New Identity rabbit / quail / quail & turkey

[Jojo&Tutu]

I have been hunting for a quality cat food. Found Identity. Worth the money: new line rabbit or quail 3 ounce cans. said it is the exact same formula as the dog food 6 ounce cans if you want to get a larger can but In not sure if it has taurine that cats need.
Also has a quail with turkey formula.
No weird things added in: no gums no seeds that cause toxic exposures or inflammation.
It does have coconut oil in it. Someone suggested that coconut oil is hard for the cats to digest as it is a medium chain triglyceride and builds up in their liver. Would anyone know about that?

Well here it is 2023. Tutu passed away last March due to an incompetent ER vet. It’s a story for another day. She was 20 lived a long life but I miss her horribly. I adopted a new kitty a bug heslthy seal point Siamese named Mia. I consulted my nutrition veterinarian and she said to stay away from tricalcium phosphate or dicalcium phosphate as they have been found to cause kidney failure in recent studies. Identity has two lines of quail with turkey one has dicalcium phosphate in it. StY away from that one. I am otherwise still hunting for a good simple protein based formula lower in calorie and lower in phosphorus.

 

[DeesCats]

I am so sorry for your loss of Tutu!

 

[LilacSerenity]

Well here it is 2023. Tutu passed away last March due to an incompetent ER vet. It’s a story for another day. She was 20 lived a long life but I miss her horribly. I adopted a new kitty a bug heslthy seal point Siamese named Mia. I consulted my nutrition veterinarian and she said to stay away from tricalcium phosphate or dicalcium phosphate as they have been found to cause kidney failure in recent studies. Identity has two lines of quail with turkey one has dicalcium phosphate in it. StY away from that one. I am otherwise still hunting for a good simple protein based formula lower in calorie and lower in phosphorus.

OMG, what??? stop it! I thought only dicalcium phosphate was bad, but tricalcium phosphate was actually a better and safer form of calcium and phosphorus supplement. Both of these minerals are required by AAFCO to be considered a nutritionally balanced, so almost every brand/flavor contains either one. Rawz included! In fact, any brand that's considered high quality contains tricalcium phosphate! My cat is in early stages of CKD (aren't they all after the age of 10?), and I thought I built a fairly good rotation that's relatively low in phosphorus. However, after inspecting every flavor again just now, almost all of her diet includes tricalcium phosphate - Weruva's "Press your lunch", Cats in the Kitchen's Lamburgini, every flavor of Rawz, even Lotus' raw recipes. You just killed me with these news! It's been such a struggle already to find her something that's got good ingredients, has no pumpkin (she's allergic), is low in phosphorus, and highly palatable/appealing to her taste. Let alone fish-free and chicken-free, with a novel protein. I don't know what to feed her anymore! Can you please share what you feed your kitty that doesn't have dicalcium or tricalcium phosphate?

 

[LilacSerenity]

