# How good is Eukanuba?



## Gabreilla Moushigo (Jun 14, 2004)

Well... I did some label checking... I just realized that Science Diet is the worst crud that I could have EVER imagined! I don't even think that meat was one of their first things! I've been feeding my poor Senior cat this food - wondering why he was getting fatter - he has got to be 4-5lbs over weight if not more! My baby cat won't stop eatting and when I give him his vitamines he acts like he is starving for it. My adult cat acts like he can't get enough as well... I never realized that maybe their nutritional needs were not being met while making them fat at the same time. I looked at the label and just realized science diet was mainly just a bunch of fillers and junk... am I wrong?

I also realized that my little kitten might not be able to digest this food correctly - since he is still having diaria even after they found no paracites on or in him.

I found all this out by looking at Eukanuba for dogs - realized that a lot of the first products had meat on them - and thought... HEY! Maybe it's even better for cats! They also had lots of meat products as the first ingredients...

Does anyone else suggest this food as well? I can't get Chicken Soup for cats - so I thought this might be great - and might help my poor fat kitty lose some weight. I'm really worried about him gaining even more weight and our little kitten being sick over it. I'm desperate!

P.S. I realized a lot didn't I? hehe :lol:


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## Adora (May 22, 2003)

I don't like that there are byproducts in Eukanuba food  I feed "Wellness" to my cats. Here is the link to the manufacturer's website:

http://www.omhpet.com

Here are the ingredients of *Wellness Adult Super5mix Dry* Cat Food:



> Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Chicken Liver, Ground Brown Rice, Ground Whole Oats, Canola Oil (Preserved With Mixed Tocopherols & Rosemary), Cranberries, Blueberries, Flax Seed, Eggs, Peas, Taurine, Garlic, Alfalfa Leaf, Spirulina, Norwegian Kelp, Whole Apples, Zucchini, Sweet Potatoes, Yucca Schidigera, Chondroitin Sulfate, Glucosamine, Pro-Biotics (Lactobacillus Plantarum, Enterococcus Faecium, Lactobacillus Casei, Lactobacillus Acidophilus), Pre-Biotics (Mannanoligosaccharides) etc.


*Wellness Super5Mix Lite* Dry Cat Food for less active or overweight cats:



> Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Ground Whole Barley, Ground Whole Oats, Ground Brown Rice, Rice Bran, Chicken Liver, Flax Seed, Eggs, Tomato Pomace, Alfalfa Leaf, Peas, Canola Oil (Preserved With Mixed Tocopherols & Rosemary), Cranberries, Blueberries, Taurine, Garlic, Spirulina, Norwegian Kelp, Whole Apples, Zucchini, Sweet Potatoes, Yucca Schidigera, Chondroitin Sulfate, Glucosamine, Pro-Biotics (Lactobacillus Plantarum, Enterococcus Faecium, Lactobacillus Casei, Lactobacillus Acidophilus), Pre-Biotics (Mannanoligosaccharides) etc.


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## spacemonkey (Aug 12, 2004)

I just now that I've heard Iams, which is a Eukanuba food, performs cruel tests on animals for their products, and many people are boycotting them.

I did not realize Science Diet was so bad for cats (I know better now!), and will be picking up some new food this week.


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## Gabreilla Moushigo (Jun 14, 2004)

I'm really having a hard time finding these foods too.  Does anyone know where these foods are available? Like at certain pet shops like Petco or something? I'll try to do a search - hope I find something. Also - how much do you pay for your Wellness? The wetfood sounds too good to be true! I just want to make sure I'm not paying too much - since there is a possibility I could order off line for a lot cheaper.

Side note:
I just read the wellness packages for the dry and wet - I am very impressed with the wet food... but I'm not so sure about the dry yet - apples and potatos? I also don't like the meat by-products of the Eukanuba either - but the closest pet stores (50-100 miles away!) that just might have Wellness is quite a long drive for cat food. Since Eukanuba was closer... might have to get that insted - but I'll try to find some closer... really impressed with ingredients! Anyone else think that Wellness is good too?


