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Hey look, Natura did a dumb and hosed up vitamin/mineral amounts and led to a recall! Dry cat and ferret food of the EVO variety, somewhat limited: http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm424607.htm?source=govdelivery&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery Natura, you're dead to me. Probably not, but still.
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Nov 26, 2014 08:06
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Natura died when it sold to P&G, and now it's owned by Mars Inc. so it's not going to get better.
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Nov 26, 2014 20:10
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Nulo is fairly new on the non-local market in the USA. They have been around for over 4 years, based in Austin, Texas. They've never had a recall, so far. Indy places and online places like Chewy.com get FreeStyle; PetSmart carries MedalSeries. The two types are basically interchangeable, differing just in flavors. It's not like one's high-protein, the other has grains. Speaking of, their dog and cat food is all grain-free, high protein, low glycemic index, meat-based protein affairs, wet and dry alike. Their protein isn't off-the-charts high, but rivals Blue Buffalo Wilderness and Taste of the Wild, and has a proper fat ratio. There's no white potato, either. Their food is manufactured in I believe 2 different spots in the US, neither of which is a Diamond Pet Foods factory, so there's basically no issue with Diamond's salmonella explosions. All of their ingredients are sourced from just a few places: lamb from Timaru, New Zealand; vitamins and minerals from from "DSM & Trouw Nutrition USA in their Companion Animal Blending Facility that is Food Grade - Maintaining an AIB Certified ‘Superior‘ rating. Screened & tested prior to mixing." All their other meats are sourced from the US. Their meats are either wild-caught or free range, with no antibiotics or hormones, and fish are flash frozen without ethoxyquin. They work with the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch Program so that the fish are sustainable, and their farmed food is all human-grade. There's no preservatives, dyes (even caramel), or flavoring. Even their cans are BPA-free. The food can be a little difficult to find, but considering their MedalSeries hit PetSmart in April 2014, it's quite possible they'll be branching out more over the next year; you can also ask your local oddball pet shops to carry it. It isn't that expensive, either. Their food is a little higher calorie than most other kibbles, so it stretches a bit more, but it still, barring sales, ends up cheaper than other equivalent kibbles. (ie. Blue Buffalo Wilderness Adult Chicken is a few dollars cheaper per year) My thoughts: -They are extremely quick to answer emails, and their customer support is amazingly good. I received a source PDF that explained where their ingredients came from and what was done to keep them healthy, as well as a decently-sized personal note. They were also vehement that their food was not getting anywhere near Diamond Pet Foods factories (after 2012, I would hope more companies were scared of them). -For the liberal bent that doesn't actually affect you and your pets, Nulo does good by their communities. They regularly give huge amounts of food to animal shelters and promote adoption events, and also tie this into fitness, by joining up with marathons. -They also make their meat sourcing reasonably humane, such as their free range farmed meat having access to pastures and air-conditioned buildings. -They avoid a ton of mistakes other companies have made in the past by sourcing away from China for their macronutrients, not using ethoxyquin or BPA, and checking up on their food in the factories regularly. -The lack of white potato and other high-glycemic index foods is good for your pet. If your pet has diabetes, that obviously helps keep them balanced through the day; it also prevents extremely high energy right after eating. -They're grain free, in all their products, so you won't get any cross-contamination or anything. Good for allergies, and unnecessary anyway. Sweet potatoes and peas are used for carbs instead. -High protein, from meat instead of plant, and a proper fat ratio to balance it. This isn't good if you have a critter with kidney disease, but it's good for everybody else, especially cats. -Puppy food and kitten food have DHA, and senior and large breed dog blends have glucosamine and chondroitin. -Nulo uses a different probiotic than many others I've seen: Bacillus coagulans. They say they use this one because it withstands the heat of cooking better, and on looking it up on Wikipedia, yeah it can take higher heat. I can't say whether that actually matters. -Cans that I've checked so far have been extremely densely packed. I'm used to pate cans having quite a bit of empty space around them, but these were tight to the edges. I might have been lucky, though. -Bags are resealable! They hold up fairly well, too, but I do store them upright or empty them into vacuum containers. A few negatives: -Their senior blend is dog-only, but they do have indoor cat formulas that seem to fit the niche, being high protein but not as high fat. -There is a weight loss formula, Trim, but only under the FreeStyle label, so you have to either ship it, or find a local place that will carry it. -Similarly, the large breed formula is only available as MedalSeries, through PetSmart. -There are no single protein blends for allergy checking. -There is no small breed kibble, but the kibble are all fairly small brown triangles. Still might be an issue for weird dogs. Cats get absolutely miniscule circles, like Taste of the Wild but tinier. -All canned formulas are pates. My cat has always despised pates and refused to do more than eat the jelly off the sides, but he DID eat their beef formula pate with gusto. Still, cattes are cattes. -No lower protein options for kidney dogs or extremely inactive dogs. Their schtick, however, are animal athletes, so I can't really fault them here. Overall, I highly recommend this food. I was having picky-puppy issues and tried theirs, and she is enjoying this. The cat was stealing her food, and I felt bad having him on Taste of the Wild (Diamond Pet Foods...), so I tried him on a bag of their cat & kitten, and he likes it more. Sure he loses out on 1% protein, but he gains 3% fat, so that's a net benefit to keep him away from carbs. I feel like if anyone is debating foods and this is a possibility, try it out.
