anybody here feed their pets Evo or California Natural?

[Brandi]

I am really looking into feeding my cats even better food then I thought I was feeding them. These are two foods I am looking at . The Evo is very $$$ but they eat less, poop less etc...and more protien and less carbs. The california natural is less $$$ but seems to be a good one too. It has the least ing. in it then any other food on the market. Not as much protien as the Evo but tEvo is like 50% that is really high.
Any one use these?

[Eden]

I give my kitties canned Ziwi peak - its an all meat cat food. After the pet food scare I did a lot of research and found out that cats are not natural omnimovies - they are true carnivores, so all the grains in cat foods are really not particularly good for them.... They look really great eating the new food - soft, shiny coats, nice and trim. I give them a little dry food too - also grain free, though it does have a little bit of veggies in it. I can't remember the brand, but its duck and green pea flavor and the bag is yellow...

[OakLeaf]

I used to give my dogs California's Natural, when I could get it, which wasn't always. They did really well on that. The only thing I'd say about high-end kibbles is to check the expiration date. Depending on the store, the stock may not move quickly, and since they don't contain any artificial preservatives, they get rancid fast.

I don't know anything about cat food though.

[Velobambina]

Brandi--I have a good friend who is crazy about her pets. She gives her cat Innova. She loves it so much that her puppy eats Innova, too.

Our golden retriever puppies came from the same breeder (are a couple months apart), so when my girl, Fiona, wouldn't eat her Nutro, we switched her to Large Breed Puppy Innova & Avoderm Puppy. Her coat is lovely--it's those avocados in the Avoderm. We like it so much that we switched our two older goldens to Avoderm, too. Maeve used to have skin problems but since going with the Avoderm, she is doing much better.

[Running Mommy]

Ok, so you may think I'm a bit of a whack job for admitting this, but I listen to martha stewarts channel on Sirius. There is a lady with a show called "cat chat".
She calls dried cat food "kitty crack" and is adamant that you feed your cat wet food. Check out her website http://www.traciehotchner.com/cc/
I don't have a cat myself, but I do listen to her show on the way home sometimes. Just something to consider.

edited to add that I feed my pup Solid Gold and I love it. The first ingrediant is Bison.

[Kalidurga]

Having just adopted two new kittens, this is a subject I've also been exploring. During my adoption interview, I was told the same stuff about dry food and what types of canned food are best. I was given a brochure of info from Lisa A. Pierson, DVM (http://www.catinfo.org/) and found her to be very convincing.

Innova was highly recommended by the Animal Welfare League that was fostering my cats, but it's been hard to find. I've ended up going with the Wellness (http://www.omhpet.com/wellness/cat_index.html) brand, which was also recommended and is sold at Whole Foods and some other pet shops near me (though not at PetSmart or Petco). Alec and Olive seem to really enjoy it, but they have both been a bit gassy. Dunno if that's the food or just a typical kitten thing, though. Been a loooong time since I've raised a kitten :rolleyes:

[KnottedYet]

I feed my dog Innova Evo. I'm very pleased with how he does on it. If/when I get a cat, I will feed it Innova or something similar.

[mimitabby]

I feed my cats 1/2 raw meat (mixed with salmon oil and egg yolks) and 1/2 dry cat food. When my old cat dies, I will probably reduce the amount of dry cat food to just treats.

I agree that dry cat food is "kitty crack" they eat it and get fat and their bodies are ill equipped to deal with all those carbs.

[smilingcat]

Our two dogs eat California Natural Lamb and Rice. The older one gets a supplement of Glucosamine with chondro?? and his thyroid meds.

the seven cats get Wellness. Will recommend California Natural and Evo too. From all the cats we see, cats on Wellness, California Natural and EVO are all doing really well. The rescue group I work with do not have a "fixed" list of approved brand. Its up to each foster family to decide what the rescue cats eat. Even with the freedom to decide, I think most of us stay with the three I just mentioned.

smilingcat

[nic840]

My older boy (Lab) gets California Natural Low Calorie. He does great on it. Coat is really nice and healthy looking. My Mom's shepard used to be on Avoderm and he did great on that.

