Conversation with Wellness Foods

Hi Everyone,

Wellness called me this afternoon in response to my letter about the substantial differences in texture and color between the 3-oz. cans of Wellness paté foods that are produced in their plants in Canada (Toronto) and the US (California). I had written them that Rusty would only eat the firm-textured food from the Canadian plant, but that I was aware of other cats who would only eat the "softer," "fluffier,"-textured food from the US plant. The Wellness representative told me that they had received many letters about "changes" in their foods (because people who usually had purchased food produced by the Canadian plant were getting in their stores food from the USA plant, and vice-versa). She wanted to assure me that the ingredients have always been the same. She also told me that they had received many letters of concern from their customers.

Beginning next month Wellness will make its paté foods in one facility and send it to be canned in a plant in New Jersey (all sizes of cans) and a plant in Canada (3-oz. cans only). The paté foods will no longer be produced in California. She said that the consistency of the foods would be the consistency of what is now marked "product of Canada". So this is, I guess, good news for those of us whose cats prefer the "product of Canada", but at this point, who knows what the product will turn out to be. Until the switchover, what we see on the shelves will still be what we see now on the shelves. After the switchover the recipe and the ingredients will be the same as they are now.

That's about it. They are sending me some coupons (I graciously accepted). It occurs to me that I neglected to ask where the paté foods were going to be made.

Good luck to us all,

Ella

Hi Ella

Thanks for pursuing this and reporting back to the group. We just started on Wellness so haven't any (adverse) experience on this yet, but hopefully whatever the "new" consistency will be will be palatable to all the fussy kitties.

Lisa

Hi Ella, thanks for contacting Wellness, very interesting. I just ordered a case of Wellness from Wag.com, and it's the fluffy texture cans made in U.S.A, whereas before it was always the firmer Made in Canada cans. Mags will eat a little of it, but not like she does with the firmer texture. That will be good news for kitties who prefer the firmer texture made in Canada, but sounds like we will have to wait and see after the switch is made.

I hate to say it....but I'm skeptical of anything Wellness says. I had the same problem with Wellness almost 10 years ago, and I got the same exact response everyone is getting today..."all the plants follow the same recipe, etc, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah." Not an ounce of concern that the batch I was contacting them about smelled like urine. Add to that the fact that Wellness sends Trix's BGs all over the map (and she was eating Wellness when she turned diabetic), and my vet's recent experiences of seeing more and more cats developing urinary issues on Wellness (including canned) AND Wellness's lack of response to her inquiries...AND they seem to be giving everyone here the same song and dance....please proceed with caution. We have many other options, and thanks to Dr Lisa's list, we can easily make informed decisions.

This is great information! Thanks, Ella, for going to this trouble.

We get the "fluffy" stuff here (at least all of the cans I've bought so far). My cats hate the Wellness no matter how much I've tried by even covering it up in treats and Parmesan! I always figured it was the consistency since they also hate the Merricks BG 96% and the Special Kitty and the Grreat Choice.

Thank you, Ella. I haven't heard anything yet.....

Thanks Ella for finding out all the information about Wellness. Simon likes the "firmer" Wellness, but we are now getting the "fluffy" kind in our pet stores. He doesn't like it as much. Wellness usually helps lower his BG but we'll see what happens when they make the changes. I think I need to start looking at some other alternatives that Simon will eat.

I recently found a local pet food store that sells the Wellness brand. I plan to stop by sometime this week and pick up a few cans to see if Mego will like it. Can you Wellness feeders give me some ideas of which flavors your kitty like? What info on the cans should I look for in regards to Canadian Wellness vs American Wellness? Also, I see that there are grain free foods available - is this what most of you feed?

And Ella, thanks for the info.

I feed Wellness in either chicken or turkey. Both are grain free. I don't think there's a difference between what's available in the US and Canada.