# Can someone tell me if this canned food is good? (Performatrin Ultra Turkey Stew)



## yingying (Jul 19, 2011)

My cat Meatball is a very picky canned eater. She eats almost all kinds of dry food, but when comes to canned, she only likes meow mix (not so good), chicken soup for cat lover (I'm ok with that), and natural instinct rabbit (good but very expensive). Currently I give her Wellness, and she doesn't like it a single bit. I have to mix some of her favorites in, otherwise she won't touch it (it has been like that for 4 months, so lets forget about "transition period"). Even when I do the mix, she will reluctantly eat half and then leave. So end up I have to chase after her with her dish in my hand and coerce her to eat the rest. That takes me almost half a hour per meal to get her eat everything. Very exhaustive, mentally and physically. 

So I was trying different types of cans to find ones that she will accept and good enough to replace Wellness. Last weekend I gave her a can of Performatrin Ultra Turkey Stew, and she LOVEs it! Even my other cat Metoo seems to enjoy it a lot more than Wellness. 

I wonder if any cat food expert here can evaluate this food for me? Is it a good type of cat food? Anything I need to be concerned if I replace Wellness with this one completely? I will list the ingredient here to save you some time. Thank you so much for the help! 


*Ingredients:*
Turkey, Turkey Bouillon, Turkey Liver, Diced Carrots, Egg Product, Diced Red Peppers, Potato Starch, Torula Dried Yeast, Guar Gum, Natural Flavor, Oat Fiber, Pea Fiber, Spinach Flakes, Calcium Carbonate, Sweet Potatoes, Tricalcium Phosphate, Brewers Dried Yeast, Sodium Phosphate, Menhaden Fish Oil, Sunflower Oil, Sea Salt, Potassium Chloride, Parsley, Sodium Ascorbate (Source Of Vitamin C), Taurine, Flaxseed Oil, Dried Chicory Root, Dried Kelp, Oregano, Sodium Carbonate, Dried Blueberries, Dried Cranberries, Dried Apples, Iron Proteinate, Zinc Proteinate, Sage, Beta Carotene, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Vitamin E Supplement, Choline Chloride, Cobalt Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Niacin, Sodium Selenite, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Potassium Iodide, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Biotin.

*Analysis:*
Crude Protein 10.0% minCrude Fat 3.0% minCrude Fiber 1.0% maxMoisture82.0% maxMagnesium0.025% maxTaurine0.06% minOmega-6 fatty acids*0.7% minOmega-3 fatty acids*0.09% min


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## my5kitties (Sep 13, 2005)

I'm no expert, but I've never heard of red peppers in cat food. Sounds iffy to me.


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## catinthemirror (Jun 28, 2011)

Yeah, I tried Wellness with my cats and they didn't go for it either. I guess it doesn't matter how good the food is if they just won't eat it :?

I have a really finicky cat too, so I hear you about chasing them around the house with a bowl of food in your hand. Eventually I forced myself to stop doing that. If she took a few licks of food and wondered off I'd leave the food down for another ten minutes and then put it away. It did not come back out until the next feeding time. I was hoping a few instances of being hungry would help teach her to eat while the food was still there, but it didn't work :? Right now I'm feeding her on the counter, so she's away from the other cat. I feed her up there cuz she's an old gal and she doesn't want to jump down on her own. That way I can put the food down, get some coffee, make a sandwich, go about my business, and she knows if she wants down she has to eat her food. This keeps me from having to chase her all over. Maybe you could try feeding Meatball in small room with a door you could close? Then at least you wouldn't have to go chasing her everywhere just to get her to eat. 

I actually gave my two cats a few cans of the Performatrin Ultra Stew. They loved the Beef Stew, but after thinking it over I just didn't feel comfortable feeding it to them. There's just a staggering amount of strange vegetables in there (Parsley? Diced red pepper? Spinach flakes?), as well as some weird herbs and mystery ingredients (What does 'Egg Product' mean? 'Natural Flavor'? Sage? Oregano???). 

Plus I believe that bullion, the second ingredient, is just concentrated broth (in this case turkey broth) and it bugs me that I don't know exactly what's in that. Plus, meat broths and bullion are usually pretty high in sodium, and there's already sea salt in the ingredients list. That said, if your cats seem to like this food and are tolerating it well it might be ok occasionally. Or even a little of the Performatrin Ultra mixed in with some Turkey Wellness to make it tastier for them? (Since they seem to like turkey :wink)

If memory serves I think the Performatrin Ultra is kind of a chunky food, right? Maybe Meatball just likes the _texture _more than pate type foods. I think the regular Merrick cans have a similar chunky texture, and my cats both liked those for a while. Good luck! Hope you find some kind of food that both you and Meatball can accept.


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## yingying (Jul 19, 2011)

Thanks for both of your opinions. I didn't pay attention what vege they put in the can. Red pepper sure sounds weird as I never seen it in other brand either (I've seen couple of brands have parsley in their cans though). Sign, seems they have to go back to mainly Wellness again... 

Meatball doesn't go by texture, I think what triggers her is the smell of the food. For any new food she will smell it for a good amount of time and decide if she will eat it or leave (but for this one she just jump on it without hesitation). Her favorite is seafood and rabbit, and I think I can add turkey on that short list now (I do seen Wellness has turkey flavored cans and would like to give it a try. Unfortunatelly the two pet stores I frequent don't carry that varity). What she doesn't like is beef, duck, and chicken (oddly enough, she does love chicken soup for cat lover).

Anyone from greater Toronto area knows which store sells Wellness Turkey?


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## cooncatbob (May 27, 2011)

Chiquita is picky too but seems to like chicken best but not like turkey.
Her current favorite is Merrick's Grammy's Pot Pie.


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## catinthemirror (Jun 28, 2011)

It's funny you should mention the smell, because I did notice that the Performatrin Ultra had a very strong, very appetizing smell. You know what, I think it's probably the bullion that makes it smell so strongly. So it's a shame that they don't list the ingredients in it.


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## catinthemirror (Jun 28, 2011)

Actually I was sure I'd seen red peppers in another food my cats had tired, so I looked though a few websites. Looks like some of the Nature's Variety Homestyle by Prairie (Same company that makes Instincts) have red peppers as well (Lamb & Liver Stew, and the Turkey & Liver Stew). It still seems like a strange ingredient in cat food, but I never had any problems when my cats were eating the Homestyle by Prairie. Just my two cents


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