# Question About Dry Wellness Brand



## Time Bandit (Aug 17, 2010)

Hi ya'll! I have a question for a dry Wellness Brand expert. 

My Samantha really likes a little dry food mixed in with her wet. I am currently feeding her Iams on my vet's and the shelter's recommendations, but the recent recalls are really starting to freak me out (no the type I feed Sammy is not one of the ones recalled, but I'm not waiting around till it is...>.>), and so I'm in the market for a new dry food. I've heard nothing but good things about Wellness, and while it is a bit pricier, I'd rather pay the extra monies and feed my kitty something good for her.

So here's my question: I was looking at two different types of Wellness dry, the 'Indoor' formula and the 'Complete' formula. Seeing as Sammy is an indoor cat who really doesn't play much (but I try to keep her active and entertained the best I can), I was thinking the 'Indoor' formula would be better? What is the real difference between the two? Is either 'better' than the other?

I'm sorry if these are noob questions, I just get all confused when I see all those pretty colored bags lining the pet store wall. XD Thanks guys!


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## Susan (Mar 29, 2010)

I’m not a Wellness brand expert by any means, but I did compare the various Wellness brands only a few weeks ago, when selecting for my two cats. The main difference between the two types you mention are that the Complete is higher in protein, but also higher in fat and calories. Indoor is designed for cats with a more sedentary lifestyle, and thus has lower fat/calories, but lower protein. 

That said, and not meaning to confuse the issue even further, I ended up selecting yet a third Wellness product, called Wellness Core. Its fat and calorie content is in the middle of the two you mention (so a compromise), but its protein content is much higher than both, and it is grain-free (neither Complete nor Indoor are grain-free). So, you might want to consider Wellness Core. You might also consider switching to a grain-free, high-quality canned food, such as one of the Wellness brands (or EVO, etc.).


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## Time Bandit (Aug 17, 2010)

Thanks for the reply Susan.  I'd switch Samantha over to an all wet diet, but she loves her dry, and will eat all of it before digging into her wet half...maybe she likes the crunch? XD I checked into Wellness Core a bit more, and I'm liking it the best so far...the fact that it's grain-free is awesome, and the low(er) fat count is always nice. So thanks for the suggestion! As for wet food, that's a whole different story...

Rochelle refuses to eat dry. I don't know why, but I've tried a few times to put a bit in her bowl and she just leaves it every time. I've tried numerous types of wet food, and the one she goes absolutely nuts for (and will actually clean her dish for) is the Meow Mix Market Select...and it has to be the 'fish' box. Did I mention she's really picky? Just before the Market Select, I was feeding her the Meow Mix Wholesome Goodness, and she'd eat it, but she'd leave half in her bowl. Samantha will eat any wet, so she gets the Market Select mixed with her dry by default. I'd rather feed them something better, so if there's any suggestions to try that a picky *picky* cat will eat, I'm all for trying! (Remember it has to come in fish flavors...salmon and shrimp are favorites! :roll


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## Susan (Mar 29, 2010)

Well, you and I are having similar problems. I started feeding my two fish-flavored wet food (high-quality) earlier this year, before I learned that an all-fish diet is not good for them. So, I tried to switch them off fish. Good luck! I have since learned that fish has a much stronger flavor than chicken, turkey, etc. So, once cats get a taste for fish, they are very reticent to eat anything else. To make matters worse, the fish-flavored wet food that I was feeding them was only available in one store were I live, and they recently discontinued it. Anyway, I’m now at a point where Muffin and Abby will only eat dry. For whatever reason, they even refuse to eat fish-flavored brands that they used to eat. I am trying to switch them over to wet, because a wet diet is much better for them than dry, but so far I’m having little success. I’m considering changing their names to Finicky and Pernickety! 

I have had a few suggestions made to me, and have done a fair amount of reading on the topic of transitioning, and I’m going to try a new approach this weekend when I will be home from work. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. If the approach works, and you’re interested, I’ll let you know. If it doesn’t, then it’s back to the drawing board.


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## Time Bandit (Aug 17, 2010)

If all goes well with your new approach, I'd love to hear all about it Susan. It certainly does seem like we're in similar situations here. I never knew that about all fish diets...Shelly is not going to like this, lol. 

I am going out tonight to buy some Wellness Core, and I may try a can or two of theirs as well (though in the past, canned hasn't gone over so well).

