# Hound & Gatos Wet Food



## Susan (Mar 29, 2010)

I just bought a can of Hound & Gatos wet food and Muffs LOVED it. I did a search and found an old thread asking about this food, but at the time (about a year ago), nobody seemed to have heard of it. I'm wondering if people have more knowledge these days.

It's a very mushy pate. My girls usually don't like pate, but Muffs loved this (I haven't tried Abby yet, since she's off playing, but I'll try her later). I bought the Rabbit flavor. The ingredients (listed below) seem ok...basically just rabbit, water, taurine and other vitamins/minerals. The other flavors have the same ingredients, although instead of rabbit, one would find beef, chicken, etc.

Ingredients: Rabbit, Water, (Sufficient For Processing), Guar Gum, Brewers Dried Yeast, Taurine, *Vitamins* (Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin Supplement, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate [Source of Vitamin C], Thiamine Mononitrate [Source of Vitamin B1], Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride [Source of Vitamin B6], Riboflavin Supplement [Source of Vitamin B2], Folic Acid, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Biotin, Vitamin D2 Supplement), *Minerals* (Zinc Sulfate, Ferros Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Selenium Yeast, Potassium Iodide).

Thoughts, comments, experience?


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## hoofmaiden (Sep 28, 2009)

Looks good to me! I've never heard of this one.


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## Jacq (May 17, 2012)

One of the other members here loves it. (I can't remember if it's CincerFlower or VividDawn. Maybe both?)

If I ever see it I'll pick it up, but their distribution seems really small right now (it's saying the closes location to buy for me is a toss-up between California and Colorado. lol).


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## 6cats4me (Apr 30, 2011)

I tried two flavors of the Hounds & Gatos wet, Pheasant and the Rabbit. The
Rabbit did not seem to be a favorite but four of my six cats liked the Pheasant.
It has a rougher pate consistency than the rabbit which is very mushy. 

I'm surprised they didn't like the mushier Rabbit pate because I always add water 
to whatever canned food I'm giving them that day and that makes it quite wet and
soft.


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## yingying (Jul 19, 2011)

Hound & Gato Rabbit flavour is on my rotation list. My cats get about one can per week. It is the cheapest Rabbit based cat food I can find on market, and the ingredient list is very decent 

My cats like it, but I think they like NV Instinct's Rabbit food more. However NV is out of question. It's way too expensive.


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## cinderflower (Apr 22, 2012)

Jacq said:


> One of the other members here loves it. (I can't remember if it's CincerFlower or VividDawn. Maybe both?)
> 
> If I ever see it I'll pick it up, but their distribution seems really small right now (it's saying the closes location to buy for me is a toss-up between California and Colorado. lol).


i'm at least one of them.  i know you can buy it in canada because ying ying does, and i know they have international distributorship.

for 98% "meat products" (which is not what you would buy to eat, i'm sure) i always assume it's high in fat, but the different flavors run 192-218 per 5.5 oz. can so 35-40 calories is comparable to other decent foods.

i like the customer service reps., and they have told me that the only flavor that uses the liver is the rabbit. i'm not so positive about that because the chicken and salmon also smell distinctly like liver (to me) after it's been refrigerated and i nuke it a little.

and for some weird reason, my cats used to love it all and two months later the only flavor they still like much is rabbit. it's one of the few foods i'm comfortable buying (i dislike processed food) so i'd give it a thumbs up if your cat likes it. i love that it doesn't have carrageenan or any fillers. it's good food and the price is decent.

my cats being picky is not a foolproof indicator for me because there was one food they liked at first, then they didn't like a particular case, now they like it again. i may possibly have worn out H & G also, but they never tire of weruva or tiki cat, but because of the cost they don't get as much of that, so that might be why.


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## Jacq (May 17, 2012)

cinderflower said:


> i'm at least one of them.  i know you can buy it in canada because ying ying does, and i know they have international distributorship.


"Available in Canada" and "Available in Ontario" should be two totally different classifications, imo. :yellbounce


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## Remy2012 (Aug 1, 2012)

I can get it in Bucks County PA... but it is the high end pet store..not petco or petsmart.