It is worth paying money for quality food. Always look for dried food that has Dried protien as the main ingredient. This means they weighed the meat after the water was taken out of it.

[Eden]

I looked the dry food up - Natural Balance Duck and Green Pea - Its a grain free, high protein mix. My kitties get about 1/3 of their diet in the dry and 2/3 in the Ziwi Peak (100% meat) canned.
I checked out the EVO - looks like good stuff too.

[kat_h]

I fed my dog raw food for the first two years we had her, and gave her Evo treats. They were great. Last summer I decided to pick up a bag of dry food to take on a road/camping trip and she's been eating kibble ever since. She's eating Orijen (http://www.championpetfoods.com/orijen/about/). Evo would have been my second choice but since Orijen is made locally I went with it. Both have excellent ingredients lists.

Don't underestimate the importance of a good pet food. Max's previous owners fed her grocery store kibble and she had constant health problems. When we switched her to raw food they all cleared up.

[Brandi]

I think i am going to go for the california natural at this point. The thing is though the amount of taurine that is in it? It says 0.01% i want to know how much should they have? I had a cat a long time ago who suffered from crystals. I have tried to look up how much they should have and none of it makes sence to me. I have a call into the vet. Of coarse he called me back yesterday morning (sunday) and I was at yoga so I misses he's call.

[mimitabby]

give your cat chicken hearts for taurine. THey love it. You can grind them in a regular blender. yum! (it is kind of gross)

[NJBikeGal]

I'm sure that you already know this, but I thought (as a parent of 4 cute little purrs) to put in my $.02.

It's well worth it to spend a little more on good, canned food. I actually brought one male cat back from the brink of a nasty urinary tract infection with a small amount of medicine and a huge shift in diet. He went from bloody urine to a happy boy in a few days.

Also, stay away from fish flavored food. It can screw up the ph balances and cause problems (particularly in male cats).

May your purrs have long and happy lives!

[Brandi]

I always thought I was feeding them good stuff. I guess I wasn't. I was giving then Nutro. I looked at the ing and the first is chicken but the 2nd is corn. And from what I keep reading it sounds like the first 3 ing. should be meat. And no corn at all.
I am still leaning twords the "california natural". They seem to have really good policies. And strick testing of thier products as well as humane policies. And I believe non of thier products got recalled at all! Unless someone knows something I don't (which is very likely).

[TsPoet]

I've recently taken up agility with my dog, which means I'm hanging out with dog crazies or spend $$$ (vs normal people who spend $$$ on their bikes) on their pooches and investigate all this stuff. They all either feed Evo (if they feed kibble) or raw meat if they don't.
I recently switched to a ~50:50 of the two and my 7 year old went from being an old man who couldn't jump into the car to an annoying teenager who runs off on walks. Both of my dogs also regained soft puppy fur. The difference is night and day.
The Evo/raw food is a keeper to me!

[Eden]

I always thought I was feeding them good stuff. I guess I wasn't. I was giving then Nutro....

when all the recalls went out I was pretty shocked at how many "premium" brands were on the list - basically it seems like a lot of them are the same stuff repackaged into premium and cheap brands alike
Nutro, Royal Canin, Science Diet, Natural Balance, Iams, Eukanuba, Hills were all on the recall list - and some of these brands are the very same that many vets push....

[VeloVT]

my parents have a mostly golden-retriever rescue dog. they used to feed her something reasonably respectable -- Science Diet maybe??? -- and she was getting allergic rashes on her tummy. They started feeding her California Natural and her skin is much happier. She likes the Salmon and sweet potato flavor :p.

[Kalidurga]

when all the recalls went out I was pretty shocked at how many "premium" brands were on the list - basically it seems like a lot of them are the same stuff repackaged into premium and cheap brands alike
Nutro, Royal Canin, Science Diet, Natural Balance, Iams, Eukanuba, Hills were all on the recall list - and some of these brands are the very same that many vets push....