Good luck with your new idea! The things we do for our kitties.


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## furryfriends251 (Jan 1, 2009)

I'd be wary of using Wellness CORE dry as many cats have developed crystals when on it. 

Here are some peoples stories from Veterinary Medicine @ About.com - information about pets, diseases, careers and vet school ruvite-crystals-2.htm

Heather says: 
It’s weird that I should come across your question, as it is the very exact question I was searching for an answer to just now! My cat Olive was also eating Wellness before, and suffers from struvite crystals in his urine. Two different vets have prescribed the Waltham and the Hills Science Diet foods for him. Animal nutrition is my passion, and I hope to become a nutritionist one day. 

Amie says: 
Mine and a friends cat have developed struvites while on Wellness Core. I’m currently alternating Solid Gold dry and Wysong’s Feline Uretic while she’s using Wysong’s Archetype. I have not had a recurrence in a year 

Steph says: 
My cat also developed large crystals while eating Wellness. He had surgery and now has been eating one of the prescription diets with no recurrence of crystals. The food is very irregular though and not consistent so I am looking for a better food that will not cause crystals to re-occur. 

Karen says: 
Very strange that many of you mention struvite crystals and Wellness food. My **** cat is 5 years old and has just developed struvite crystals. She was also on Wellness Healthy Weight and Wellness Indoor cat. She has just started with Hill’s C/D. I’m hoping this will help her. 

Clairy says: 
hmmmm, I too have a male cat that has been having issues due to Wellness food…not sounding good for that company 

Megan says: 
How Bizarre!I JUST got home from taking my 2 year old altered male cat to the emergency clinic for crystals. 
He has been fed Wellness core DRY cat food since he was old enough to eat dry food 

karma says: 
my 3 year old male cat was just recently diagnosed with struvite crystals, after he blocked up twice in one month. he had been eating nothing but Wellness grain-free CANNED food his whole life. perhaps wellness is too rich for certain cats with inbred-stray genetics? 


Wellness Core Cat Food

Wellness Core dry cat food is great in concept. However, in reality it may be dangerous for some cats, perhaps due to the high phosphorus content. My male cat ate only Hill’s Nature’s Best dry food, no wet at all, for the first 8 plus years of his life. He was about 3 pounds overweight on this diet. About a year ago, I switched him to Wellness Core dry, Wellness canned, and eventually added Wellness Core canned. I was attracted to the high protein, low carb, 100% natural concept. He’s no longer overweight, but recently had 3 struvite bladder stones removed. I have no proof, but I suspect the Wellness Core dry food is the culprit. He never had any urinary problems while on Nature’s Best. And I don’t see how the canned food would cause bladder stones. 

VA:F [1.9.3_1094] 

Rating: 1 (from 3 votes)Rico De Felice Says: 
January 28th, 2010 at 12:34 am 
Just to follow up on my previous post, after my cat had his struvite bladder stones removed, I took him off dry food entirely and fed him only Wellness and Wellness Core canned, Chicken and Turkey varieties, for the next four weeks. He then had his urine tested and many crystals were found. His urine pH was an alkaline 7.5. Struvite crystals form in neutral to alkaline urine. I then switched him to Innova EVO Turkey and Chicken Cat and Kitten canned and three weeks later, his urine test was perfect. No crystals and a slightly acidic pH of 6.5. He will need continued monitoring but hopefully he is in the clear. Perhaps Wellness Core canned by itself would work just as well, but I’m not willing to take the risk.


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## furryfriends251 (Jan 1, 2009)

From what I remember ~Siameseifuplz~ has previously posted a list of fish flavored wet foods. I can try hunt them up...

Do anything you can to try get them to eat more wet food. But please do not mix wet with dry as it will grow bacteria exponentially. Dry food is full of bacteria to begin with so adding water to it just makes that bacteria flourish. Also, the longer a bag of dry food is left open the more bacteria it is going to grow. 

Here is a site with tips on transitioning: http://www.catinfo.org/docs/TipsforTransitioningPDF12-18-09.pdf


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## furryfriends251 (Jan 1, 2009)

Taken from http://www.catforum.com/forum/38-he...thy-canned-dry-cat-food-need-suggestions.html




~Siameseifuplz~ said:


> *Wet*
> Fromm (3 have Salmon, one more than the others): http://www.frommfamily.com/four-star-cat.pdf
> Blue Buffalo: http://www.bluebuff.com/products/cats/s ... lmon.shtml
> http://www.bluebuff.com/products/cats/w ... lmon.shtml
> ...


