Anybody Have Experience With These Brands?

[tabbysia]

I was researching the dry food on chewy.com looking for a food that has duck as the first ingredient and has either no fish or has it way down the list. My IBD kitty seems to do better with duck than with anything else, but doesn't seem to care much for the Blue Basics Duck and Potato anymore. She does eat it, but she does it rather reluctantly. Solid Gold food with quail worked for a while too but no longer. She likes it but her stomach doesn't anymore. I came across American Journey, Petcurean Go!, and Holistic Select. I have never heard of these brands before, which makes me a little nervous, but I thought I might get the smallest bag possible of each and try them as "treats" to test them out. Has anyone heard of or used these brands? FYI: I do offer her canned twice a day, but she MUCH prefers the "crunchies" That's why I'm just asking about the dry varieties. My vet is trying to push a prescription food on me, but the ingredients are horrible and I'm not ready to go that route yet.

 

[KarenKat]

I have never tried these dry foods before, but I have heard of the brands. American Journey is owned by Chewy, so you would only see it on the website. I have heard people here liked their canned.

Petcurrean Go! is a good respected brand. Both the dry food and the wet food is listed in Dr Jean Hovfe’s book “What Cats Should Eat” on her approved brands list. I don’t know if that particular one was being referred to, but I believe the brand is very trustworthy.

I don’t know much about Holistic Select.

 

[tabbysia]

That's interesting. I didn't know Chewy had their own cat food brand. I am leaning toward the Petcurean Go, but Chewy has had a habit lately of abruptly ending their business with certain cat food brands (or vice versa). Since I can't get it in stores here, I would be worried if my cats started to like it. It might be worth a try though.

 

[duckpond]

I have a friend that rotates through all of the american journey foods for her cats. She likes them quite a bit.

I have never tried these foods you listed, but looking them up in the database it looks like the AJ is a bit better in the protein to carbs ration? But the Petcurean does not have chicken meal, and the AJ does, the holistic select has chicken as well? I think all 3 brands look pretty good.

There is another duck that i gave my cats a year or so ago, before i quit rotating dry. they really like all farmina dry foods. but many of their flavors you must order from the farmina website? I have ordered several, and always had good service from them.

Farmina Pet Foods - Cat food - N&D Pumpkin feline - Duck & Cantaloupe Adult

 

[cheesycats]

All of these foods seem to be pea based. I like American journeys protein levels but I think they get it that high with peas more than meat. Go has so much peas pea fiber lentils and chickpeas it’s going to be more plant based then the others. Holistic selects ingredients are kinda weird with all the fruits, but not as much peas and lentils as the other two. But also not near enough protein.
Peas are a fiber which causes large smelly bad poops so keep that in mind as well.
Also keep in mind only go is a limited protein food. The other two have chicken in the first three ingredients. The solid gold you mentioned has 4 different meat proteins. Not good for a sensitive cat.
What other proteins have you tried?
I personally like natures variety. If chicken isn’t a bother I would try their ultimate protein duck formula. No meals so easier digestion, no peas so all the protein is coming from the meat and the eggs (also highly digestible). If not that then the natures variety instinct raw boost duck is a good food too. And cheaper but contains more meat proteins.

 

[KarenKat]

LID foods always seem to have peas ... maybe because the cost of all one meat like rabbit is too expensive? It bothers me ...

 

[molly92]

I feed Holistic Select canned-the brand's reputation is good. Prebiotics are their thing, which is why there are all those fruits and vegetables in there. I don't think they're necessary but their canned food is a good price. However potatoes are a red flag ingredient for me, because my cat historically gains weight quickly with potatoes. Tapioca (in the other 2 recipes) is also a high carb ingredient that I avoid. There's going to be some kind of starch in every dry food though, so it's about picking the ones that you think are the least problematic for your.

If I have to recommend dry, my top brands are Orijen fit & trim, Nature's Variety Instinct, Wellness CORE, and Dr. Elsey's clean protein. Fussie cat is usually less expensive and fairly good, but also lower protein.

 

[tabbysia]

Peas are a fiber which causes large smelly bad poops so keep that in mind. The solid gold you mentioned has 4 different meat proteins. Not good for a sensitive cat.