The Animal Welfare League woman who got me into better foods for my kittens told me (but I've not verified it) that many vets push Hill's/Science Diet because of all the money they've donated to veterinary colleges.

[KnottedYet]

The Animal Welfare League woman who got me into better foods for my kittens told me (but I've not verified it) that many vets push Hill's/Science Diet because of all the money they've donated to veterinary colleges.

That's what a vet student friend of mine said. Plus when they graduated, they got a large amount of product free to sell through their practices.

[mimitabby]

unfortunately, canned food is not a cure all. It is really bad for their teeth.
That's why my cats are ALSO getting the Nutro for their daily tooth cleaning (in theory)

[sundial]

I've heard nothing but good things about Evo. It's not available in our area but I could get it online.

[Eden]

unfortunately, canned food is not a cure all. It is really bad for their teeth.
That's why my cats are ALSO getting the Nutro for their daily tooth cleaning (in theory)

I'm not sure what to believe these days - but I've now heard that the idea that dry food has teeth cleaning properties is a myth.... but I do continue to give mine a bit of kibble - each can is only about 2/3 of the amount of food they should get in a day and I'd go nuts trying to figure out how to split the cans....

and I'd suggest switching from Nutro - that is one of the brands manufactrued by Menu foods - a huge pet food conglomerate that was using the bad gluten from China. I for one will never, ever give them any trust again....

[mimitabby]

After 6 years on Nutro (before i switched to a combination with raw meat) I took my 11 year old cat to the vet for a tooth cleaning. My vet looked long and hard at her mouth and said "if she was my cat, i wouldn't clean her teeth!" so i didn't. I have noticed a marked improvement in dental health of all of my cats (note to self, check teeth tonight) - i have to blame it on what they're eating. THey get nutro, friskies dental diet (Treats only) and the chicken..

[KnottedYet]

I've heard nothing but good things about Evo. It's not available in our area but I could get it online.

The higher protein content of Evo got my dog off anti-anxiety meds. I switched him to a lower protein salmon and sweet potato food, but he started having behaviour issues again. Put him back on Innova Evo and they went away. I'm not switching him again.

(BTW, he also gets a sardine or egg or chicken and some table scraps every day)

[Dianyla]

We feed our kitty mostly raw frozen food - usually Primal (http://www.primalpetfoods.com/) or Radcat (http://www.radfood.com/). When we're out of town for the weekend, we have to use dry kibble in the automatic feeder so we use Evo at that time. We're very keen on making sure that her food is high in protein and doesn't contain grains.

Our local pet store just started carrying some Ziwi peak, we're going to try some of that once we clear out some of our current food inventory - the ingredients look pretty good.

[smilingcat]

This month issue of Cat Fancy magazine had an article about raw meat for your cat and salmonella. FDA warned against it not because cats will get sick but rather people could get the salmonella indirectly from the cat.

According to the article, cat's saliva has the ability to kill most of the salmonella on contact and what survivies don't make it out alive. Cat seems to be very tolerant of salmonella and people are less tolerant, especially the young and the old. And since cats like to lick you and lick themsleves, it is possible for the surviving salmonella to end up on your cloth, on your skin and maybe even in your food. Hence the FDA warning.

Our cats get wellness. Dogs gets the California Natural (low calorie). One thing to watch out with California Natural and other high protein food is that it can go rancid in hot weather. It can also grow a toxic mold, which looks like a white flecks on the dry food. If you see it, take it back to the store and have them look at it or have a vet look at it. We've returned one bag of California Natural to the store. But this is one bag out of ???

smilingcat

[Brandi]

This month issue of Cat Fancy magazine had an article about raw meat for your cat and salmonella. FDA warned against it not because cats will get sick but rather people could get the salmonella indirectly from the cat.

According to the article, cat's saliva has the ability to kill most of the salmonella on contact and what survivies don't make it out alive. Cat seems to be very tolerant of salmonella and people are less tolerant, especially the young and the old. And since cats like to lick you and lick themsleves, it is possible for the surviving salmonella to end up on your cloth, on your skin and maybe even in your food. Hence the FDA warning.