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## Susan (Mar 29, 2010)

furryfriends251 said:


> I'd be wary of using Wellness CORE dry as many cats have developed crystals when on it.


Thanks, Furryfriends. However, it is my understanding that urinary tract problems are associated with a lack of water in the diet, along with a diet that is high in carbohydrates, both of which arise when cats are fed solely dry food, whether it be Wellness or any other brand. That said, I absolutely agree that an all-dry diet can lead to urinary tract problems, which is the main reason I’m currently trying to switch my cats from dry to wet, and a good reason for Time Bandit to try to do the same. Time Bandit: I know Samantha might love the dry (so do my two cats) but too much dry food is not the best thing for her. That said, I’ll leave it up to you as to whether you decide to transition her. 

As for Wellness Core, strangely enough, the same website (About.Com) that contained the various reader stories in Fluffyfriends’ thread also states that Wellness Core and Innova EVO rank neck-and-neck as the best dry cat foods on the market (it was their recommendation that led me to research Wellness a few weeks back). 

Anyway, until I’m successful in switching my two from dry to wet, I think Wellness Core is a good temporary choice (the stores in my area don’t carry EVO). Hopefully, my two cats will be transitioned to wet in the next few weeks in any event.

Thanks, Furryfriends, for the link to the article on transition, which coincidentally is an excerpt of an article by the same author that I’m currently trying to follow: 

http://www.catinfo.org/#Home-Prepared_Diets

It suggests offering wet food to the cats and then re-offering the wet (but nothing else) every few hours until such time as hunger results in the cat eating the wet food. It also says that you should not withhold food for more than 24 hours, because doing so is dangerous and could result in liver disease. Therein lies my problem. Abby is STUBBORN! Last weekend, I gave her wet and only wet. She refused to eat. By the following day, she had not eaten in about 24 hours, so I had no choice but to give her dry food. Each time I offered her the wet food last weekend, I tried some (but not all) of the tricks listed in the article in order to convince her, but she still refused to eat. I can’t try to transition her during the week, since I’m at work and not around to keep offering her the wet food every few hours. However, I’m now off work until next Tuesday, so I’m going to try again while I’m off. I will also be trying some of the other tricks noted in the article. I’m hoping she’ll eventually get the message!


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## furryfriends251 (Jan 1, 2009)

Susan said:


> Thanks, Furryfriends. However, it is my understanding that urinary tract problems are associated with a lack of water in the diet, along with a diet that is high in carbohydrates, both of which arise when cats are fed solely dry food, whether it be Wellness or any other brand.




Wellness CORE seems to be the cause of more crystals than other dry foods. At least there tend to be much more complaints about cats developing crystals on the CORE. Though lack of water is another big cause of it! 



> One thing to take note of is that most dry foods have urine acidifiers added to them; DL-methionine is the most common one. These are added to dry foods because it has become known to pet food companies that cats eating dry food, especially grain-based dry food, will be more prone to urinary problems, crystals and high urine PH...It looks like Wellness Core doesn't contain DL- methionine. To compare, EVO grain-free does have DL-methioinine. So that could be part of the problem with Wellness Core -- but also just being dry food IS problematic


 




Susan said:


> Abby is STUBBORN!!


Clover was incredibly hard to switch over to wet food. It took me syringe feeding her a few ounces of wet each day. It took a while but after she was used to the texture/taste of wet food she really loved wet and I took away her dry.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

One of the issues of the extremely high protein dry foods as the sole food is that protein is a natural diuretic. So the dry food creates hydration issues to begin with and the additional protein contributes by causing more water to be excreted. If you're going to be feeding only dry, you might want to consider a grain free a little lower protein (even though that goes against convention....a balance needs to be met).


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## Time Bandit (Aug 17, 2010)

Wow, thanks for all the links furryfriends! Lots of reading for me, on a subject that confuses me pretty dearly (there are so many different opinions!). 

I did get a bag of Wellness Core, and Samantha seems good with it (she's a garbage disposal though, so she'll eat just about anything XD). I'm a little concerned about the crystals, but she only gets a small bit of the dry with her wet, and I do catch her drinking water at least once daily as well. How big of a concern would these crystals be for her?


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