# Thoughts on Earthborn Holistic?



## drag0nfly (Jun 13, 2012)

Hey cat food gurus 
Has anyone heard of or fed their cats the Earthborn Holistic canned food? I'm asking because a food salesperson at Pet Valu recommended this particular brand to me and after bringing home 2 cans, my cat decided that he likes it too. Truffles is a picky eater and refuses to eat pates. He's been sticking his little nose up at the EVO and Merrick that I've been feeding him for almost 2 months now. He LOVES Weruva and those Wellness & Natural Balance food pouches, but because he's a kitten I worry about him getting his proper daily nutrients from a low-calorie, mostly water food like Weruva. I would only feed him the canned chicken version of the Earthborn, and it is grain-free and an all-life stages food. What do you guys think? Is this brand safe and recommended for a 5 month kitten?


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## scottd (Jun 28, 2011)

The ingredients look good but it does contain carrageenan. A lot of the high end foods do though. I think this would be fine for your kitten.

On another note, the packaging looks cool.


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## Jacq (May 17, 2012)

I think Earthborn's a good food, but it got the thumbs-down from my cat. I had to water it down before she'd even touch it, and even then she'd only take a few bites before wandering off.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Good quality food. I believe it's all life stages but the website doesn't say (or at least I didn't find it)...double check the can to be sure. If it is, then you can feel comfortable feeding it.


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## drag0nfly (Jun 13, 2012)

doodlebug said:


> Good quality food. I believe it's all life stages but the website doesn't say (or at least I didn't find it)...double check the can to be sure. If it is, then you can feel comfortable feeding it.



Yeah I couldn't find it on the website either, but the can says it's for growth and maintenance.

I also noticed that potato starch is listed near the top, I think it's the 3rd ingredient. I'm trying to keep Truffle's diet as grain-free as possible, and while I know technically potato starch isn't a grain, I'm still a bit iffy about feeding this on a daily basis. What do you guys think about the potato starch?




Jacq said:


> I think Earthborn's a good food, but it got the thumbs-down from my cat. I had to water it down before she'd even touch it, and even then she'd only take a few bites before wandering off.


Really? I have to do the exact opposite and mix in 75% Earthborn to 25% EVO LOL


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## drag0nfly (Jun 13, 2012)

scottd said:


> The ingredients look good but it does contain carrageenan. A lot of the high end foods do though. I think this would be fine for your kitten.
> 
> On another note, the packaging looks cool.


As you said, I also saw carrageenan pop up in in a lot of the food labels so I'm not too worried about that, more so about the potato-starch as the 3rd main ingredient.  But yes, I agree the packaging is one of the best on the shelves!


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## LakotaWolf (Aug 10, 2012)

Petsumer Report lists Earthborn as only two "paws" out of a possible score of five - not because the food is crappy, necessarily, but because only two (and really only one) of the first five ingredients are actually nutritionally "worth" anything. These ingredients are chicken and sunflower oil. 

Chicken "broth" is nutritionally worthless except as moisture. The potato starch is entirely worthless, but not really harmful, either. Most Weruva flavors include potato starch as well. It's probably just used as a thickener/binder.

Have you tried your kitten on Ziwipeak? It's a little harder to find, but it's fantastically high quality and an amazing canned food. It's what I fed my cat before switching to raw :}

Also, you can always just feed your kitten more food more often - so you could keep him on a food he likes.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

LakotaWolf said:


> Petsumer Report lists Earthborn as only two "paws" out of a possible score of five - not because the food is crappy, necessarily, but because only two (and really only one) of the first five ingredients are actually nutritionally "worth" anything. These ingredients are chicken and sunflower oil.


I really hate her scoring method, it's too simplistic and doesn't always paint an accurate picture. The first ingredient could represent 98% of what's in the can, in that case ingredients 2-5 really don't matter that much. She gives EVO and Weruva Paw Lickin Chicken a 2 star rating too.


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## sunset97 (May 24, 2011)

I bought a couple cans for our two cats to try. Neither one of them would eat it.


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## LadyK (Jan 30, 2012)

I bought a can for Josie to try and she loved it! It was the chicken catcciatori flavor and it reminded me a lot of Weruva's Paw Lickin' Chicken, but with a darker broth. I'll be buying more.


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## Luvmyfurbabies (Jun 25, 2012)

Bought this today, and all three of my babies scarfed it up in minutes as if it was the best thing they ever ate. One dsh sat next to my Persian after he finished to see if he was going to leave any behind. It was quite funny to watch. Because of the texture and length of the chicken shreds my Persians flat face found this hard to actually eat but kept with it and ate every single shred. Three paws up at my house!


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## littlesushi (Jun 8, 2011)

Our cats are hooked on the chicken...so much that they will start turning their noses up on other foods we've fed them, possibly in hopes of us giving them earthborn instead? They don't love any food nearly as much as earthborn and I was beginning to wonder if it were laced with crack or something. We've resorted to feeding it once a week as a treat to keep their pickiness down to a minimum lol.


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