178 Responses to Wellness Cat Food

1. 

   David Kross July 10, 2015 at 3:00 pm #

   Though not listed here, Wellness Core wet cat food does contain carrageenan. This a seaweed by-product that thickens the liquid in cans and provides a kind of gravy. This ingredient is controversial. At any event, my two cats have grown up on Wellness canned and dry foods: they both eat Wellness Core and seem willing to do so. Their coats are beautiful (they’re 4), and they are reasonably active for indoor cats. So far, so good.
2. 

   kitty July 9, 2015 at 4:48 pm #

   I have been feeding my cats wellness for several years and have had no problems. I use Wellness Turkey canned food twice a day and an evening snack of Wellness complete dry.
3. 

   Chinkapin July 7, 2015 at 2:49 pm #

   Like many others here, I was a fan of Wellness, up until early 2014 when they added the green tea to the dry food. Our cat had been on the chicken kibble for a couple years and suddenly developed severe diarrhea. I called the company and was told no one else had reported any problems with the “new, improved” formulation. The vet felt strongly that the food was the culprit. It took Endosorb mixed with Royal Canin prescrip. Gastro HE to straighten her out. I would’ve kept her on the RC except for the cost, so tried Wellness canned chicken formula in addition to Blue Buffalo Healthy Living kibble. She has since become an outdoor cat, and seems to be doing well except for a loss of weight. After reading the comments here, I’m beginning to wonder if Wellness could again be to blame. I hate to put her through another change of diet, but may be forced to, as the local stores have all run out of Wellness chicken formula pate. Hmmm….Now I’m suspicious that they’re about to change that, too. We never had these issues years ago.
4. 

   Tamra April 22, 2015 at 8:58 pm #

   My 4 cats tried the Wellness Salmon flavor. I mixed it with half Wellness and the other have Purina Pro Plan Salmon. Every cat would eat the Pro Plan up and leave the Wellness. The only way they would eat the Wellness was if I didn’t put anymore Pro Plan in the food bowl. They also hated Science Diet. Pro Plan is the winner for my cats. They all love it.
5. 

   Dee April 21, 2015 at 9:40 pm #

   Do not feel guilty if you have to go to Fancy Feast or any other crap canned food. My cat ate Wellness until they did something last January (2014). They will not admit to anything changing, but i trust my cat more to know. I personally switched to Acana dry and Pro Plan canned (like FF) and she is doing well.
   Any crap canned food is better than feeding just dry alone.
   I will never trust Wellness again.
6. 

   henry April 17, 2015 at 9:06 am #

   I’m having the same issue. My cat only likes 2 flavors, and all of the sudden he won’t eat either of them and walks away and leaves the food there all day. I’m pretty sure this is a new batch I recently bought, but I don’t have the “best by” dates here with me now. I’ll have to call the store and see what they think. I am currently reverting to the “bad” fancy feast as well, since I want to make sure he’s hydrated and eating at least some wet food along with the dry I feed him, but don’t want to feed him that as his primary wet food.
7. 

   Hannah April 14, 2015 at 10:22 am #

   I also had an issue with the Wellness select, had my two on it for about 8months? my male is very picky but my female is a pig and will eat anything you give her 😉 I order by case online with amazon when I got a new case in March I first noticed my Male started eating less then wouldn’t eat it at all soon after my female wouldn’t eat it either so I knew something was wrong with it or changed formula, both my babies were sick for a week or so, lethargic wouldn’t eat, had to feed broth and supplement gel to keep them hydrated – also coaxed with their favorite junk food (fancy feast and I know its horrible for them) because I was so worried about them not eating and getting dehydrated
   still trying to find a healthy alternative they will both eat
   very disappointed, here I thought I was being a good mom giving them high quality food and it makes them sick!
8. 

   Susan April 5, 2015 at 5:50 pm #

   My two Russian Blue’s love Wellness Healthy Indulgence Turkey and Duck Recipe in the pouch. Actually, they love the gravy and leave the “meat” on the plate.
   Now one of them just stops about a foot away and turns and walks out of the kitchen. He likes the batch labeled Best by 24 JUN 16, but will NOT eat or come near batches labeled Best by 08 OCT 16. What’s up?
9. 

   Linda Connolly April 2, 2015 at 12:09 am #

   I’ve posted about the problems our cats had with Wellness Salmon Dry cat food. I had called Wellness and they told me they had added Green Tea and Peppermint around the spring of 2014. The Wellness rep also said that could be the cause of my cats not wanting to eat the food anymore. At the time I blamed Wellness for our cats developing UTI’s and Crystals. That might not be entirely true.

   I want to be as forthright as possible so people have all the facts. I do believe the Salmon contributed to two of our cats developing hyperthyroidism. At the same time, a friend of mine faced the same issue with her 9 cats not wanting to eat and she was using Wellness Salmon. That same friend had a cat develop hyperthyroidism at the same time my two did.

   My cats had been on Wellness for 2 years. I have 30 inside only rescued cats with 20 of them being feral. I had 2 cats that developed IBD shortly after going on Wellness and my friend had one cat. Mine took daily medication but when I took them off Wellness, the IBD went away and they no longer need medication. I had another cat who’s fur was extremely oily on Wellness. Another cat with chronic upper respiratory problems. That cleared up when we switched foods. I had tried the Chicken but they refused to eat it. We had 3 that cats tested positive for crystals and several with UTI’s.

   In the spring of 2014 (ingredient change) they began eating less and less. We began to find vomit on a daily basis. It’s most difficult with this many cats to determine who’s vomiting unless you see it in progress. We then began to find inappropriate peeing but hadn’t yet caught the culprit or culprits over a months time. I switched their food to Artemis and the vomiting stopped. They dove into the food like they were starved. It was a within a week that one cat had to be rushed to the ER when I found him hunched up in pain. He had crystals and a UTI. In the next week I caught 13 more cats urinating outside of their litter pans. Twelve were males and one was a female. I spoke to my vet and we put all 30 on a prescription diet for crystals and UTI’s. They all recovered and have been healthy with beautiful fur since then with no more inappropriate urinating. The prescription diet is designed to make them drink more water. I assumed Wellness had been the cause.

   It is a known fact that grains in dry cat food put a cat more at risk for UTI’s and crystals. Males are more at risk for crystals than females. Wellness is supposed to be a good support for urinary tract balance. BUT cats never drink enough water – many of them staying on the edge of dehydration. So no matter how great a dry food is supposed to be, it’s still a dry kibble. I bought Drinkwell fountains for my cats hoping to encourage them to drink more and it did help as they love running water. Cats still NEED a balance of canned and kibble to ensure they receive enough fluids daily. My cats get canned food every night mixed with water. Turkey or chicken but never fish.

   We discovered road salt in our well water in 2014. The EPA recommended standard is 500ppm. We were at 1550ppm. Our well being near the road became contaminated with salt. The taste change was gradual over a couple months. We had no idea the levels were as high as they were until one day the salt taste was overwhelming. We immediately began using bottled water for our animals and ourselves until the levels came back to a safe range later that summer.

   Spring of 2015…melting snow again but we didn’t panic because after speaking with the town, they had said they wouldn’t salt near our house. March 26th very warm temperatures and pouring rain. I woke up on March 28th to vomit from one end of the house to the other. This time it was all 30 cats! My mother lives with us with a senior cat that stays in her room eating a different food…and that cat, too, was vomiting. Six were vomiting blood. I knew it had to be the water. Now eating a diet that makes them thirsty, they ingested more salt. Test results were 1500ppm salt content!

   All of our cats are now on bottled water. It took 4 fearful days for them to recover. I offered them canned food several times a day mixed with bottled water. It stands to reason that the 2014 problems with urinary tract issues were caused by our water. I will keep them on the prescription diet because of their history with crystals and UTI’s. Thankfully we caught this quickly and my vet said it would resolve quickly.
   • 

     Linda Connolly April 3, 2015 at 6:20 pm #

     “Veterinarians did not notice that house cats were developing hyperthyroidism in numbers until after 1979. Curiously, that was about the time that whales and herring gulls in the St. Laurence Seaway, and cormorants in Tokyo Bay began developing similar thyroid problems. Both these areas are highly polluted with industrial chemicals. There are two chemicals that have been suspected as being the root of this problem. The most recent ones are called Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Since the 1970s they have widely contaminated our environment. PBDEs are flame retardants used in building materials, electronics, furnishing, motor vehicles, airplanes, plastics, polyurethane foams and textiles. PBDEs are found in particularly high concentrations in fish that are high up the food chain and, therefore, in seafood-flavor cat foods. It may be that, with time, pet foods will be screened for PBDEs and similar toxic substances. But for now, do not feed your cats canned or dry, fish-flavored cat foods. If you feed your cats fish, avoid fish like salmon and whitefish that are known to concentrate this chemical. “
     • 

       Linda Connolly April 7, 2015 at 1:59 am #

       Another link to hyperthyroidism in cats…
       Almost all aluminum and steel beverage and food cans use epoxy coatings inside
       cans as a barrier between the metal and the products in the can. Epoxy coatings
       may contain BPA.” Below is a list of foods that are BPA free and the ones that
       are not BPA free.

       Susan Thixton
       Truth about Pet Food
       Petsumer
       Report
       http://www.TruthaboutPetFood.com

       If you do not see your pet food
       company listed in this article, it’s probably because they did NOT respond to
       the TruthaboutPetFood.com ‘Secret Shoppers’. Many more were contacted (all pet
       food companies reviewed in Petsumer Report) than listed here. Regardless of
       their responses, kudos to those that bothered to reply.

       Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul
       “Chicken
       Soup canned food cans do not contain BPA.”

       Healthy Pet
       Net
       “We do not use BADGE coatings in any of our canned foods.”
       Plus they provided the following in their response.”BADGE (BPA) COATINGS ARE
       USED IN 90% OF ALL CANS. This type of lining is considered an epoxy resin which
       have achieved wide acceptance in protective coatings, including coatings for
       food and beverage cans, because of their exceptional combination of properties
       such as toughness, adhesion, and chemical resistance. The most widely used epoxy
       resins are based on bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (BADGE). BADGE is a major
       component in all bisphenol A / epichlorohydrin based liquid epoxy resins. It’s
       entire
       chemical nomenclature is Bisphenol-A Diglycidyl ether or
       2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) propane bis(2,3-epoxy-propyl) ether.

       OUR CAN
       LINING CONTAINS BFDGE. This is used in the aluminum 3oz and 5.5 oz cans. Even
       though some of the letters seem the same, the compound we use, is an entirely
       different compound from BADGE. BFDGE stands for Bisphenol-FDiGlycidyl ether or
       bis(hydroxyphenyl)methane bis(2,3-epoxypropyl)ethers.

       The purpose of
       lining is exactly the same as why you might coat a surface with
       lacquer-protection. The purpose with food contact surfaces is to protect the can
       from the food (to prevent rust, etc) and the food from the can. There are many
       properties such as adhesion to the metal and ability to withstand processing and
       migration of food chemicals (especially acid)
       which need to be considered in
       selection of compounds. Additionally, properties to prevent sticking of the food
       to the lacquer on the lid need to be considered. Cans are coated on both sides
       but the needs are obviously different.”

       Merrick Pet
       Foods
       “Thanks for taking the time to e-mail us, none of our cans
       contain BPA (Bisphenol A). They are tin coated steel (inside and outside) with
       an organic coating over the tin on the inside of the can.” When questioned about
       the large cans “Does this include the large cans as well?” they responded “This
       includes the large cans as well.”

       Natural
       Balance
       “The only Natural Balance canned formula which do not
       contain BPA are the 3oz and 6oz cans. The dog formulas do contain minimal
       amounts.”

       Del Monte
       ” Like most in the
       industry, the metal cans we use for our consumer products are produced by a
       third-party vendor, and they use protective coatings which contain trace amounts
       of BPA that fall well within current FDA guidelines.”

       Nature’s
       Logic
       “Our 5.5 oz cans do not but there is some BPA in the large
       13.2 oz cans. Our canning facility is working on getting those changed over this
       year to a BPA free lining.”

       Evangers Pet
       Foods
       “Our cans are BPA free. Feel free to contact us if you
       have any other questions.” When questioned further, Evangers followed with this
       response: “Our 5.5 and 6 oz cans are BPA free. Our 13 oz cans use a miniscule
       amount of BPA. The lining in our 13 oz cans is an approved FDA lining in that
       the amount of BPA in the can does not interfere with the food in the can. It is
       our understanding that can suppliers are working with the FDA to manufacture a
       larger can that is BPA free for commercial use.”