A few (or too many) words about Rawz.
I thought I finally found a holy grail when I discovered Rawz. 100% profits donated, full transparency - detailed typical analysis readily available on their website for every flavor, pate consistency, high in protein, no gums/fillers/bunders, AND chicken-free and fish-free novel proteins?? Sign me up!
I picked the flavors that were lowest in phosphorus (unfortunately, only 2, beef and turkey/salmon) for regular rotation, although did purchase a few other ones for occasional diversity. Sadly, rabbit flavor was the highest in phosphorus at 1.83% on DMB and staggering 400mg per 100kcal. Sonya rejected turkey/salmon, as well as duck, salmon, and turkey flavors, almost immediately. I won't force my cat to eat something she doesn't like, and I also trust her to know/smell better what's good for her, so red flag #1. So I was left with only beef recipe to use as a base to introduce/transition to new foods, and had no choice but to give her some of the chicken and rabbit recipes at least once a day.
Red flag #2: for food claiming having no gums in it, almost every recipe contains a weird unexplained jelly/gummy substance in every can. It's most noticeable in chicken/chicken liver recipe. Rawz might argue that it's broth or coagulated natural collagen; however, they both usually dissolve in warm water, not this substance though. It sits on top of the pate, so I just remove it. But getting more suspicious of the company now.
Anyway, I check and research every recipe extensively before introducing it into the rotation, and have an excel spreadsheet to keep track of all recipes' typical analysis. And this is how I discovered huge red flag #3. Like a month after introducing Rawz into Sonya's diet (carefully checking and recording all values before), I noticed her eating it reluctantly or some days rejecting it completely. Again, I trust her to know better, they can definitely tell something has changed before we know it. So I went back to check Rawz ingredients and typical analysis, and was absolutely shocked to discover that the numbers have completely changed for a few recipes, especially in phosphorus! In beef recipe, that was a staple of my rotation, it went from 1.13% on DMB to 1.43%, which is a huge difference for kitties with CKD! Turkey recipe's phosphorus changed from 1.4% to a whopping 1.79%! New values in chicken and rabbit recipes actually decreased (or so they claim) but the numbers didn't add up and by that point I was really suspicious to believe it. I contacted the company by phone, was given some bullshit answer that the recent batch went up in protein, so naturally phosphorus levels have increased as well. However, it didn't make sense for every changed flavor. Although the customer service rep. was very nice and helpful and did everything she could to help me and find out more, the company as a whole left me skeptical and dissatisfied.

If interested, for more details, read excerpts from my first and second emails, that even though replied to, were left unanswered:

"...As per our phone conversation, I was inquiring about the recently changed phosphorus levels in certain flavors of pates for cats: Beef, Turkey, Chicken, and Rabbit. You mentioned it’s because of the increased protein levels, and although it explains the increase of phosphorus in turkey flavor, it doesn’t explain the other ones. The beef flavor protein stayed almost the same, but phosphorus increased drastically, from 1.13% on dmb to 1.43%, and from 87mg per 1oz of food to 99mg. On the other hand, the chicken and rabbit flavors had an increase in protein but the phosphorus decreased?.."

"...I'm still confused about how you guys measure the contents when you test the batches. The numbers just don't add up. Do you measure ingredient contents in weight, and then calculate the percentage? Do you measure/test the batch on as fed basis, and then convert it to dry matter basis? I'm just trying to determine which values are 100% reliable and which might contain a mathematical error/discrepancy.
Like I said before, it just doesn't make sense how one flavor (beef) stayed the same in protein but increased dramatically in phosphorus, and other flavors (chicken and rabbit) increased in protein but dropped significantly in phosphorus, yet the turkey pate increased in both protein and phosphorus.
If phosphorus % is calculated from its weight per calories, then it's confusing how, for example, Turkey/salmon and Beef's old batch showed phosphorus as 230mg/100cal (1.06%) and 260mg/100cal (1.13%) respectively, and the new batch of Chicken shows phosphorus content as 248mg/100cal, yet it's 1.25%. Logically, if 248 mg is between 230 and 260, shouldn't the percentage be between 1.06% and 1.13%? Keep in mind, all of calorie values remained the same, according to Rawz website.
And if phosphorus is measured by its weight per 1 ounce of food, then again it doesn't make sense using the same example of Turkey/salmon phosphorus at 72mg/1oz (1.06%) and Beef's old batch phosphorus at 87mg/1oz (1.13%), compared to the new batch of Rabbit phosphorus content as 77mg/1oz, yet it's 1.23%. By the same logic, 77mg per ounce should land somewhere between 1.06% and 1.13%..."

Again, the company could not explain any of these discrepancies. The rep. basically said that it is what it is and they get these numbers from a "third-party testing lab". The only useful info she gave me was the new batch # and best by date that these new values are from (by the looks of it, I'm still using the old batch). Either way, I can't trust the company that's so inconsistent or can't explain their nutritional values. I wouldn't have even found out any of this if I didn't check again.
I'm not trying to put anyone off of Rawz, I'm just warning and reminding to not only do your due diligence, but keep on checking and verifying every company's claims, no matter how good they sound.