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Nov 27, 2014 00:29
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Petco (at least the one near me) stopped carrying Merrick's Purrfect Bistro sliced wet food. Actually, I'm not sure if Merrick is still making the sliced variety. The cat is crazy picky and won't eat pate, shredded or morsel-type wet food. I'm not kidding. What other brands make sliced-style wet food of similar quality? I tried to feed the cat the shredded type of food and he shunned it, the rear end in a top hat.
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Nov 27, 2014 01:46
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Magikarpal Tunnel posted:Petco (at least the one near me) stopped carrying Merrick's Purrfect Bistro sliced wet food. Actually, I'm not sure if Merrick is still making the sliced variety. The cat is crazy picky and won't eat pate, shredded or morsel-type wet food. I'm not kidding. Nutro Natural Choice has a few flavors that come in slices. It's also a totally veggie/fruit free kind, so just meat & vitamins & minerals.
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Nov 27, 2014 04:12
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Does Nulo have a veterinary nutritionist on staff, or at least one who helped with ingredient design? So far things sound interesting - if they also donated to help animal nutrition research they would quickly jump my "good company" list.
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Nov 27, 2014 06:41
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Any updates on studies about raw diets for pets? Friend of mine swears by it for her GSDs but I dunno, haven't heard enough about it to convince me. Says their stomachs can handle raw meat and cooking removes the nutrients.
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Nov 27, 2014 23:38
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Nightmare Zone posted:Any updates on studies about raw diets for pets? Friend of mine swears by it for her GSDs but I dunno, haven't heard enough about it to convince me. Says their stomachs can handle raw meat and cooking removes the nutrients. Not really. This is a great article on what research has been done in raw in vet med: http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/abs/10.2460/javma.243.11.1549?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3dpubmed I mean, many animals/people can handle raw meat (sushi and tartare anyone?), and it is true that when you cook something there are nutrients that are destroyed, but that's why vitamins/minerals are added afterwards. Bascally, benefits of raw for the most part are anecdotal or small studies with limited numbers.
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Nov 28, 2014 00:22
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Thanks for the link, it's a good read. The nutrient thing brings up a good point too about most diets - like if you feel your dog is missing something with a kibble diet you could always supplement it with added vitamins? Plus it's less likely to infect you or your dog with salmonella so that's probably a better option anyway.
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Nov 28, 2014 04:01
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Nightmare Zone posted:Thanks for the link, it's a good read. The nutrient thing brings up a good point too about most diets - like if you feel your dog is missing something with a kibble diet you could always supplement it with added vitamins? Plus it's less likely to infect you or your dog with salmonella so that's probably a better option anyway. If a diet is labeled as complete and balanced, you don't need to add anything. Depending on different things going on with your dog they might need supplements, but the normal dog does not.
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Nov 28, 2014 15:26
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HelloSailorSign posted:Does Nulo have a veterinary nutritionist on staff, or at least one who helped with ingredient design? So far things sound interesting - if they also donated to help animal nutrition research they would quickly jump my "good company" list. "We work with an Animal Scientist/PhD with over 30 years formulating commercial pet foods. He, along with our CEO/founder, formulated the recipes." I got that as a reply, for what it is worth.
