? Newman's Own Organic - Second Generation Food

Has anyone tried the Newman's Own Organic - The Second Generation canned cat food? It is 95% grain free, and the reviews on Chewy seem really good. I can't find it in any local store, or at least I haven't yet. I have been trying to find a different food to mix in with the Merrick Pates I am currently feeding.

I dropped the duck flavor as the carb is higher than I need for Frodo, and they are really getting tired of just eating the Turkey & Chicken. I do feed them a treat of Tiki Cat a couple times a week, but cannot afford to feed it to 7 cats on a daily basis. They don't like Wellness, Friskies, Nature Varieties, Holistic or EVO. That is just a short list of what I have tried.

Soooo I was hoping someone here might be using or have tried this food and had some input. Really interested n the Turkey or Chicken formulas, Frodo gets very sick off beef flavors and I only feed fish on a rare occasion and then it has to be mixed with something.

Or if someone has another suggestion I could try. I am really wanting to keep Frodo under 5% carb as I am having a REALLY hard time getting him regulated and out of the dog food (which doesn't help his BG's either). And he isn't the only one eating out of the dog bowl, they all seem unsatisfied with the canned and go for her hard food. I have told my husband I am at the point of just feeding the dog canned food also and that would solve that problem as she doesn't leave any can food behind. Plus at 15 years old she deserves it.

 

Just remember that grain free is NOT necessarily low carb. Peas, beans, potatoes, fruits, tapioca, etc are all sources of carbohydrate. For a rough estimate, take the numbers and put them in this calculator.

 

So true BJM, this one does not have any vegetables at all just meat and egg. Here are the ingredients and the values from the companies web page.

Organic Chicken, Organic Chicken Broth, Organic Dried Eggs, Organic Yeast Extract, Dicalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Chloride, Organic Guar Gum, Carrageenan, Choline Chloride, Taurine, Salt, Magnesium Proteinate, Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Niacin Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Copper Proteinate, Sodium Selenite, Thiamine Mononitrate, Manganese Proteinate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Biotin, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Ethylenediamine Dihydroiodide, Folic Acid.

CALORIC VALUE:

• As fed (Kcal/5.5oz can)...........203
• As fed (Kcal/3oz can)..............111

GUARANTEED ANALYSIS:

• Crude Protein................9.5% (min)
• Crude Fat.......................8.5% (min)
• Crude Fiber....................0.5% (max)
• Moisture........................78.0% (max)
• Ash...............................2.75% (max)
• Magnesium.....................0.028% (max)
• Taurine..........................0.06% (min)

After plugging the numbers into the calculator here is what I get:
% carbs is 0.6619999999999999, so lets just say less than 1%.
Carb Calories per 100g of nutrient = 2%.

So the numbers don't look bad at all, the BIG question is will they eat it as part of the mix? Like I said reviews look good, but was hoping someone here has tried it since it looks like I will have to order a case from Chewy to try it and then pray they like it.

 

Some cats get GI upsets from carrageenan and it has been used in research to cause inflammation.

 

Hhhmmmm... that maybe the problem with one of my kitties. She is not fond of the food and tends to keep loose stools. Not diarrhea but not firm like the others. Looks like I need to look at my food better. I just found a really good article that was published in Dec, so up to date, makes me feel even worse. Here I thought I was feeding a good quality food to my babies and looks like I am slowly poisoning them. It really should not be this hard to find a decent food.

Here s the link if anyone is interested: http://www.cornucopia.org/2014/12/pets-food-safe-think/

 

Depending on your motivation, you might write/e-mail the company and tell them why you won't be buying their food. If enough folks do it, they might, someday, change the recipe.

 

You could always try making your own!! At least that way you'd be in complete control of the ingredients! I know several people who use Dr. Lisa's recipe

Your in good company, trust me! We all have to balance what we want to feed with what we can afford to feed with what we can feed to suit our lifestyle...and want the best we can do for our pets

 

Thanks @BJM for "talking" with about this, sometimes you just need others eyes and opinions. That is what I love about this forum!