 

[LilacSerenity]

A few words (or too many) about Identity.
Another new company I was really excited about because of their claims and a wide variety of novel proteins.
And yet another brand I will not be introducing into my cat's diet because of red flags and the company's inability to give straight answers or sound explanations about their nutritional values.
First of all, the founder/owner is a former owner of Wild Calling! brand, now discontinued. For those who remember, it was a small company with great food, one of the pioneer manufacturers of high quality high novel protein diets in the world of carb and gums filled cat food. Of course, despite the high price of their food, they did not last long and were pushed out of business. I remember emailing them with questions (I think the concern of the day at that time was the BPA in can lining), and the owner himself, Mr. Jeremy Peterson, was courteous enough to reply and answer all of my concerns and put my mind at ease. That really appealed to me, him showing personal care and involvement in the brand's reputation.
So when I started researching his new company Identity's claims and nutritional analysis, I gave them benefit of the doubt and was hopeful they'd be able to explain all of the discrepancies I found out. Unfortunately, they disappointed, to say the least. Not only the customer service (I presume, since they didn't care enough to introduce themselves, or sign their email) didn't answer my questions, they sounded very dismissive as to show they really don't give a f*** whether you buy their food or not. Which is by the way super expensive, like $3.5 for a small 3oz can of rabbit recipe.
Anyway, I won't bore you discussing the nitty gritty details of mathematical inconsistencies in nutritional numbers in every flavor per their typical analysis, you can read it in my email to them. But I will raise the biggest red flag of them all. Their so called "95% Collection". The names of the flavors and the cans labels imply that the food consists of 95% protein, i.e. "95% Free-Range Canadian Duck and Duck Broth Pate". When you saw a label like that, would you assume that this food is high in protein? I know I would. Yet, according to their own typical analysis spreadsheet (which is highly questionable, btw), the protein on dry matter basis in this particular recipe is only 39%. Fancy Feast is higher in protein than that, and that's saying a lot. In fact, none of their flavors is higher than 50% in protein, except for Persona Bison recipe, which is 51%. When I confronted them regarding this, they preferred to ignore my question, and only answered the one about Persona Rabbit recipe, which is the only one out of all of their wet foods that says 80% on the label, and not 95%. Their answer was not only dissatisfying but raised even more questions and mistrust in their claims. As per their email reply (quoted below), the other 20% is made up of pumpkin, carrots and kale (which are carbs by the way). WHAT?.... Ok.... but as per their own typical analysis breakdown, the rabbit recipe contains only 34% (NOT 80%) protein, 32% fat, and...wait for it... 8.5% CARBS!!!! What the f? Clearly someone's lying here. Whether it's the customer service or the company's typical analysis data, neither one is trustworthy to me. I was drawn by the company's promise of super low level of phosphorus, but after this interaction I cannot trust or believe anything they claim or any of their nutritional values. In addition to questionable ingredients, like dicalcium phosphate, agar agar, carrots and coconut oil, this brand will be a hard pass for me.

For more red flags, read through my email interaction with Identity:

"I was looking for new food for my cat, with good ingredients, high protein, and low phosphorus, and stumbled upon your brand. Your claims sound amazing, but I do have a few questions about your nutritional values.
How do you measure the contents of nutrients in your food? On as-fed basis, and then calculate the dry matter basis? And how often do you test it?
I was inspecting your detailed nutrient analysis of cat wet food, and your numbers don't make sense, specifically the carb values.
For example, 95% duck recipe shows protein content at 39% on DMB, fat at 35%, and then carbs at 5%. That's mathematically impossible. Any food consists of 100% protein, fat, and carbs (and a very small percentage of vitamins and minerals). So based on the values of protein and fat in duck recipe, the carb content should be approximately around 25-26%, as opposed to your reported 5%. What does the other 20% consist of?
Even if measured on as-fed basis, according to your table values, duck recipe contains 25% dry matter of which protein is 9.8%, fat is 8.8%, fiber is 0.4%, and ash is about 1%. This leaves 5% for carbs on as fed (20% on DMB), but you report it as 1.3% on as fed basis. Again, where is the other 3.7%, and what does it consist of?
These discrepancies follow through all recipes of cat food. What's also concerning is how much your typical analysis fluctuates from guaranteed. I understand there are always some variations depending on the batch, but usually it's pretty close. Your protein and fat values, however, fluctuate about 2.5-3.5% on average, where the moisture content stays pretty close to guaranteed. That's about 10-15% difference on DMB, which is a lot.
Another point I want to raise is how you call your recipes "95% [animal protein]", and yet none of the recipes contain even 50% of protein, according to your own table (except for bison recipe). Can you explain that? Also, weirdly enough, the Persona rabbit recipe is called "80%", what's the other 20% supposed to be?
I used to be a devoted customer of Wild Calling brand until it discontinued, and I would love to switch to Identity now because you carry a lot of chicken-free and fish-free single novel proteins, and I'm also super excited about your new line of gently cooked recipes. But I take my cat's diet seriously and research companies' nutrition claims very carefully. And frankly, all of the above-mentioned discrepancies and inconsistencies do not exactly build confidence in your new brand. Please help me make sense of your nutritional claims."

" These values are an average of each batch produced as measured by actual lab testing results. Our carb levels provided are from actual lab testing results to give you the most accurate results - they are not calculated like many brands and thus are more accurate."​

"That’s great, but it still doesn’t explain what the remaining remaining unaccounted percentage consists of (in duck example: 3.7% or 15% on DMB). You also didn’t answer any of my other questions and concerns."

"The figures are an average across each batch tested so they will never equal 100 because the 100 you seek is a calculated figure. Again, we’re providing actual test results. Most companies will vary even more widely than us on their guaranteed analysis too since it is a minimum and maximum declaration. We are again providing actual lab test results which will always be more accurate. But since they are averages & not calculated they will not equal 100. Almost every company provides calculated results from computer software - not actual test results like us. Computer calculations can result in over & understatements on specific figures & are not as accurate as the results we provide.​

Rabbit is a meat naturally high in ash. We believe in low ash nutrition so we lowered the meat content to be appropriate for our nutritional philosophy. Pumpkin, carrots & kale make up the other 20%."​

"Can you please tell me how many milligrams of phosphorus per 100 calories is in every recipe? Your website's typical analysis only lists the percentage.
Also, you said the table provides actual tested figures, but it still shows the phosphorus values as "minimum", does that mean there can be more than the % shown? How much more?
My cat has kidney issues and it's important for me to know the most accurate phosphorus content."

" Your veterinarian should be able to provide you with the amount per 100 kcals. We only offer percentage information as this is the most common way consumers & veterinarian's request for this type if information as it is more accurate than the amount per 100 calories since that is a calculated figure & it could vary per feeding."​

LMAO, their replies, especially the last one, are so absurd and nonsensical, with no logic whatsoever, that it's laughable. Like, my vet is supposed to know what's in their food better than the company that produces it? Thanks, but no, thanks.

 

[misterginja]

Well here it is 2023. Tutu passed away last March due to an incompetent ER vet. It’s a story for another day. She was 20 lived a long life but I miss her horribly. I adopted a new kitty a bug heslthy seal point Siamese named Mia. I consulted my nutrition veterinarian and she said to stay away from tricalcium phosphate or dicalcium phosphate as they have been found to cause kidney failure in recent studies. Identity has two lines of quail with turkey one has dicalcium phosphate in it. StY away from that one. I am otherwise still hunting for a good simple protein based formula lower in calorie and lower in phosphorus.

I'm so very sorry to hear of the loss of your Tutu

With the food issue, I’m finding it impossible to locate a canned food with low phosphorus, relatively low ash, sodium, carbs, AND without the ingredients of tricalcium phosphate and dicalcium phosphate. I’m wondering because the low phosphorus foods don’t contain bone, wouldn’t companies have to add in calcium through those ingredients...or what would be the safe calcium source if not either of those two? My CKD cat is nearly out of canned food options if we also have to avoid those two phosphate ingredients : (

I had to take him completely off of the Identity food, all the flavors. Even S. boulardii couldn’t fix the digestive issues he was getting from that brand of food unfortunately. And much like LilacSerenity, I didn’t agree with their response concerning ingredients, specifically agar agar.

We’ve moved onto Stella & Chewy’s canned pate Chicken/Chicken Liver and Chicken/Duck, those two flavors have lowest phosphorus I could find for non-prescription food (0.57 - 0.59% dry matter basis), with less gums than other low phosphorus foods tried. There is Tricalcium Phosphate in it. I don’t love that tapioca is included, which might be causing his current soft stools and increases the formula's carb level to between 8.8–11.5% DMB, not great. Then celery powder is in it, a diuretic not recommended for CKD. But my boy's creatinine has gone down, at least for now.

Homemade food is one of the last options left for us if this canned food doesn’t work out. So far there has been something not ideal in every canned food we've tried. Been working on gathering his medical & food history to contact a certified nutritionist.

Hope everyone has luck finding the perfect food!

 

[LilacSerenity]

I'm so very sorry to hear of the loss of your Tutu

With the food issue, I’m finding it impossible to locate a canned food with low phosphorus, relatively low ash, sodium, carbs, AND without the ingredients of tricalcium phosphate and dicalcium phosphate. I’m wondering because the low phosphorus foods don’t contain bone, wouldn’t companies have to add in calcium through those ingredients...or what would be the safe calcium source if not either of those two? My CKD cat is nearly out of canned food options if we also have to avoid those two phosphate ingredients : (

I had to take him completely off of the Identity food, all the flavors. Even S. boulardii couldn’t fix the digestive issues he was getting from that brand of food unfortunately. And much like LilacSerenity, I didn’t agree with their response concerning ingredients, specifically agar agar.

We’ve moved onto Stella & Chewy’s canned pate Chicken/Chicken Liver and Chicken/Duck, those two flavors have lowest phosphorus I could find for non-prescription food (0.57 - 0.59% dry matter basis), with less gums than other low phosphorus foods tried. There is Tricalcium Phosphate in it. I don’t love that tapioca is included, which might be causing his current soft stools and increases the formula's carb level to between 8.8–11.5% DMB, not great. Then celery powder is in it, a diuretic not recommended for CKD. But my boy's creatinine has gone down, at least for now.

Homemade food is one of the last options left for us if this canned food doesn’t work out. So far there has been something not ideal in every canned food we've tried. Been working on gathering his medical & food history to contact a certified nutritionist.

Hope everyone has luck finding the perfect food!

As far as I know, the best calcium supplement form for CKD kitties is from eggshells, instead of bones. Calcium carbonate is another alternative to tricalcium phosphate, I guess.