       Weruva Pet
       Foods
       “Our manufacturing partner makes their cans on premises
       and the raw materials used for the can production are free of
       BPA.”

       Pet Guard Organics Pet Food
       “The
       PetGuard 3oz and 5.5oz canned products are free of BPA/Badge. The coating used
       in the 12.7 and 14oz steel cans is water based, non toxic food/human grade
       polymeric/enamel lining.”

       Newmans Own Organics Pet
       Food
       “The 12.7oz steel dog food cans and the 3oz beef, beef
       & liver and liver (from Uruguay) canned cat food contain BPA. The other
       varieties of 3oz cat and 5.5oz dog are aluminum cans and bisphenol-A (BPA)
       free.”

       Nature’s Variety Pet Food
       “We use BPA
       in our 13.2 oz cans and not our 5.5 oz cans.”

       Blue Buffalo Pet
       Food
       “No, BLUE does not have BPA in their can
       lining.”

       Canidae Pet Foods
       “No, the can lining
       does not contain any BPA nor do any of our products.”
       When questioned about
       large cans.”I´ve been reading about BPA and was told only small cans of pet food
       are available BPA free. Do your large cans have a BPA lining?”, Canidae
       responded “No, they do not either.”

       Petropics Pet
       Food
       “Bisphenol A (BPA) is not in the lining of our foods, as we
       have a no compromise philosophy in all areas, including our
       cans.”

       Drs. Foster & Smith
       “Our pet food
       cans are lined with BPA. This product produces a container that preserves its
       contents better and allows easier removal of the food.”

       “BPA is not in
       our aluminum cans (5.5oz). Although based on the available research we strongly
       believe that BPA-containing cans which are used throughout the human and pet
       food industry are safe, we are also attempting to phase out coatings with BPA in
       them from our 13.2 ounce steel cans.”

       Nutro Pet
       Food
       “No, they do not contain BPA; we’ve even done testing to
       learn there are not even trace amounts of BPA.”

       Purina Pet
       Food
       “None of our canned foods contain BPA; we use an FDA
       approved lining not formulated with
       BPA.Polypropylene.”

       Iams/Eukanuba Pet
       Food
       “No, none of our cans have a BPA lining.” When questioned
       what type of lining they use “Our cans are not lined with anything; they are
       made from just re-cycled steel.”

       Halo Pet
       Foods
       “Our cans do contain BPA in the safe and acceptable level
       established by the FDA.”

       Wellness/Eagle Pack
       WellPet
       “Our 3 oz. and 5.5 oz. canned cat products are free of
       BPA/BADGE. Some of our other canned cat products and our canned dog products
       have a small amount of BPA/BADGE in the lining material. The coating used is a
       water-based, non-toxic, food/ human-grade polymeric/enamel
       lining.”

       Wysong Pet Food
       “Our aluminum cans
       (5.5 oz) are BPA-free. The larger, steel cans (14 oz) do contain BPA, however,
       we are working with our can supplier to change the lining in the 14 oz
       cans.”

       Fromm Pet Food
       “No, our cans do not
       contain any BPA lining and never have.”

       To summarize…Our
       inquiries found the following companies to provide a prompt first response in
       agreement with what is commonly believed with pet food. small aluminum cans can
       be BPA free, large steel cans are not BPA free.
       Healthy Pet Net
       (only makes food in small cans)
       Natural Balance
       Del Monte
       brands
       Nature´s Logic
       Pet Guard Organics
       Nature´s Variety
       Drs.
       Foster & Smith (openly stated all cans have BPA lining)
       Natura – Innova,
       Evo, California Naturals
       Halo (openly stated all cans have safe levels of
       BPA)
       Wellness/Eagle Pack
       Wysong

       But.the following
       companies told us they Do Not use a BPA lined can – small or
       large.
       Chicken Soup
       Merrick
       Weruva
       Blue
       Buffalo
       Canidae/Felidae
       Petropics
       Nutro
       Purina
       Iams/Eukanuba
       Fromm
10. 

    Alex March 31, 2015 at 4:18 am #

    Does anyone know what the deal is with the Wellness Seal changing from our promise: No GMOs, no bi-products, etc, to now it just says Always Well. I think it is a cop out for them to not have to hold up to not using GMOs anymore. Does anyone know more about this? Can anyone tell me of any NON GMO verified cat foods?
11. 

    Connie Davis March 22, 2015 at 3:26 pm #

    Btw is nutro bad food ?
    • 

      Linda Connolly March 23, 2015 at 7:46 pm #

      I had 37 cats and 4 dogs on Nutro at one time. There was a concern about too much copper in the dog food. Our cats and dogs were vomiting, dogs eating grass, both dogs and cats peeing in the house…UTI’s…I wouldn’t trust that food. Vet said dogs had gastritis’s.
12. 

    Connie Davis March 22, 2015 at 3:25 pm #

    I recently switched food for my 3 cats, they were on nutro dry foodand i started them on can to incorporate some wet into their diet. Im feeding them Wellness core dry, and earthborn holistic can both grain free. One cat is at least 15 yrs old the other 2 are 5 and 6. Is this food okay for them.
    • 

      Linda Connolly March 23, 2015 at 7:49 pm #

      Cats should have both canned and dry. Cats don’t drink enough water and being on dry food only puts them in danger of UTI’s and crystals. My cats refused to eat Wellness Salmon after they changed the formula.
13. 

    Fae March 12, 2015 at 11:46 am #

    Would love to have more than one version of Wellness reviewed. For instance, the Signature Selects vs. Core vs. Grain-free, etc. Thanks!
14. 

    catwoman March 1, 2015 at 4:19 pm #

    I have been using Wellness 12.5 ounce cans for long while and ordering by the case for my cats. Lately, nobody wants it. Between what I’ve heard about pop top cans and for economy, this has been the way to go for this health conscious pet owner. Amazon has the best price and it was all figured out. Now I see I’m not the only one. My canopener has even been unhappy with it. I don’t see any other catfood in the large can, let alone a healthy choice. If anyone knows of affordable quality canned catfood without all the nasty ingredients, please tell me. The large can would be even better, as I have four large cats! Thank you.
    • 

      siberiancatmom March 17, 2015 at 12:58 am #

      the pouches! they cost about the same, have more moisture and my cats like them so much better. they stopped eating the cans too, for some reason.
15. 

    Concerned pet friend February 25, 2015 at 9:33 pm #

    I have feed my cats wellness for a long time the case use to say human grade food but I have noticed that it doesn’t any more. The cats will not eat the chicken food at all out of two large cans I am dumping a can and half. Well I found out why there was pieces of black plastic in the food. I stopped feed the chicken and when to feed them just the turkey food and a couple days later I found the same black plastic in the turkey food. I had to take a six year old cat to the vets with kidney failure the same time that they where not eating the food. I have two cats that try to cover it like it is shit in their litter boxes so that tells me that they have been using shit in a high end food that we trust that is good for our innocent pets and they are making a big profit off shifty food. They have dropped the quality of their food and now outputs life’s or at risk so they can make a lot of money and let our pets die.
16. 

    wolfforce February 23, 2015 at 1:29 am #

    I’m shocked to see all of the negative comments! I have to say my cat has been on Wellness Core wet food for months now and it’s been the best for her. When she was on dry food (forget which brand) she used to have very smelly poops, as well as diarrhea. I decided to switch her to wet food because of that and overall health and she’s really liked Wellness Core canned food, however I do have to keep her on the same type instead of switching it up or she gets diarrhea/runny poops again. Other than that though she’s been healthy and always looks forward to food time; her coat is shiny, her eyes are bright, she’s very active, and there’s no barfing or any of that. I have noticed a change in appearance of the food since we first started feeding it to her. It just looks more gross. More gray in color, more watery and I’m not sure what it is but gooey stuff in the can. She still ‘yells’ at me to remind me it’s food time so I guess she doesn’t notice any difference; I’ve never had a cat who was so excited for her meal time before!
    • 

      Corinne March 12, 2015 at 4:00 pm #

      I thought the gooey stuff was like congealed au jus like the juices remaining from cook meat. I don’t eat or cook meat but that is what I thought. Of course I don’t really know, just assumed.
17. 

    Dawn January 31, 2015 at 4:54 pm #

    PS-I just wanted to add that many different companies have jumped on the bandwagon of holistic/premium/natural pet foods the last few years and there are MANY different brands from which to choose. It can be overwhelming walking into your favorite pet food store and see all of the different offerings. Which one do I choose? Which is the best/healthiest? What flavors will my cats like? Too many choices out there. What I would say is to try a few different brands/flavors to see which ones agree best with your kitties and which flavors they enjoy the most. And also keep in mind that they are individuals such as we are. While one brand may not agree with one, another kitty may thrive on it. I know that from personal experience with the Earthborn canned foods. All of my cats love that food but unfortunately my little deaf baby here cannot tolerate any of the flavors except for the chicken. While she loves the food and chomps down on it like mad, all of the fishy flavored varieties of Earthborn give her horrible diaherrea. My other 2 kitties do fine with it but I have had to elminate the Earthborn products from their diet. It is considered to be a very good food but for some reason, Baby-Cat can’t tolerate it well.
    It’s all a trial and error journey for us to find the right foods for our babies. Just keep on looking and trying different brands and you will cotton upon the one that is best for your babies.
18. 

    Dawn January 31, 2015 at 4:10 pm #

    Hello All-I stumbled upon all of this info last night and was very taken back by all of the problems folks have been having. Personally I have been feeding Wellness (along with many other brands for a variety) to my cats for years. I have not noticed any physical changes in my cat’s appearances or deameanor. However, I am now hesitant to to feed them as much of the Wellness as I have been in the past. The other brands that I feed most often are Precise, Weruva and Natural Balance. The dry food I feed is the Precise Holistic Complete and the cats love that one. I have tried the Wellness dry in the past but it was not a big hit here at all so I changed to the Precise. Precise I feel is an excellent brand with a few different choices in their dry formula along with several different flavors in their canned foods. That has been my ‘go-to’ brand for many years. Weruva is also an excellent brand imo with also many different flavors in their canned foods. I have never tried their dry and honestly don’t even know if one is offered. They also have 2 other brands-BFF and Cats in the Kitchen. My cats enjoy those as well.
    I don’t know what is going on with the pet food industry. For ages I swore by Innova and fed both the dry and the canned and my cats thrived on that (along with the Precise and other brands.) But then Natura (who owns Innova, Calif Natural, Evo) sold out in more ways than one to Procter & Gamble and now I won’t touch their foods anymore. Alot of people have complained about Innova going downhill in quality since the buyout.
    It’s a pity when a company starts out with a high quality products and a good reputation and we as pet lovers rely upon them to provide the proper nutrition and good health beneifts for our fur kids. Then something changes and we are let down and the health of our babies suffer. Something is definitely wrong with this picture here.
    For now, I am going to cut back on the Wellness canned foods and go with the afore mentioned products in bigger quanities. I’ve always fed my gang here both a variety in flavors and brands just to be on the safe side along with giving them more flavors to enjoy. I will just stick with that method as it has served me well over the years.
19. 

    Lavana January 25, 2015 at 1:33 pm #

    I am gob-smacked at these postings. My fur-girl has been fed Wellness Chicken and Turkey 5.5 oz. cans for a long time now (a few years) and I, too, have noticed in the last year or so that the cans have been rising in cost but partially filled and definitely changed in texture, smell and appearance. The most recent cans have now been filled with “gunk” to make them “appear” full and if you squeeze the meaty stuff I am lucky if there is a little more than half a can! I now understand that this food probably has been the source that makes her vomit as that has been happening with more frequency lately. No diarrhea, but she does suffer with constipation a lot. She too will not eat at all some days and has been drastically losing weight over the last year or so. Perhaps it is the move of the plant to Canada and a greed-conscious management that has been the source of all of our loved-ones’ suffering. Seem pretty clear to me after reading all of these postings. I am definitely going to look into a better food source for my much loved fur-girl as she is very finicky and it takes a long time to find the right food source that she will eat. Thank you all for sharing because I thought I was alone in my discovery of “something is definitely wrong here”.
    • 

      Linda Connolly January 27, 2015 at 11:56 am #

      Lavana, I’ve had good luck with Dick Van Patten’s Natural Balance canned food. I’ve used the turkey, venison and duck and the cats love it…no vomiting or diarrhea. I think at this point the key is to switch their food the minute they start avoiding it. They’re telling us something is wrong. Perhaps it’s just an ingredient change they hate but when they start avoiding food and water…health issues are bound to follow.
      • 

        Lavana January 28, 2015 at 1:03 pm #

        TUM!!! (short for ThankUMuch!!!) Will definitely check it out.
20. 

