Wellness canned new recipe?

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drjsiems

drjsiems

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It seems like my non-diabetic cat (Boomer) has now also developed an issue with Wellness canned turkey (I think) as my diabetic cat (Jake) also did sometime ago. Jake had chronic diarrhea, which immediately stopped after I took him off this food about two or three months ago now. But Boomer was handling it just fine so I left him on it until he recently starting having diarrhea. I took him off the Wellness canned turkey a few days ago, and his diarrhea immediately stopped. I find it hard to believe that both cats (that are not biologically related) developed an allergy to this food. I think it may have to do with the new recipe Wellness is using, e.g. adding potatoes, etc. Has anyone else had problems with this new receipe, specifically kitty developing diarrhea or other gastrointestinal problems?

Thanks,
Judy, Jake, & Boomer
 
No experience with that.
But!
If they changed the recipe, you'll want to check their site to see if the As Fed or % dry matter distributions have changed for carbohydrate, fat, & protein - especially if they added potato!
 
no gastro problems, but blood sugar increase - YES. When I took a close look at the food, I could see small white-ish chunks in it, which i assume were potato.

we have stopped feeding wellness

well - I will qualify that gastro... one of my cats had diarrhea twice a few weeks ago, which might have been from the new recipe. Since we used the "new" food for less than a week because of the blood sugar increase, I didn't pay further attention but nobody has made icky poos since.
 
I'm wondering if Wellness is contributing to Trixie's crazy numbers, too. She's been all over the map ever since time changed - and I think that's also around the time we bought a new case. I've been transitioning her over to BG 96% chicken; however, since the transition isn't complete yet, I don't know if we'll see better numbers once she's completely off the Wellness.
 
I went to the website and got information for Wellness Chicken and Wellness Turkey but I do not know how to calculate:

Here is what is listed for "As Served" for the turkey:
12.4 % protein
10.6% fat

I know that there is some type of conversion that has to be done to get numbers in Janet and Binky's chart but I do not know what to do. Janet and Binky have the turkey listed with 30 for protein and 65 for fat. Anyone know what we need to do with these numbers? thanks
 
Where did you hear the formula changed and when did it take place?
I phoned Wellness several times recently during the recall episode, asked many questions and in my last call was lucky enough to get the Director of Quality assurance. We talked at length and she ASSURED that other than adding additional thiamine beyond what had been in the recipe prior, NOTHING ELSE IN THE FORMULA was changing.

Is this change in recent times PRIOR to the recall incident you are referring to? If so I was not aware. I researched exhaustively when we were diagnosed, called personally for nutrient profiles & as-fed and dry matter values to several different companies over several months time. BUT some of those were nearly a year ago. If my information is not current and no longer accurate and ANY of these have changed formulas, I want to know about it.

I am not aware of extra potatoes but have not purchased any new cans since the recall. AND was about to go buy some THIS weekend, so definately want to be aware if something else has changed.

Wellness is our staple food but we also feed another couple brands. One, BY Nature, I also saw on a board post that someone thought they had modified their formula. I was unable to confirm this. That company is not very easy to get information out of. Friendly but uninformed. Wellness on the other hand was always stellar and had great information to provide...including much more even than WE need, on any of the flavors broken down every possible way.

Please let me know how you discovered this and when. It took months of trial and error to find the right diet for them and that they would also eat. I sure hope this isn't true.
 
personal experience ---

we have been feeding Wellness Chicken and Wellness Turkey for a couple of years. We usually buy at least 4 cases of 12.5 oz cans at a time because the store is not very close to home.

at the time of the recall, I had just bought 4 cases of the bad lots.

The store had more Wellness from GOOD lots, so I took and exchanged the 4 cases.

After feeding from the new cans - Tiggy's blood sugar numbers were consistently higher than usual.

As I put food into the bowls, I observed whitish lumps that looked like cooked potato.

We stopped feeding the Wellness, and went to Fancy Feast and EVO.

Tiggy's numbers returned to his normal range.

To me - regardless of what the company representative claims -- that means something in the food changed.

Blood sugar doesn't lie -- people can - either deliberately or not
 
I can't remember where I read that the Wellness formula had changed. But I noticed potatoes in the Wellness the company put out after the recall. So I know that the formula has changed in that respect.

I no longer trust this company.

Judy
 
this would explain alot! Ugh - can anyone suggest another food with a similar consistency?
Lou won't eat food that in anyway resembles food - he's more of a pate cat. and i'm sick of buying food to have him walk away from it.
thanks,
Jessie
 
I don't know what changed, but my cats became pickier about Wellness and I began wasting food at 2.28/can, so I stopped buying it.

A search tonight turned up this comment on the site Truthaboutpetfood.com: I called Wellness about Menu Foods and was told "Not all of the canned cat food is manufactured by Menu. One plant is in Canada, and one is in N.J. The other plants are American Nutrition and........?."
Look on the bottom of the can above best by . The ones manufactured by Menu will read 7wcc"

That would be Menu Foods, the company involved in the massive pet food melamine poisoning a few years ago. I'm sure most of us would be suspicious of anything Menu Foods is involved with. BTW, the page involved owners finding bits of blue plastic in Wellness food cans, supposedly from the plastic used to wrap the meat prior to processing.

I also found this: http://www.petitiononline.com/NoGrains/ but cannot find a date when it was started or when the rice began to be added. It is a very well written petition and includes a lot of great points.
 
