does anyone use weruva?

6901 Views 18 Replies 14 Participants Last post by GhostTown, May 17, 2012

cinderflower

Discussion Starter · May 16, 2012

i've been buying blue buffalo wilderness grain-free, but i just decided that i think i'll go 100% canned. my oldest cat is female but i have two younger males and since urinary problems are more common with the boys, it can't hurt. well, it can inflict a little damage on my wallet

but so can huge vet bills and i'm all for prevention.

weruva is considerably cheaper than wilderness, so i ordered a couple of cases yesterday. a lot of people appear to love it, but there were also some concerns addressed that echoed thoughts i had:

1) the manufacturing plant is located in thailand and they appear reluctant to provide nutrional info;

2) most of the raving reviews were from 2009, i saw one from last year that said, "it used to be better," which happens a lot, not just with cat food;

3) it's grain-free but they still use ingredients like tapioca flour, which gave me pause at first but after looking at about ten different foods, i got to the point of "close your eyes and point" lol.

it looks like people food, i'm not going to taste it but i always like to see cat food that doesn't smell to high heaven.

i'm wondering if anyone else buys it and what you think of it. i looked at abady and it's exorbitantly expensive, practically prohibitively so unless it's magic cat food and after you buy it for a year they give you a pair of louboutins. i looked at wyson geriatrix but it seems harder to find. i haven't ruled it out, i just didn't choose it yesterday.

i want good food for my cats, but i can't see spending more on their food than mine. i'm willing to go even, but i don't eat 100% organic fruits and vegetables, and i eat a lot of produce. it's just too expensive, kind of like pom wonderful and naked. i buy those occasionally, but not every time i go shopping. i'm not rich and i'm not poor, but i also like to save money wherever it's not absolutely necessary to just toss it into the street. i'm of the mind that i'm not going to know without a shadow of a doubt what was done to my food unless i grow it myself, and since that's not going to happen, i do the best i can.

See less See more

1 - 19 of 19 Posts

MowMow

· #2 · May 16, 2012

It makes me SUPER nervous that it's from Thailand but I do feed the Steak Frittes flavor in my rotation.

I would prefer all USA sourced foods but I feel my options are pretty limited as it is (No chicken, no grain, no by products, no meals, no fish, and no turkey) so I have to work with what I can (and can afford).

They eat Weruva Steak Frittes about 33% of their total meals for an entire month every 3 months (not sure that makes sense outside my head). I DO like that it looks like real food. Shreds of meat with diced veggies in gravy.

shan841

· #3 · May 16, 2012

I don't feed weruva but I do feed soulistic, which is basically the same thing and made by weruva. My cat loves it, and you are right it smells like human food. In fact it smells better than a can of campbell's cream of chicken lol. I don't know if the can says where it is sourced from, they do say that it is processed in a human grade facility, whatever that is worth. My only issue is that I feel like I need to feed more of it to satisfy my cat. I don't think it is as rich and filling as blue wilderness, EVO, or wellness. It's hard for me to keep track of the prices, I rotate brands to lessen the blow if there is a recall or an issue with one brand. I get whatever grain free cans are on sale usually. I also have recently seen larger (5.5 oz) cans of the blue wilderness, so that helps too. I most often but the big 12 oz cans of wellness or EVO to help with cost.

fusion

· #4 · May 16, 2012

shan841 said:
My only issue is that I feel like I need to feed more of it to satisfy my cat. I don't think it is as rich and filling as blue wilderness, EVO, or wellness.

It has about half of the calories of a similar quantity of EVO, etc.

Emma is usually very fond of Weruva chicken in gravy. I usually feed her a full 5.5 oz can a day, plus 1/4 or 1/2 of a 5.5 oz can of EVO, depending on her appetite.

CJinCA

· #5 · May 16, 2012

My kitties won't eat it unless I mix in something smelly, usually some freeze-dried raw food, which is fine since the weruva is lower in calories than the other foods.

doodlebug

· #6 · May 16, 2012

Thailand is not China, don't paint it with a broad brush. Thailand has very good controls and regulations regarding their food processing...

