12 Days of Catmas - Wellness®

Eat a Healthy Species-Appropriate Food

Cats are obligate carnivores and therefore, need to eat a species appropriate diet that helps them meet their nutritional needs through eating food with a large amount of animal-based proteins (meat and organs). Cats lack specific metabolic (enzymatic) pathways and can't ultilize plant proteins as efficiently as animal proteins. A cat's nutritional needs are different from those of dogs and humans who can live on a vegetarian diet (we don't recommend this for dogs). A cat should never be fed a vegetarian or vegan diet. Cats need specific vitamins, minerals, and proteins that only come from meat. 

Many of our cat blogging friends are successfully feeding a raw diet to their cats. We choose at this time not to do this, so it's important to find a cat food that has protein as a main component that is also delicious that we will eat.We do eat some dry kibble, which isn't as good for cats because the protein contained isn't usually the same quality of the protein in canned food because the protein in dry food is more plant-based. Truffle loves wet food and readily eats almost any type Mom Paula feeds her. Brulee is much more finicky and has to be enticed to eat more wet food. It's important to make sure the food we eat is complete and balanced. One way to ensure this is to look for a statement from the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) on the package. This statement will say that the food is complete and balanced, either through a feeding trial or because the recipe meets cats' nutritional requirements.

Truffle and Brulee eating the Wellness® Complete Health™ Gravies

Wellness®

Our #1 choice in wet cat food is Wellness® CORE® and Complete Health™. We do eat other products, but the variety of flavors, textures, and protein keeps bringing us back to Wellness. Everyone knows how finicky Brulee is and ever since Wellness reformulated their cat food this year to remove carrageenan and to include carefully chosen ingredients with vitamins and minerals for optimal health, she eats almost all of the wet food Mom Paula feeds us.

Complete Health™

We shared our review of the Complete Health line of Wellness cat food this past summer. Complete Health is available in dry kibble and wet food. Wellness launched five different textures with the Complete Health line: minced, sliced, pate, morsels, and gravies. We're not real fans of pate, but we really do like the gravies. The Complete Health recipes combine natural, premium proteins for a balanced diet and is crafted with antioxidants to support strong immune systems, balanced nutrients for optimal energy, and controlled minerals for urinary tract health. We prefer the chicken and turkey dinners in the Gravies recipes. The first four ingredients listed for the Chicken Dinner are chicken, chicken broth, turkey broth, and chicken liver. We encourage you to try any of the textures and flavors that will satisfy your discriminating palate. 

Truffle eating the Wellness® CORE® Signature Selects

CORE®

The second family of wet food for cats from Wellness is the CORE® line.CORE is a grain-free natural cat food that is loaded with protein. It's rich in meaty flavor and full of nutrient-dense nutrition. CORE is available in dry kibble and wet recipes. When Wellness reformulated their products this past summer, they combined the previous CORE canned foods with Signature Selects® and Divine Duos™ which were our favorite wet food recipes. CORE wet cat food is available in Pate, Simply Shreds Snacks, Hearty Cuts, Signature Selects, and Divine Duos. Prior to the reformulated recipes, Brulee really only ate the Signature Selects® shredded flavors: chicken & turkey, chicken & chicken liver, and chicken & beef. Because of the way Brulee eats with her tongue picking up her food, the shredded formulas were easier for her to eat. The reformulated Signature Selects shredded food has a little thicker shreds, but Brulee loves it and Mom Paula can usually depend on Brulee eating most of her food. The first ingredient listed in the Shredded Chicken recipes is boneless chicken.

Brulee eating the Wellness® CORE® Divine Duos™

Our other favorite CORE wet food are the Divine Duos™, especially the chicken and duck recipe. The Divine Duos combine two tasty layers in a plastic cup. There is a layer of savory pate topped with a second layer of tender cuts of meat in gravy. Both Truffle and Brulee love the combined textures of pate and cuts of meat in the delicious gravy. There are six different flavors of the Divine Duos, so we're sure you can find a favorite.

Treats

What cat doesn't like treats? We've shared our review of the Wellness Kittles™ treats in the past and we love these delicious crunchy treats. Mom Paula will put these treats in our Jackson Galaxy Go Fish! plate to encourage mental stimulation with the hunt and satisfaction with the "capture" of the treats. There are six flavors of Kittles that are sure satisfy any cat's desire: salmon & cranberries, chicken & cranberries, tune & cranberries, whitefish & cranberries, turkey & cranberries, and duck & cranberries. 

Brulee ready to get into the package of Wellness® Kittles™ Treats

Wellness released a special holiday package turkey & cranberries flavor of the Wellness Kittles this year. The flavor and shapes are still the same and they are still delicious.

We could write a novel on all of the delicious and health Wellness products for cats. We hope we've encouraged you to try your favorite flavor and texture of the wet food from Wellness. You can read more about Wellness products on their website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest.

Giveaway

We're excited to announce that three of our readers have the opportunity to win some Wellness cat products: One winner receives a choice of a case of Wellness wet cat food and 2 winners receive 3 packages of  Wellness Kittles.  No purchase necessary. The giveaway is open to residents of the United States 18+ years, except where prohibited by law. The giveaway will run from December 19-27, 2017, ending at 11:59 pm ET. Three winners will be randomly selected by Rafflecopter (powered by Random.org) and notified via email. Winners will have 48 hours to claim their prize; failure to do so will result in forfeiture of the prize and a new winner will be randomly chosen. To qualify for the giveaway, a comment must be left on our blog post.  Other entry options are available after a comment is left.  Please check your email and be sure to add sweetpurrfections@sc.rr.com to your address book!  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway