menu. It all SMELLS worse than the fish Geff's cat does not want to eat. 
Never did hear back from RDeVone  or the NH headquarters or the distributor  who emailed me about two weeks ago. Wonder why 
Well feed what you wish. They are your animals not mine!

[Geff]

The pouches are made in China using "human food". Problem is some "human food" in China is DEFINITELY NOT human food here.

LOL

As for the foods I recommended to Geff, perhaps he should check them out  for himself. As far as I know most, if not all, produce canned, dehydrated, raw food for both dogs and cats. Some use Menu to can but all readily admit it and NONE have had any problems at all Menu or not. Possibly Geff's parameters are so narrow that he might have to make his own food.

Those who know me here know that not only will I do my own research, but that i will be obsessive about it! I'm hoping for some starting points based on others experience, though.  It's going to be a few days untill I have time to start eliminating 90% of what's out there.

Don't laugh, but i am going to at least look at Kumpi. I haven't heard 1 single report of contamination with them.

[Geff]

Nature's Variety and Wysong both have the rabbit he seems to want. Maybe some of the others do too. I know many show people use Breeder's Choice, Wysong, Wellness and Solid Gold with great results. All depends on what one's priorities are I presume.

Both my cat & at least one other that i know of got very sick on Solid Gold in April & May. Definitely NOT going there.  Fortunately The $100 blood test I got immediately after the Solid Gold episode was negative, but he got very sick very quickly.

[Geff]

To clarify - it's likely just 1 or 2 of the non meat items he's allergic to, but as most of these foods use so many of them,  unfortunately i have no clue as to which he's reacting to. Note to the PFC's: Our pets are not people & have different needs!