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## cinderflower (Apr 22, 2012)

Jacq said:


> "Available in Canada" and "Available in Ontario" should be two totally different classifications, imo. :yellbounce


okay well this wouldn't be the first time i thought something completely ridiculous, but if i put in postal codes like S7S or KOC or L6A it does the same thing to me (just gives me a range between states) so the store locator might not work right. their site says the locator for europe and asia will be up june 2012 but i don't see anything. 

you could email them and ask them, they're really nice. it will be at a completely independent pet store though, not a chain. i can't get it at doggiefood.com either, it's one of the very few i can't. you could also just ask the owner where you buy your cat food if they would consider carrying it.


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## Susan (Mar 29, 2010)

Thanks for the responses. I gave some to Abby after I posted, and she ate it too...so, it passed the test of both my finicky girls. A rare event! I must try some of their other flavours to see whether I have any success.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

They apparently do not have any major pet supply wholesale distributors selling their product, so they won't be in many stores. They definitely don't have any of the major distributors in the northeast US. Most independents (like myself) will not buy food lines direct as it's too difficult to manage inventory. 

It looks like great food though...


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## scottd (Jun 28, 2011)

Hey, it doesn't have carrageenan either!


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## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

That's funny. I'd never heard of it before then found it at the small, natural foods pet store here, in a little corner of southwestern Va. I found Evo, BFF, Weruva, Tiki Cat, etc. there. I bought a can of the chicken, which I haven't tried yet. Based on everyone's comments, since my girls like their food to look like soup, I'll have to try the rabbit.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

I found where I can get it in San Diego. The prices aren't too bad, I think it's only about $1 more per case than what I pay for Merrick on line. My girls aren't huge fans of pate-style, but they'll eat it. This might be tastier than the Cowboy Cookout or Wellness Core.


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## Susan (Mar 29, 2010)

doodlebug said:


> They apparently do not have any major pet supply wholesale distributors selling their product, so they won't be in many stores. They definitely don't have any of the major distributors in the northeast US. Most independents (like myself) will not buy food lines direct as it's too difficult to manage inventory.
> 
> It looks like great food though...


Thanks, Lisa. The distribution suggests that future sourcing might be an issue, so I wouldn't want this as my only food. But, based on your comments about it being a great food, it makes sense to add it to my rotation.



marie73 said:


> My girls aren't huge fans of pate-style, but they'll eat it. This might be tastier than the Cowboy Cookout or Wellness Core.


The Hounds & Gatos Rabbit flavor has a similar consistency to many of the "soupier" Merrick foods.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Susan said:


> Thanks, Lisa. The distribution suggests that future sourcing might be an issue, so I wouldn't want this as my only food. But, based on your comments about it being a great food, it makes sense to add it to my rotation.


Yes, that was the point of my post...but I definitely wasn't clear about it. My distributors carry hundreds of lines and I get an order from them every week (with negligible delivery fees)...if I need one case of Wellness or 1 bag of EVO it just gets added to the huge order. If I buy direct from a food company and one flavor sells out, I may have to make a minimum purchase and/or pay high shipping charges....or I'm out of that flavor for a while. So, yes, availability could be spotty. It looks like they do have distribution in certain areas, but not consistent across the US/Canada.

I'm going to big pet supply trade show next month, one of the largest in the US...and this company isn't going to be there.


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

doodlebug said:


> I'm going to big pet supply trade show next month, one of the largest in the US...and this company isn't going to be there.


That strikes me as odd. Why wouldn't a company attend something that could really help them launch their food?


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## Remy2012 (Aug 1, 2012)

I just bought some Rabbit and Pheasant to try... for a 5.5 oz can it was $1.39. I didn't think that was bad. Hope Remy likes it!


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## scottd (Jun 28, 2011)

MowMow said:


> That strikes me as odd. Why wouldn't a company attend something that could really help them launch their food?


The company I work for is small and we don't attend those type of industry events either. They're too expensive and we don't have the resources to staff them.

This could be the case here too.


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## Susan (Mar 29, 2010)

MowMow said:


> That strikes me as odd. Why wouldn't a company attend something that could really help them launch their food?


As scottd said, trade shows can be expensive, which could be the reason. In addition, there's no point promoting your product if you don't yet have the production capacity or the distribution network to meet the higher sales that might result from the promotion, which is likely another reason. It takes both time and money to increase capacity and distribution networks. So, new and/or smaller companies have no choice but to increase sales slowly...unless they're willing to roll the dice, in which case they might get lucky, but they could just as easily go belly up.

I went out earlier today and bought more rabbit, along with one each of the pheasant, beef and chicken. We shall see how the girls like the other flavors. If they like even one of them, it will be a step in the right direction.


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