My crew seems to be okay with peas. Their stools are normal. I thought Solid Gold might not be a wise choice, especially since I don't usually feed fish, but I thought the pumpkin in the food might be beneficial, and at the time I bought it, I read some reviews online by some other people who had IBD kitties whose cats did well on the food. My cat actually was doing well on the food until recently. Sold Gold changed manufacturers recently, and as a result, the kibble is twice the normal size. I wonder if that could be a contributing factor. The old kibble was very small.

Left side: old kibble
Right side: new kibble

 

[duckpond]

I hate when they change their foods like this. always causes problems for cat!
If your cats do well with Pumpkin you may want to check out the Farmina line with pumpkin. my cats are not normally big venison fans, but they love the Farmina venison and pumpkin

 

[tabbysia]

Thanks for all of the info everyone! I think since she originally did so well on the Blue Basics duck and potato, I am going to try the Petcurean Go for now, simply because the ingredients most closely resemble the Blue. I went ahead and ordered the smallest bag of it that chewy.com had, in case she hates it! Since she still prefers the Solid Gold, I'll mix a little of the Petcurean with it or offer small handfuls as treats.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to tell just yet if the new food is helping (if it does help) or the change in meds, because as of two days ago, the vet has increased her prednisone and has had me start her on Metoclopramide. She has a follow-up appointment in a few days. She has been vomit-free over the past 48 hours, even while still eating the food that made her throw up four times last week! Anyone else confused? I know I am! This IBD is a tricky beast.

 

[KarenKat]

This IBD is a tricky beast.

Oh I totally agree! Trin has diarrhea, and currently all we are doing is giving B-12 shots and sticking to some rabbit kibble. Sometimes his BM are great, and sometimes not so much. No rhyme or reason on our end, just poop.

 

[tabbysia]

The bag of Petcurean Go arrived today, and I am a little alarmed to see what appears to be Chinese writing all over the bag. I took a picture of a portion of it. This makes me think that China could have a part in manufacturing this food, which would not be good. I took a picture of the entire back of the bag first (which might be kind of hard to see), and then a close-up picture of a portion of the Chinese (?) writing. It could just be that there is a large Asian population in Canada (it's made in Canada), but I am still a little wary.

I did go ahead and offer each of the cats a few small handfuls, despite my doubts, and they gobbled it up. Also, there was no vomiting. I just hope that it is safe.

 

[KarenKat]

It might be a marketing thing for potential customers, rather than where it was sourced. The FAQ on their website mention the ingredient sources, which is mainly Canada and US. They state explicitly that non of the major ingredients are sourced in China:

Ingredient FAQs | Petcurean

 

[tabbysia]

It might be a marketing thing for potential customers, rather than where it was sourced. The FAQ on their website mention the ingredient sources, which is mainly Canada and US. They state explicitly that non of the major ingredients are sourced in China:

Ingredient FAQs | Petcurean

So, this mean that something in their food comes from China, most likely one of the non-food ingredients, like the added vitamins. I emailed them several days ago, before I ordered the food, in order to ask them about ingredients from China, but I have not received a response from them.

 

[tabbysia]

I found this article which states that the taurine in the food comes from China, but since the article is from 2012, that could have changed.
Response from Petcurean Pet Foods to The Pledge

 

[mustardandbologna]

Fyi, the text in the photo is Korean, not Chinese.

 

[tabbysia]

Fyi, the text in the photo is Korean, not Chinese.

Oops! I was not entirely certain that the portion I took a picture of was Chinese (hence the question mark in my post), but there appears to be more than one Asian language on the back of the bag. I wouldn't really know though, because the only foreign language that I can read is Spanish.

 

[mustardandbologna]

I think the multiple languages are just because the food is marketed in those countries, so the ingredients and analysis need to be printed in the corresponding languages. It saves the company money by avoiding reprinting the packaging for each country. I see Korean, Japanese, French, Spanish, and Chinese on the package.

 

[tabbysia]

I finally heard back from Petcurean. As I suspected, none of the actual food ingredients come from China, but a couple of the other ingredients do.

 

[KarenKat]

Thanks! I find very comforting the amount of detail they provide in their response. Things like that make me trust a company more, and more likely to purchase from them.