    Lynniel January 1, 2015 at 3:15 am #

    My 2yr old female started off with Iams. Wanting something much better my search lead me to Wellness. In just 2 months she seems to have lost weight!! Now, I’m extremely concerned!
    Are most issues and concerns regarding just WET food or with dry food as well?? If the dry food is not recommended… can anyone tell me what alternative dry food you are feeding them? (They did not like Blue Buffalo)
    Thanks in advance!
    • 

      Linda Connolly January 2, 2015 at 4:24 am #

      Lynniel…If she was doing well on Iams, why not put her back on it? I’d add water because of the risk of crystals or UTI’s with dry food. Supplement with canned. Ask your vet and see what he thinks. At one time we had 37 cats and I used Iams until 6 years ago. I, too, wanted a better diet for my furkids. They had all been doing fine on Iams. I tried Nutro and all 4 dogs and most of our cats were vomiting and two dogs and 10 cats developed UTI’s… I switched them all to Eukanuba. They did great on that food for several years until Eukanuba had a shut down for several months. I heard they changed ingredients. When the food came back out, my cats wouldn’t eat it. That’s when I switched to Wellness.
21. 

    Lo December 21, 2014 at 6:45 am #

    One month ago I took my 12 year old male cat to the vet… he has been on wellness core original for four years… he now is in renal failure. my vet gives him maybe a year at most now… He had blood work just two months ago and his creatine was 1.6 and now its 2.2, plus he stared throwing up and not eating. this all started with a new bag of wellness.
22. 

    Jess December 15, 2014 at 2:14 am #

    What do we feed them now then? I’ve been in search of a new food for several months. I just tonight came across a consumer report website that also mentioned people were having very bad/fatal situations with Blue Buffalo. These were my top two contenders to change my cats’ food to & now I’m as clueless as ever. Can anyone suggest what food is good to feed them now?
    • 

      Linda Connolly December 16, 2014 at 9:19 pm #

      I heard that as well with Blue Buffalo and know a lady with a cat having issues. I was at a loss as to what to feed my cats as we have (inside only) 22 feral and 8 rescues. I did try Artemis and heard it was a good quality food. But I spoke to my vet because 13 of our cats were having pee issues. Several of them have had crystals in the past and another developed them as well. Because that’s 1/3 of our population my vet and I decided it best to go to a prescription diet which solved ALL of our health issues except the two with hyperthyroidism.
    • 

      Danette December 16, 2014 at 10:13 pm #

      I had to go to dry food. Acana. I add water to it at 3 meals a day. The same company that makes Orijen makes Acana. It’s less protein at 70% like Orijen used to be. My female Maine Coon is very happy with the three flavors. If Wellness got their act back together with the old formula, I’d supplement with the Acana. I keep trying a can or two a month, but she won’t touch Wellness. I did call last month to ask of formula change and they said, “No change.” They said no to tea and spearmint, Linda.
      • 

        Linda Connolly December 20, 2014 at 1:18 am #

        The change was not in canned food…It was in the Wellness Salmon kibble.
        • 

          Linda Connolly December 20, 2014 at 1:19 am #

          LOOK AT THE LAST TWO INGREDIENTS:Salmon, Salmon Meal, Whitefish Meal, Rice, Ground Barley, Ground Rice, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Deboned Turkey, Natural Fish Flavor, Tomato Pomace, Cranberries, Chicory Root Extract, Ground Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Cranberry Extract Powder, Cranberry Fiber, Choline Chloride, Taurine, Vitamin E Supplement, Mixed Tocopherols added to preserve freshness, Zinc Proteinate, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Zinc Sulfate, Chondroitin Sulfate, Calcium Carbonate, Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate, Iron Proteinate, L-Carnitine, Beta-Carotene, Vitamin A Supplement, Copper Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Manganese Sulfate, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Sodium Selenite, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Dried Kelp, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Biotin, Calcium Iodate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Folic Acid, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Dried Lactobacillus plantarum Fermentation Product, Dried Enterococcus faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus casei Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus Fermentation Product, Rosemary Extract, Green Tea Extract, Spearmint Extract.
          • 

            Linda Connolly December 20, 2014 at 1:29 am #

            Also in the Chicken Kibble…
          • 

            David January 20, 2015 at 1:01 am #

            Greetings. I just bought 2 new cans of the Core Kitten Formula, which I’ve fed my adult female cat for a few years. She’s a diva. I noticed that on the can, it now says Made In Canada. That’s news to me because I thought it was still made in USA. Any info on that?? Expiration date is June 2017. She has been eating her food a little slower lately, but I can’t for sure say it’s the food..
          • 

            Linda Connolly January 20, 2015 at 1:18 am #

            That’s news to me. I thought all their food was made in Mass. and that’s where I called when I had problems with our cats. David, if it were me, I’d try something else to see if it’s the food or she has a medical issue.
          • 

            Linda Connolly January 20, 2015 at 1:20 am #

            WELLNESS Consumer Loyalty Team – Toll Free: 1-800-225-0904
            Consumer Loyalty Team Fax Number: 1-866-730-9436
            Monday – Friday between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm Eastern Time
            Consumer Loyalty Team Info:
            Our consumer loyalty team is available to assist you with any questions you may have regarding our natural food and treats. We may not have all the exact answers but promise to provide you with honest, straightforward info about our products or find the answers and get back to you in a timely manner.
            Mailing Address:
            Wellness Pet Food
            200 Ames Pond Drive
            Tewksbury, MA 01876-1274
            USA
          • 

            Danette December 23, 2014 at 1:51 pm #

            I stand corrected. They did change something in the canned food too, but won’t admit it. They are allowed to change ingredients and not have to put it on the label for up to a year. The regulations are not enforced and the pet food industry gets away with murder.
            It’s awful what happened to your cats. Watch out for soy in the ingredients now. It’s becoming popular as a cheap fill protein. It is making pets very sick.
          • 

            Linda Connolly December 23, 2014 at 5:06 pm #

            I heard that as well that they could change ingredients and not report it for a year. How sad that our poor cats suffer at the hands of pet food companies.
23. 

    Cindylu December 9, 2014 at 12:11 pm #

    Switched our cat to Wellness Core in August…she is three and never has been sick…she is currently at the vet hospital on an IV…the vet believes its what she ate…she started vomiting the refused to eat and things went down hill from there…she is an indoor cat with no opportunity to eat something she shouldn’t. Hopefully she survives and we can do right by her and switch her off Wellness. After reading this thread and the one on Amazon I am convinced it’s because of wellness.
    • 

      Will Alden December 9, 2014 at 1:29 pm #

      Hi the same thing just happened to me. My cat is in the ER. I’m a reporter at the New York Times and am concerned there’s something wrong with the food. Call me? 212 556 4633
      • 

        Stacy December 31, 2014 at 2:05 pm #

        Did you ever find out if the food was to blame?
    • 

      Karen December 11, 2014 at 3:33 pm #

      They did something to this food starting with January 2017. Don’t make your cat eat it…they know that it is not good for them. They either added an ingredient (s) or the rendering plants they get their “meat” from is especially toxic. Think diseased farm animals, road kill, spoiled grocery meat, uthanized pets from vets.
      • 

        Linda Connolly December 11, 2014 at 9:36 pm #

        They added green tea and spearmint. I called them and this is what they told me – also saying most likely why my cats refused to eat it after 2 years. Doubtful it’s diseased animals, road kill etc. I started posting 3 months ago when all of our cats began having issues on this food.
      • 

        Guest March 12, 2015 at 7:28 pm #

        It cannot trust anything. The factory farmed meats are loaded with toxicity, including; insecticides, nitrates, steroids, arsenic, antibiotics (promoting super bugs), and now GMOs. With every bite we are compounding these toxicities in our bodies. Why do we hear of leaky gut syndrome, so much Alzheimer’s, allergies, autism and other illnesses in numbers we never heard of before? I do not eat factory farmed meat. I feel sure what is in commercial pet foods are factory farmed meats. I will not feed it to my cats. I only hope, as I google organic meats, that they are truly certified, free range and grass fed. The following is an site for dog and cat nutrition. http://www.2ndchance.info/homemadediets.htm#S1
        I have googled recipes for cat food.
        Basic Cat Food from Ecolife: A guide to Green living http://www.care2.com/greenliving/gourmet-kitty-homemade-cat-food.html/2
        This seems simple enough I just need to know if it the recipe can be at least quadrupled, frozen and still palatable when thawed, as 5.74966 oz will not go very far for 6 to 9 cats.
        1/4 teaspoon olive oil or salmon oil
        2.7 grams of feline vitamin/mineral supplement
        30 grams of potato, cooked without skin
        50 grams of carbs (choose one: cooked pasta, white rice, barley, oatmeal, peas) (hopefully none of those are GMO yet).
        83 grams of cooked animal protein (whole meat chicken, lamb, rabbit, beef, pork, tuna, salmon)
        Mix all of the ingredients together (a blender works really well for this purpose) and store the food in the fridge until needed.I would like to cook it all together in one pot or baking dish and add supplements mixing thoroughly after it cools. Any comments pro or con are appreciated.
24. 

    Sarah December 9, 2014 at 10:56 am #

    I came here looking to see if others were having problems. My cats have been on wellness grain free canned turkey and chicken for over 2 years. Suddenly the wet food isn’t being eaten and I currently have a cat at the emergency vet, overnight due to apparent urinary blockage. He hasn’t been eating for 2-3 days. So far my vet bills on him are $1200 and I have 3 more cats on this food. I buy $300 worth of this food at a time, I’m beyond pissed that something may have changed and could have caused these problems. The cans I have are Turkey Formula, 7WTKS1, Best by: 28 May 17 and Chicken Formula, 7WCCM2, Best by: 27 Jun 17
25. 

    Lisa December 3, 2014 at 6:19 pm #

    We have only recently begun using Wellness dry and canned food. Our cat seems to be ok with the dry food but appears to have problems with the canned. Not quite a week ago, she vomited a little canned food. I gave her no more canned food until this morning, the Chicken dated 2017. She vomited a lot, her stomach is still bloated and she is not feeling well. After reading previous comments posted here, I assume there is something wrong with the canned food and will not buy it again. I will also tell our vet, who recommended Wellness to us.
    • 

      Will Alden December 9, 2014 at 1:30 pm #

      Something similar just happened to me. My one-year-old cat is in the ER with liver problems after eating Wellness. I’m a reporter at the New York Times and am concerned there’s something wrong with the food. Call me? 212 556 4633
      • 

        Linda Connolly December 10, 2014 at 12:33 am #

        Hi Will. I don’t know if you read down the list on what I posted but it was a nightmare with all of our cats. My cats have all recovered since I took them off Wellness. It did take about a month. Very sad indeed that this is once again happening. Hope your cat is going to be okay.
        • 

          Lynniel January 1, 2015 at 3:38 am #

          Linda, may I ask what you are feeding them now? Dry? Wet? Thank you!
          • 

            Linda Connolly January 2, 2015 at 2:49 am #

            Purina UR. I was at my wits end and buying gallons of Natures Miracle to clean up the pee in our house. It makes them drink more water which as we all know…water is important for health. I also give them Natural Balance Duck or Venison as a treat. I wouldn’t be able to afford to feed every cat a can of NB every day so I take 2 cans with 3 cups of water and mix in a blender. They all come running. Everyone is healthy again and no more pee issues. My vet said Purina UR is a great maintenance diet for all 30 of them. Even the ones who weren’t having health problems. The vet techs also recommended Purina Pro Plan Focus Adult Urinary Tract Health Formula Dry Cat Food because it’s cheaper than the UR. But I actually pay about the same or a little less for the UR as I paid for the Wellness. This is working so I’ll stay with this diet plan for them.
          • 

            Linda Connolly January 2, 2015 at 3:15 am #

            Ironic…the ingredients we’ve been told to avoid are the ones bringing my cats back to health. Corn gluten meal, chicken, poultry by-product meal, brewers rice, oat fiber, wheat gluten, whole grain corn, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols

            I had a Siamese 6 years ago who lived to be 17 years old and she lived on Iams. She was healthy until the last year when she developed cancer. I switched because I wanted a better diet for all of them…go figure…
          • 

            Lorra February 11, 2015 at 6:15 pm #

            I also have many cats as you, Linda, and I’ve bought so many brands of canned and dry food, all that are available here in Quebec. Some of my cats digest well any food, and others really not with diarrhea as a result. The only food that really satisfies all my cats without causing any health issues is Royal Canin Gastrointestinal Fibre Response dry food (which contains all the ingredients we are told by other pet food companies to avoid).The Royal Canin Gastrointestinal Fibre Response treats constipation and diarrhea problems. It saved my severely constipated 17 y.o. cat and cured my 10 y.o. cat’s lifelong diarrhea. Because “Fibre Response” is only available as a dry food product, I also buy other Royal Canin canned products such as “Fibre” and another one called “Adult” cat formula which is the only one available in 13 ounce cans. The 2 cat residents at the animal hospital are so healthy and active, and fed with the products sold there. They both are 17 years old without any health issues, eating all those “nasty” ingredients we are told our pets should avoid. So I’ve quit looking for “no grain”, “no by-products” pet foods… I am now feeding my cats what makes them feel good and enjoy life without having the constant painful gastrointestinal upset or urinary tract infections. I’ve had so many pets die, young and old, of different diseases (mostly cancer). All that expensive premium cat and dog food products did not extend their life.
          • 

            Linda Connolly February 12, 2015 at 8:18 pm #

            Like you, Lorra, I tried many brands wanting the best for our fur-babies. I
            wish I had known about Royal Canin when my 17 year old was suffering with IBD. I
            researched and read for hours about the ingredients we should avoid. We’ve lost
            many to cancer as well and many were young. You are so RiGHT, Lorra! I have a
            friend who feeds the cheapest food because she can’t afford anything better. Her female cat was 22 when she lost her. Genetics play a huge role. Our female Siamese was 17 and had lived most of her life on Iams. The UR diet I have mine on from the vet contains: Corn gluten meal, chicken, poultry by-product meal, brewers rice, oat fiber, wheat gluten, whole grain corn…and they’re all doing better than they’ve been in a very long time. I know with males you have to be more careful as they are more susceptible to stones. I’ve always read that foods made with grains (corn/wheat/rice etc) can cause alkaline urine in dogs and cats. Magnesium reacts with alkaline urine to cause crystals. Cats need acidic urine for urinary health. Again, ironic that the UR diet for crystals has corn, wheat and rice…BUT the diet makes them drink lots of water which keeps them flushed out. High levels of ash and magnesium in the diet were once thought to cause crystal formation. More recent work indicates that urine pH and concentration are more important factors in the development of Lower Urinary Tract Disease. Increasing water intake is highly recommended to help reduce the risk of LUTD. I bought fountains to help attract them to drink more and I do believe anyone feeding a hard food diet should wet the food down or supplement with canned. Especially males. I’ve only had one female (out of 78) in all the years I’ve had cats that had crystals.
      • 

        Linda Connolly December 10, 2014 at 12:47 am #

        I found out two of our cats developed hyperthyroidism. At the same time, a friend of mine’s cat that was eating the same Wellness Salmon kibble for the same length of time also developed hyperthyroidism. This article is from Ron Hines, DVM.http://www.2ndchance.info/hyperthyroid.htm Veterinarians did not notice that house cats were developing hyperthyroidism in numbers until after 1979. (ref) Curiously, that was about the time that whales and herring gulls in the St. Laurence Seaway, and cormorants in Tokyo Bay began developing similar thyroid problems. Both these areas are highly polluted with industrial chemicals. There are two chemicals that have been suspected as being the root of this problem. The most recent ones are called Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Since the 1970s they have widely contaminated our environment. PBDEs are flame retardants used in building materials, electronics, furnishing, motor vehicles, airplanes, plastics, polyurethane foams and textiles. PBDEs are found in particularly high concentrations in fish that are high up the food chain and, therefore, in seafood-flavor cat foods. (ref)
        The second possible culprit is a chemical called bisphenol-A (BPA) which is used to coat the inside of cat food cans. We know from a 2000 EPA study that cats that eat canned foods – particularly those that have fish flavor, are more susceptible to hyperthyroidism. ((BPA) which is used to coat the inside of cat food cans. We know from a 2000 EPA study that cats that eat canned foods – particularly those that have fish flavor, are more susceptible to hyperthyroidism. (ref) The authors theorized that it might be the BPA can lining that accounted for this – but at the time the article was written, we did not appreciate the link between fish, high PBDE levels and hyperthyroidism.
        It may be that, with time, pet foods will be screened for PBDEs and similar toxic substances. But for now, do not feed your cats canned or dry, fish-flavored cat foods. If you feed your cats fish, avoid fish like salmon and whitefish that are known to concentrate this chemical. Not all cats that develop hyperthyroidism eat fish products. The EPA veterinarians who conducted the study pointed out that PBDE’s have become so common in our homes that it is impossible to avoid some exposure to them.
26. 

    Tatum November 5, 2014 at 12:11 pm #

    As of 2 days ago my cats absolutely refuse to eat the Wellness 12/5oz canned Chicken Formula dated for Jan 17. One cat is presenting with a high fever but no other symptoms besides lethargy and not eating. Feeding them other flavors and they will still eat that. Not vomiting or diarrhea that I’ve seen, but I’m watching carefully. Sick cat is on antibiotics and fluids. Dog accidently got some and had diarrhea but no other symptoms.
27. 

    Nicky November 3, 2014 at 9:38 pm #

    The latest problem now is with the turkey flavor exp. 2017 7WTKS1. I found MANY turkey bones & my cat was gagging & seemed like he was afraid to go to sleep all night. I took pictures of all the bone pieces & will be mailing them to Wellpet. So frustrated!
28. 

    CAJason October 29, 2014 at 12:56 am #

    I thought I was going crazy. My cats just up and stopped eating their Wellness after more than two years on it. This all started back in August. I thought perhaps they were going through a phase or something, but it’s been two months and they still turn their noses up at it and I find full dishes the next morning. When I looked on sites like Amazon for other people experiencing this issue, I didn’t see any. I’m glad to know I’m not imagining it, but sad that another good cat food has gone down the toilet. What is manufacturer’s obsession with ruining good products?
29. 

    Nicky October 23, 2014 at 6:01 pm #

    I definitely feel that the food has changed during different time periods. Anything dated 2016 is bad – the food is very loose & all my cats experienced severe vomiting/diarrhea. I only feed Wellness 12.5 oz canned. Cans dated Jan 2017 marked 7WTKS1 were good. Cans dated May 2017 marked 7WTKM2 were bad again. This food was dark & gritty & the cats didn’t want it. I found a small piece of green plastic in one of the cans as well. What is going on?! Nicky
30. 

    Molly October 17, 2014 at 11:19 am #

    Call Wellness and complain. Maybe they will change back the formula if enough complaints come in. I swear these people don’t have cats of their own! Don’t they test these changes?
    • 

      CAJason November 7, 2014 at 1:51 am #

      I called Wellness and they were adamant that their formulation hadn’t changed. I hate being lied to more than I hate when companies switch ingredients without telling consumers. After the quality problems last year with Wellness’s defunct Utah plant and this, I’m done with Wellness. They’re too unreliable.
31. 

    Roberta October 14, 2014 at 1:33 pm #

    Hmmmm, my cat used to love Wellness chicken and now he acts like I am trying to poison him. He seems to still like the beef with chicken flavors so when I get home I’ll look at expiration dates. Thank you, folks.
32. 

    Linda Connolly October 1, 2014 at 10:19 pm #

    I want to add the information I received from the Wellness Pet Food Company when I called them on 10-1-14. They told me there was indeed a change of ingredients around the time my cats began having problems. Spring into June/July. Wellness added Green Tea and Spearmint and they agreed this very well may be why my cats wouldn’t eat Wellness anymore. When a pet becomes dehydrated due to heat and/or lack of fluids they tend to urinate less. This in turn creates a window of opportunity for bacteria which under normal circumstances would have been flushed out during urination. Once the invading bacteria has made its way to the bladder all of the sudden what was once a non-issue now has the potential of becoming a full-blown infection of the urinary tract. I just wanted to be fair in sharing all the information I have.
    • 

      Molly October 6, 2014 at 10:33 pm #

      Dry and wet food?
      They lied to me then when I asked if the formula changed! Spearmint and green tea? That is SO stupid!
      My cat certainly doesn’t like the new taste. Whoever approved these ingredients should be fired. Quit tweaking the food. Cats are sensitive and don’t like change. Spearmint and green tea!!??….Yup, my cat tackles me when I whip out my double mint gum and my hot tea…NOT.
33. 

    Linda Connolly September 14, 2014 at 2:25 am #

    We’ve used Wellness Salmon dry for 2 years. NO more… My cats looked wonderful and were healthy until this summer. We have 30 rescued inside cats…they began losing weight, vomiting, bickering and then just refused to eat the food. I have a baby scale to monitor my cats weights and ALL of them lost 1-2 lbs. Fur was dull and matted, even with the short haired cats. 13 (all but one are males) began peeing outside of the litter pans…Rushed one to the vet when I found him hunched up in pain and he had crystals and blood in his urine. We lost our 13 year old to a tumor on his liver….another has been very ill running a high fever and taking an anti-biotic for 3 weeks …finally getting a normal temp. Two were diagnosed with IBS eight months ago but since they’ve been off Wellness, no more runny stools. Our 16 year old had horrible oily fur until we stopped Wellness. My vet and I decided to put the whole house on a prescription diet for crystals. It took about a month and now everyone is using the litter pans again, fur is shiny, cats are gaining weight, no more vomiting, no more runny stools…dishes are empty! The first week off Wellness, they ate constantly. I don’t know what happened but I will never use Wellness again. We do have two that won’t eat the prescription diet so I put them on Artemis and they seem to be doing well.
34. 

    Dave Oldman August 16, 2014 at 6:10 pm #

    Our kitten used to love Wellness wet cat food, he would gobble it down. However the last batch we just bought smells different and although he is very hungry he suddenly resistant to eating it. Either the formula changed or there is something wrong with it. The cans we open smell different than it used to. The other cats in the house are also not so interested in it anymore either.
    • 

      Heather September 4, 2014 at 12:08 pm #

      I just came here to see if anyone else is having this issue. I have a cat with diabetes and pancreatitis. She used to just LOVE this stuff (We’ve used it for 2+years), but now she would rather go hungry than eat it. I thought it was a sign of her pancreatitis flaring up, so I took her to the vet. He said nothing was physically wrong with her so I started investigating the food.
35. 

    Danette July 18, 2014 at 9:16 pm #

    Wellness Cubed and Sliced Chicken and Wellness Cubed and Sliced Salmon have complete changed. The sauce/ gravy has become jelly thick and darker. My cat will not eat it anymore.
    The change started in the January ’17 expiration time frame on the bottom of the cans. I’ve tried various batches after January and it is the same crap. If I find cans before January ’17 she gobbles them up.
    I can literally see and smell the difference before and after January cans.
    Wellness swears they have not changed formulas. I think they are lying. Why? They are completely untrustworthy now. I’m finding a new brand.
    • 

      Dave Oldman August 16, 2014 at 6:35 pm #

      We just bought (Aug2014) cans with an exp of Jan17 and suddenly our cat won’t eat it, and it smells different. Not sure what is going on. Just gave him a 3oz can of cubed turkey with a May 16 exp and he gobbled it down. There must be either a formula change or a bad batch.
      • 

        Danette August 19, 2014 at 1:19 am #

        I have tried many batches after January 2017 expiration date. All months. It still looks and smells different and my cat still won’t eat it.
        I have her now on Acana and she is doing well.
        Wellness cannot be trusted and cat message boards say they are not consistent with their formulas in the long run. Best not get your kitty started with them because sooner or later your kitty will turn up its nose…and leave you scrambling to find something else.
      • 

        E. Lynn August 21, 2014 at 9:27 am #

        My cats will not eat Wellness Turkey Formula Grain Free with Dec 27 2016 or Jan 26 2017 expiry date (bought 2 expensive cases online and will have to throw out!) – they loved Turkey for 2 years before Wellness changed formula.
        • 

          Jaclyn Womack August 31, 2014 at 10:46 am #

          Please consider donating them to a shelter or non-profit rescue vs throwing them out. They will be most appreciative!
          • 

            Andrea October 6, 2014 at 3:23 pm #

            I would be leery of donating food my cats won’t touch. Often when they will not eat it, it means something is wrong with it. It would be terrible to donate something that might make someone else’s cats ill.
        • 

          Tiffaney Caldwell October 15, 2014 at 6:34 am #

          We are not only having the same problem with the Wellness canned Grain free Turkey but, the Turkey & Salmon (which used to be everyone’s fave), is also causing diarrhea in 2 of our cats. I also buy in bulk and the Chicken formula is the only one that isn’t causing a reaction right now. I am starting to panic and don’t know what brand to now purchase. I will now need to bring our cats into the vet & gain another food recommendation. There was vomit all over the floor this morning and I fed them Wellness Turkey & Salmon canned, grain-free last night… Help!
36. 