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Dec 1, 2014 23:26
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Culex posted:"We work with an Animal Scientist/PhD with over 30 years formulating commercial pet foods. He, along with our CEO/founder, formulated the recipes." Interesting. A good animal nutrition PhD is also good, though they didn't explain a lot of the details, so who knows. Hopefully that experience wasn't designing Blue Buffalo back in the day, or Evangers, or that one vegan cat food... 
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Dec 2, 2014 03:04
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Is there any reason i should be concerned about when feeding Weruva to my cat? This range is new to Australia so am unable to find any local reviews. There are two ranges available. The range, little one with paws, will be eating is "Cat in the kitchen" http://www.weruva.com/cats-in-the-kitchen-cans.php Miss Fussy eater, loved the little bit i gave her tonight but i wont know until tomorrow if she will continue to eat it again. (she is so lucky i think she is cute). Is there a reason I should be concerned?
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Dec 3, 2014 12:11
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My cat just had to have her teeth cleaned where they had to pull one a couple other are being called "compromised". I'm in the process of switching her over to strictly wet food but I have a few questions (sorry if any of these are repeats but I only had a chance to read the first few pages and last few pages): 1) Does anyone have experience with Hills T/D? They recommended giving her a little of the kibble as treats since my cat doesn't let me brush her teeth. I already bought the water additive but I want to do as much for her as possible. I'm a little skeptical at dropping almost $20 on a 4lb bag of food she won't really be eating much of. Anyone know if this works well? 2) Should I be buying a selection of wet foods as opposed to just one type? I just bought a case of Wellness Core beef but I can't imagine eating the same thing for 24+ days straight but I'm not a cat. 3) Seafoodfood: bad/good? My cat loves seafood flavored food. I've heard that cats can get addicted, that they're too high in certain things that can be bad for their liver, that you can get mercury buildup issues, etc. It's hard to know what's a legitimate problem and what's just crap online.
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Dec 9, 2014 23:33
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Unless your cat is chews the hell out of dry food (most cats don't chew anyway) don't bother, it's a waste of money. Cats don't care about eating one type of food, feed what you have. Not sure about the seafood/mercury thing but AAFCO approved foods are balanced in a way that won't kill your cat. No reason you couldn't give your cat the seafood stuff as a treat if you're worried about feeding it daily.
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Dec 10, 2014 01:04
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Not sure how valid this is, I'm guessing it's as legit as a "gluten allergy" but I like to give my cat one protein. He doesn't care what it is, wet is just crack for him. Some people report that their cats have developed allergies to certain proteins so out of an abundance of caution, I'd keep a few types of wet food untried just in the event that happens. I don't feed 2 wet cans of seafood meal a day though, just a quarter as a treat at night with free-fed kibble.
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Dec 10, 2014 18:01
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Does anyone have suggestions of good limited ingredient dog foods that aren't horribly expensive/hard to find? My friend's dog is having stomach issues that are probably linked to food allergies so she wants to start him on a limited ingredient food but is overwhelmed by all the choices out there. She's leaning towards the Wellness limited ingredient or Fromms at the moment, but more guidance/input would be helpful.
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Dec 11, 2014 02:05
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Does anyone have any suggestions on training treats? I am picking up my puppy on the 27th (Possibly on the 26th if I get the day off). and I will be feeding her 4Health puppy and I was thinking of getting some of the 4Health treats but I have no idea on their quality compared to the dry food.
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Dec 11, 2014 15:53
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Sirbloody posted:Does anyone have any suggestions on training treats? I am picking up my puppy on the 27th (Possibly on the 26th if I get the day off). and I will be feeding her 4Health puppy and I was thinking of getting some of the 4Health treats but I have no idea on their quality compared to the dry food. The 4health green dental chews are good, but it's not a puppy treat. Dont bother trying to stick to a brand, unless there are food allergies or sensitivities you're worried about. I get bags of good jerky treats (anything with a less then suspect ingredient list made in a less then suspect country), and snip them up into thumb-sized bits with either heavy kitchen shears or a cutting boards and heavy knife. Max gets those as his 'good old dog went potty outside' treat. You could cut them even smaller to make them into puppy training treats.