Our cats get wellness. Dogs gets the California Natural (low calorie). One thing to watch out with California Natural and other high protein food is that it can go rancid in hot weather. It can also grow a toxic mold, which looks like a white flecks on the dry food. If you see it, take it back to the store and have them look at it or have a vet look at it. We've returned one bag of California Natural to the store. But this is one bag out of ???

smilingcat
Good advice on all this. I will be careful with the rancid part. It's funny it says to store it in the bag it comes in. Maybe there is something in the bag that helps keep it fresh. I am thinking I am going to have to buy smaller amounts. But it does not get very hot where I live so I am not to worried about that. I am going to start switching them over next week. You know start mixing with there old food. I got samples from the pet store and mixed a bit in with their food. They picked all the california natural pieces out of thier food!

[Nansel]

I feed my cat Evo canned, along with Felidae kibble. We started him on the Felidae because he kept stealing the dog's Canidae out of its bin. :p Canidae/Felidae another good holistic brand, and a bit cheaper than some others, although I've found it can be harder to get sometimes.

My cat loves his Evo canned. We might switch him to the EVO kibble, too. But he can be fussy and likes his Felidae all right.

[Kalidurga]

Ok, I now have a problem related to this. My 5-month old male kitten just spent a week at the vet with a mystery fever-- he's doing better now, so that's not the issue. His eating regimen is.

For the first two weeks I had him, I fed him a combination of Wellness canned and kibble on a twice daily schedule. While he was at the vet, they apparently fed him Purina pouch food multiple times a day. Now when I give him the Wellness canned food, he licks off all the juices and leaves the meat behind. He'll eat the kibble, but I would prefer he get some canned food as well.

My female of the same age would eat at least an entire can of wet food a day if I let her (she eats like a horse), so I'm also concerned about what'll happen as I begin trying to feed them in the same room.

Oy. Any suggestions?

[Brandi]

I need to ponder this?

[jesvetmed]

Have to enter my two cents here...
Multiple studies have shown that a majority of dogs and cats fed raw diets shed salmonella and even ecoli in their stools. They are not sick, but they can spread the bacteria around their environment. Especially at risk in these situations are people with less than average immune-systems (ie children and elderly, or anyone with illness or on immune-suppressant drugs).

I know that many clients SWEAR by the health of their pets since starting to add raw diets, but the risks are definitely there.

[jesvetmed]

Have to enter my two cents here...
Multiple studies have shown that a majority of dogs and cats fed raw diets shed salmonella and even ecoli in their stools. They are not sick, but they can spread the bacteria around their environment. Especially at risk in these situations are people with less than average immune-systems (ie children and elderly, or anyone with illness or on immune-suppressant drugs).

I know that many clients SWEAR by the health of their pets since starting to add raw diets, but the risks are definitely there.

OK.. I'm off the soap box! ;)

[Brandi]

I would not worry about him not eating the wet food at this point. As long as he is eating the kibble and getting food and clean water the other will work itself out.
I have a cat who will only eat the juice as well. And the other cats finish the rest of he's food for him.
There is a lot of pro's and con's to wet food and everyone has thier opinions. My cats go outside during the day, but the cat door gets closed at night. In order to get them all inside I give them wet food. It works well and even though it is the wet version of thier dry food they still think it is a treat.

[smilingcat]

To reduce the risk of cross contamination from salmonella and E. Coli, we take the whole chicken less the organ meat, dunk it in stock pot (a small one: 16 qts) full of boiling hot water for about a minute to kill any surface bacteria. Then we grind up the whole chicken with the bones. portion it out for each serving and freeze. The bone doesn't get cooked. Meat only gets cooked on the surface. Cats love it and they get all their micro-nutrient from the bone... Chicken at $1.00/lb. organ meat removed, "pasturized", ground, and frozen may cost $1.25/lb. versus canned premium food of $1.30 per 5.5oz.