I had just bought a case of the Wellness Chicken post-recall. I was on my third can when I noticed large chunks of white veg as well. The label states that it contains sweet potatoes, not white potatoes, but I suspect the white chunks could be zucchini as well. I generally mix Wellness with BG or raw because I try to keep Willie's carbs as low as possible. He was in the middle of a bounce when I fed him straight wellness, so I'm not sure I can blame the food.

I decided not to take the risk. I had ordered the case online from Petco, and went ahead and returned it in store.

It is possible that there was no formula change, but rather a certain batch maybe didn't get the vegetables chunked properly?

FYI... the cans in which I saw chunks were labeled:
BEST BY 16 DEC 13
7WCCS1 18:32

I also have one pre-recall can that wasn't part of the group. Didn't realize it was still floating around on the shelf or I would have thrown it in the case and returned it too. Its label reads:
BEST BY 20 OCT 13
7WCCS1 15:07

Once I know I've got Willie's BG#s stabilized, I will open it and check for chunks.

Perhaps it would be helpful if others noticing chunks would post their can sizes and label information as well?


The brown rice thing is interesting/disturbing... I wonder if it is true of all batches of all formulas? Also disconcerting to know that some of Wellness is manufactured by Menu.

Looks like transitioning Willie back to almost all raw may be the way to go. For now, we're also using BG Chicken and BG Turkey (returned a partial case of Chicken & Quail b/c it turns out the phosphorus is crazy high!).


ETA: Found this info re: Wellness mfg codes on another board via google:

MW.... California plant (presumably American Nutrition)
7WCC.... New Jersey (Menu Foods)
7Wkcc1.... Canada (???)
 
Thanks for the great details -

BG is pretty good - I got a case of Chicken and a case of Turkey -- this may become our new primary along with EVO.

The cowboy cookout trial resulted in 4 pukes, so crossing that one off the list.
 
The "potato" could indeed be sweet potato (as indicated on the label). Real sweet potatoes are white in color when you peel them: the yellow or orange "sweet potatoes" are yams.

This discussion is distressing. Rusty loves Wellness Turkey and I feed it most of the time. His bg went up last week because of back-to-back fur shots, insulin that got too cold, and a 6-hour car trip, but he's slowly getting back to normal. I hope a re-formulated Wellness--if that is true--isn't going to be a factor. In the past he hasn't cared for the Merrick BG or the EVO. He tolerates By Nature 95%. But Wellness is really his thing (oh, and FF Turkey and Giblets Classic, which he loves but which spikes his bg!)

Ella & Rusty
 
Hmm. I am wondering if the information obtained from Wellness by others was incorrect regarding can size being the basis of distinction for where Wellness is manufactured.

Found a 5.5oz can of Beef/Salmon in the car from a vet visit, and the can stamp reads:
BEST BY 23 APRIL 13
7WBSS4 16:47

I suspect this can was manufactured by Menu as well, as it has the most similar can stamp. Unless BS stands for Beef/Salmon, whereas one of the Cs in 7WCCS1 stands for chicken? I may have to take a trip to Petco later today to investigate further.... I will crack the code! LOL
 
Two of my cats get Wellness (Chicken and Turkey). Both are civvies, so no BG data. But I haven't noticed any problems. The only thing I could remotely call a white chunk that I've seen recently was a spot of congealed fat (the can had been refrigerated).

One of the two who get it is my asthma cat. He is unbelievably sensitive to any little change in his food - gets asthma coughing fits. No problem, though, so far.

I get the 12.5 oz cans, from PetFlow. I don't recall seeing the 7??? code below the Best By date, but I'm not at home right now and can't double-check. It's perfectly possible that it is there I have just never clued in on it.
 
I wonder if the "NoGrains" petition is from years ago. I used to be very active on the PetFinder discussion boards, and I remember when the "grain controversy" hit the fan. Although I don't remember the specific year, it was quite a while ago. That was long before I had any FD experience, but then general complaint came from people who had diet-controlled diabetics who were suddenly needing to go back on the juice - they had been feeding Wellness for years and initially couldn't figure out why, all of a sudden, their cats needed insulin again. Apparently Wellness started adding the rice "to give the food more body." Of course, the rice was listed in the ingredients, but there was nothing conspicuous to indicate to the consumer that the recipe had changed. People were understandably raving mad. That's why now there's the little yellow triangle that says "grain free" on the varieties that don't have the grain in them.

I'm not sure what I think I should do about Trixie's diet overall. She definitely prefers Wellness over BG. I did notice an increase in her BG around the time I started a fresh case, but I don't know if that's coincidence or the food. I just increased her dose, and since she has a dental next week...so many variables that could affect her BG one way or another are coming into play at the same time...it may be a while before I have it figured out for her.

Amy
 
I emailed the company to ask if there had been a formula change. Their response said that the formula had not changed in 5 years. Keep posting with any changes that you have. I am not sure what to do. I just changed to Wellness in January I think.
 
It's really hard to know what the company is or is not doing. During the recall and depending who answered the phone, there was a different answer. I know that there are ingredients in this food that were not there before the recall - I can see them. We are just going to forgo Wellness all together as my trust level is not high with them any longer. The good health of my babies IS the highest thing on my list. Thanks for your responses to this all important issue.

Judy, Jake, & Civvie Boomer
 
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