Weruva?

tabbysia

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Does anyone have experience with this food? I have been researching a canned food that I can introduce into my very sensitive cats' diets. They are currently on a limited ingredient grain-free dry food that seems to work well for them (no puking or loose stools), but I would like to supplement with canned for variety and for moisture. Most varieties of Weruva don't seem to contain the lengthy list of ingredients that I am not supposed to give them, although I am not too sure about the chicken. I have to reintroduce it to one of them to see if she can handle it. None of the stores around here seem to carry it, but I did find a pet spa/boarding place a few minutes away that has it, so it must be expensive. Anyway, have any of you fed this to your cats? Is it a good food? If I do feed canned, should I mix some of their dry with it to get them used to it? Or, should I not bother with canned, since they are doing well on the dry?
 

Willowy

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It's a good food. Made with human-quality meats. One thing to take note of is that it's lower in calories than most canned foods, so if it was the sole diet you'd have to feed more of it than most brands. But as only part of the diet I don't think that will make much difference.

Don't mix it with their dry food. I've known very few cats who like dry and canned food mixed. If they don't like it plain, you could grind up their kibble or their favorite treat and put a pinch of the powder on top.

If the prices are too high at the boutique (although I find many small places like that actually have reasonable prices on food, although their other items are expensive), you can order online. www.chewy.com has a good selection, although I haven't compared their prices with the other pet food sites yet.
 

laurag

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Weruva is good. The chicken looks like chicken a person would eat.
 
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tabbysia

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I followed the link and read some of the reviews on amazon.com, and some of them are disturbing. People are saying that their cats had kidney failure while on Weruva.
 

Willowy

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Every single cat with kidney failure (or any other illness) was eating something at the time of diagnosis, and people have to blame someone, so there will always be a few bad reviews. I haven't heard anything big about the food itself being hard on the kidneys. It really shouldn't be, judging by the ingredients and moisture content.
 

laurag

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Was it the review from the "I fed my cat seafood varieties for months" post?  If you google Weruva and kidney failure it seems to be related possibly to the Mendadione Vitamin K additive.

Seafood types of cat food-those with tuna especially, aren't the best thing to feed to cats exclusively. And maybe this is xenophobic of me but there is no way I'm feeding myself or my cats fish from SE Asia. Ever. Things like tilapia and shrimp are farmed and the critters are fed a lot of antibiotics to deal with horrible water conditions. Perhaps this isn't necessarily a concern in a country like Thailand but it definitely is an issue in a country like Vietnam. Even though the food is over $2 a can, I have to assume that the source of their fish is going to be from places like Vietnam.

In 2007 as you may recall, there was a huge issue with kidney failure and death in cats from canned foods that had melamine in it that came from China. There was a source for wheat gluten that was used in pet food plants in Canada and the US. I may be wrong, but I remember one of the brands affected didn't even list that it included wheat gluten.  What the case really revealed to me was how many types of premium food are packed in the same places that sell the often reviled super market brands of canned food. There were many brands of food that were affected. I don't recall them all. I only know that Purina was not affected by it.

Since that time various brands have been subjected to recall for pathogens and such, most of them voluntary.

At the time I realized that it could very well be that the premium cat food market was mostly a marketing ploy but in some instances could be no different than cheap food. Cooking, packaging and distribution are enormous issues in all the food chain supply and product supply.  Making the choices of premium foods available nationwide is really hard without a big company to back it. But it isn't to the advantage of that big company to be prominently labeled on food that carries a small company label and an image of boutique wholesomeness. So what is to keep companies from simply mentioning that they are the manufacturer and distributor of small boutique brands? The melamine petfood crisis sort of pulled back the curtain on some brands that most people thought were independently made.

These kinds of concerns about ingredient quality and source is probably the reason some choose to go the homemade/raw diet format.

In a related human product story, I just loved Burts Bees products like their lip balm and a couple of of their hand creams, but it was super hard to find them. When they first started appearing in places more common, like Fred Meyer (Kroger) and Target I was delighted. Then I found out Clorox bought them. But Clorox sure wasn't saying "hey we own Burt's Bees."
 

grommitsmama

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I strongly advise everyone to stay away from Weruva's seafood variety. My cat had a very serious neurological reaction to this food. As the brand has a good reputation and was recommended by our Holistic Vet, I decided to try giving him Weruva. I was leery at first about the country of origin being in Asia even though my vet assured me the food was high quality. My cat tolerated the chicken varieties without a problem, however, when I tried to give him the seafood variety his whole body began shaking. He developed muscle twitches which still surface occasionally despite the fact that it has been over two years since he last had the food. I only fed it to him 4 times at most. Thankfully I realized it was the food and quickly stopped feeding it to him. I cannot say what would have happened if he had more or I had not realized it was the food causing the problem. 
 

raintyger

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Do you have a Petco around? Petco makes a brand called Soulistic that is very close to Weruva. Tiki Cat is also similar.
 

dianamc

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Tiki Cat doesn't have the gravy like Weruva (I have only had one flavor of each).  I thought Tiki Cat had more actual chicken in the can although they were both pricey for what you got, IMO.

