# Welness Core cat food



## MaddieLynn (Nov 23, 2011)

Has anyone had any experience with Welness Core cat food? I'm ditching the trash my kitten was eating in favor of something healthier. I just went to my local Tractor Supply, and they had 3 grain free options: Core Welness, Taste The Wild, and Blue Wilderness. I asked in anothe thread about Taste The Wild cat food and got iffy responses so I didn't go with that one. 

I picked Core Welness over Blue Wilderness because the first 5 ingredients in the CW were all meat in some form. However, once I got home, I googled more about it and found this:

Wellness Core Cat Food

Many people on there are saying that this food caused their cats to have urinary crystals. However, all of these complaints are over a year old, and the ingredients in the food I have are different than the ones listed in the link, which leads me to believe that they've changed the formula. 

Has anyone had any experience with this? Is it "safe" now that the formula is different or should I take it back? I haven't opened it yet.


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## akane (Jul 19, 2011)

Any dry food is a bad idea for cats prone to crystals irregardless of ingredients. Cats with crystal problems should be on the wet food version or a raw diet. My sister's 2 cats prone to crystals and ours have had no problems with the wet food version. All dry food will set them off. Cats don't have the instinct to drink enough water when on a dry food unlike my dog who will immediately inhale a 2gallon bucket if she eats a bunch of dry food. Cats eat the salty, high mineral concentrated dry and then go about their day without the feeling of thirst they need.


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## MaddieLynn (Nov 23, 2011)

She's only 7 weeks old so I have no idea if she's prone to crystals. What if I always wet the food?

Isn't feeding only wet food supposed to be bad for their teeth?


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## Veronica (Oct 31, 2008)

I feed both wet and dry food. In the morning the two kitty girls get a can of good quality cat food. At night they get grain free dry food - I use Solid Gold Indigo Moon. I use a little bit of junky Friskies(that they love of course) as a topper to the dry food. 
So if you feed twice a day, you could give wet food in the morning, and dry food at night - or vice versa.


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## akane (Jul 19, 2011)

It's a complete myth that wet is bad for their teeth. It's like saying cereal is good for yours because it's dry. A wet food diet is the healthiest next to raw and preferable that all cats be on all wet food. If you are concerned about teeth give a chicken wing, neck, or thigh once a week or learn to brush them.

Do not wet down dry food except when feeding young kittens or old cats meals and then change it frequently. It will grow bacteria quickly and cause health issues. It needs to be eaten immediately and then any leftovers thrown away until the next meal. It's not the most feasible idea for adult healthy cats who will try to graze on the moistened food instead of eating it all.

Meals are also healthiest for cats. Their digestive tract is designed to eat a very large amount once or twice a day, play, and then sleep it off. Sometimes wild cats will eat to the point they can't move and then sleep it off until they hunt the next meal. Grazing all day is more likely to lead to a host of health issues as well as obesity. Wet food helps encourage meals.


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## MaddieLynn (Nov 23, 2011)

So, if I feed it in 3-4 meals a day (since she's still a baby) and remove it after, say, 20 minutes, it's fine to wet it?


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## MaddieLynn (Nov 23, 2011)

So I gave some to her and... drumroll... she does not like it. I've tried giving it to her dry, softened with milk, and mixed with tuna. I've also tried giving her just straight tuna and she doesn't like that either. I've GOT to find something she will eat to get her to gain weight... so far the only thing she'll take is Meow Mix food, AKA compressed trash, and milk. I was really hoping she'd gain weight on better food. I'm at a loss for what to do.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

I have a very, very fat cat whom we've tried to shrink using several different dry diet kibbles. Finally, I found this page: 
Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition :: healthy cat diet, making cat food, litter box, cat food, cat nutrition, cat urinary tract health and the feeding information was incredible. One thing she says about cat food:
"Keep in mind that the cheapest canned food is better than any dry food on the market."

I was shocked went out and bought tons of Blue Wilderness canned food thinking that my fat boy would be so pleased. Nope. He is not pleased. He missed his dry kibble. He's been eating Friskies canned food and he likes it okay, but I had a can of Science Diet (not recommended in the article) and he is CRAZY over it. (sigh)

There is something called *Fortiflora* ( a probiotic that also had "animal digest" in it which is apparently like crack to cats) she mentions in the article that you can buy and sprinkle over the good cat food that will make them like it.


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## MountainCat (Aug 15, 2011)

I used to feed wellness core, right when it was first introduced. I've since gone to the Blue Wilderness, and they much prefer the taste. Just got a new kitten a couple of weeks ago, and he loves it as much as my 11yo girls. I used to be a strictly Wellness person, but something in it was causing dandruff in one of my older girls. This has since gone away with the Blue Wilderness.


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## akane (Jul 19, 2011)

If you just plopped down new food after eating meow mix for awhile then of course it was rejected. They put all sorts of crud including spraying a coating of desirable animal fat on the pieces of cheap cat food like meow mix to get cats to eat it. Cats also dislike change. You need to start with no more than 50/50 old food to new and generally only 25% new. Then raise it 25% every week until you get to the new food only.


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## MaddieLynn (Nov 23, 2011)

Unfortunately we're all out of the old food, or I would totally do that.


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## akane (Jul 19, 2011)

It may take a few rounds then before he will touch it and some cats just do not like certain dry foods wet down. They won't eat it no matter what. They'll eat the same brand of wet and they'll eat it dry and they might even eat those partially moist packets but they hate when you wet the dry down. 

You can try using broth instead of milk or water so it's chicken or beef flavored but that does add sodium so only do it as long as necessary.


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

One good thing Lisa - if he's really fat, he will do better on a food he doesn't love so much.  Feeding is not as easy as it used to seem!


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

GrannyCarol said:


> One good thing Lisa - if he's really fat, he will do better on a food he doesn't love so much.  Feeding is not as easy as it used to seem!


The big problem with a displeased cat: he yowls his displeasure and if I put him outside, he goes under my bedroom window and yowls and also opens and slams the screen door.
He and his brother were big cats to begin with (17 pounds and fit and trim) but this guy is 25 pounds. All three of the other cats are perfect weights and not at all fat, but this boy....Luckily, no diabetes, yet and we're working to avoid that. I wish I'd know about the "Catkin's Diet" long ago. 

He is losing weight though. Luckily we've put the other cat's food up high on an old desk and while they can jump up, he can't.


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

Oh yah, I forgot about that aspect!! lol Our old barn cat, Spud, will complain, spray, fuss, and do other naught things if he runs out of food. He thinks he's boss of the universe.


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## dodgewc (Jul 8, 2006)

wellness= diamond
can we say endless recalls?


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## akane (Jul 19, 2011)

Everything has recalls at some point. It's how they handle them that makes the company good or bad in my eyes. A couple years ago canidae did a voluntary recall and told everyone with sensitive dogs to take them off their food. Canidae is held in high regard. Diamond is doing a voluntary recall just in case for something that should not affect most pets since dogs and cats are generally durable to salmonella poisoning. Now on the flip side I can name a few companies who did everything possible to cover up a problem until forced to recall or even to cover up an ingredients change until they reached the time limit for changing the labels over. Another thing canidae did right and diamond and naturapet (innova, evo, california natural before the buy out by another company) have followed in the past. They had to change ingredient sources and put out a warning to everyone in case they had sensitive animals before they even did it.

I do not believe I saw wellness on the list of recalled products.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

Wow..found a good quality, grain free food that my cat LOVES. 
*Avoderm* Tuna and Crab entree in gravy. I've never seen him enjoy anything quite so much.


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