We have one older cat who just had a full senior check up. Blood work, urine test etc. His urine pH was on the high side. We think its because of his preference for the dry food. The ash content in the dry food is much higher than the wet food. We are hoping to get him back onto the wet food and raw chicken. He avoided the wet food because of his teeth. Poor guy has lost half of his teeth over the years and just had three more pulled after his check up and dental cleaning.

Evo is good, California Natural is good. Wellness wet is good, the dry have about 5% ash content. :eek:

If you decide to grind your chicken please let me know. There are few guidelines. And why you don't want to feed preground meat.

smilingcat

[Eden]

Hey everyone - need some food advice here now. My poor boy kitty had a urinary obstruction last night (He'll be OK - I caught it very early, before he got backed up and very sick so that was good). I really do not want to have to start feeding him Hills..... (or any of the other brands from Menu foods - we don't care if we poison your pets....), but at least one vet tech I talked to is convinced that its the only cat food that work for crystal prone kitties.

Does anyone else know of a good cat food with good ingredients (NO glutens, fillers, junk... preferably no grains at all) formulated for cats prone to urinary crystals? I'd also prefer to keep him mainly on canned, since that is good for cat's UT health as well.

[mimitabby]

Eden, i'll talk to you tomorrow; i have some ideas.

and to jesvetmed, all manure/ feces has E Coli in it. all mammals need it to process their food through the intestines. Handling of manure/feces should be done carefully, whether you feed said pet friskies or raw liver.

The raw food that i feed my cats is human grade (i buy it at the supermarket) and my own processing of it is very meticulous. Say what you want, but it's already changed one of my cats dramatically; she lost weight (she's a food hound) her fur has gotten less coarse and she's become more playful. And she'll be seven this year.

[ccnyc]

Eden,

What kind of crystals does your kitty have... struvite or oxalate? If they are struvite crystals (the urine pH is on the alkaline side) you can add l-methionine (on a short-term basis) to the canned food. That is what the Rx foods contain to prevent crystal formation. Oxalate crystals (acidic pH) are harder to get rid of. Also, chicken or turkey gizzards are very high in methionine so it's good to add these to the diet on a regular basis if crystals are struvite.
Here's some info on l-methionine:
http://www.wellvet.com/methiphan.html
HTH,
Carol

[ccnyc]

The raw food that i feed my cats is human grade (i buy it at the supermarket) and my own processing of it is very meticulous. Say what you want, but it's already changed one of my cats dramatically; she lost weight (she's a food hound) her fur has gotten less coarse and she's become more playful. And she'll be seven this year.

Just for the record, I've been feeding a balanced raw diet, that I prepare myself, to my two cats for the last eight years and I've never had any incidence of food poisoning, salmonella, etc. in either myself, my DH or my cats. I use safe food handling methods and never use pre-ground meat, I grind everything myself.

I don't want anyone to get scared away from feeding the most feline appropriate diet, short of letting the cats catch their own food.
Carol

[Eden]

Eden,

What kind of crystals does your kitty have... struvite or oxalate? If they are struvite crystals (the urine pH is on the alkaline side) you can add l-methionine (on a short-term basis) to the canned food. That is what the Rx foods contain to prevent crystal formation. Oxalate crystals (acidic pH) are harder to get rid of. Also, chicken or turkey gizzards are very high in methionine so it's good to add these to the diet on a regular basis if crystals are struvite.
Here's some info on l-methionine:
http://www.wellvet.com/methiphan.html
HTH,
Carol

Fortunately he has struvite crystals - which I understand are much easier to control with diet.

[ccnyc]

Fortunately he has struvite crystals - which I understand are much easier to control with diet.

Oxalate crystals are treated only with surgery, AFAIK. I suggest you talk with your vet about using l-methionine with you kitty's current canned food (or one w/o grains would be even better). L-methionine shouldn't be used without some supervision such as urine pH testing by you or your vet because it is possible to drive the pH too low (creating oxalate crystals) and you want to avoid that.
BTW, chicken breast meat has even more l-methionine than gizzards.

