DISCONTINUED: Most EVO....ALL Innova....ALL California Natural Cat Foods

[white shadow]

In April 2014, it was announced that Mars "Petcare" intended to purchase most of Proctor & Gamble's petfood business (Reuters.com  -  US Mars PG Petcare Acquisition).....by August it was a done deal.....and now, Mars is discontinuing most of the EVO cat line, all of the Innova products and all of the California Natural cat products.

The Innova site:

Dear Pet Parents,
For more than two decades, Innova has been improving the lives of pets with its superior, farm-grown nutrition. After careful consideration, we’ve decided to discontinue Innova brand products. We are very sorry for any inconvenience, and encourage you to take a look at the other premium-quality formulas we offer.

http://www.innovapet.com/  

California Natural site....not a feline face to be seen:  http://www.californianaturalpet.com/products

EVO website....the cupboard's almost empty:  http://www.evopet.com/products    no more large cans and only 2 "flavors' in 5.5oz size

For people using the large cans (13oz) EVO.....I think Wellness and Dave's are the only other large can products available....please post if I'm wrong!

New members here hopefully understand that, most of the time, you can't "switch" foods overnight....switching dry foods often results in gastro issues in the healthiest cats.....switching wet foods frequently results in rejection of the new offering. If you're unsure of how to do this, post and an experienced member is sure to chime in with the how-to's.

 

[mosimom]

Wow. I dont use these foods, but I would be pi$$ed if it was the only food my cat ate.

 

[mewlittle]

What the heck i dont use these but was thinking about it now im not :/

 

[LTS3]

I'm sure stores and online sites will still have EVO and the other products available for a little while longer so stock up while you can and use the food to transition the cat to something else (hopefully).

 

[2bcat]

Right, if your cat eats these, try to stock up on some now while still in stock at some stores.  Then you'll have some around as you try to transition to new food.

It's kind of amazing to think about here, one would have thought that the various Innova brands (when independent, the entire company was called Innova and made all 3 of the mentioned brands) were part of the value that Mars was buying, but the purchase I assume also included all the Iams brands that P&G owned as well.

Even with the Evo and California Natural they continue to sell, look for reformulations to happen.  They will consider the important thing to be the names and brand positioning not the actual recipes in most cases.  They may even introduce new cat formulations of the products eventually as they continue this integration and realignment.

 

[Willowy]

Well that's unpleasant :/. My cats were eating EVO 95% but now they're not, so it won't affect me at this point. . .but I always considered Innova Large Breed Puppy food to be the best food for large breed puppies but I guess that's out now. I'll probably never get a large breed puppy but I liked having the option! :lol3:

Do they still have the large cans of EVO 95% for dogs? In the 95% cannned foods, the dog formula and cat formula have always been the same, but of course one would have to keep an eye on that to make sure they don't change the formula.

 

[catanalyst]

Hi, I'm new to this forum and just stumbled across this post. I exclusively feed my cat the EVO cat kitten food. I'm so sad that it's getting discontinued! I did notice that my local pet store stopped carrying it but just thought they were slow on reordering. Luckily my cat isn't a picky eater at all, but what a hassle nevertheless to have to search for another good affordable grain-free food. I'll definitely be stocking up from Chewy.com while I figure out what to feed her next.

 

[white shadow]

Hi and welcome to the forum, catanalyst !

Two specific kitten formulas you could consider are Wellness Kitten: http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/product-details.aspx?pet=cat&pid=1 and Wellness CORE Kitten: http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/product-details.aspx?pet=cat&pid=128. Some people have had diarrhea develop when they 'switched' to the CORE....there is more fat in these, so a slower transition/introduction is warranted (and/or adding a pinch of plain canned pumpkin) (starting by adding a small amount of the new food to current diet, then slowly increasing that amount over ~10 days)........in any case, slooow transitions, especially with kittens, work best.

If it's an older kitten, many people choose to provide regular "adult" formulas....the Wellness "Complete Health" line are the closest to EVO - http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/recipes.aspx?pet=cat&ft=2

Dave's could be another consideration for you http://davespetfood.com/catalog/for-cats/

Lots of reasons to stay away from varieties containing fish - read or watch here: Feeding Fish to Cats Is Not Advisable - Dr. Karen Becker

A free "Feline Nutrition 101" (and lotsa other reliable info here: Feeding Your Cat - Know the Basics... - Lisa A. Pierson DVM

Hope that helps !