    Paul Allen July 18, 2014 at 12:24 am #

    Remember that the number one ingredient for overall cat health is water. I always add a splash of water to their wet food/kibble and mix it up. Most wet food does NOT contain enough water. Add a good splash (between 1-3 table spoons) of purified water if possible, and your cats will be in great health. That being said, feeding only dry is like slowly poisoning your cats, since cats have evolved to get their hydration from their prey, and dry food has almost no water in it. If you can’t afford wet food, then you absolutely MUST add some water to the kibble. Also make sure their water bowl is changed daily.
    • 

      Linda Connolly January 2, 2015 at 3:51 am #

      You are absolutely right Paul. Water is the key to good health (for all species) and I’ve been told cats are 60% dehydrated. Fountains are a great way to encourage cats to drink more water, too, as most cats love running water. I have two Drinkwells and my felines love them. Adding water to their kibble is important, too but people need to remember as with canned food, it can spoil if left down too long.
37. 

    Aimee May 24, 2014 at 10:26 pm #

    Hi all, I do believe wellness is an excellent brand and i was thrilled to put my cat on it. However he did absolutely terribly on it. His stools resembled cow pats and he went up to half a dozen times a day. We stuck it out for a few weeks while he took some probiotics (he had been on antibiotics as a baby kitten) and a few other things but it just got worse so I took him off it. Within 3 days of being off it his stools were back to normal and he was much better for it.

    I did lots of research on the net and while most cats seem to be fine on this food it does seem like this reacton has happened to others. It just must be an intolerence. I am not saying don’t try Wellness. I am just saying if you try and it doesn’t give him healthy stools, change him to another product. It just doesn’t seem to agree wtih all of them.
    • 

      john May 29, 2014 at 5:02 pm #

      i keep laxatone in the house in case they strain trying to deficate. a cat enema is a terrible thing to face. I got laxatone at petco and used it liberally. its like maple syrup some cats love other dont
    • 

      crosswind August 6, 2014 at 11:31 am #

      Hi Aimee, same thing happened to two of our cats. They developed clogged anal glands. got to a point we had to have them expressed at vet every month or two (very rare for a cat… dogs its common, but vet said not for cats)… my 3rd boy has issues with bladder crystals on wellness. He’s on prescription food. all 3 loved the food, but when we took hem OFF the food, anal glands got better. one cat still has constipation every so often, but less often. we buy hairbll remedy & give more often to older cats. I no longer use laxatone brand. Laxatone new formula has hydrogenated oil & i avoid hairball gels with corn or canola oil (both high in GMO but corn oil given to farm animals to gain weight).
38. 

    david fayman April 17, 2014 at 10:05 pm #

    MY TWO CATS LOVE THE CANNED BEEF AND CHICKEN.THEY HAVE BEEN ON IT FOR MONTHS. A FEW MONTHS AGO I NOTICED AN ARTICLE ON CARRAGEEN. IT IS THE WORST INFLAMMATORY CHEMICLE ON THE PLANET. IT IS IN ALMOST ALL THE FOOD WE EAT. IT CAN CAUSE CANCER AND COLITIS. GUESS WHAT IS IN FOURTH PLACE IN WELLNESS BEEF AND CHICKEN. BEWARE OF ALL THE HYPE. I HAVE DONE SO MUCH RESEARCH. EVERY CAT FOOD HAS SOMETHING DANGEROUS FOR THEM. THANKS DAVID
    • 

      sue April 18, 2014 at 9:07 pm #

      David,
      Email Wellness about the Carrageenan in their food. I did.
      There are 2 forms of it.
      Degraded and undegraded. Welless uses the undegraded which has no health concerns.
      • 

        crosswind August 6, 2014 at 12:05 pm #

        Sue, Thx for the detail on carageenan. I recently learned (from Food Babe i think..) that there may be two types of carageenan, but just like gluten grains & oats, carageenan is cross contaminated in the manufacturing & storage process , so its no longer pure. Ray Peat is a good source to read abiut carageenan too. He has research back to 1940s showing labs used carageenan to induce & create intestinal damage, even in healthy rats. I do wonder how much was used per rat, in the study.
39. 

    Paul Thulin March 25, 2014 at 11:28 pm #

    Wellness Signature wet cat food is made in Thailand outside the quality controls of the FDA. If you have ever been to Thailand it is truly the arm pit of the world. I am shocked that Wellness can claim their wet food is made with only the best ingrediants. Thailand is well known for their exported food consumption warnings for humans, I.e., their farm raised fish. If the media has commented on the health risk of human fish consumption, can you imagine where cat food chicken, turkey and beef ingrediants come from. Nice going Wellness save a buck and dc fool the public. I hear China costs even less, but oops they eat cats in that country. That’s right, you can pick the one you want to eat just like lobster at Red Lobster.
40. 

    Neva March 6, 2014 at 4:52 pm #

    My cat doesn’t seem to like this food. He was on Taste Of The Wild River Canyon formula which consists of Trout & Salmon. I decided to switch him to Wellness Core indoor formula which consists of chicken & would supplement him with canned fish flavors. I suppose he doesn’t like the flavor of Wellness Core. When I mix it, he eats around those & only eats TOTW. Eventually, he started to eat the Wellness core, but eats less often. So I put him back on TOTW.
41. 

    seaweed January 22, 2014 at 7:04 pm #

    I’m finding that the consistency of the Chicken & Herring recipe in the 12 oz can is very different than it used to be. It seems very watered down now. Now my cat needs at least half of that can for a meal, whereas we get 3 servings per 12 oz can on the other recipes that aren’t so watery. This seems to have occurred in the last 6 months or so.
    • 

      Anna February 13, 2014 at 2:52 pm #

      Same here with the sloppy consistency of Chicken w/herring…and one of our cats now turns her nose up at the Chicken/Herring and the Turkey/Salmon formula. And yet the current case of plain turkey is very dry…..dislike
    • 

      Paul Thulin March 26, 2014 at 12:09 am #

      Check the Wellness Signature wet food label as to where it is made…Thailand. Does that tell you alot!
42. 

    Crystal December 27, 2013 at 11:33 am #

    My husband and I have been feeding our cats Wellness (dry and wet) since they were kittens. In about the last year or so, we noticed changes in quality/consistency and changed their dry food to Orijen. Both like that a lot and we’ve had no trouble. Very disappointed with the worsening quality of the Wellness wet food. My male cat now turns his nose up at it, so we need to find an alternative. But what is better? Our female still eats it, but like another poster (I thought it was just us) she seems to be hungry all the time now, even though she is eating the same amount or more.
43. 

    bernie mossotti November 17, 2013 at 4:55 pm #

    I started all of my cats on Wellness Core after a search or a high protein/low carb food for my diabetic cat. The cats love it and they all seem to have better coats.

    Recently-within the past 6 months-2 of my female cats have developed blood in their urine and both are currently on antibiotics. One is an older cat but the other one is young-about 4 years old-and a pedigreed Maine Coon. In the younger cat here were crystals in the urine as well. They are not in contact with each other due to preferences they each have so one is not giving it to the other.

    I was looking at the Wellness Core bag to see if there it is PH balanced and could find nothing about that.

    Can you tell me if anything in the Core Wellness formula addresses urinary tract issues other than the use of cranberry?

    Thank you
    Bernie
    • 

      Marie December 20, 2013 at 3:58 pm #

      Wellness Core formula apparently is becoming well known for causing urinary crystals in cats. You probably can find quite a few reviews in this regard in a number of places online. Even vets are becoming aware of this problem. From what I have read taking your cats off Wellness Core may very well solve the issue, especially for the younger cat.
    • 

      Mah-rie January 22, 2014 at 11:24 pm #

      At the very beginning of December I woke up to find one of my male cats had a urinary blockage. After dealing with my vet & HOURS of research, the problem isn’t a specific brand of dry food, it seems to be dry food in general. My vet said I didn’t have to stop giving him dry food, but to also give him some wet food.
      • 

        Anna February 13, 2014 at 3:04 pm #

        You have a smart vet!! One of our cats had constant urinary issues but our vet suggested a DRY Science Diet formula. Long story but since switching them to canned grain free x2/day and only a small handful of dry before bed the problems are GONE! (It took awhile tho, not overnight) She also needed sub q fluids for awhile to flush out her bladder, much better than antibiotics.
        We use Wellness canned, The Honest Kitchen, Stella and Chewys for a variety. Currently the dry we use is Fromm. I heard Wellness chg their formula which is how I ended up here and I do notice some of the same things other people are posting.
44. 

    Betty October 11, 2013 at 11:08 am #

    My two cats have been eating Wellness for several years, their coats are bright and shiny since taking them off kibble. Lately, I have noticed that the canned cat food appears to have less food in the can – has anyone else noticed this? If I take a can of chicken or turkey and shake it I can hear it sloshing around in the can, meaning there is space in the can. Before the cans were always filled completely with food. Wellness is certainly not cheap and I can’t help wonder why there is now less food in a can. I did email the company and was told to call their customer service line which I have yet to do.
45. 

    Adam September 27, 2013 at 5:45 pm #

    I have rescued 2 kittens and have started them on wellness kitten after hearing about the ingrediants and everything. And so far so good. I have zero complaints, both cats are happy, energetic, great coats and very active. I their stools are solid and they seem to love it.

    As far as the other brands or lines go, I will probablly switch them over to something else once they get about 9-10 months of age.

    does anyone have any sugguestions about what to use at this age whether it be the “Healther weight” line or the “indoor” cat line.

    oh and for right now I only feed Dry food and give wet food on the weekends as a “treat” for them if you will mixed in with their dry.

    but any suggestions would be welcome !!!
46. 

    Marie September 7, 2013 at 2:01 am #

    I have been feeding my two cats Wellness Indoor formula for about two years. A few months ago I noticed that they seemed ravenously hungry even though the amount of food given was not changed, and they began to lose weight. Never beggars for food, they were trying to eat our foods. They both had less energy, most recently both started vomiting clear liquid. We brought one to the vet (who appeared sicker), bloodwork showed possible early renal failure, and we are to take him in again. We stopped feeding them Wellness and both of them looked better within days, and in about 3 weeks are playing and happy, no vomiting. I am very interested to see what the test results will be. One cat I might not be suspicious, but two?
    I was really surprised to see that Wellness sourced some of their ingredients from Diamond Pet foods which has been involved in a few recalls. I also had fed Wellness to our lab, we were rotating foods and when we re-introduced it he slowly started to develop loose stools, a problem he had not previously had with it.
    I think I’m done with this company at this point.
    • 

      Mary September 10, 2013 at 9:12 pm #

      Hi Marie:

      We have been using Core Indoor cat formual, canned and dry for a couple of years. Over the last few months our cat has gotten increasing hungry, her soft food in the morning used to satisfy her but now as soon as she eats it she is crying for dry Core Indoor cat food but she is eating at least three times normal and is still hungry. Something is definitely wrong with the food. I don’t know what to give her next. She does require a high protein cat food.
      • 

        Marie October 18, 2013 at 2:52 pm #

        Hi Mary,
        An update: when we brought our cat in to recheck his bloodwork it was normal. Also, he had gained back 1 pound, 2 ounces in just a month. The vet was mystified. I told her about all my concerns about the food and she suggested I freeze the food and contact Wellness to see if they would test it (this vet is not particularly fussy about pet food). She was particularly interested in its calcium content because they could not figure out why his calcium would be high.
        I did contact Wellness, they took my info; nice lady, but she was honest and said since there were no other similar complaints it was unlikely it would be tested. My advice to you would be to contact them and give your experience, maybe it will prod them.. They will ask for expiration dates, which I could not give because it was not readable on the bag .
        • 

          Jean November 25, 2013 at 8:05 pm #

          We have been feeding our cat Wellness for at least a year or more. She loves the Chicken formula. Started vomiting since this last batch of cans. At vet checkup, she had lost weight as well. We stopped the canned food as a test and are only using dry food (cat is disappointed and keeps looking for the wet food), but vomiting stopped. Just so you know you are not alone. I still have three cans with the same batch number Best by 17 May 16, 7WCCS1 14:02 Does this perhaps match what you have?
      • 

        ManyCatMom November 8, 2013 at 6:17 pm #

        That sounds very concerning. Especially as I’m reading the same symptom from multiple people. I feed brand By Nature, the Organic Chicken & Liver pate. It smells good enough (almost) for me to eat! It’s thick, I add water, but all of my cats, even the finicky fish eaters love this! You can get it via special order from your small local pet specialty shop, or even petflow dot com has it! about $38 a flat but COMPLETELY worth it. =^..^=
47. 

    gabriella kadar August 25, 2013 at 11:55 pm #

    I rotate the kibble I feed to the cats. Salmon Wellness is a ‘no problem’ food. The Core (gold bag) dry food gave them all six of them diarrhoea. I followed the instructions and introduced it in small amounts but to no avail. Even after I stopped feeding it, the diarrhoea took 3 weeks to clear up. Don’t know what’s in that kibble but whatever, maybe the bacteria probiotics.