It was Weruva Paw Lickin'  Chicken and Tiki Cat Puka Puka Luau. She liked them both but the Weruva didn't seem to agree with her.
 

musicalcats

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My kitties LOVE Weruva! To be fair, I think my younger cat, Friedrich, would eat pretty much anything, but my Adelynn is EXTREMELY picky. Any other food sits in the dish for hours and gets nibbled: they both inhale Weruva chicken varieties! I don't feed any fish varieties for health concerns. I've tried several high-quality canned brands and this is BY FAR the most pure and closest to raw feeding that I've found. I am not an expert by any stretch but I do tirelessly research what's on the market, what the experts say and what are quality nutrients for my babies. This food tops my list although I do feed *some* dry food if I'm leaving overnight or for a long stretch during the day (over a feeding time). We love the Orijen dry food.
 

mydaddysjag

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Is it true that the BFF cat food is made by Weruva and is a bit more economical?  If so has anyone used it with good results?
 

chloe92us

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Is it true that the BFF cat food is made by Weruva and is a bit more economical?  If so has anyone used it with good results?
Yes, Weruva also makes Cats in the Kitchen, Soulistic (at Petco), BFF and True Luxe. My cats don't love BFF for whatever reason....but love everything else by Weruva. Soulistic in gelee and Cats in the Kitchen are their top picks.

Against the grain in the 3 oz cans, not the plastic tubs, is very similar to the Weruva line and is less expensive.
 

thehistorian

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I think Weruva is great in general. As with any commercial food, it has its draw backs, but Enya loves it. While BFF is more economical I advise staying away from it because too much fish or regular feeding of fish (this goes for dogs too) can be dangerous. I also suggest staying away from Weruva's original line because it has too much gravy and thus too much carbs in it. Truluxe Weruva, a new line,is way too expensive and way too watery. tou can add water at home. You don't need to buy it. So my suggestion? Stick with the fish free varieties of Weruva Cats in the Kitchen: Chicken Frick A' Zee, Fowl Ball (Turkey and Chicken), and The Double Dip (Chicken and Beef). My cat loves them. For variety look elsewhere because sadly most of their food contains fish.
 

lisahe

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So my suggestion? Stick with the fish free varieties of Weruva Cats in the Kitchen: Chicken Frick A' Zee, Fowl Ball (Turkey and Chicken), and The Double Dip (Chicken and Beef). My cat loves them. For variety look elsewhere because sadly most of their food contains fish.
I feed the exact same Weruva foods to our cats for the exact same carb and cost reasons as Thehistorian. The choice is especially easy because one of our cats can't seem to eat potato, which is in many of the more expensive (and gravy-based) Weruva foods.
 

msserena

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Actually Weruva is very low in carbs as it's one of the best foods to feed a cat. It has high protein, high moisture & low carbs. It is easy on the digestive system. Try reading this website http://catinfo.org.

Cat food should have at least 45% protein, less than 10% carbs, 25-35% fat. The more moisture the better.

All anyone has to do is figure out the DM carb content, but since I already did the work, here is the info I found.

cats in the kitchen Chicken Frick 'A Zee 2.7

cats in the kitchen Fowl Ball 5.8

cats in the kitchen The Double Dip 9.7

Paw Lickin’ Chicken 3.9

truluxe On The Cat Wok 4.9

truluxe Quick 'N Quirky  1

truluxe Steak Frites  7.5

Green Eggs and Chicken 
 

msserena

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Oops Green Eggs & Chicken has 11% carbs, I forget to delete that last line
 

thehistorian

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Personally, the Weruva Cats in the Kitchen constipated my kitty because it has three different gums in the formula. That is not to say it will constipate every cat though.
 

bonepicker

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My two 14 year old dogs and my 6 year old cats eat weruva, it is sold at petco as soulistic, it is sold at amazon as weruva, BFF, and cats in the kitchen. Also sold at chewy.com. I have been feeding to dogs for 8 years. I have been feeding to cats for 3 years.
 
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