If your kitty is still having digestive issues, I highly recommend you try Fera Pet Probiotic+Prebiotic, available at Chewy. It was a game changer for mine. It contains not only S.boulardi but I think every strain of probiotic beneficial for felines. By the way, don't look at the listed ingredients on Chewy (it's not the full list) but rather read the ingredients from the photo of the jar. It's already been proven that microbiome plays a huge role in feline overall health, GI and kidneys included.
My cat got horrible digestive issues from Stella & Chewy's (btw, so did my backyard strays), and removing it as well as starting Fera probiotic and adding slippery elm helped tremendously. It also helps her stay regular, as she always had issues with constipation. But I strongly advise you introduce it slowly! I started with like 1/16 teaspoon once a day, and even now, almost 4 months later, have only built up to 1/8 tsp once a day and do not plan to increase yet as she's doing great. I think the recommended does is like 1/4 tsp twice a day, which in my opinion is too much. But I also believe it depends on the individual cat. So start little and increase the dose slowly until you see results.
Adding slippery elm powder also helps a lot - not only it eases the nausea, but it actually coats and soothes the stomach lining and intestines, and adds a bit of fiber too. It's really beneficial, has no known side effects, and really safe. I highly recommend it as well.
And our most recent supplement addition is psyllium husk, which also might help with your cat's soft stools. But unlike slippery elm, this one you'll have to be careful with as it absorbs a lot of water. If you're interested, let me know, I can explain further.

Homemade/raw feeding is the ultimate goal for me too, as the commercial food will always have something wrong with it, but the biggest drawback or rather a concern for me is that because it's such a huge internal and GI adjustment for cats who were eating canned food all their lives, they must be transitioned very slowly and very carefully. It's like going vegetarian overnight, or the opposite - a vegan starting suddenly eating meat, can you imaging the GI upset? So personally, before I can start switching my cat, I need a reliable and stable canned food base to help with the transition.

Anyway, I wish you the best with the nutritionist, I consulted two in the past, neither one was helpful or could provide more info than I already knew just by doing my own research. I genuinely hope you'll have better luck with yours.

 

[misterginja]

As far as I know, the best calcium supplement form for CKD kitties is from eggshells, instead of bones. Calcium carbonate is another alternative to tricalcium phosphate, I guess.

If your kitty is still having digestive issues, I highly recommend you try Fera Pet Probiotic+Prebiotic, available at Chewy. It was a game changer for mine. It contains not only S.boulardi but I think every strain of probiotic beneficial for felines. By the way, don't look at the listed ingredients on Chewy (it's not the full list) but rather read the ingredients from the photo of the jar. It's already been proven that microbiome plays a huge role in feline overall health, GI and kidneys included.
My cat got horrible digestive issues from Stella & Chewy's (btw, so did my backyard strays), and removing it as well as starting Fera probiotic and adding slippery elm helped tremendously. It also helps her stay regular, as she always had issues with constipation. But I strongly advise you introduce it slowly! I started with like 1/16 teaspoon once a day, and even now, almost 4 months later, have only built up to 1/8 tsp once a day and do not plan to increase yet as she's doing great. I think the recommended does is like 1/4 tsp twice a day, which in my opinion is too much. But I also believe it depends on the individual cat. So start little and increase the dose slowly until you see results.
Adding slippery elm powder also helps a lot - not only it eases the nausea, but it actually coats and soothes the stomach lining and intestines, and adds a bit of fiber too. It's really beneficial, has no known side effects, and really safe. I highly recommend it as well.
And our most recent supplement addition is psyllium husk, which also might help with your cat's soft stools. But unlike slippery elm, this one you'll have to be careful with as it absorbs a lot of water. If you're interested, let me know, I can explain further.

Homemade/raw feeding is the ultimate goal for me too, as the commercial food will always have something wrong with it, but the biggest drawback or rather a concern for me is that because it's such a huge internal and GI adjustment for cats who were eating canned food all their lives, they must be transitioned very slowly and very carefully. It's like going vegetarian overnight, or the opposite - a vegan starting suddenly eating meat, can you imaging the GI upset? So personally, before I can start switching my cat, I need a reliable and stable canned food base to help with the transition.

Anyway, I wish you the best with the nutritionist, I consulted two in the past, neither one was helpful or could provide more info than I already knew just by doing my own research. I genuinely hope you'll have better luck with yours.

Wanted to thank you for your message, this month we're trying the nutritionist finally so fingers crossed.