Switching to Evo
 

For the last few weeks I've noticed my gang is not very happy with Wellness. They aren't eating it all like they used to and when I put their plates of food down they will sometimes sniff and walk away. The price has also gone up considerably.

I went to this small pet food store that my best friend used to buy her cat his food at. They sell only brands like Innova, Evo and brands that I've only seen in other specialty pet food shops. They are a small shop and not super fancy so I'm guessing that's why they can afford to sell the food at such a good price.

Since I know Evo is one of the best quality foods and touted at being close to their natural diet, I decided to switch them to that. I was also pleasantly pleased to find that they offer 13oz cans for $1.95 and $1.85, which is going to be way easy on my pocketbook. Better quality food at a lesser price is great.

I had to get them Wellness though at Petco because I want to begin the switching process tomorrow. I'm hoping they will like this.

I know I've read some of you here feed your pets Evo. Can someone tell me your experiences? How do your pets like it?

I feed them the cat+kitten Chicken and Turkey. It's great. I've been using it for well over a year. They like it... it doesn't smell that bad either.

I cheat and take half a can of the big cans and take a flavour of Merrick or Weruva and mix it in. You can use the Evo so sort of thin out the expensive stuff without it loosing it's taste.

I get it for like... 19$ a case which is 12 large cans. The case lasts about 3 weeks for my kitties so I'm fine with it.

Also Natura has a frequent buyer program; if applicable in your area. By 12 bags or 12 cases of food get 1 bag free or 1 case free.

Cool, thanks for the input. I also noticed this place had Merrick too, I just couldn't remember the name.

The kitties are not eating the Turkey Wellness now :shrug:. I may just get them all on Instinct, it seems to be more consistent.

I have never tried Evo because they don't carry it at the Global and I won't buy anywhere else. The owners have been much, much too good to me. They are the ones who house my fosters when they go up for adoption. And they have to put up with me every lunch hour visiting my babies until they are adopted. [SIZE="1"]trust me, that takes a lot of patience on their part[/SIZE].

It would seem that the "There will be no change in our food when we are taken over" has not been truthful. My kitties are no longer eating most kinds of the Wellness. :shrug: I don't know. I don't have much choice for pet food stores. Only have 2 here and one is just too expensive. I will be driving to Stoney Creek or St Cats I guess and checking out Global. :frustrated:

Why do you think that now the cats are snubbing their noses at Wellness? I buy different makes for the guys and have noticed that the Wellness ones are not getting eaten the way they were before. I feed a couple of the Evo ones, can't remember how well they are received. They do like GO but it is a bit pricey.

Chris - Wellness was recently bought out by Old Mother Hubbard. There was not supposed to be a change in the foods but you have to wonder. My guys used to wolf down the Wellness. Now I open a can, they sniff and walk away. Even my catuary cats don't like it. :shrug: They had to have done something to it I would think. Since I found the plastic/fishing line/whatever it was, in the food I am really wondering what's going on.

if the cats in the catuary don's like it 14k then something ain't right. There were a couple of different flavours Herbie and Kale really liked and as you saw :) Herbie will eat just about anything, now he has started turning his nose up and I have been throwing it away when I wash their dishes.

OMG here we go again trying to find flavours that Kale likes, he likes fish, not sure if I'm right - it's not good to give too much fish though is it :confused:

It was about a month after Old Mother Hubbard was taken over that I noticed my kitties would turn on and off their Wellness. Where I buy my food has VERY high turnover on their Wellness inventory so I know it is fairly fresh product.

I guess I noticed it a couple of weeks ago and thought it would pass, but it hasn't. It bugs me though, that when you think you have it nailed down what they like and then they turn around and give you "ahem, we don't like that anymore". :frustrated:

I don't know that they would even have exhausted the old inventory from before they were taken over. You would think they would use it up before making their own. I am just totally confused as to why all of a sudden the kitties just won't eat the food. Chris - I didn't know Herbie wasn't liking the food either. :sad: That must mean something has changed. And my catty cats... they are the same as other kitties....... picky. If they don't like something it sits. They love their hearts and giblets when I give it to them but turn their noses up at raw chicken.

[QUOTE=Chris21711;686133]I guess I noticed it a couple of weeks ago and thought it would pass, but it hasn't. It bugs me though, that when you think you have it nailed down what they like and then they turn around and give you "ahem, we don't like that anymore". :frustrated:[/QUOTE]

Yep, that's when it happened here too. And I can't afford to keep on changing foods. I need to find one I can afford (somewhat) and stick to it.
I keep telling the customers at work I work for my kitties. :o

I also found something suspect in their food, 14+. It was some white plastic looking thing. I've tried other flavors and my gang are all suspicious of them all. :frustrated:

I figured it was time to look for something just as good if not better for them nutritionally, and I'm very happy that I found this at that pet store, and especially that it's not expensive.

