Product Review and Win Wellness® Cat Food!

After careful consideration, from time to time I write a product reviews. If you see it here, it's because, at LEAST I think it's worth you knowing about even if I have an issue with it and, at BEST, I think it's amazing and we should all have one, two or more of whatever it is I'm reviewing. I get NO reimbursement for writing these reviews, though to write a review I am usually supplied with the item, as I was in this case. This review is MY OPINION, ONLY. The result you experience using this product may differ.

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I've been a fan of Wellness® canned cat foods for many years. Their turkey & salmon flavor was one of the foods my cats liked when I was starting to transition them from grained dry food to grain-free canned food. As many of you know, I'm a BIG BIG BIG (literally and figuratively) fan of getting the GRAIN out of our cat's diet and Wellness was one of the few brands, at the time, that had products that were wholesome, grain-free and that the cats enjoyed.

Wellness® is part of the WellPet® family of brands that was created, when Old Mother Hubbard® and Eagle Pack® Pet Foods merged. They have a focused philosophy on doing right by our pets nutritional needs. From their web site:

“True Wellness can only come from an ideal balance of protein, fats, and carbohydrates—no ‘empty calories.’ That’s why our nutritionists never stop studying our animals’ needs. And, when it comes to protein, we know that pet foods sometimes use inferior ingredients. We do not. True Wellness comes from using only pure protein from high-quality sources.

True Wellness means every ingredient has a purpose in every food we make. We study until we’re confident of its health benefit… and then, we make sure to put in the right amount so you’ll see a difference in your animal— We never add ingredients just to have the newest ‘buzzword’ on the label.”

They've also created the WellPet Foundation®, whose goal is to give back and support non-profits that promote natural nutrition. I love this because my own non-profit, Kitten Associates, Inc., insists that new adopters feed a grain-free diet and never a bite of dry food.

Wellness recently released their newest line of canned grain-free products. They come Minced, Cubed or Sliced, in twelve varieties, in a 3 oz size, only. The list of available varieties is HERE-Wellness Canned Recipes. I received some samples of the product to try on my foster kittens and their mom, Mazie.

When I saw the cans, it made me think, right away that these products might be aimed as competition for the Fancy Feast brand. The cans are small, the food is in different shapes and consistency. There are no plans for a larger sized can, at this writing, so it seems perhaps that's what is going on. If so, the FF folks better run. This new product by Wellness is GOOD STUFF, made with high quality ingredients and not a lot of ingredients, either. It's GRAIN-FREE, too.

From their web site, here's an example of what to know about each of their flavors:

• 100% Grain Free, Complete and Balanced Meal

• Single Protein Source (Turkey)

• Convenient serving size

• No Wheat, Meat By-Products, or Artificial Colors, Flavors or Preservatives

• Perfect for encouraging hydration

This is what I like to see!

You should learn to read the ingredients panel of your cat's food and what it means. We'll do that in another blog post, but generally speaking, below you can see there is a single protein source-which is really good. It helps keep food allergies at bay. There isn't a lot of extras in this food. Keep it simple, which is best. Here's Sliced Turkey Entrée:

Turkey, Turkey Broth, Water Sufficient for Processing, Peas, Dried Egg Whites, Natural Flavor, Dried Egg Product, Carrots, Guar Gum, Broccoli, Sodium Phosphate, Ground Flaxseed, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Cranberries, Minerals (Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Cobalt Amino Acid Chelate, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Sodium Selenite, Potassium Iodide), Carrageenan, Taurine, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Niacin, Vitamin B-12 Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Biotin, Folic Acid), Choline Chloride.

But did the cats eat it?

Yes! They seemed to enjoy the minced over sliced or cubed. The larger the pieces were may have been why they didn't completely gobble up every bit of it off the plate. They seemed to enjoy all the flavors-of course if there's fish in it, the cats always go for that. There's a nice gravy on the food and the cats lapped that right up.

The product, itself, seemed wholesome and had a nice aroma, though I personally did not TRY any of it myself!

My cats generally like a “paté” consistency over something chunkier, but from the standpoint of ingredient choices and a nice blend of flavors to choose from, if you only have one or two cats, this is a great product to try. If you have more than a pair of cats, I'd suggest you look into Wellness's other flavors that are part of their Complete Health Line come in both 5.5 oz and 12 oz cans. The just don't come in the sliced, minced or cubed style.

Now for the FUN PART! We're giving away ONE MIXED CASE of Wellness Cubed, Sliced & Minced Canned Cat Recipes to ONE LUCKY READER! We also have TWO, $10.00 OFF coupons, one per person, to TWO OTHER LUCKY READERS!

Winning is EASY! Just leave a comment, below and make SURE you include your email address. To avoid spam bots, you can post your email address like this: myemailaddress @ someplace.com Notice I added a SPACE on either side of the @ symbol. That will keep your email address safe. If you don't want to post your email address, you can email me at info@coveredincathair.com with the subject line: I wanna WIN wellness! And I will includes those folks in the drawing, too. PLEASE DO NOT E-MAIL ME MORE THAN ONE TIME or PUT A COMMENT BELOW AND EMAIL ME. Those folks will be disqualified! Sorry, we can't ship out of the USA, so only folks with addresses in the United States of America can enter.

DEADLINE IS MIDNIGHT EASTERN STANDARD TIME (USA) JULY 28TH

(which is just before the last day of VOTING for us to WIN BEST CAT BLOG AND BEST SOCIAL INTEGRATION BLOG FOR THE PETTIE 2011 AWARDS-HINT!) VOTE HERE

Let the comments, begin! Good luck to all of you!