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## AngelZoo (Aug 24, 2003)

Gabreilla: Give me your state/city and zip code and I can help you find good foods. I will come back with a list of locations for you.


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## Gabreilla Moushigo (Jun 14, 2004)

I found a place a little closer who has Wellness (found their webpage and did a search). I'm very excited - and I hope that they are open long enough (during the day) so I can go and get it. The kitten food is in such small packages though... =/ I haven't checked - but I'm sure the puppy food is the same way... I'm wondering if it wouldn't be smarter (cheaper) to continue him on the food he has now (or get one step up from the food I'm feeding him now) until he is grown up enough to eat wellness - I hate to do that - but it's pretty expensive for just a tiny bag...

I'm planning on feeding my dogs this as well - I like the ingreidients in the food. Hopefully when I move away they will have Wellness close by me.


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## AddFran (Jul 10, 2004)

Your kitten should be able to eat the regular Wellness too. 
When I was buying food at the local petstore, I was going to buy Wellness food in regular and kitten but the woman at the store said that all Wellness foods are for all stages of life and that they could both eat the same food. 

I checked the ingredients as well and there doesn't seem to be much of a difference.


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## Ta3339 (Feb 8, 2004)

I would try to see if Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul is anywhere in your area too...

It;s just as good as wellness and about 1/2 the price. My cats do much better on the chicken soup, and they like it better than the wellness.

Good Luck!

Link to the retailer page:
http://www.chickensoupforthepetloversso ... utors.html


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## Gabreilla Moushigo (Jun 14, 2004)

Thank you so much everyone - I have Wellness and Chicken Soup that is somewhat close to me. I wonder... should I do a mixture... half Chicken Soup Kitten Food - then half Wellness...


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## AddFran (Jul 10, 2004)

A mixture is not a bad idea. I do that with my kitties! I mix with Wellness, Chicken Soup and Felidae at the moment. It helps control the costs a bit too. Wellness IS pricey.


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## Gabreilla Moushigo (Jun 14, 2004)

AddFran said:


> A mixture is not a bad idea. I do that with my kitties! I mix with Wellness, Chicken Soup and Felidae at the moment. It helps control the costs a bit too. Wellness IS pricey.


I was thinking that too! I told Brad since both of them are good - but I think that Wellness is better - that maybe we could mix the two together to save on cost - but not on quality. Chicken Soup here is $20 for a 12 lb bag and Wellness is $27. I think around here Felidae is actually MORE expensive than Wellness comming at about $32 dollars for 12 lbs!

I think I'm going to let Halifax finish his Science Diet though - even though I don't particularly like it. It's just for a little while longer - and since his potty is starting to be solid again - I want to make sure it stays that way until we see the vet for his last shot and make sure it was the change in diet and not paracites.

Edit: I'm thinking about getting the canned Wellness too, and maybe the Chicken Soup cans.


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## AddFran (Jul 10, 2004)

Wow! I pay $7.50 for a 6lb bag of Felidae so it's actually the same price as chicken soup here. I pay $17.99 for a 5lb 14oz ( i think) bag of Wellness. 

That's an outrageous price for Felidae...yikes


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## AddFran (Jul 10, 2004)

I have not been able to find the chicken soup cans yet. What I see online in terms of price though is pretty high. 2 dollars for the big cans (12oz not 5.5oz) but I pay 1.49 per can for Wellness or Innova 12oz.


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## AngelZoo (Aug 24, 2003)

Gabreilla: Did you receive my PM?


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## ScoobyGirl314 (Aug 6, 2004)

spacemonkey said:


> I just now that I've heard Iams, which is a Eukanuba food, performs cruel tests on animals for their products, and many people are boycotting them.
> 
> I did not realize Science Diet was so bad for cats (I know better now!), and will be picking up some new food this week.


That is ture about Iams doing cruel tests on animals. Infact recently I've been spreading the word about the things they put animals through. If you want to learn more about it and what you can do to help go to http://www.iamscruelty.com


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## Gabreilla Moushigo (Jun 14, 2004)

AngelZoo said:


> Gabreilla: Did you receive my PM?