Very good idea. I will NOT be buying anymore Merrick Pates since it contains the carrageenan. Bad part is I just ordered 2 cases from Chewy. Oh well that is how it goes. Now to find a different food. I looked at Friskies but they have fish in them and I really do not want to feed fish as I did a long time ago and my cats got to where if it didn't have fish they would not eat it. Don't want to fall into that addiction again. And you know what I think I will write Newman's also, as the ingredients otherwise look very good. I don't understand why they have to use both guar gum and carrageenan as they both are thickening agent, makes no sense.

@Chris & China - you are absolutely right, I guess I am just frustrated as I, just like lots of others, have been through so many foods trying to find something healthy, low carb that everyone will eat. And trying to buy the highest quality protein I can afford with 7 cats. I have tried the freeze dried raw, not a hit at all. I tried just feeding raw chicken and boy that was a bust, it was like they had no clue how to eat it. Chris how does the NV Frozen Raw go over with your kitty? Also I have looked at making my own, or maybe even trying the Feline's Pride, not sure which way is more cost efficient. I don't have grinding equipment so that is what kind of got me with Dr. Lisa's recipe.

Oh the things we go through for out kitty babies

 

We've had quite a challenge with China....When we first started the NV, they had frozen raw "medallions" that were for both dogs and cats and she ate those really well.....then they had a bright idea and changed it so that the medallions were for dogs only, and came out with new "Bites" for cats. She hated them and refused to eat them. I went through a lot of other frozen raws until we came across some RadCat which she really loved BUT (there's always a "but") for some reason it made her blood glucose numbers go up into the 300's! Since she'd been pretty stable and getting mostly greens and blues, this was worrying, but according to the carb% and ingredients, there shouldn't have been any reason for it. Despite that, her numbers continued being bad so I took her off the RadCat and just fed her Fancy Feast and her numbers went back down. Still not really believing it could be the RadCat, I tried it again and once again, her numbers went up! Nobody here (or the manufacturer or the people who sold it to me) can figure out why, but after trying it several times and getting the same results, we had to admit defeat

Just recently, NV has re-introduced a cat medallion, so I thought we'd try it again, although I didn't hold out much hope since I assumed the medallions would be the same formula as the bites and she wouldn't eat it, but she DID eat it and continues to eat it well!! Her numbers are running pretty normal for her again and I'm quite happy with it.

 

@Chris & China I may have to give those a try. I am happy they fixed the form and formula so China will eat them again. It does make dealing with our sugarbabies a little easier if you can find a food they will eat and fits into the complex puzzle we want it to fit into.

I am going through all foods again, and found Lotus Juicy Juice canned, it does not contain either guar gum or carrageenan, but does have potato starch. However, I plugged what numbers are on the website and it comes back 5.5% carb, they don't list any mineral percentages so if I estimate 2% for those then the carb is 3.5%. I have been trying to stay away from potato starch thinking it would be bad for Frodo, complex carb, and that rules out a bunch of foods also. Seems the more I read the more confused I am getting these days.

Guess I will just start from scratch with foods, looking closer at those type of ingredients and trying some new stuff like the frozen raw. Hopefully I will find something everyone will eat. I also have a hyperthyroid kitty that the vet believes has intestinal lymphoma, she is taking prednisolone and eats like crazy. Since her body uses every thing she eats and we are trying to keep her weight up, I want to feed her the best I can. Right now she gets a lot of the Tiki Cat, which she loves, and has gone from 4.9lbs to 5.13, we are really excited about it as she will be 17 this year. She has always been a little kitty, her name is Beemer and I call her my itty bitty precious, she was 4 weeks old when we took her in and barely took up a forth of a small ferret bed. Hence itty bitty precious.

Rattled enough, if anyone has any other ideas on food I appreciate the advice.

You guys are awesome.. thanks for all your advice and help, especially with Frodo.

 

Mitz will only eat raw if it's mixed about 50-50 with canned. The only way she'll eat it on it's own is if I give the freeze-dried Stella & Chewy's dry but then I worry about the lack of moisture. I've started adding some Weruva into the mix too because she gets bored with the same rotation of Wellness flavors. We tried Rad Cat once but she didn't really like it. The dogs will be getting what's left in the freezer