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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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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!
I think my kitty would like the Indoor Chicken & Chicken Liver wet cat food and the Chicken & Cranberries treats. She really loves her chicken.
ReplyDeleteI don't have to even go to the page so I hope I don't get docked. I love the signature Select Tuna and Shrimp. TW just bought me some but I can always use more. I also like the Complete Health indoor grainfree kibble.
ReplyDeleteWe usually give our cats mostly dry kibble, but since my senior girl, Moko, has been having medical issues, she has gotten very picky about what she'll eat. I give her wet food - usually with some added warm water to give it even more broth. She especially likes ones with cheese in them, but I think she'd like the COMPLETE HEALTH™ GRAVIES Chicken Dinner (and also their turkey dinner under the same label).
ReplyDeleteMarceline would love the Tune and Shrimp flavor. Anything with fish will always make her happy!
ReplyDeleteI would prefer the CORE® Signature Selects®
ReplyDeleteShredded Chicken & Chicken Liver for my cats. They love chicken and chicken liver flavors. ;)
My 3 cats would probably like all of these but definitely the gravies! I think they would love the salmon and trout flavors too.
ReplyDeleteMy cats like chicken and turkey flavors. Great giveaway!
ReplyDeleteThey make some good stuff and I had some for dinner tonight!
ReplyDeleteMy cats have eaten Wellness for close to 16 years. Right now they are LOVING the treats. Their favorite food is Signature Selects (canned). FYI: If you have a Petsnse store (we just got one this year and I had no idea this chain existed nationwide), they're no longer going to carry Welness cat products in-store (can order online to deliver to store). I'm pretty sad, because that's pretty much the only reason I went to the store. Anyway, ALL the Welness cat products are drastically reduce. For example, this canned food my cats like is either $2.49 or $2.99 and is reduced to $0.50. Also, the treats are reg. $2.99 for $.59 and the dry food is also deeply discounted.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I'd never heard of them, but there is one across town. I'll check it out
DeleteI suspect my cat would enjoy Complete Health Pate Turkey and Salmon!
ReplyDeleteBinga's go-to food these days is the Wellness Signature Selects! She has gotten picky in her old age, and my human is glad she likes a good quality food.
ReplyDeleteOur cats love all flavors of the Complete Health Gravies!
ReplyDeleteProbably the Salmon & Trout pate. Minchie will only eat fish flavors.
ReplyDeleteAw I don't have a cat, but back in the day when I got my first dog we fed him Wellness Core for quite awhile. We eventually ended up switching to raw and sticking with that, but when we did feed kibble Wellness was one of the few brands my sensitive boy could tolerate.
ReplyDeleteWe love the Core Wellness foods!
ReplyDeleteWe love Wellness foods too...and even more so now that they removed the carrageenan from it. We especially like the Core line of foods.
ReplyDeleteRosie loves Wellness CORE (and sadly so does Ruby, we have to keep reminding her that she is a dog). She also loves the Kittles treats!
ReplyDeleteWell with 5 rescue kitties, they all have their different favorites but I think they would all love the chicken based on how often they all try to steal our chicken when we have it lol
ReplyDeleteThank looks delicious, we'll check if its available in the UK!
ReplyDeleteBest festive purrs
Basil & Co xox
Our cats like quality food! Right now, they're on Merrick but they're always open to new brands and flavors. Wellness does get a good name.
ReplyDeleteI buy Wellness wet food all the time, their Core line which my cat just ate this morning and their Wellness Complete Health line.
ReplyDeleteI would choose Wellness Core Indoor Chicken & Chicken Liver.
You girls are spoiled Wellness is such gorgeous food!!!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas!
I love that you give lots of healthy options -- there isn't one best way to feed a cat or dog, but many healthy options! ~ Dear mishu
ReplyDeleteI got some samples of Wellness while at BlogPaws last year, and Karma loved it. I also got the soft senior canned diet for Seren-Kitty while she was alive, so I'm a fan. Karma isn't eating it at the moment, but does now and then.
ReplyDeleteSome great options here that I really need to look into. Our girl is getting older and I need to make sure she is happy and healthy and getting her nutritional needs!
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that nutritionists are coming around to feeding the right stuff to cats but still insist that dogs can live on "cereal."
ReplyDeleteAre you celebrating with the turkey and cranberry for Christmas? I haven't quite figured out what Mr. N's holiday meal is going to be.
ReplyDeleteCody actually eats wet Wellness (and dry Nutrish).........he eats the chicken pate, he would LOVE a case! catchatwithcarenandcody
ReplyDeleteThanks to you and some other cat bloggers, I started feeding my cat wet food and he loves it. I think my cat is benefiting from the change.
ReplyDeleteWe had only recently discovered the Kittles treats and they were a favorite of our senior cat, Peanut Butter. When she passed away, we donated the pouches of Kittles we had left over to a local shelter. They let us know the next day that their rescue kittens went wild for them! I guess I need to donate a few more in Peanut Butter's memory. I'm so glad that they are healthy and safe as well as delicious!
ReplyDeleteWe have never tried Wellness, but think Benny may have food allergies and have been told that duck is preferable to other proteins if there is an allergy. We have been thinking about trying it!
ReplyDeleteI tried changing Rhette's food recently to a senior diet, never again, cats hate change! But, we love Wellness products and just may have to try those treats! Treats are the one thing that cat isn't picky about (well, except the low fat ones). Sandra and Dolly
ReplyDeleteWhen I had my pet sitting service, I noticed how cats really loved the gravy in canned foods. I would add more water to the mix so that the cats would have that much more pleasure and the food would not dry out as quickly. Great review.
ReplyDeleteI like how the wellness treats have cranberry in them, a good balance of meat and natural sweetness of fruits packed in one. Truffle and Brulee are such cuties!
ReplyDeleteMy cat would love the Complete Health™ Pâté Turkey & Salmon wet recipe the most. Her favorite flavors are salmon and turkey so this is the best of both worlds :)
ReplyDeleteYou had us at Wellness! It's the only wet food/snack food our CKD kitties will eat consistently now and we hope to transition everyone over to Wellness sometime next year.
ReplyDeleteWe think Yang and Chimera would like to try the Turkey & Duck. Scylla and Yin would probably like to try it too, but they are on a prescription diet food.
ReplyDeleteI think my boys would like the Core Pâté chicken and Turkey. At least I know Rufus the Red would love it! He eats EVERYTHING.
ReplyDeleteThank you for having this give-away.
Maggie
I don't have a cat. But my cousin is a college student with a couple cats & I am hoping to win for her.
ReplyDeleteI think Leonardo, Doppelgänger and Tyler would all like the Complete Health Morsels Salmon Dinner wet food.
ReplyDelete******************
{in the contest I am Margot C__ on the Rafflecopter}