Yes - but I'm not sure how to respond back to personal messages - I probably need to look into that hehe - thanks for the literature. I've decided to go with the Wellness in any case - since it is better for them and without the extra stuff they don't need that is in Eukanuba.

Oh yes! Guess what? One of the places I went too - that was supposed to have both - didn't! Doh! I'll check other stores later though. I got 7 - 3 oz. cans of Wellness - each flavor. I'm going to get Halifax to do a taste test - see which ones he likes. That way if we decided to buy a case of 20 or whatever - we wouldn't have to worry about him hating that particular flavor.

I'm a little confused as to how to perform the test though. I'm thinking about taking his food away before I go to bed - wake up - then wait a little while - maybe into the early afternoon - and then let him eat some of the Wellness. If he won't eat it - even if he is hungry - that will tell me he doesn't like it I'm thinking. He pretty much does the same thing with the Science Diet wet - ignores it even when hungry - or tries to bury it like his litter because it smells bad to him.

I'll give him about half of the can - then replace his food and he can eat until he is full. If he doesn't like it - I think Tigger will find a place in his heart to eat it for me. =D

I'm thinking about giving 6 cans of the science diet for kittens to the shelter - does this sound like a good idea? I know it doesn't agree with Halifax - but I thought that some food would be better than nothing in their case. I have 2 cans of adult for Tigger, but if he doesn't like it - they might find another large can for their kitties. Also - do you think the shelter would take the rest of Halifax's dry science diet food if I brought it to them in a baggy? I don't have the original bag - so... not sure. I would just hate to waste the food if it could be used for a good cause - there is nothing really wrong with it or anything. Anyone have any experience in this?


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## kitkat (Sep 22, 2003)

I don't think they take open bags of food. But I would donate the cans if your cat doesn't like them, I'm sure those would come in handy :lol:


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## Annissa (Dec 9, 2003)

Gabreilla Moushigo said:


> I got 7 - 3 oz. cans of Wellness - each flavor. I'm going to get Halifax to do a taste test - see which ones he likes. That way if we decided to buy a case of 20 or whatever - we wouldn't have to worry about him hating that particular flavor.


You might consider getting 2 or even 3 cases at once. I know that if I feed Sabby the same flavor he gets bored with it. It's kind of cute when I put his food down. If he's had the same flavor for 2 or 3 days he sniffs the food and looks up at me as if to say, "Beef and chicken again???" Plus you won't have to go back for more food for 2 months or so.

I did the taste-test with Sabby too. He ate all the flavors with great relish. Basically, I just put down the food at his normal feeding times. No muss, no fuss.

I'm really disappointed to see the ingredient list of the Wellness dry foods. Certainly there are worse dry foods to feed to your cat, but it seems as though Old Mother Hubbard has bought into the idea that taking away fat and protein and increasing the amount of grains is a good way to help your cat lose weight. If I were to feed Wellness dry foods, I'd stick with the Adult and Kitten formulas (there appears to be very little difference between the two) and skip the Lite formula entirely.


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## AddFran (Jul 10, 2004)

Annissa said:


> I'm really disappointed to see the ingredient list of the Wellness dry foods. Certainly there are worse dry foods to feed to your cat, but it seems as though Old Mother Hubbard has bought into the idea that taking away fat and protein and increasing the amount of grains is a good way to help your cat lose weight.


I think it's pretty much universal with the foods that are labled as "lite" or "senior", etc.. It's a shame that the companies like Old Mother Hubbard (at least in their Wellness line) haven't shaped up and avoided this though. You'd expect a bit more from them. However, I think there probably is a big market for a product that is labeled such as this and they'd probably lose a lot of customers and money if they didn't provide a product for that consumer. 

Dr. Jean has noted this a few times and my vet has confirmed that same thing. There is no benefit to feeding these foods and may actually cause your pet to GAIN weight.


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## drjean (Jan 6, 2004)

All "lite" foods do that; they reduce fat and protein and increase carbs and fiber. Senior foods are similar. So I recommend adult or kitten foods; and minimal if any dry food, since all dry foods are too high in carbs.

Cheers,
Dr. Jean


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