Simply Nourish cat food , new for my cats

[three cat night]

sadiemaekitty, I had decided to try the SN brand a few months ago and check out my options, having just adopted a new kitty to join my other two whom are 8 yrs olds. Anyway I found it impossible in some cases to get clear info from the manufacturuers on where and how their food was made, etc. In the end I have decided to go with buffalo blue brand , because the ingredients are all good, it is grain free and they make food for every age group. These companies that just wont disclose the important facts (ESP. NS) and a few others , and after the recalls are just not getting my money.I may spend a little more now but my crew will be healthier in the long run.

 

[cat lover of 5]

I picked up a bag of the Simple Nourish tonight. I have 5 cats, one of which has food allergies of some sort because of the bald spots. He is constantly chewing at himself, like he has the itchies real bad. The vet says try a more holisitic food, which I have several times. He will get better, and then over time, it begins again until I try another food. It has been a cycle with mutiple brands of food. So I'm hoping for some good luck with this food, for my boys sake.

I am trying the Sweet Potato & Salmon Recipe, dry formula. 

 

[sadiemaekitty]

Ya I seem to get the feeling that this food isn't safe. Which sucks because all of my babies love it. It's so hard to find a food they all love. I just tried a few this past few days they didn't care for. They seem to really love most friskies canned food but it isn't very high quality. Oh well, The search continues...
 

 

[amigahal]

I'm looking for a new dry food. I've been feeding Kiki Purina Cat Chow Complete, I'm not too happy with all the grain and by-products, but I've found out she's allergic to fish and pork (Nutro Max is out as it contains pork blood), but finding a dry cat food that does not contain fish of some sort is very hard, as it is with canned cat food as they sneek it into just about everything. All of Purina's dry cat food except for the Vet Diet hypoallergenic has fish, but she seems to have minimal reaction to Cat Chow so far. She doesn't care much for duck, although she loves pork (guard the ham on your ham and cheese jealously) but she just breaks out in open sores after eating it, along with tuna (which she loves) and salmon, whitefish, herring, trout, shrimp, sardines..although she has a milder reaction to salmon...she seems to like turnkey and rabbit the best of the meats she isn't allergic to, although she will eat chicken, but not duck. I haven't tried beef yet, but I haven't found a beef dinner that doesn't have fish of some sort in it.

I'm thinking of trying her on this (Simply Nourish Turkey and Oatmeal and was just wondering about it. The dry cat food is the hardest to find one without fish (or pork serum).
 

 

[vball91]

I would switch to canned. There are many reasons why dry is not good for a cat, and given her various allergies, it would be easier to find canned foods without the ingredients she's allergic to.

 

[krysta]

Amigahal, I also try to avoid fish, so I've read LOTS of labels.... here are some foods I can think of that don't have fish, if you want to look into any others. Some of them have fish *oil* in them, not sure if that's a problem:

Dry-- California Natural chicken and rice

        Kirkland Signature Maintenance Cat (Costco)

        Iams non-fish flavors

        Royal Canin

        Purina Pro-Plan Selects chicken and rice

        Purina One BeyOnd Chicken and Oatmeal

        Nature's Variety Instinct L.I.D. Turkey

        Felidae

        Natural Balance L.I.D. Green pea and chicken

Wet- Nature's Variety Instinct 

        Fancy Feast Classic--- Tender Beef and Chicken, Chopped Grill, Tender Beef and Liver, Tender Liver and Chicken, Turkey and Giblets

        Friskies Classic Pate- Country Style Dinner, Mixed grill, Plus Turkey and Giblets, Special Diet Turkey and Giblets, Special Diet Beef and Chicken

        Sheba non-fish flavors

        Iams non-fish flavors

        Natural Balance--several flavors

        Soulistic -Good Karma, Harvest Sunrise

        California Natural

There are others, but these are ones I could think of off the top of my head..

 

[sb-pb]

well kc has had major digestive problems --after years and $$$ we have almost given up was on meds etc and still diarea.. she is a cat ---that tells you something---doctors said take her off chicken wrong protein--try duck buffalo kangaroo (kidding) fish (will not eat fish) , rabbit etc but no not kc only gravied food.  been off 9 llives for years tried everything elsd and took back to petsmart---would not est.  finally got her to eat wellness brand turkey with gravy bits she ate it; tried turkey /salmon with gravy bits she loved it  but still had stomach trouble.  tried wellness brand non gravy  and she gained a lot of weight (she wasn't too skinny etiher.)  we were happy when she was eating wellness dry turkey flavor as supplement---just like a woman she changed hre mind on the second bag of dry and would not even stay in the same room with it --still stomach trouble.  we tried wellness trukey and turkey/salomon non gravy and she could not get enough of it.  Meanwhile whe started snacking of cheap dry food (went into bags etc.  so i tried the simply nourish on sale at petsmart because it di have turkey as ist ingredient + other stuff.  I guess , at least for this month , we have a winner she seems to love it but that may be short lived.  i hope i do not jinx her but--- her stomach troulbe seems to have setlled in with no gravy wet  and dry food .  so time will tell but to make a long story short we did try every brand of dry --i mean every brand --all went back to petsmart.  only wellness dry (short lived but did eat it for a bag full anyway)  and now the simply nourish--still in 1st bag but still encouraging..  as the vet said it does no good giving her what is good if she will not eat !

 

[catspaw66]

Correct.  It doesn't matter how good the food is if the cat won't eat it. 

 

[bentliy]

My experience with Simply Nourish Turkey & Oatmeal dry kibble was BAD. :C Everyone in the house, even those without digestive problems, had diarrhea and vomiting. I discontinued the food immediately and phoned the local shelter to see if they would accept an opened bag of food for donation.

 

[minka]

Correct.  It doesn't matter how good the food is if the cat won't eat it. 

I think cats are only as picky as you let them be. My cat started being picky a year ago because I watched and worried over his eating too much. Now I can put down Anything and he will eat it.

 

[mllevicomte]

Hi All,

I'm a little late to this thread, but I've had the same questions about Simply Nourish.  My cats absolutely LOVE the canned food (I don't feed dry...my vet and Dr. Pierson recommend not to do so), and we are dealing with some feline obesity issues in our recently adopted shelter cat.  I remembered reading this thread and so was very surprised when I received the following email response within 24 hours from PetSmart. 

--

"Upon completing research, we have confirmed that the Simply Nourish Chicken Stew contains 86 calories per can, and the Simply Nourish Chicken and Duck Stew has 76 calories per can. You may view other nutritional facts for the Simply Nourish Wet Cat Food on our website at the following link:
 
http://pets.petsmart.com/brands/simply-nourish/cat-food-wet-diet.shtml "

--

This may not be so helpful for everyone because it is only 2 of the formulas--I can only use the ones without fish because I am allergic to fish and shellfish. 

HOWEVER, after doing the laborious calorie calculations and food measuring for 2 days, my cats are starving after every meal--they are following me and crying in a way that did not happen with rationed, time-controlled other food (e.g., even when on our strict diet calculations & timing...for example, Nature's Balance).  I've heard that many times larger companies do not accurately represent the caloric value of their food, so I am just wondering if anyone else has had this same experience. Perhaps it is due to the percentages of protein and fat? 

Any insights are much appreciated!

 

[krysta]

When I and others had questions about the dry food, they were not so forthcoming-- they said they were forwarding my questions to their "management team", who would contact me in 3-5 business days. That was 3 months ago and I never heard from them again. I'm not sure if ThreeCatNight ever got it from them as promised, either. I wouldn't worry about the canned food- we know it's made in Thailand, and it's so similar to Weruva, Soulistic,BFF, I really wonder if it's not made by Weruva for Petsmart the way Soulistic is made for Petco by them. It's just the dry foods that they seem unwilling or unable to answer questions about.  The only thing about foods like this is the "gravy" type liquid contains starch, which make them higher in carbs. How many cans are you feeding them?

 

[mllevicomte]

Krysta,

Thanks so much for your response!  I definitely was surprised that they responded so soon given the 'communication flow' issues that you and others have mentioned.  The associates at my local PetSmart are great--I used to volunteer with the kitties there and they were always open to help with anything--but given that only "recommended feeding amounts" are printed on the can, there wasn't much else they could tell me.