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Dec 11, 2014 16:26
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:Does anyone have suggestions of good limited ingredient dog foods that aren't horribly expensive/hard to find? Unfortunately limited ingredient diets are inherently going to be more expensive and hard to find due to the care that must go in with production to decrease cross contamination between diets - as long as they're doing it right. There's increased cost of having dedicated production lines or heavy cleaning between production runs. There was a (now old) study looking at OTC "limited ingredient" diets finding a lot of contamination of ingredients not listed on the ingredients lists. "Limited ingredient" labeled foods don't actually mean anything legal-wise. I remember that Wellness was one of the OTC diets that actually matched their ingredients list.
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Dec 12, 2014 00:32
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Sirbloody posted:Does anyone have any suggestions on training treats? I am picking up my puppy on the 27th (Possibly on the 26th if I get the day off). and I will be feeding her 4Health puppy and I was thinking of getting some of the 4Health treats but I have no idea on their quality compared to the dry food. Freeze dried liver is recommended a lot. You can also just use regular kibble if you dog is especially food motivated.
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Dec 12, 2014 10:20
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Bringing home an AmStaff x Bullmastiff puppy today and I'm still undecided about what dry food to use long term. These are the premium brands which can be obtained relatively easily here in Australia. Not all of them have a specific formulation for large breed puppies, something I'd prefer knowing her adult size is going to be over 25kg even if she has the Staffy build rather than the Bullmastiff. http://ipetstore.com.au/20-dog-food-dry-sale?orderby=price&orderway=desc She's been on Royal Canin to date (the bitch was on this while pregnant and lactating). I have no particular objections to it, apart from the fact that it seems to generate the farts from hell in both of the parents. All of the options seem to involve some kind of trade off, so I'm interested in how other Aussies have handled the limited range of choices. I will be giving her home cooked puppy food as well, but it will be less than 20% of her daily intake. Because she's going to be a large breed, any food rewards given during training will also be taken into account when measuring her evening meal.
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Dec 12, 2014 21:31
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They may be getting the unholy farts from the corn; corn diets have made all of my dogs farty as gently caress. A lot of my dogs weren't allergic, just...farty, god. Worst when it was 3 at once (2 mini dax, 1 chi), they'd get fed and we'd go outside for a while to escape their farts, while they were inside. On that list, I like Holistic Select, Canidae (sorta, I'm not fond of their common salmonella problems), Nutro Natural Choice. Black Hawk looks neat, being lamb based instead of chicken, with emu oil (yum). Nutro Natural Choice at least has Large Breed Puppy...oh. On second thought, for some reason US LB Puppy from them has no corn, but yours does? Weird. I'd just go with the Canidae Large Breed Puppy, and just keep an eye out for recalls (it'll be big if/when it happens though). Their salmonella recalls are HUGE when they happen, 'cause in the USA at least their factories work on tons of different brands, so it's expansive. It's not like it happens every few months, though.
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Dec 13, 2014 00:02
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I took my cat to the vet today, and long story short they want me to switch his food and put him on a diet. He's currently 16.8 pounds, and they want him down to around 11 eventually. They said I should switch him to one of a couple of different foods, out of which Purina Pro Plan looks most affordable. My question is how much of the stuff am I supposed to give him. The vet said just to follow the on-label directions, but that would mean (unless I'm missing something) I'm feeding him 5 cans a day to start, and weaning him down to four over time. That doesn't seem right at all...it seems like a ton of cans to me, going from feeding one a half cans a day in the Friskies to 4-5 smaller cans in the Purina Pro Plan. Help! Is that amount what I actually should be doing?
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Dec 15, 2014 19:51
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ucmallory posted:I took my cat to the vet today, and long story short they want me to switch his food and put him on a diet. He's currently 16.8 pounds, and they want him down to around 11 eventually. People tend to like Blue Buffalo Wilderness Healthy Weight a lot (dry) or just plain Wilderness (wet) as it's very low carb. But there's a ton of options anywhere you go. When you look at the bag/can, feed to the weight your cat SHOULD be, not that he IS, which probably will be around 150-180 kCal/day depending on how active you can get your kitty. Naturally make sure to switch from your current food to your chosen one over about 2 weeks, mixing it up as much as you can, so the cat doesn't suddenly balk and hate you for showing him different food. He may be very picky, 'cause Friskies is very fatty and basically like cheeseburger in healthiness, and what normal being would want to give up cheeseburgers for black bean burger patties with lettuce buns?