    The Salmon Wellness smells good. (at least to me) And it’s not crumbly. I don’t buy Wellness canned food: too expensive and with six cats, unaffordable. I use Fancy Feast and wish they’d double the size of the can.
48. 

    Nettle August 15, 2013 at 1:39 pm #

    We feed our cats mostly canned and Wellness and pouched Soulistic, and we mix-and-match with other brands so they won’t be unwilling or unable to eat other brands. We used to feed them canned Weruva, but they got bored with it and stopped eating it. So now we give them Weruva only occasionally. Everything we feed them has no grain or filler and has meat as a first ingredient. This seems to be successful.

    When we first adopted our chausie mix, she had chronic diarrhea and chronic runny eyes and the smelliest poop in the world. She stopped being sick after we switched her to grain-free canned food. We can’t feed her kibble at all because she gorges on it. We give her a small amount of kibble as a treat; she likes the Trader Joes house brand and it has no evil ingredients.

    Our aged Siamese had almost starved to death before we adopted her and for the first year, we had a lot of trouble getting her to eat, and honestly we expected that we had brought her home to give her a comfortable, loving place to die. That was four years ago. Now she eats happily. On canned Wellness, she is maintaining a healthy weight and the health problems her bloodwork showed when we adopted her (early kidney disease, signs of diabetes) have disappeared.

    The chausie is somewhat overweight even though she eats less than the Siamese. We’ve tried switching her to Soulistic pouches and Weruva, which are both very low fat, but she quickly gets bored with them and stops eating. She’s willing to accept one of her daily feedings as Soulistic or Weruva. (We had to feed the Siamese multiple small feedings when we first got her, and now the cats are used to that and we can’t seem to wean them to larger, less frequent meals.) She has chronic pancreatitis, which might be a result of her eating a diet with grain before we adopted her. She’s doing well for a cat with pancreatitis but we don’t know for sure if her current diet of Wellness is a factor. I do think it’s contributing to her overweight.

    The kittens are thriving beautifully on canned Wellness for Kittens. The one that was fragile and underweight when we adopted her a month ago was pronounced “perfect” by the vet yesterday. We are going to be taking home her brother, who hasn’t been thriving in fosterage. I suspect on high-quality canned food and no food competition, he’ll also be in much better condition within a month.
49. 

    Kory July 31, 2013 at 2:08 am #

    I’m having the same problem!! I’ve been buying Wellness for years and the case I bought this weekend is super runny. I checked the expiration date and it’s still good. It smells normal so I gave it to my cats. They didnt hesitate to eat it and no signs of sickness, but I’m still concerned. I shook every single can and they all sound like liquidy mush, yuck!
50. 

    Teresa July 2, 2013 at 8:42 pm #

    Help!! After doing lots of research on cat food I decided to switch my cat to the Wellness Indoor dry cat food. I bought a small bag yesterday to try out and 3 of the 4 cats in the house ate it. Only one of the cats is mine and I bought it for her. I mixed the new food with the old food for my cat and then gave a small handful of the food to the other cats to try out and see if they would eat it. This morning my cat threw up all of her food and this afternoon both of the other cats who had eaten a small amount started heaving and threw up a small amount too. I can’t believe this is just a coincidence that all three of them threw up today. Has anyone else had issues with transitioning to wellness and having your cats vomit? I was excited about this new food but now I feel like I have to return it.
    • 

      yamacl July 17, 2013 at 3:45 pm #

      Most cats will have trouble adjusting to any new food without it being slowly introduced since there bodies are used to something else. I would mix about 20% of the wellness in with what they system is currently used to and then slowly increase it. Good luck!
51. 

    klee June 23, 2013 at 9:57 pm #

    We wanted our cats to eat Wellness, but they didn’t like it. Then several years ago, a friend gave us a case of the chicken (large cans). We discovered our cats liked it just fine IF it was warmed first (we soak the unopened cans in hot tap water). Well, sometime during the past year, the food went from being fairly solid to having about a spoonful of oily liquid on top. The cats liked this even better! We had started ordering it online, and were getting cases with a lot of dented cans – usually toward the middle or the bottom of the can, but only on the cans that were in the center of the case, which seemed odd. I called Wellness and I called the vendors I had ordered from. Wellness claimed the dents didn’t happen in the factory, but suggested the cases got stacked too high in someone’s warehouse (presumably not theirs). I also complained to the vendors – who were always eager to compensate me for the dented cans. But what a hassle! I started emailing the vendor (at this point, we were sticking with one) every time I placed an order, asking for non-dented cans. That actually seemed to do the job, but when I didn’t email, we’d inevitably end up with some dented cans. Then it got worse: the dents started occurring near the tops of the cans. Even if a can had just a small dent, it was hard to open. Shortly after this, the food changed again. It was soupy, but the liquid was all mixed in. And it appeared to be watery, not oily. Now, most of our cats don’t care for it. If it weren’t for this, we would probably still be buying it (once we discovered we could do a rough test for safety by submerging the cans in water and watching for air bubbles – after removing the labels, which can sometimes trap air). When I called the vendor, they said they’d been having complaints about the food not mixing properly and they attributed it this to a faulty “spinner” at the Utah factory. They said they were only getting deliveries from the NJ factory now. We ordered a few more cases, hoping we’d get the oily stuff, but nope, it’s the goopy stuff that looks like baby food. Apparently the “bad” batches were the ones our cats liked! Now we’re checking out alternatives, especially Weruva – which we used to be fairly loyal to, even though it is more expensive. Ah, well.
52. 

    Avi June 11, 2013 at 1:24 pm #

    I have had to give up on Wellness Core canned food because the texture is now too mushy. I’ve had several cans from several different stores with the same problem, and my cat no longer seems to enjoy eating the food. I thought it was a good company, but I’m disappointed by their response to this problem.
    • 

      Erica June 15, 2013 at 6:10 am #

      Funny I have the same issue with the cans I just bought and was checking online to see if this is a common problem. I noticed something was not right immediately with the cases I just bought — they were watery and one of my cats vomited his meal up. I am going to watch this to see if it continues. The consistency just does not look right to me. My cats only eat canned chicken wellness and right now i am on watch to ensure there is nothing wrong with the food.
    • 

      Janet June 23, 2013 at 8:21 pm #

      What was Wellness’s response to the watery chicken canned cat food ? I thought that it was a bad batch
53. 

    Luanne MAZZARA June 10, 2013 at 4:58 pm #

    So far no carraggeon or guar gum in the pouch type food.easy to open
    Wish they make some venison or rabbit varieties.my one cat seems to like the flavors except chicken and tirkey.
54. 

    Dale May 19, 2013 at 10:37 am #

    I have nothing but good things to say about Wellness cat food…even the Wellness Cat Treats are loved my my cats. I’ve been using Wellness close to three years and both my cats appear to really like the food. I purchased two small bags of the Wellness treats and those were a big hit as well. At first, I couldn’t locate Wellness cat food in my area so I had to purchase it online. Now it’s available at a local retailer…and it’s actually less (even with tax) than online. For now, it’s Wellness. I’m even tempted to try the new Grain Free varieties.
55. 

    Sweetpea May 18, 2013 at 11:58 pm #

    I did feed the Turkey & Herring Wellness Formula to my two cats. I have noticed two changes in consistency in the past year, becoming progressively less pate-like, more moisture in it. The latest change, noticed this year, has congealed fat on top and a brown residue on the bottom of the can that will not wash off. The food itself is now like baby pablum. One of my cats starting throwing up and having diarrhea in March, would no longer eat the Turkey and Herring. After two months of downhill battle he has been diagnosed with IBD. He went from healthy to very sick quickly. I am now feeding Petcurean Go Senstive and Shiny Duck Pate, after many tries of different foods. They have several pate’s that are firm and are natural/holistic. I will not ever use Wellness again.
56. 

    Jess April 25, 2013 at 3:06 pm #

    I have also seen a recent change in consistency with Wellness complete canned chicken and turkey formulas. The first clue was that the label on the chicken cans were a different shade of orange. Then we noticed thar the consistency has dramatically changed. It’s much more wet, almost a whipped consistency. I am very disturbed by this since my cat already has chronic kidney disease. I emailed the company and I’m waiting for a response.
    • 

      sandcat May 5, 2013 at 2:23 pm #

      Well, I noticed the same problem. Suddenly the food was dry and burnt looking and smelled burnt too. My cats refused to eat it.

      The owner of a local pet food store told me the problem was that they have 2 manufacturers, and the east coast manufacturer used different techniques and ingredient sourcing than the west coast. He said I could tell the difference by looking at the manufacturing code on the cans.

      I called the store and the rep was more interested in repeating over and over that the food met their “quality standards” than addressing my concern (I forgot which code was which, and wanted to buy the correct one.)

      I finally got tired of t and asked to speak to a manager. I was told he was “busy” but I could leave him a voice mail and he’d get back to me, or I could hold. After 10 minutes of holding, I was told he was still “busy”, and that I should leave a voice message.

      Indeed I did–and that is the last they will ever hear from me. Terrible customer service, shoddy quality control. My cats used to only eat Wellness, but not any more! They used to be a great company when they were Mother Hubbard. Now it seems all they care about it their profits and not pets or even their customers!

      For those who are still wanting to try them (though I can’t imagine why–if they consider the burnt and unpalatable food meets their “quality” standards, I’m pretty sure they set the bar so low you’d have to dig it out with a shovel! ) The west coast food has a code starting with MW, and the east coast food has a 7 code. The 7 code food is what my cats would not eat.
      • 

        Dee May 17, 2013 at 10:11 am #

        I have noticed the same thing. Normally, I could only find the cans with a 7W code locally, and until a few months ago, the food seemed fine; every now and then I would notice a little bit of a difference in the consistency. Then I noticed the dry, burnt consistency of the Turkey and Chicken Grain Free canned flavors every time I bought it. My cat began to avoid eating the food and sometimes even pawed at the floor when I put it down for her! When I went to buy some more food for her at the same local store, I did notice there was a difference in the color of the labels and the codes on the can were MW. I figured I would try them and my cat much prefers these cans, because the food seems to be fresher, with a softer consistency. Now I can’t find any cans with the MW code anywhere within a 50 mile radius! My local store says they have no control over which manufacturing plant they receive their shipments from. When I contacted Wellness with my concerns, I was told there had been no change in the ingredients at all, and there was just a difference in the cooking methods. The rep told me that Wellness is no longer going to be using the Utah plant that manufactures cans with the MW code, due to many complaints from consumers about the “mushiness” of the food. Of course, my cat prefers this consistency, so I am now on the search for a new canned cat food! If anyone has any suggestions please let me know!
        • 

          Paul Thulin March 25, 2014 at 11:59 pm #

          You will notice on the can, it is now a produced in Thailand. So much for any quality control but major profits for Wellness.
57. 

    M. White April 13, 2013 at 3:30 pm #

    We bought a bag of Wellness Complete Health with Salmon and Turkey. The bag says it has a “Triple Cranberry System” so we figured it would be good for our cat who has a UTI presently. Your review does not mention if this food is good for bladder health. Please advise? Thank you! :o)
58. 

    karen March 18, 2013 at 11:28 am #

    I have been feeding my cats Wellness canned (turkey and chicken) for several years with great success. My 8 year old has suffered from feline lower urinary tract disease and I have felt very comfortable feeding him wellness until now. I purchase food by the case and have noticed that the consistency has changed. Very mushy and lots of congealed fat. Have also noticed small chunks of what looks like gristle. My cats smell it and walk away. Lot # starts with 7W. 12Dec15 & 21Nov15. Will now have to research other grain free brands suitable for FLUTD.
    • 

      Pat March 19, 2013 at 6:22 pm #

      I have the same problem.. some cans are more like a pate and some are just a blop with that is harder and has all this stuff in there that I can not make out but is not in the other cans. I wrote to them and got the answer back it is all the same. Not sure what to do!!! very unhappy with that but have three cats and they just don’t eat it very much and I waste so much money now
      • 

        Em April 27, 2013 at 7:25 pm #

        I purchase 6 cases of 12.5oz cans a month of Wellness Chicken & Herring to feed 8 indoor cats, 1 porch stray and 1 feral (TNR) male.

        I agree with Jess…the formula changes regularly as I have had to return cases at time because my brood refuses to eat the food, including the stray and feral cat!

        When I called Wellness to ask if they reformulated the food, the Customer Rep said no. This cannot be true – the texture and smell is inconsistent more often than not.

        I have more faith in my cats than their PR department. They are being dishonest because they are not required to disclose anything.

        I am in pursuit of a different cat food!
      • 

        Donna June 16, 2013 at 8:29 am #

        Same thing happened to me. I was told the bad food was from their plant in Utah. I returned it. I hope they correct the problem
        • 

          Liz July 16, 2013 at 7:03 pm #

          My cat started being fussy about the canned Wellness (chicken and herring). I noticed that the food he would not eat was denser and lighter colored and started looking for lot #s on the cans. He will eat the MW7 cans but not the new 7W cans. I called Wellness and they told me they stopped using the MW7 manufacturer and the new canned food for the West Coast (7W) is coming from a plant in Utah. This new plant uses the same ingredients but cooks the food differently.

          Unfortunately, my cat has been ill with idiopathic hypercalcemia and this is the only food I have been able to get him to eat and gain weight on without side affects. I have been going from store to store buying up as much of the MW7 as I can find. We will need to find a different solution but need a buffer in the meantime to keep us going.
59. 

    Ali March 14, 2013 at 12:42 am #

    I am concerned about the radiation that has reached the west coast and was therefore trying to see where Wellness was made. I am hoping you don’t use any products and/or water from the west coast as the radiation from Fukushima has made it there and the water is contaminated as is everything anybody eats from the west coast as it takes water to grow veggies and ‘livestock’ eat things grown with water and so do we. This fact is not widely known, but true nevertheless. Radiation levels have not decreased since they reached 10 times what they should be in the oceans. The effects of radiation are permanent and accumulative.
    • 

      Kitty March 23, 2013 at 1:50 pm #

      Wow, I did not know that about the radiation factor. I feed my cats Natural Balance (and have been since they were kitten…they will be two in May) which according to the bag may be manufactured where the company is located in Pacoima (Los Angeles). I just emailed them to verify where the product is made. Is Wellness a good option? Do you have a bag that indicates where it may be made? Thank you for alerting me to this…I will research the radiation issue more unless you have any web links that talk about is?
    • 

      Byakko July 16, 2013 at 2:59 pm #

      Your fears about radiation are completely unfounded. The oceans receive FAR more radiation from the sun than anything Fukishima might contribute.

      Please stop spreading superstition and do some reading of legitimate science articles.
    • 

      Renee Marks July 17, 2014 at 1:12 am #

      Facts. Dr Oz researched and found the radiation that came to the west coast was so deluded by the time it got there that it is way below any dangerous level. You get more from using electronics in your home.
60. 

    Amin February 22, 2013 at 8:38 am #

    I just opened a can (chicken) and I also noticed a big difference when it comes to the consistency, color and smell.

    I bend myself backward to take good care of my 3 cats and now it seems another greedy corporation is trying to squeeze more $$$ by taking its customers for stupid fools.

    I am disgusted and so are my cats.
    • 

      kimber March 14, 2013 at 1:32 pm #

      Yes, it’s liquid crap now! I thought something was different and it is all watery and smells weird. I feed them the canned chicken. I feed my 3 cats this expensive food and now it’s garbage!

      Does anyone else have any recommendations on another food that is good quality. I’m not paying good money to make my cats sick cuz who knows what they are doing now to this product! i don’t trust wellness food anymore! I’m disgusted as well!
      • 

        Amin March 17, 2013 at 7:40 pm #

        I found out that one can still get the old fashioned Wellness if one buys the cans that have the code that starts with 7W instead of the MW (printed on the bottom of the can).

        The MW cans are allegedly made in California, they are the ones that are watery and full of air.

        Visit catinfo.org for informations and directions about healthy, full of love, home-made cat food.
61. 

    Caroline January 29, 2013 at 5:27 pm #

    I’ve been a big fan of Wellness since the cats started eating it a couple of years ago due to health issues. And they really love it! But recently, I’ve noticed that their favourite flavour (Turkey and Salmon) of tinned food is suddenly mushier than it used to be and doesn’t fill them up as much as it used to. Has anyone else noticed this? Any news of the company changing the way it’s made? It’s almost as if they’ve added more air, and if this is what’s been done, I will be very disappointed.
    • 

      Sandy January 31, 2013 at 7:56 pm #

      YES! I believe it’s because it now contains chicken and chicken byproducts. We always bought the Turkey because one cat has chicken allergies and it contained only turkey ingredients (turkey, broth, etc.) She has recently started licking her fur off again, is eating less, and has more chin acne. I finally realized the new mushier Turkey now contains Chicken, Chicken Byproducts, and Chicken Broth as it’s next three ingredients!! I’m on to a different brand now.
      • 

        Susan February 15, 2013 at 5:52 pm #

        I have also noticed the change in consistency–more watery. My cat used to love the Turkey/Salmon (and virtually nothing else). She is not happy with this different recipe. Therefore, neither am I.
        • 

          Sarah February 20, 2013 at 11:10 am #

          I noticed this change and was equally disappointed. My cat is a picky eater and has refused to eat food from the new cans – which questions what is the new ingredients bringing? I’ve found I can easily identify them in the store because the expiration date on the bottom is all blurry and not printed well. The cans I have that are older the print is crystal clear. It seems to be a decline in the Wellness Quality food.
    • 

      Sandy February 2, 2013 at 1:29 pm #

      Wellness has changed their ingredients. If you’ve noticed that the food seems mushier, that’s because they’ve started adding chicken, chicken byproducts, and chicken broth. DISAPPOINTING since one of our cats is allergic to chicken and their Turkey formula was the only canned food they could all share. The tip off was that our cat had an allergic reaction and we couldn’t figure out what it was coming from. I wish they would have put something on the can! I am now switching to another brand, but wanted to share this in case others didn’t realize it.
      • 

        Sandy May 2, 2013 at 5:40 pm #

        All of the adds I read about Wellness cat food states that there isn’t any meat by-products in the food, so how dow you know they have added Chicken by-product?
62. 

    kate January 18, 2013 at 10:23 am #

    I’ve always fed my cat Wellness without a problem, till now. I just opened up a can of CORE Turkey and Duck but it was clearly the sardine flavor food inside! (No mistaking that smell.) I never buy fishy flavors because my cat hates them, so that’s one very expensive can of cat food wasted. Has anyone else had a problem like this?
    • 

      jacob January 22, 2013 at 10:51 pm #

      yeah – my cat hates the fish stuff as well. I usually buy by the case so I was happy that my local pet store let me exchange for the chicken.

      I feed my cat dry Iams for years and she was very gassy, liquid crap, etc. Once I switched to wellness wet canned food this has really been minimized.

      She loves the wellness dry stuff (has actually ripped open the bag like a dog) but that sets her digestion progress back.
63. 

    Stephanie January 13, 2013 at 11:17 pm #

    My cat eats the healthy weight formula (if a little reluctantly) but I am wondering if the cost of this brand has just skyrocketed? I thought I used to buy it in a 16 lb bag for around $40 and now it’s an 11 lb bag for $40???
64. 

    John Y December 17, 2012 at 11:17 pm #

    My 3 year old Maine Coon mix has been eating Wellness since I brought her home from the shelter. I recently noticed she was getting a little heavy and switched from Wellness CORE to Indoor Health along with the same amount of wet food. She’s definitely more trim now and I would recommend the indoor formula if your cat is a more indoor oriented feline. Great product!
    • 

      jb February 7, 2013 at 3:30 am #

      That’s because the Wellness Core is the high calorie version of the Wellness brand:
      Chicken (218), Beef/Venison (210), Fish (192), and Turkey/Duck has 188 cal/can. The Indoor Core only has 148 cal/can. If you try the regular Grain Free Wellness canned food or the Grain Free Pouches, I called the company & they only have around 81 cal/can or pouch.
65. 

    Anne December 4, 2012 at 4:13 am #

    After trying every kind of dry food for our Siamese, with hopes it would quit making her throw up, I found the Wellness line of cat food. It is amazing…almost immediately she stopped throwing up and instead of cleaning up messes 2-3 times a day, she now may throw up 2-3 times a year!! It is well worth the extra money as all our 5 furbabies eat it and are very healthy! Our Siamese just turned 20 this month and I wish I had fed her Wellness all of her life rather than only the last 5 years. Our Vet says she has teeth like a 7 year old cat and her eyes, skin and fur are like nothing our vet has seen in a cat her age. We had been dreaning losing her as she has gotten older but now we were told she is so healthy, she could easily live many many more years! Thanks Wellness….the only food we will feed our beloved kitties!
66. 

    Noel December 1, 2012 at 11:59 pm #

    Though this article gave me some interesting information about the potential of this food for my cats, I must inform the website that Wellness has indeed been recalled recently, namely 2011.

    http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/newpetfoodrecalls/brand_list.cfm?Trade_Name=Wellness&pet=Cat
    • 

      Lee February 14, 2013 at 11:58 pm #

      That FDA page refers to Wellness CANNED food, not the dry food.
67. 

    Shirl Wilder November 25, 2012 at 8:35 pm #

    Please let me know when coupons for wellness cat food, dry and canned, are available.

    Thank you
    • 

      maralevine November 25, 2012 at 9:21 pm #

      We do have some Wellness Cat Food deals available on this page: http://petfoodtalk.com/catfoodcoupons/wellness-cat-food-coupons/.
      I hope that helps. We are always on the lookout for more coupons, so please check back often.

      Thank you.

      -Mara
68. 

    atlas July 28, 2012 at 5:11 am #

    gave my cats diarrhea
69. 

    Downunder Sugarglider July 9, 2012 at 12:49 am #

    Unfortunately my kittens wouldn’t touch it – one bite of the kitten formula and both rejected it.
70. 

    Geri DG June 23, 2012 at 11:46 pm #

    No problems. Both our cats however quickly became bored by the food and refused to eat it after 3 months or so.
71. 

    bügelbrett groß June 2, 2012 at 10:58 am #

    very good article, i definitely love this excellent website, keep on it
72. 

    Elle May 11, 2012 at 2:09 pm #

    I believe in Wellness. My eldest cat of 4 was diagnosed with IBD and pancreatitus awhile back. He lost so much weight he needed a gastric feeding tube implanted and then we found out he had an intestinal adenocarcinoma. Long story short, he had the mass removed and then had to loose the feeding tube because of infections. I decided to go with Wellness grain free canned over the prescription diets he had been on because he loved it and more than anything he needed to eat. Long story short, it suited him and he’s once again the beautiful, playful, loving cat he was 6 years ago.

    I also supplement my guys with fish oils purified for contaminants – Nordic Naturals – that come in capsules. A lot of products sold for pets are the lowest quality, bottom of the barrel sources that probably contain a mercury, PCBs, etc. and are packaged in bottles where they can become rancid and exposed to plastic degredation. Nordic Naturals capsules are the best I’ve found – just my 2 cents on that.
73. 