 

[catanalyst]

Thank you so much for your recommendations! My cat was an older kitten (7 months old) when I first adopted her. Now she's just over 1 year old. I've been feeding her the EVO cat & kitten food, because it says that it's formulated for all life stages. I've tried the Wellness Complete Health chicken and turkey flavors before. She liked them just fine (she's not picky at all, at least for now), but the size of the can is slightly smaller than the EVO food (12.5 oz vs 13.2 oz), and it's slightly more expensive. I'm going to do some more research, but Wellness is likely the brand I'll go with next. I haven't heard about Dave's, so I'll look into that too.

I've read the Lisa Pierson guide before, which is really useful. I also knew to stay away from fish and beef (I only feed her chicken or turkey flavors), but the article was still interesting.

 

[einzmer]

If you try Dave's cat food, go to their website and use the store locator. That's how I found a store that sells it for less than Chewy site. At a local pet store, I found it for $1.89 for the 12.5 oz cans. On Chewy, it is 25.99 for 12 cans, but you need to buy $49 for free shipping also. So that's $2.17 a can.

 

[sweetpea24]

This is really disappointing. I cannot get any of these foods but I did think theu were good foods. Some vets even recommend the EVO 95% for cats with diarrhea because of its high digestibility. Maybe it is a good thing because Mars would have ruined them anyways. P&g started the downturn.

 

[Willowy]

Hi, I'm new to this forum and just stumbled across this post. I exclusively feed my cat the EVO cat kitten food. I'm so sad that it's getting discontinued! I did notice that my local pet store stopped carrying it but just thought they were slow on reordering. Luckily my cat isn't a picky eater at all, but what a hassle nevertheless to have to search for another good affordable grain-free food. I'll definitely be stocking up from Chewy.com while I figure out what to feed her next.

Which formula? It appears they'll still offer the dry cat food. Some of the canned flavors got discontinued, though it looks like the 95% chicken/turkey is still available. But if your kitty is eating the dry food or 95% cicken/turkey, so far those haven't been discontinued.

 

[catanalyst]

Which formula? It appears they'll still offer the dry cat food. Some of the canned flavors got discontinued, though it looks like the 95% chicken/turkey is still available. But if your kitty is eating the dry food or 95% cicken/turkey, so far those haven't been discontinued.

I'm feeding her the wet cat & kitten chicken and turkey formula (purple can), which is different from the 95% chicken/turkey (orange can). The formula I use doesn't contain carrageenan, but the 95% does.

 

[ginamarina]

This is sad news!!! Chewy and Petflow both sent me notices that the Evo95 chicken/turkey cans would be 'shrinking' to 5.5 oz from 13.2... but I better stock up on any Innova I can still get. We have 5 cats and I really like the cost savings of the big cans - and who wants all those little ones in the landfill?  

We also feed Dave's and Canidae (the only other large cans of quality I can find besides Wellness).



Now I just realized that the latest case of Innova has a different label on it... and the ingredients are different. I can't find anything about this 'formula change' online... I'm not going to stock up until I figure this out. Guess I'll be getting the pricing spreadsheet going again....

 

[omagosh19]

Omg....I'm new to this site & I have to say, I'm so upset most of EVO (wet) cat food is getting discontinued....& ALL of their big cans.
People don't realize how ultimately TOXIC most high-end cat foods are because of their inclusion of CRANBERRIES in the food. People think they want this in their cat food to protect their urinary tracts, but it is the BENZOIC ACID (a natural-occurring preservative) that is completely not accepted by cats. They cannot metabolize benzoic acid & it builds up in their system, unable to pass it. It took 3yrs of my cat eating Blue Buffalo before he got sick.....a complete blockage of struvite crystals. With all of the MISINFORMATION on the internet &from a couple vets!!...I thought I was "helping" him after 2months of achieving better health on prescription food, that I started supplementing some cranberry extract in his presc food &he got a full-blown blockage IMMEDIATELY! That's when I started doing more PRECISE research, reformulating the same question in many ways to find more appropriate & inclusive answers. Please google "benzoic acid + cats + danger" to see for yourselves! It's time to make this info publicly known to help transform this industry.
It is getting impossible to find healthy (grain-free) cat foods these days. Looks like I might be switching to a homemade diet soon.
I could use any good resources anyone might know of to correctly make & SUPPLEMENT a homemade (likely RAW) diet. I want to stop supporting the neglectful & abusive pet food industry asap, sadly