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Dec 15, 2014 22:20
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The label directions will tell you to feed too much. If you were feeding a measured quantity of food before, look at the cans/bag/website and figure out how many total calories that was. Then look up the calories of the new food and shoot for maybe 80% of the calories you had been feeding before. You'll probably end up having to go way lower than that since your cat is like 50% body fat, but cats losing weight too fast is a very bad thing, so I'd start there for a few weeks and see how much he loses.Culex posted:You'll almost certainly get better results with an actually grain-free food, as cats don't need the zillion carbs in Purina (at least it's slightly better than Friskies). There's tons of high-protein low-fat 'healthy weight' (this is the term used by the higher end companies instead of 'diet') grain-free wet and dry foods. They'll end up costing you about the same, maybe a smidge more or even less, as you'll have to feed way less food to get your cat the nutrition he needs without all the extra calories. Granted, any higher-end food you feed less of might be enough, without you resorting to 'healthy weight'.
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Dec 15, 2014 22:27
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Culex posted:
Don't do this. You are trying to drop 25-33% of your cats weight. A sudden drop in calories by that amount could cause your cat's liver to get hosed up and possibly kill it. Tell your vet what food you are switching to and the number of calories it has. They can calculate how much you should be feeding based on current weight and caloric density.
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Dec 16, 2014 02:31
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After growing up with animals, I'll finally be getting my first pets as an adult soon: two little kitties from a local rescue centre. I was hoping some UK goons could recommend particular Brit food brands? Obviously I'll check protein:carb ratio, and I'll avoid Felix, Purina and Whiskers. Perhaps Butchers would be a good option? Would also love to hear about UK versions of things like Bitter Apple spray, enzymatic shampoos, etc.
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Jan 11, 2015 12:48
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Luminous Crude posted:After growing up with animals, I'll finally be getting my first pets as an adult soon: two little kitties from a local rescue centre. I was hoping some UK goons could recommend particular Brit food brands? Obviously I'll check protein:carb ratio, and I'll avoid Felix, Purina and Whiskers. Perhaps Butchers would be a good option? Not a UK goon but I think Applaws is meant to be okay and also Orijen is a pretty safe bet.
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Jan 12, 2015 08:02
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What's the deal with Blue Buffalo right now? Took our little guy out to crap over lunch, and happened across someone else in the apartment who stopped to say hi. In passing, she asked me what we're feeding him, and I told her Blue Buffalo. She said that she works in the pet food industry and we should be on the lookout for a recall. I did some googling and all I saw is that they're in legal hot water because Iams claims they tested positive for chicken by-product meal,. Now, as part of the lawsuit, some internal e-mails from Blue's ingredient supplier have surfaced that says (and I'm paraphrasing), "Oh poo poo guys, someone sold us low-quality ingredients that we then sold to Blue. Shut the hell up or else we'll get sued." Are there any concerns with using Blue right now? This doesn't appear dangerous, at least not on the surface, but could be indicative of poor control in the supply chain. Oh and I also found that Blue is also about to be bought by Mars. Is that a source of concern? Arcaeris posted:Sup Corgi buddy. We're picking our puppy up on Jan 3, and our breeder recommends Canidae. I don't know anything about dogs (my gf knows a ton though) so I guess that's what we're buying. Good luck man...ours has been a smart little guy, but now he's old enough to be at the, "gently caress you you're not my real dad" stage. It's not that he's destructive and actively disobedient, but he's definitely learned selective hearing, and he likes to occasionally throw a temper tantrum when we don't let him dig at the ground. I'd love to get him started in agility when he's old enough, though...he's quick as hell.
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Jan 12, 2015 20:49
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Tamarillo posted:Not a UK goon but I think Applaws is meant to be okay and also Orijen is a pretty safe bet. I find Felix is ok. Yep, it’s a Purina brand, but mine loves. She thinks she is experiencing The Great Cat Food famine if it's not included in her meal. Felix is about 12% protein in Jelly with lots of other vitamins that my baby tiger is very addicted to.
