Diet change

Jean B. wrote:
---MIKE--- wrote:
After Thanksgiving I noticed that both Amber and Tiger seemed less
interested in their Wellness chicken (canned) food. Suddenly, on
Christmas morning they ate with gusto. It was a new batch. The cans
with the code "MW10" on the bottom were the good ones. The cans with
the "7WCCS4" code they didn't like. This was NOT a subtle
difference. Their meal with the good cans was finished in an hour.
With the "bad" cans almost half had to be thrown away after two or
three hours. Unfortunately the store didn't have any more of the
"good" cans. I called Wellness and they claimed there should be no
difference. The MW cans came from a California plant while the 7WCC
cans came from a New Jersey plant. I have been a Wellness customer
for about 7 years and use over 730 cans a year. Their customer
service people did not seem concerned when I told them I would try
Innova and other brands if they could not provide me with the MW
cans. Wellness says there is no difference but the cats say
otherwise. ---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')

The cats always know! I also see a difference in texture between
lots, which frequently correlates with whether or not they like it.

Have you tried Wellness Core? That generally goes over well here.

Our FDA can't even police our own food, much less cat food. If you put your
cat's lives in their hands, you aren't giving them enough protection, IMO.

Much of the issue is likely due to Wellness not owning any
manufacturing capacity of their own and depending upon third party
contractors to manufacture their products. With the purchase of
Wellness by Eagle a few months ago I would expect Wellness dry
products now manufactured by Diamond will eventually get moved over to
Eagle's internal manufacturing facilities. Anytime you have to
contract out manufacturing there is always a loss of control of some
kind. Since Wellness has never owned any pet food manufacturing
facilities of any kind they have to rely on contract manufacturers.

Steve Crane wrote:
Much of the issue is likely due to Wellness not owning any
manufacturing capacity of their own and depending upon third party
contractors to manufacture their products. With the purchase of
Wellness by Eagle a few months ago I would expect Wellness dry
products now manufactured by Diamond will eventually get moved over to
Eagle's internal manufacturing facilities. Anytime you have to
contract out manufacturing there is always a loss of control of some
kind. Since Wellness has never owned any pet food manufacturing
facilities of any kind they have to rely on contract manufacturers.

.....And most "contract manufacturers" today, are located in Chiuna......

"KenK" wrote in message
...
I'm thinking of switching my cat from Wellness canned food back to Fancy
Feast after many many months. She doesn't seem to be getting nutrition
from the Wellness, it appears to be going right through her. At first she
was satisfied with 9 oz of Wellness a day, now 12 isn't enough. When she
ate FF I only needed to feed her about 6 oz a day.

Good grief that's a lot of food for one cat. My three cats together get 3
Tbsps of dry Wellness kibble and two 5.5 oz cans of wet food a day. It's
divided into 3 meals.

On Jan 22, 8:51*pm, "Bill Graham" wrote:
Steve Crane wrote:
Much of the issue is likely due to Wellness not owning any
manufacturing capacity of their own and depending upon third party
contractors to manufacture their products. With the purchase of
Wellness by Eagle a few months ago I would expect Wellness dry
products now manufactured by Diamond will eventually get moved over to
Eagle's internal manufacturing facilities. Anytime you have to
contract out manufacturing there is always a loss of control of some
kind. Since Wellness has never owned any pet food manufacturing
facilities of any kind they have to rely on contract manufacturers.

....And most "contract manufacturers" today, are located in Chiuna......

Actually no. At the moment I can't think of a single larger pet food
company importing food from China. I have no idea about the very small
regional companies. Most third party contracting for dry foods is with
Diamond, American Nutrition and Chenango. Canned food generally going
to Menu or Triumph. I have no idea who Wellness is currently
contracting with for canned food.