 

[lisamarie12]

Omg....I'm new to this site & I have to say, I'm so upset most of EVO (wet) cat food is getting discontinued....& ALL of their big cans.
People don't realize how ultimately TOXIC most high-end cat foods are because of their inclusion of CRANBERRIES in the food. People think they want this in their cat food to protect their urinary tracts, but it is the BENZOIC ACID (a natural-occurring preservative) that is completely not accepted by cats. They cannot metabolize benzoic acid & it builds up in their system, unable to pass it. It took 3yrs of my cat eating Blue Buffalo before he got sick.....a complete blockage of struvite crystals. With all of the MISINFORMATION on the internet &from a couple vets!!...I thought I was "helping" him after 2months of achieving better health on prescription food, that I started supplementing some cranberry extract in his presc food &he got a full-blown blockage IMMEDIATELY! That's when I started doing more PRECISE research, reformulating the same question in many ways to find more appropriate & inclusive answers. Please google "benzoic acid + cats + danger" to see for yourselves! It's time to make this info publicly known to help transform this industry.
It is getting impossible to find healthy (grain-free) cat foods these days. Looks like I might be switching to a homemade diet soon.
I could use any good resources anyone might know of to correctly make & SUPPLEMENT a homemade (likely RAW) diet. I want to stop supporting the neglectful & abusive pet food industry asap, sadly

Thank you for this info, I did a Google search and I am really surprised to learn about this ingredient in cat food. I will be discontinuing the cats food with cranberries, their commercial raw and canned.
I started home cooked with U-Stew which can also be used for raw per Dana at KBPF, however, this would be a topic for the raw-home cooked meals forum, lots of good resources as far as how to properly supplement home prepared meals.

 

[LotsOfFur]

UGHHH cranberries and also look into the Rosemary and Rosemary extract that I see creeping into a lot of brands. Thanks for the info it's always worth researching

 

[lisamarie12]

UGHHH cranberries and also look into the Rosemary and Rosemary extract that I see creeping into a lot of brands. Thanks for the info it's always worth researching

Surprisingly when I was at the supermarket looking for turkey to cook for my cats (with U-Stew), I was interested in hormone / antibiotic-free turkey. Three different brands all had rosemary extract added to the meat,  urgh!!!

 

[tdonline]

I always bought the largest bag of the California Natural limited ingredients chicken and rice dry food.  My cats eat wet food primarily but do get about 1-2 tablespoons of dry food as snacks.  They love kibble and left to their own devices--they would munch on it all day.  They get more of it when I travel--when they get only one wet food meal daily.  Long way of saying I only buy a CN bag about every 6-8 months.  I also rotate a little bit of Natural Balance and Wellness dry food so the cats aren't reliant on one brand.  Good thing I did that...

So I go down to my local pet shop and it's closed...forever.  Bummer, though there's a Petsmart down the street and I buy the majority of my pet items on Chewy, I would buy the CN food at the local shop.  It was a small store and they didn't a huge inventory but they did have the large CN bags of dry food.  So I come home to see if I can order CN instead...and after a perplexing lack of CN cat food available, I found this thread.  

I liked CN because of the limited ingredients--my cats have very sensitive tummies.  It also doesn't cause constipation in my cats--a condition which they struggle with.  Natural Balance is also a limited ingredient dry food and as I mentioned, I do feed them a tiny bit of it.  But it's constipating.  The Wellness isn't limited ingredients and it's the Complete Health line rather than the grain-free.  My cats eat grain-free wet food but GF-dry food is a constipating agent for them.  Still, the Wellness dry food seems to clog them up too.  

Any suggestions on a quality dry food that doesn't constipate?   If limited ingredient--that would be a bonus.

 

[claate]

My cats exclusively eat Innova Adult Cat Food in the pink can.  They HATE Wellness.  Does anyone know the closest equivalent, or do I need to spend the money testing different brands again until they like one :-(