    Cara Lin April 30, 2012 at 8:20 pm #

    The color and consistency of the canned chicken cat food varies greatly from lot to lot. Is there a reason for this? My cat usually loves it but the 22dec14 lot is different enough for her to be disappointed.
    I’d also like to know if this is a safety issue!
    • 

      J May 7, 2012 at 8:29 pm #

      All I know is about the time of the recall over the taurine which may or may not have affected my cats’ food, one of them refused to eat the canned altogether. I switched to Halo but have some concerns over the canned being high in phosphorus for my recently sick cat, but I think it is a great brand so if your cat will eat it and it agrees with them, maybe that would be better than risk another recall.
    • 

      J June 19, 2012 at 3:17 am #

      They had a recall before. Be careful. Best advice (since some cats died), feed canned food from a different brand too. The recall was because of a lacking nutrient.
    • 

      S.M. November 12, 2012 at 7:47 pm #

      Reply to Cara Lin…
      My cat always loved Wellness minced chicken canned food…with the last lot I bought, she sniffs it then walks away. I bought 24 cans as I usually do and wasted 4 cans to see if she would eat it. It was one of her favorite 3 Wellness foods. Now she only eats minced turkey and minced turkey/salmon. I contacted Wellness but they say their recipe has not changed with the chicken. I even tried the sliced chicken and got the same results…sniff and walk away. My cat is definitely telling me something is different with the food…wish she could talk!
74. 

    Kellie April 30, 2012 at 1:01 pm #

    After going through 3 different foods (Iams, Science Diet, and Innovo, all dry) my cat would not stop with the diarrhea and/or puking for over a month. After being to the vet, they could not diagnose her without getting a million more tests done, I had the bloodwork and xrays done, and everything came back fine and she was still a pretty happy cat, eating and drinking regularly so I decided to try switching food instead. I decided to try wellness – canned wet beef and chicken without a gradual switch, she already had diarrhea so I had nothing to lose with it. What a difference! Her diarrhea cleared up within 12 hours, and I’ve decided to keep her on it full time. Debating putting my other on it too, just to keep it easy. Very pleased with cat health progress. Just wish it was cheaper, or available in a bigger bulk size to save on costs.
    • 

      yasamin April 27, 2013 at 7:07 pm #

      be aware that EVO dry cat food has salmonella. Virginia DEPT of agriculture tested the food and is positive for salmonella. I had to put one cat down and the other two have been sick over 3 weeks. My vet put them on ampicillin and that saved them DO NOT BUY EVO
75. 

    karen April 12, 2012 at 4:17 pm #

    My then two year old cat was diagnosed with cardio myopathy. I changed his food to Wellness after self research on the best food for him. Although the vet considered his condition to be very serious it has been 10 months and he looks and plays like a healthy cat. I truly believe that his food has and will extend his life. I would strongly recommend Wellness food for cats!
76. 

    Karren Haller April 11, 2012 at 4:41 pm #

    Hi there, just found your site by being asked to post the banner on my blog. We use Wellness for our cats as one of them has a finicky digestive system, and after our vet suggested that we switch he is doing so much better. It is a little costly but is worth it.
77. 

    elizabeth November 27, 2011 at 7:01 pm #

    We feed Wellness canned Turkey/Salmon….the only flavor Grandma kitty likes! She’s 16yrs. old and thrives on it. I wish it were a little cheaper, but you get what you pay for.
    Grandma Cookie, Mr. Kitty, Hibbles, Pi & Sox all love their Wellness!
78. 

    Og the Cat Haver October 19, 2011 at 5:49 pm #

    The only dry our two kittens now eat, and they chew it down like its catnip. We tried mixing it with a certain cheaper national brand of kitten dry, and it made them hyper like a toddler on fruit loops. Once we cleared that out, back to their normal selves.

    Bag proudly says no grain.

    We buy the larger bags as the price point makes it far more cost effective.
79. 

    Mo September 28, 2011 at 7:01 pm #

    http://catinfo.org/?link=cannedfoods
    Forgot to mention that I also stopped feeding my cat dry food. See this link to excellent information from a veterinarian. Good luck!
    • 

      Og the Cat Haver October 19, 2011 at 5:57 pm #

      We once tried another national brand of cat dry food, and our two kittens ran around like a toddler on a sugar rush.

      Wellness is all they get now, and it has no grain.

      We buy the larger bags cause the price per pound is just that much better.
      • 

        pat June 11, 2012 at 1:06 pm #

        I have a 7 mo. old cat that runs around like a “sugar rush” also. We to use another brand Do you know the reason for this?
80. 

    Mo September 28, 2011 at 6:57 pm #

    My diabetic cat went from Insulin twice a day to none over a period of a 8 -9 days by changing his cat food to Wellness with NO GRAIN. I’m sure any other variey that containes no grain would be as effective.
81. 

    aly September 27, 2011 at 9:49 am #

    Hey there Sometimes a vet can help you choose a food that controls the cats diabetes. It all depends on your cat, like humaans diabetes can be either helped by a change in diet or totally controlled by diet. Choosing a food with alot of meaty ingredients (true meat not a byproduct) and something with less starch-y grains. Often recomended in a diabetic diet are complex carbs and protein – a longer lasting product metabolized in the body, to keep sugars stable longer. What are you currently feeding your cat? and have you consulted with the vet to decide on a food brand that may be right for your cat? For example “Fancy Feast” is known to have alot of byproduct and grains as their ingredients, artificial colours and alot of sodium, picking a higher grade food like “weruva, blue or Wellness” just to name a few the ingredients are alot better. Maybe even just go to your local petstore and compare. In Canada we have Pet Valu, smaller then petsmart but I find they have a better selection on wet food. Also, try keeping your cats feeding times very consistent, I hope some of this babble-ed advice helps you a bit
82. 

    Marie Coliss September 24, 2011 at 11:19 am #

    Our male cat is 7 years old. He has been diabetic about a year. Insulin shots 2x a day. Is there a way to help him to safely cut back on that?

    Thank you
83. 

    Aly September 22, 2011 at 7:33 pm #

    Hello , lol i also commented on the blue food. My cats personally do not enjoy the wet food of wellness – but to all you cat owners out there this is a great food I always carefully read the can labels of my food and my cats food. This food is holistic- no animal by-products or carby-fillers such as corn glutten and such. There is also cranberries in this food, which i mentioned in my other post as an excellent source for a healthy urinary tract ( when people have kidney infections/stones the doctor always says drink cranberry juice :)) Fixed male cats really need this in their diet as they are prone to crytals. As I said my cats personally dont like this food, but yours may and its worth a try readily available at any pet store.
84. 

    Bill September 4, 2011 at 9:04 pm #

    We currently have several Wellness cats. Two Maine Coons, a Ragdoll and a three mixed breed rescues. We have had many other rescues and fosters over the years. We discovered Wellness brand several years back while coping with rescues and their various health issues. Cats thrive on Wellness, maintain a healthy weight and most general health issues disappear with a month of so. Vomiting and diarrhea are rare events, bowel movements don’t stink up the house, coats become smooth and silky, eyes bright, kitten like energy, etc.

    A couple of the canned recipes have some grain. Wellness clearly labels the grain free formulas with a triangle splash on the front. We stick with the grain free recipes, so I can’t speak of the products that have some grain.

    The Wellness line does come at a higher price but it’s worth it when you see your cats do so well. If you own cats you have an obligation to feed them a proper diet and not the low quality brands that you find in grocery and department stores.

    I have compared most of the premium brands. Wellness is as good as you are going to get except a home made raw diet.

    Switch your cat to Wellness and in 30 days, you will be impressed with the results.
    • 

      Kasha February 27, 2012 at 9:52 am #

      I chose Wellness because of its suberb rating and my cat has done fine on bothe the canned and dry versions. I buy the 5 oz. canned food by the case. Last year, I noticed that a number of the cans were not filled with meat; rather there was more liquid where the meat should be. I contacted the company about the issue and they responded well (expressed concern, asked for the lot number and told me to avoid it in the future, and sent a couple of coupons). Things were fine for a while, and I got another case recently that had underfilled cans and again contacted the company. They asked for, and I sent in four cans which their quality assurance team said met the “weight” requirements even though they contained less meat. I explained that my cat needs meat–not liquid, buy it has apparently fallen on deaf years. I’m sure I am not the only one who has experienced this drop-off in quality. I am now shopping for another quality brand that actually fills its cans. Any good recommendations?
      • 

        J May 7, 2012 at 8:35 pm #

        We went from Wellness to Halo. One cat really likes Merricks but it does have more liquid to it. For her I think it is needed though. I quit with the Wellness because one cat refused to eat the canned (then found out about the recall awhile back). Before Grain is another one that I considered and Nature’s variety instincts was soso for my cats but doesn’t appear to be bad quality. Good luck.
85. 

    Stella August 18, 2011 at 1:35 am #

    This food it really good. However, suddenly my cats won’t eat it. Hopefully I can try it again in the future.
86. 

    Lai-Lai August 16, 2011 at 8:42 am #

    I’m taking my cats off of wellness & core now that I’ve discovered B$ Grain, because I’ve been reading a lot that cats cannot digest vegetables (except grass & seaweed) & that veggies just make them poop a LOT & negatively effects their health over time.
87. 

    moe July 21, 2011 at 5:12 pm #

    Wellness core is not the only one in this line that is grain free. The regular wellness also has the grain free varieties as well as the pouches. You need to read the label and make sure you are buying the grain free variety. To my understanding, Wellness core canned food just has a higher protein value.
88. 

    leannan June 19, 2011 at 7:38 am #

    Under the heading WHO is WELLNESS MANUFACTURED BY? The answer WellpetLLC is correct.
    WellpetLLC(corporation) makes Wellness(brand) cat food.

    The folksy story of a dog and a biscuit, reflects a distorted focus of a business that existed, independently over 80 years ago. Old Mother Hubbard.

    The Wellness(brand) would not be developed by OMH until the 1990’s. Under direction of then CEO Jim Scott Jr. son of the nutrition professional who had purchased OMH in 1961. Wellness as a brand launched in 1999(dog food), 2000(cat food).

    This is the opening statement in the first paragraph “The company that makes Wellness cat food has a long history dating back to the early 1900″s.” WellpetLLc was established in 2008 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Berwind. In 2008 Berwind acquired OMH/Wellness and merged it with recently acquired Eagle Pack to form Wellpet LLC.

    Berwind now a private investment management company, began operations in 1886 as Berwind-White Coal Mining Company. Berwinds’ website states clearly states their business model and Acquisition Criteria: Acquisition target should be leaders in their niche market.

    Back in 2004 the Scott family had recapitalized OMH retaining partial ownership with Catterton Partners . In 2005 OMH shut its’ doors , laid off over 100 workers and outsourced operations and manufacturing to 11 different locations.

    In 2008 Catterton sold OmH to Berwind for 40 million dollars a 7x profit.

    On February 28th 2011 Wellness quietly issued a voluntary recall of cat food that lacked an essential vitamin thiamine, that cats can not live without. Thiamine(B-1) must be supplied consistently in their food source.

    Due to the voluntary nature of the recall, the FDA was not required to notify the public of the eminent threat to their cats. Consumers where not informed through local media or news outlets.
    • 

      J May 7, 2012 at 8:37 pm #

      I thought it was taurine. Either way my cat refused to eat it at that time so I switched to Halo.
89. 

    The Island Cats February 28, 2011 at 2:40 pm #

    We eat the Wellness canned foods and Wellness CORE. We thought all the canned foods were grain free, not just the CORE. We thought the difference with CORE is that it has more protein in it than the other Wellness canned foods, similiar to like EVO. The Wellness can food says on the can that it is grain free.

    We like Wellness a lot!

    Wally, Ernie & Zoey
90. 

    Brenda G February 25, 2011 at 5:52 pm #

    I have been feeding my 19-year-old cat Wellness for a couple of years. Her health has been excellent and she has the energy and flexibility of a cat less than half her age. Her favorite food comes in the pouches, but I need to mince the morsels into smaller pieces or she will just eat the gravy. Fortunately, I’ve discovered that a pastry cutter is a quick and easy way to do this! She does require more food when I feed her the pouches than she would if I gave her the cans. But, at her age, I am happy to give her whatever she wants.