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Jan 13, 2015 11:38
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DaveSauce posted:What's the deal with Blue Buffalo right now? Blue Buffalo's had a pretty good reputation for a long time, though I kind of wonder where they're going. They did some advertising last year where they made a big deal about having no chicken byproduct meal in their products, which seems a little disingenuous, kind of like companies advertising grain-free foods that are full of potato and rice. Chicken byproduct meal is like a condensed source of protein and I don't know enough about it to say how good it is or not, but I think there's very little difference between any chicken, chicken byproduct and chicken byproduct meal ingredients in most pet foods. I think that's what the suit's about, which coming from Purina is hilarious. Ask about recalls at your pet food store if you're concerned about that. They'll know for sure. There's really nothing wrong with Blue, especially if you like it and your dog likes it. I think it's still one of the better foods out there. If Blue Buffalo does get bought out by Mars just keep an eye on the ingredients list on the product packaging. It'll likely be fine for a few years, then slowly turn to poo poo like Science Diet did years ago, and like Evo is doing now  . (My cats' food which got bought out by Proctor & Gamble.)
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Jan 13, 2015 13:34
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Sirbloody posted:Does anyone have any suggestions on training treats? I am picking up my puppy on the 27th (Possibly on the 26th if I get the day off). and I will be feeding her 4Health puppy and I was thinking of getting some of the 4Health treats but I have no idea on their quality compared to the dry food. I wouldn't bother buying training treats, they're expensive and you'll blow through them very fast. Just use inexpensive people food that you can break into small bits instead -cheese, hot dogs, cheap meats, peanut butter, cream cheese, and sausage are usually big hits with dogs and are way less expensive than treats. You can get a couple month's worth of single serving cream cheese, stew beef, and string cheese at Costco for what a few bags of training treats would run you. If you do end up just wanting dog treats, Zukes minis are popular in PI, Crazy Dog Train-Mes and Bil-Jac are good too.
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Jan 13, 2015 19:34
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Is dry food really that bad for cats? I ask because my 11 year old cat has always preferred it, her favorite being Orijen. Unfortunately, she's a bit overweight, so I took the vet's advice and switched her to wet food, which supposedly helps a ton. I mentioned this to the lady at the pet supply store and she said, "good, because literally any wet food is better than dry".  My cat likes the wet food fine enough now, and she's been on it for a year. I've been feeding her Weruva, which I thought was a good brand. As I was choosing a flavor on amazon, I happened to catch a review of someone stating the food gave their cat kidney disease. Then I thought about the time my cat had a UTI (most likely, they didn't do a test they just gave me the antibiotics) for the first time in her life this past year. Also, she got scared when my alarm went off a few weeks ago and peed a little. I brought this up to the vet, and she didn't seem concerned that they were related or had anything to do with her diet. For the hell of it, I browsed new brands, and most seemed to have some complaint about something or other. I never really thought about how these formulas could really be damaging to cats, but am I now just overly paranoid? My cat hasn't lost a ton of weight, but she definitely hasn't gained any either. I just feel like switching her back to dry, because I know it wasn't harming her. I'm at a total loss, and I'm due to order her some food soon. babyturnsblue fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Jan 13, 2015 |
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Jan 13, 2015 19:55
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My cat WILL NOT EAT wet cat food. She won't eat canned tuna, canned cat food, anything wet. I've spent probably $50 trying to find a wet food she'll eat and thus far haven't been able to. She'll lick it a few times and then turn to look at me as if she's saying "What's with this food?" I've tried most of the tricks people recommended to me - heating it to just above room temperature, mixing it with or sprinkling it with dry kibble to make it more appealing to her, and so on. Nothing has helped. Rather than try to force the issue and court Hepatic lipidosis, I have (for the moment) stopped trying to get her to eat wet food, and instead I make sure that she ALWAYS has ample water from her drinking fountain. Currently she's being fed Nature's Variety Instinct cat food (The one with the freeze-dried bits of chicken in it), around 3/8ths of a cup per day (and even then most days she leaves a bit of kibble in her auto-feeder). For christmas my parents bought her a bag of 'Purina Beyond' cat food. I glanced at it and it CLAIMS to be grain-free, no meat by-products, etc. Since that's what the OP says is good for cats it seems Ok at first glance. But the fact that it's purina brand makes me wary. I don't mind changing up her food to give her some variety, and if this food is decent enough I wouldn't mind giving it to her. https://www.beyondpetfood.com/products/cat/grain-free-ocean-whitefish-egg/ If you guys think it's a poor choice I'll likely donate the bag to a shelter or something, but I'd appreciate your thoughts on the subject.