Bill Graham wrote:
Jean B. wrote:
---MIKE--- wrote:
After Thanksgiving I noticed that both Amber and Tiger seemed less
interested in their Wellness chicken (canned) food. Suddenly, on
Christmas morning they ate with gusto. It was a new batch. The cans
with the code "MW10" on the bottom were the good ones. The cans with
the "7WCCS4" code they didn't like. This was NOT a subtle
difference. Their meal with the good cans was finished in an hour.
With the "bad" cans almost half had to be thrown away after two or
three hours. Unfortunately the store didn't have any more of the
"good" cans. I called Wellness and they claimed there should be no
difference. The MW cans came from a California plant while the 7WCC
cans came from a New Jersey plant. I have been a Wellness customer
for about 7 years and use over 730 cans a year. Their customer
service people did not seem concerned when I told them I would try
Innova and other brands if they could not provide me with the MW
cans. Wellness says there is no difference but the cats say
otherwise. ---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')

The cats always know! I also see a difference in texture between
lots, which frequently correlates with whether or not they like it.

Have you tried Wellness Core? That generally goes over well here.

Our FDA can't even police our own food, much less cat food. If you put
your cat's lives in their hands, you aren't giving them enough
protection, IMO.

Sigh. Good point. However, I don't know enough about cat
nutrition and providing the correct vitamin and mineral balance to
make that a better choice. How do you provide the right amount of
taurine? How do you not encourage crystals? Cooking treats would
be quite different from cooking what one's cats subsist on, IMO.

--
Jean B.

Steve Crane wrote:
Much of the issue is likely due to Wellness not owning any
manufacturing capacity of their own and depending upon third party
contractors to manufacture their products. With the purchase of
Wellness by Eagle a few months ago I would expect Wellness dry
products now manufactured by Diamond will eventually get moved over to
Eagle's internal manufacturing facilities. Anytime you have to
contract out manufacturing there is always a loss of control of some
kind. Since Wellness has never owned any pet food manufacturing
facilities of any kind they have to rely on contract manufacturers.

Hmmm. Noted. I wonder where THIS will lead to?

--
Jean B.

Jean B. wrote:
Bill Graham wrote:
Jean B. wrote:
---MIKE--- wrote:
After Thanksgiving I noticed that both Amber and Tiger seemed less
interested in their Wellness chicken (canned) food. Suddenly, on
Christmas morning they ate with gusto. It was a new batch. The cans
with the code "MW10" on the bottom were the good ones. The cans
with the "7WCCS4" code they didn't like. This was NOT a subtle
difference. Their meal with the good cans was finished in an hour.
With the "bad" cans almost half had to be thrown away after two or
three hours. Unfortunately the store didn't have any more of the
"good" cans. I called Wellness and they claimed there should be no
difference. The MW cans came from a California plant while the 7WCC
cans came from a New Jersey plant. I have been a Wellness customer
for about 7 years and use over 730 cans a year. Their customer
service people did not seem concerned when I told them I would try
Innova and other brands if they could not provide me with the MW
cans. Wellness says there is no difference but the cats say
otherwise. ---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')

The cats always know! I also see a difference in texture between
lots, which frequently correlates with whether or not they like it.

Have you tried Wellness Core? That generally goes over well here.

Our FDA can't even police our own food, much less cat food. If you
put your cat's lives in their hands, you aren't giving them enough
protection, IMO.

Sigh. Good point. However, I don't know enough about cat
nutrition and providing the correct vitamin and mineral balance to
make that a better choice. How do you provide the right amount of
taurine? How do you not encourage crystals? Cooking treats would
be quite different from cooking what one's cats subsist on, IMO.

Cats in the wild eat a great variety of foods....Pretty well anything that
crawls, flies, or moves by itself. I try to do the same with my cats. I feed
them a great variety of foods, including table scraps, and sometimes, I feed
them nothing at all for a day or two, because in the wild they sometimes get
to eat nothing for a day or two too. (In the zoo, they don't feed the lions
on Mondays) I would be very hesitant to just feed my cats one brand of cat
food. If the owners of the cat food company are having a bad day, all your
cats could die....:^)