Hopefully they will like it.:fingerscr

Weird. Wonder if it was from the same batch? I still have the can. If you have yours we can compare dates.

I am seriously thinking about making my own cat food from raw. I think I will ask DH for a quality meat grinder for Xmas. I am just getting fed up with the big corp. cutting back on quality so their CEO's can make millions.

14+, I don't have the can, but if I find another one like that I'll save it.

I'd love to eventually feed them raw, but I just can't afford it right now, and I don't know enough about what they need nutritionally when making my own food to try it.

I still have some of the packaged raw I'd gotten Maks, and I've been giving them some now and then. Vlad and Oksana won't go near it, but Maks, Kiska and Czari dig into it, so I know they like the variety.

Once you get the recipes going pass them on L4H. Please!! I may be doing that route more too if it works out cheaper and of course it's better for them.

I think there is little doubt it would be better for them. Considering so many of these companies are cutting corners these days. You'd think they wouldn't after what happened before.

I have a local butcher that saves his chicken backs and sells them for .25 per lb, and if you catch him at the right time of day, beef scraps for free.

Thanks for the heads up on Wellness. I work at a small pet boutique ( we have no animals) but we do have great food. I knew that Wellness was sold to another company but I thought it was Eagle Pack. Some people were looking for Wellness, it is one of the brands that we didn't carry so I will tell the owner that the kitties say they aren't hungry for Wellness. We do carry other great brands such as Evo, Instinct,Orijen, Solid Gold etc. I have no kitties so I am happy to get this info from those that count the kitties. :)

Yes, at first I thought it was just my gang, but as you can see it's happening to other kitties.

:frustrated: K now im worried about my dudes, I prety much feed them wellness exclusively (dry and canned).

I have a huge amount of dry food (one of those big bags) from when i boarded them and I bought too much.its still unopen. I guess I have time b4 I need to switch since the bag I bought was before the takeover...even if they dont have issue with eating the food from newer stock being that other kitties are turning up their noses I wouldnt feel comfortable feeding it..

Does evo make kibble too?

I'm wondering if they did change the dry? Maybe they left it alone. :fingerscr At least if you have a big bag you can take your time changing to another one.
My kitties do eventually eat the food. It's just not with the usual vigor. I wish these big companies would just leave well enough alone.

[QUOTE=onster;686278]:frustrated: K now im worried about my dudes, I prety much feed them wellness exclusively (dry and canned).

I have a huge amount of dry food (one of those big bags) from when i boarded them and I bought too much.its still unopen. I guess I have time b4 I need to switch since the bag I bought was before the takeover...even if they dont have issue with eating the food from newer stock being that other kitties are turning up their noses I wouldnt feel comfortable feeding it..

Does evo make kibble too?[/QUOTE]

Yes, EVO does make kibble. I used to feed it to my gang when I was still feeding them just dry. They really loved it!

My cats are on the EVO kibble right now. It's really really high in protein and whatnot though. Incase that matters to anyone who has a special kidney kitty.

Ummm I just bought it Friday and it was a 15lb bag for $36. So, the dry food is a bit on the pricier side for me.

I can get a 12lb bag of Before Grain for 23$ and Taste of the Wild 15lb bag for about 25$.

I began the mix of food this morning. They ate some and then walked away, I expected that, but I'll keep on trudgeing alone. I gave Vlad the can while I was mixing it and he liked what he had. I know they'll get used to it.

I've avoided giving them dry for almost a year and don't want to get them back on it.

I wonder if a kitty finds high meat content more filling than a food that has some veggies in it?

L4H, I'm thinking that might be so.

We feed our fur kids Evo kibble - they love it! The transition was painless as we had been feeding Science Diet Urinary and before that Royal Cannin Feline Urinary SO .. only to find out those are really .. really .. really not the best foods.

Our transition to Evo was literally painless. Set out the bowl of kibble and watch them inhale the stuff. We feed the canned now far more than kibble. We have found that the Cat/Kitten turkey and chicken goes over very well. We alternate every meal with Wysong Turkey, Chicken and Duck so that they dont get the same thing twice in a row. We have noticed that the Evo Duck seems to contain more juice than any of the others so it seems to be less value overall.

Good luck with the transition

Bill

Pipercats, thanks for the info. I was thinking of giving them some variation as well with a few cans of some of the other foods I saw there. They had Merrick and Wysong as well.

My gang also LOVE the Evo kibble, but I was concerned about them not getting enough moisture in their diet as well as leaving it out made them snack all day and I have to watch the weight for a certain black kitty.:D