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Jan 13, 2015 20:07
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With all this hullabaloo about Blue Buffalo being bought by Mars and the number of people I'm hearing recently talking about their cats getting UTIs from it, I'm considering switching my cat to Merrick (I'm not necessarily married to this brand, but I know I can get it locally and he's eaten their canned food happily before). My question is, 1) Is it worth switching to one of these? and 2) Does it really make a difference which one I get? I would love to feed him only wet food but I got laid off recently and I have to stick with dry food until I find another job. Here's what he's currently eating- Blue Buffalo Wilderness, chicken flavor: Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, Tapioca Starch, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Peas, Dried Egg, Pea Protein, Flaxseed (source of Omega 3 and 6 Fatty Acids), Tomato Pomace (source of Lycopene), Natural Flavor, Potatoes, Menhaden Fish Meal (source of Omega 3 Fatty Acids), Alfalfa Meal, Choline Chloride, DL-Methionine, Dried Chicory Root, Potato Starch, Potassium Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Caramel, Taurine, Mixed Tocopherols (a natural preservative), Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Zinc Sulfate, Salt, Ferrous Sulfate, Nicotinic Acid (Vitamin B3), Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Vitamin E Supplement, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Oil of Rosemary, L-Lysine, Parsley, Kelp, Blueberries, Cranberries, Apples, Spinach, Blackberries, Pomegranate, Pumpkin, Barley Grass, Turmeric, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Copper Sulfate, Biotin (Vitamin B7), Vitamin A Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Calcium Pantothenate (Vitamin B5), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Manganese Sulfate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, L-Carnitine, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Beta Carotene, Folic Acid (Vitamin B9), Calcium Iodate, Dried Yeast, Dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product, Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, Dried Aspergillus niger fermentation extract, Dried Trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, Dried Bacillus subtilis fermentation extract, Sodium Selenite. Crude Protein 40.0% min Crude Fat 18.0% min Crude Fiber 4.0% max Moisture 10.0% max Magnesium 0.08% min Taurine 0.15% min Omega 3 Fatty Acids* 0.50% min Omega 6 Fatty Acids* 3.5% min Merrick Purrfect Bistro Grain Free Chicken: Ingredients Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, Dried Potatoes, Peas, Natural Pork Flavor, Potato Protein, Powdered Cellulose, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), Natural Chicken Flavor, Sweet Potatoes, Ground Flaxseed, Dried Egg Product, Chicken Liver, Dried Whey Protein Concentrate, Organic Alfalfa, Cranberries, Phosphoric Acid, Flaxseed Oil (source of Omega 3 fatty acids), Salt, Minerals (Zinc Sulfate, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Copper Amino Acid Complex, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Amino Acid Complex, Sodium Selenite), Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Niacin, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Thiamine Mononitrate), Choline Chloride, Taurine, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Dried Bacillus coagulans Fermentation Product, Rosemary Extract, Dried Lactobacillus plantarum Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus casei Fermentation Product, Dried Enterococcus faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus Fermentation Product. Crude Protein (Not Less Than) 40.0% Crude Fat (Not Less Than) 14.0% Crude Fiber (Not More Than) 7.50% Moisture (Not More Than) 11.0% Calcium (Not Less Than) 1.0% Phosphorus (Not Less Than) 0.8% Taurine (Not Less Than) 0.2% Omega-6 fatty acid* (Not Less Than) 3.0% Omega-3 fatty acid* (Not Less Than) 0.4% Bacillus Coagulans (min.) 90,000,000 CFU/lb Merrick Before Grain Chicken: Chicken Deboned, Chicken Meal, Potato Dehydrated, Turkey Meal, Chicken Fat(preserved with mixed tocopherols a source of Vitamin E), Sweet Potato Dehydrated, Natural Chicken & Pork Flavor, Dried Egg Product, Yeast Culture, Blueberry Dried, Organic Alfalfa, Dicalcium Phosphate, Salt, Salmon Oil, Choline Chloride, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Chicory Root, Marigold Extract, Rosemary Extract, Dried Lactobacillus Plantarum fermentation product, Dried Enterococcus Faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus Casei fermentation product, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin E Supplement, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Complex, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin D3, Niacin, Lecithin, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Cobalt Amino Acid Complex, Folic Acid, Thiamine Mononitrate, Sodium Selenite. Crude Protein (Not Less Than) 36.0% Crude Fat (Not Less Than) 18.0% Crude Fiber (Not More Than) 3.0% Moisture (Not More Than) 11.0% In case it's important, Beauregard is a roughly 4 year old longhair indoor-only cat who lives a sedentary and spoiled life. No history of UTIs or anything, but he does get hairballs.