Your insight about the canned food re: Weruva, etc. is really great...I'm so new to this!  Also I appreciate your thoughts on the "gravy" liquid.  That might indeed be the case...I was trying to decipher the label as compared to standards for protein, fat, and carb percentages, but got confused.  My innate existence as a French professor kicked in and all of the numbers got me down! 

  I couldn't really tell if the standard was for daily feeding or individual cans (i.e., if they are supposed to have, say, food that is 45% protein, does that mean the total food that they eat over the day should equal 45% or the material in one can should equal 45%?). 

If it should be close to 35-45% protein per unit/can, then this food is WAY below that--approximately 10%.  Even if it's over the entire day, it does come in at the low end.  I won't bore with the calculations, but I was feeding about 2.25-3 cans per day per cat, depending on their weight loss/maintenance needs.  Looking at their bowls, it seemed like much too little in volume, but I thought I'd try it given how much they like it and what the rep said.  But a mom knows when her cat is crying because they want some food as a treat vs. when they want food because they are still too hungry...this falls into the latter.

We used to use the grain-free wellness, but I think they got tired of it because there is only one flavor I can serve them given my fish/shellfish allergies.  I've spoken with my vet about a raw food diet and am waiting for the shipment to arrive...perhaps a long transition, but maybe worth a try!

I definitely don't mean to speak ill of the food--I'm not qualified at all to do so, and my cats do LOVE it.  However, if the caloric content is disproportionate to the carbs, as you suggest, it might not be the best food for them, especially for Fitz, my new cat from the shelter who needs to lose about 6 pounds. 

Thanks for your insight!

 

[krysta]

Sorry it took me so long to reply!

If it should be close to 35-45% protein per unit/can, then this food is WAY below that--approximately 10%. 

 Well, it should be on a Dry Matter Basis.  To calculate this, you basically take the moisture out of the equation.  So, the Chicken Stew is 83% moisture.  100%-83% leaves you with 17%.  You divide the protein (10%) by that.  So, .10 divided by .17 gives you .58.  So that means it is 58% protein on a dry matter basis.  I think I did that right. Someone else may be able to explain better! But here's a link how you figure dry matter basis for anything-- http://fnae.org/dmb.html.  

my new cat from the shelter who needs to lose about 6 pounds.

If he needs to lose weight, a higher protein, lower carb canned food would be the way to go.  Someone who knows more than me on this subject can probably chime in on this...

 

[mllevicomte]

Krysta,

Thanks so much for your help--that site will be very useful!  Those are the details that I'm still learning...I'm going to go plug in the numbers now

 

[velinestra]

I noticed some folks asking about Simply Nourish and was compelled to reply. PetSmart's brands of dog and cat food is manufactured by Simmons Pet Food, Inc. (formerly known as Menu Foods). Here is the wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menu_Foods

On another note, if folks don't already know, there is a FDA pet food recall list that is updated fairly regularly. I use it to check the track record of different pet food companies. The link is: http://www.fda.gov/animalveterinary/safetyhealth/recallswithdrawals/default.htm

Just thought I'd pass the info along for those who didn't already know.

 

[malishkasmom]

I just bought some of this for my cats. I have a 3 1/2 year old female and a 3 yr old male, both fixed. They both seem to love it, and my vet recommended a high-protein/low-carb diet for them to help them lose some of the excess weight they're carrying around. Will update as I collect more info on whether it helps their weight issues, but so far they seem to love it.

 

[sharon dee]

But why put that on the poor shelter animals

 

[catcrispychick]

Great news, Simply Nourish cat food now has a high protein formula that has 40 percent protein. I have a cat that has been eating Nature's Variety Instinct (made by the same company as EVO) and loves it however I just got a new kitten and she has diarrhea when she eats it. So I think I am going to try Simply nourish and see how it goes. 

 

[mybrownsie1]

I've used Simply Nourish for my 3 cats, ages 11, 11 and 1 /12.  I use the shredded and minced ones.  They don't like the pate ones.  It was finally the only one that I could find that all 3 would eat!