I don't know of any quality, grainless canned foods that are specific for crystals, but here are some good grainless canned/wet food brands (NOT all varieties are grainless, you need to read labels):

Nature Organics, Wellness, Nature’s Variety, Merrick, Natural Balance, EVO, Addiction, and Ziwipeak
Carol

[Eden]

Ziwi Peak is what I feed him now - though I have been supplementing with a little dry food (Natural Balance Duck and Green Pea)- that I think needs to be discontinued completely even though it is a grain free variety also. I'm not so sure that it is a coincidence that a month or two after I started using that particular dry food brand that he developed this problem! (I switched from Avoderm 2 bags ago)

I get the feeling my vet may not be too open to alternatives.... they are carriers of the Hills brand... We'll see when I speak to them. There is a newer vet there who seems more open minded.

[bmccasland]

I'll throw this question out...
Have 3 cats, aged 14, 13, and 1. Eldest, Bonnie has hyperthyroid and is on thyroid meds 2x/day. Next oldest, Herald, is diet controlled diabetic, and eats Science Diet W/D. Youngest and newest cat, Callie is a piglet, but no health problems. Currently Bonnie and Callie eat the same diet, I was switching from Science Diet indoor to Wellness dry and canned. I've noticed that they now poop more. Callie prefers the Science Diet, and tries her best to eat Herald's food, but waits until he walks away. Since he gets specific portions per day, I discourage this because it makes it too difficult to keep up with his daily intake.

I don't own a meat grinder (yet?). And don't have a lot of freezer space. So I highly doubt I'd pasturize and grind up a chicken on a regular basis.

So, Bonnie needs more calories, and Callie needs less even though she's younger and more active. I realize cats are obligate carnivores, and this thread has made me more aware of the contents of their food.

I haven't been back to Petsmart to check out the various options, besides what I've been feeding them. And I haven't needed to take someone to the vet to pick her brain. Soon I'll need to buy more cat food, but won't be going back to Wellness dry. May or may not continue the Wellness canned. If it were an ideal world, Bonnie would get off her meds, Herald's blood sugar would stabilize, and Callie will live a long healthy life. I've buried one kitty from chronic immune system problems (Erin), and would like to keep the rest happy and healthy.

So what does the crystal ball or the jeanie in the bottle recommend?

[wackyjacky1]

This is an amazingly useful website for info on feeding cats: http://catinfo.org/

Because of what I learned there, I switched my male cat with FLUTD from Prescription c/d to PetGuard canned. He has remained perfectly healthy and crystal-free. The kitten I rescued back in August is also eating PetGuard and is positively flourishing.

:)

[ccnyc]

Ziwi Peak is what I feed him now - though I have been supplementing with a little dry food (Natural Balance Duck and Green Pea)- that I think needs to be discontinued completely even though it is a grain free variety also. I'm not so sure that it is a coincidence that a month or two after I started using that particular dry food brand that he developed this problem! (I switched from Avoderm 2 bags ago)

I get the feeling my vet may not be too open to alternatives.... they are carriers of the Hills brand... We'll see when I speak to them. There is a newer vet there who seems more open minded.

My vet is strictly allopathic and sells Hills also, but he has been willing to work with me on various issues. So, ask your vet (very nicely!) for other options besides the Rx food (which there are) and see what he comes up with.

I highly recommend http://www.holisticat.com/ and http://holisticat.com/forum/ as a wonderful resource for info on holistic health and lifestyle for cats.

[BikeCat]

Hi,

I feed my cat, an 11 year old female, Evo Ancestral Diet for dry food. She really likes it. She also gets Aunt Jeni's Home Made Cat/Ferret Food mixed with Wellness Turkey and Salmon canned food. The Evo and the Aunt Jeni's come from Raw Connections (a store in the Carmel area) and I get the Wellness food at Whole Foods. The Aunt Jeni's is a mixture of raw ground turkey & veggies. She also gets Phytomucil to help with those nasty hairballs :p