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Jan 13, 2015 22:56
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AuntBuck posted:There's really nothing wrong with Blue, especially if you like it and your dog likes it. I think it's still one of the better foods out there. If Blue Buffalo does get bought out by Mars just keep an eye on the ingredients list on the product packaging. It'll likely be fine for a few years, then slowly turn to poo poo like Science Diet did years ago, and like Evo is doing now Yeah...we weren't worried about the actual ingredient mishap so much as what it represents as far as supply chain quality control. If this slips by, then what else could slip by? We did our research before we got our puppy and were satisfied with Blue Buffalo. High enough quality for our standards, and widely available...but if it turns in to a thing where someone buys the brand name then promptly turns it in to a pile of poo poo without changing the price, we're happy going elsewhere. Triangulum posted:I wouldn't bother buying training treats, they're expensive and you'll blow through them very fast. I'd recommend trying the dog's regular food first. We've been training our guy on his normal kibble and he loves it, though we're waiting for the day that we'll need a higher value treat to hold his attention. The downside is that it's dry food. Our training class instructor recommends soft treats to avoid it breaking up and leaving crumbs. The logic there is that it's hard to hold a dog's attention when they're busy looking around to find all the crumbs they just left. That said, the kibble we're using is small enough where he eats it whole.
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Jan 13, 2015 23:34
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The problem with Blue isn't the fact that they use chicken by-product meal, it's that they said in no uncertain terms that they didn't use it. So, Purina sued them for lying, saying it had info to back up that claim. Blue said Purina was lying, said that they absolutely do not use by-product, claimed that Purina made up the claim and were simply trying to tarnish Blue's name, and so counter-sued Purina. Then the information comes out that there was, in fact, a problem with their supplier and/or manufacturer that led to the addition of the ingredient, and there then is a problem that played out similarly several years ago (2010) with Vitamin D toxicity in some dogs on Blue food. The problem was identified in dogs with signs of Vitamin D toxicity - it was suggested that Blue food might be the culprit, as the clinical signs resolved when they were put on a different food. Blue said that all their tests showed that there was absolutely no problem with their food. It was then found that their food did, in fact, have a problem. Then Blue says that it was the manufacturers fault, because the manufacturer processed a Vitamin D supplement on some production lines that Blue's food was also processed on and there was enough left over on the lines to intermingle with the food and lead to clinical signs in some dogs. So, the problem I have is, is that they apparently don't know what goes on in the production of their foods, and their "testing" protocols don't seem to pan out with what happens in the end. When Purina seems to know more about Blue's food than Blue does, there's a problem.
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Jan 14, 2015 04:43
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Go hog wild switching to Merrick. I've actually come to like them better anyway since they don't use chicken meal as filler in all their other proteins the way Blue does. And they've never had to issue a recall or anything like that.
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Jan 14, 2015 06:27
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HelloSailorSign posted:So, the problem I have is, is that they apparently don't know what goes on in the production of their foods, and their "testing" protocols don't seem to pan out with what happens in the end. So my fears about lack of quality control in their supply chain seems to be well founded. That's comforting... quote:When Purina seems to know more about Blue's food than Blue does, there's a problem. To be fair to Blue, Purina has every reason to try to nail their competition to the wall. They're not exactly new to the game, and they have pretty hefty resources behind them. They likely have more information than Blue about the industry's supply chain as a whole. They probably knew that some of Blue's suppliers were sketchy (or more likely knew that the supplier sourced their ingredients from sketchy places), so they may have specifically targeted their testing on ingredients that they knew could be troublesome. They probably have been doing this for years, thinking that it was only a matter of time until they caught them. It's not like it's a dangerous ingredient, it's just low quality. Purina isn't looking out for the safety of dogs, they're looking for any reason to take Blue down a peg and hurt them financially.
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Jan 14, 2015 13:08
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