JustMe
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Posts: 4664
Herdin' Cats and 2 GSDs
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« on: July 20, 2007, 06:15:22 PM » |
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Please post your Nature's Variety Dry/Canned Cat Food experiences here along with your state or region. Thank you.
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Never forget our cats and dogs and the Pet Food Recalls of 2007; the reason most of us are here!
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JustMe
Global Moderator
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Posts: 4664
Herdin' Cats and 2 GSDs
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« Reply #1 on: July 20, 2007, 06:18:21 PM » |
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I used to use Nature's Variety dry for my cat. I stopped using it when I opened one bag and it was definately different, smelled different and Andy wouldn't eat it. Turns out they changed the formula and never changed the bags so I moved on to California Natural..not a good move  Carol in IL moved from Nature's Variety Feline Raw experience |
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Never forget our cats and dogs and the Pet Food Recalls of 2007; the reason most of us are here!
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artzwild
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« Reply #2 on: July 21, 2007, 02:25:21 PM » |
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Canada. We are currently feeding our cats the new Nature's Variety Instinct canned Venison cat food. Is seems fine for our allergic cat even though is has egg in it. They love the meaty texture and it is quite juicy. The previous version was called Prairie and we could not use as it caused vomitting and runny stools in the allergy cat. The Prairie is still available and the ingredient list for both versions is similar but the new Instinct has fewer ingredients and that seems to have made the difference. We have tried every canned cat food with Venison on the market and this is the only one both the cats like and will eat every day that I can find easily in any higher end pet store. Nature's Variety has a store locator on their website that is kept up to date. I also found their customer service great and they replied to my emails within 24 hours. I should mention we had a tricky time getting our cats used to it. They loved the first can, then were fickle on the second can. It took about 3 days to get them used to it and now they are eating it very well. One trick we have learned is to mix the juice into the food before putting it in the fridge. The meat gets stiff in the fridge and is harder to chew so mixing the juice in makes it easier to dish out after it gets cold.
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« Last Edit: July 22, 2007, 05:45:32 AM by artzwild »
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alek0
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« Reply #3 on: July 28, 2007, 10:09:42 PM » |
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Used it before recall with no problems. Since recall my cats have been on Serengeti only for dry, started mixing NV Lamb&Oatmeal dry with Serengeti last week, no problems, cats love it.
I also like that it is a ziplock bag, which is very convenient since even with three cats it takes some time to go through the bag of dry since they eat mostly wet.
I tried NV canned before, but my cats wouldn't eat it. In general, they don't like that kind of foods, they prefer things with pieces of meat or fish inside, not just mush. Since they are used to eating canned in jelly or water with real pieces of meat and fish (looks normal, smells normal, not like usual cat food), so can't realy blame them for not eating NV wet, and this doesn't mean that other cats who like different style of food wouldn;t like it.
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Beccaj
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« Reply #4 on: August 01, 2007, 10:51:54 AM » |
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NW Arkansas
4 cats. Two 14 year olds, two 1 year olds.
Started feeding the Prairie Chicken & Rice dry the beginning of July 07 when I got a buy 1 get 1 free coupon. All four cats like it and thus far no problems.
Since I don't feed much dry, as the cats get mostly canned, I do like the zip lock feature on the bags.
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mauras23
Newbie
Posts: 3
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« Reply #5 on: September 13, 2007, 12:15:25 PM » |
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I'm in Missouri. Interested in hearing about others' experiences with Instinct canned in particular. My story: I'm transitioning my three cats to Instinct. They've been eating Eagle Pack Holistic, but I'm switching because a) I like the idea of feeding a grain-free food, especially since two of the three are overweight, and b) the oldest one just doesn't really like the Eagle Pack canned and has to be coaxed/bribed to eat it. The Instinct has made a good impression on me so far, four days in to the transition. It's densely packed but juicy and looks and smells like meat. All three love the duck and chicken flavors of canned, especially the duck. Haven't tried the other flavors yet. One cat has a fussy stomach, but so far she's been making the transition without problems (knock on wood). None of the foods I've tried--and there have been quite a few--since the recall has been perfect, but I'm hoping this one will finally do the trick. They've gotten a little bit of the chicken flavor dry once and seem to like it okay but don't love it. Dry is just an occasional treat for them, so I might stick with Eagle Pack there. The store where I buy it still has cans of Prairie, which my cats didn't like. I noticed on the Nature's Variety Website that they're reformulating it (don't know why) and some of the varieties will be grain-free, so I'll look for that when it comes out in the hope that it might be a little bit less expensive than Instinct.  |
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kittylyda
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« Reply #6 on: September 13, 2007, 02:39:34 PM » |
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I started feeding Nature's Variety Instinct canned food a couple of months ago. My cats like it very much and we have had no problems. Their favorite flavors are chicken and duck. They will eat the beef but they do not much care for the venison.
Chicago, IL
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cboss04
Newbie
Posts: 4
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« Reply #7 on: September 19, 2007, 12:11:08 AM » |
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CA. Had my three cats on their canned varieties for over a year. After this recall mess began, I emailed several times over the course of past few months (they have NO phone number listed on website for contact) inquiring about where their meats, vitamin/mineral additives, etc., were sourced from (China, US?), and never received ANY reply. Since they couldn't be bothered to answer even one email from this concerned pet owner and customer, I couldn't be bothered to continue paying more than $6 a day for their products to feed my cats, and close to $10 a day for the dogs.
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Meowli
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« Reply #8 on: September 20, 2007, 03:43:27 PM » |
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Massachusetts:
Have been feeding my 3 boys (range from 6 to approx 12 yrs) canned Instinct recently. So far, the cats seem to like it, even my super-fussy "kibble-only" cat! Tried chicken, and duck, and some other flavor - forget which. Thus,there's less waste, so at least the shock of the high price is softened a bit. I'll buy this brand again, and will continue to feed it along with a few other brands for variety.
Meowli
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kaffe
Guest
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« Reply #9 on: September 21, 2007, 07:32:10 PM » |
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I bought a few cans of Instinct but stayed away from the rabbit ( I prefer that fresh and from a source I could talk to). My cats totally enjoy the Lamb formula! I still have to try the Venison and the Duck formulas. I like the fact that these formuls contain no grains.
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artzwild
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« Reply #10 on: September 22, 2007, 02:05:33 PM » |
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We tried a can of the NV Instinct Rabbit and one cat backed away from it and would not touch it. One ate a little and threw it up. We had the same problem with the duck. They will eat the Venison and the beef which is surprising because one has allergies and is not supposed to be able to eat beef or chicken. Have not tried the Lamb or Chicken yet but will soon. I have been feeding this brand for some time and it seems to be fine. Both cats have beautiful plushy fur. Good litterbox habits. No barf ups except the rabbit mentioned above. My cats do seem to go back and forth on the Venison - one week they love it and eat it well and the next week they are so-so on it and not eating it well. They do prefer the beef to the venison. They like the vension best from a fresh opened can. Once it goes stiff in the fridge they don't like it much. I have tried mixing in the juice well with the food before refrigerating and that ususally is better. Heating in micro or with warm water is useless and temp seems not to be the issue but a lack of taste/smell or texture maybe. The beef doesn't go too stiff in the fridge. So far I have no problems with this food but was unhappy to read the rabbit was sourced in China. Many human supplements are sourced in China now so I'm sure the same is true of those put in pet food and it would be very difficult to find any food that does not have any supplements from China. The only thing to do is go raw to avoid all supplements. My cats won't touch raw no matter what I do so we'll stick with Nature's Variety until something better comes along.
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Pamela
Jr. Member
Posts: 45
LIL-LEA DIVA Toy Poo 4 Years OLD
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« Reply #11 on: September 23, 2007, 05:54:38 PM » |
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Hi, Can you please tell me where you saw that the rabbit is sourced in China? I ask because I feed the Raw Medallions to Lil-Lea (my toy poo) and will eat every one of them *except* the rabbit. She will not touch the rabbit! So,now I am wondering why !
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EricV
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« Reply #12 on: September 23, 2007, 06:55:47 PM » |
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Hi, Can you please tell me where you saw that the rabbit is sourced in China? I ask because I feed the Raw Medallions to Lil-Lea (my toy poo) and will eat every one of them *except* the rabbit. She will not touch the rabbit! So,now I am wondering why !
It's likely because rabbit meat is quite a bit different in texture and taste than beef, chicken, venison, turkey, etc. |
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Laurie
Guest
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« Reply #13 on: October 07, 2007, 05:11:10 PM » |
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I recently purchased a bag of the Instinct Rabbit formula. I have not had much success in getting my kids to eat more than just a couple of kibbles at a time. Disappointed that they do not like it. Will not purchase again. They do seem to enjoy the canned Instinct, although one cannot eat it because it contains eggs.
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catbird
Global Moderator
Hero Member
Posts: 3570
Torti Goddess
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« Reply #14 on: December 24, 2007, 08:50:41 AM » |
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Instinct canned has become a big hit with my cats. Even the ones who usually won't eat wet food enjoy the Instinct rabbit. Instinct duck was refused by all; it is a lot more watery and my cats don't like watery food. This morning we tried the first can of beef. When I opened it, I was dubious because the beef was a really, really "stiff" food--hard to mash up with a fork. But all five ate the beef, including the fussy dry-food addicts, in record time! None of the Instinct canned foods seem to have caused any belching, vomiting or diarrhea, even with the cat who has a sensitive stomach. Five paws up!
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