Bill Graham wrote:
Jean B. wrote:
Bill Graham wrote:
Jean B. wrote:
---MIKE--- wrote:
After Thanksgiving I noticed that both Amber and Tiger seemed less
interested in their Wellness chicken (canned) food. Suddenly, on
Christmas morning they ate with gusto. It was a new batch. The cans
with the code "MW10" on the bottom were the good ones. The cans
with the "7WCCS4" code they didn't like. This was NOT a subtle
difference. Their meal with the good cans was finished in an hour.
With the "bad" cans almost half had to be thrown away after two or
three hours. Unfortunately the store didn't have any more of the
"good" cans. I called Wellness and they claimed there should be no
difference. The MW cans came from a California plant while the 7WCC
cans came from a New Jersey plant. I have been a Wellness customer
for about 7 years and use over 730 cans a year. Their customer
service people did not seem concerned when I told them I would try
Innova and other brands if they could not provide me with the MW
cans. Wellness says there is no difference but the cats say
otherwise. ---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')

The cats always know! I also see a difference in texture between
lots, which frequently correlates with whether or not they like it.

Have you tried Wellness Core? That generally goes over well here.

Our FDA can't even police our own food, much less cat food. If you
put your cat's lives in their hands, you aren't giving them enough
protection, IMO.

Sigh. Good point. However, I don't know enough about cat
nutrition and providing the correct vitamin and mineral balance to
make that a better choice. How do you provide the right amount of
taurine? How do you not encourage crystals? Cooking treats would
be quite different from cooking what one's cats subsist on, IMO.

Cats in the wild eat a great variety of foods....Pretty well anything
that crawls, flies, or moves by itself. I try to do the same with my
cats. I feed them a great variety of foods, including table scraps, and
sometimes, I feed them nothing at all for a day or two, because in the
wild they sometimes get to eat nothing for a day or two too. (In the
zoo, they don't feed the lions on Mondays) I would be very hesitant to
just feed my cats one brand of cat food. If the owners of the cat food
company are having a bad day, all your cats could die....:^)

Late response. I don't look in too frequently. I rotate as many
foods as the cats will eat and am always on the lookout for new
things for them to try.

Sure cats will eat a variety of things, but they eat proteins
(rodents, birds, fish). I don't know how much catnip or cat grass
they eat (here), so I won't say they won't eat anything else.

--
Jean B.

On Jan 17, 3:02*pm, (---MIKE---) wrote:
After Thanksgiving I noticed that both Amber and Tiger seemed less
interested in their Wellness chicken (canned) food. Suddenly, on
Christmas morning they ate with gusto. It was a new batch. The cans with
the code "MW10" on the bottom were the good ones. The cans with the
"7WCCS4" code they didn't like. This was NOT a subtle difference. Their
meal with the good cans was finished in an hour. With the "bad" cans
almost half had to be thrown away after two or three hours.
Unfortunately the store didn't have any more of the "good" cans. I
called Wellness and they claimed there should be no difference. The MW
cans came from a California plant while the 7WCC cans came from a New
Jersey plant. I have been a Wellness customer for about 7 years and use
over 730 cans a year. Their customer service people did not seem
concerned when I told them I would try Innova and other brands if they
could not provide me with the MW cans. Wellness says there is no
difference but the cats say otherwise.
******************

* * * * * * * * * ---MIKE---In the White Mountains of New Hampshire

* (44° 15' *N - Elevation 1580')

I never trust brands. I tried to feed a supposedly vet sold feed for
my
birds. The bird would not touch it. It had no taste or smell.
How do you expect them to like and enjoy food.

My cats like "some" Fancy Feast. Even some of the ones they like, some
cans they refuse to eat. Of them they like liver and chicken, and
Seafood Feast,
and some of the egg souffle types. I try to change the hard food to
different
types and brands every time I buy a new bag of 16 Lb.
I still leave the solid food out at all times, and they can eat all
they want.
The Fancy Feast is given at evening which they look forward to. Its
a small serving of roughly 1/3 can each, or less.
My one cat does not like beef. Both cats love pork which I sometimes
give snacks
off the table.

greg