Pet Foods Made in Thailand

dweamgoil

· #7 · May 17, 2012

Up until the time we went fully raw, I used to feed half franken prey and half weruva's chicken varieties only. It is a wonderful food and I LOVED that it was soupy rather than pate-y so I could mix it in with pumpkin or extra water. I used it for over a year and never had any complaints. I like that they also started making the 10 oz cans, which for me, were much more economical with 4 cats.

For the most part, I used to ration out 1 5.5 oz can per day for the 4 cats, but again, most of their calories were coming from the raw. My kitty with the digestive issues got better on it. This was the only food that allowed me to regulate all their weights at the same time.

I always recommend Weruva to every cat owner every chance I get

LadyK

· #8 · May 17, 2012

Josie totally loves Weruva. It's her favorite brand. I buy a lot of Nine Liver, Paw Licken Chicken, and Green Eggs and Chicken. She prefers these because they have more gravy. I also buy a couple of the Soulistic line, too.

Oh, the nutritional info is on their website.

SpellQ

· #9 · May 17, 2012

My two love Weruva and all of the chicken flavours are regularly in their menu rotation. Their particular favourite is Grandma's Chicken Soup.

Second in line is Funky Chunky or Peking Ducken. lol

Anytime I have emailed with questions I have received a response within 2-3 business days with at least as much info as I'd requested. Often much more than requested.

You mentioned that they seem reluctant to provide nutritional info? That has not been my experience at all!

cinderflower

Discussion Starter · #10 · May 17, 2012

doodlebug said:
Thailand is not China, don't paint it with a broad brush. Thailand has very good controls and regulations regarding their food processing...

Pet Foods Made in Thailand

i didn't mean anything against thailand except where they get their fish. they're much closer to japan than we are, so i don't know. i'm already kind of leery of fish, i probably shouldn't have bought the one with talapia (it's not middle east feast, it's the other one) but my cats have always been fish and chicken nuts. i'm not exactly worried as much as i'd just prefer US made pet food (i love thai food myself, and if i die, i don't care nearly as much as if i killed my cats or made them sick

) if it were made in china, i hate to say it but i doubt if i would have bought it. another person mentioned the human-grade processing facility but then had doubts about her own food lmao. but since i don't eat fish or chicken or any of that, i don't have to worry about it. it seemed like kind of weird logic too, because she said something like, "that's fine for the cats but then what if my food is made alongside cat food?" well, if it's a plant with human consumption standards, it's not like your food would be contaminated by offal and rotting slurry, so i don't see the problem.

glad to see so many people love it, i knew there was just something about it:jump

whoever said they respond quickly (sorry, there were a lot of people i wanted to reply to and three names is my CRS memory limit lol) then: i'm glad to hear that. see? you just never know when you read things online. one person was complaining about that--but it was one of the lone less than stellar reviews. i paid NO attention at all to the one that said, "my cat started gaining weight on it and i was feeding 1/2 what they recommend, and he also developed urinary tract problems." um. lol (well, i tend to read between the lines when i see something like that where there are 28 5-star reviews and 1 2-star and 1 1-star, so my first thought was, "were you starving your cat before you bought that?" and also that i highly doubt it caused ut problems, they were most likely already there and possibly more protein exacerbated it.

but if mowmow and dweamgoil feed it, hey, that's good enough for me (and yes, the rotation thing made enough sense). i'm not unhappy with blue buffalo at all, my cats just get a little bored with it so if that's all they're getting (thank god they aren't dry food junkies) i figured i might as well mix it up a little.

i think i liked the lower-calorie part, i don't remember a count for phosphorus but that was why i didn't choose EVO 95% (it's probably fine food, but it is pretty heavy on that), and i can't remember all that i looked at. weruva caught my eye (i almost just bought it first because i liked so many things about it, then i thought i had better look at a few) because i thought, "wow, those pictures look like my plate at wild bangkok," lol. that and the names of the different flavors reminded me of ben & jerry's haha.

thanks everyone!

See less See more

MowMow

· #11 · May 17, 2012

doodlebug said:
Thailand has very good controls and regulations regarding their food processing[/url]

Wow, I had no idea. I'm so glad you posted that, thank you.

doodlebug

· #12 · May 17, 2012

I'm actually more impressed by Tiki which also comes out of Thailand...way more meat, less juice. But the price does reflect it.

You'd be surprised by where ingredients come from...just because the manufacturing plant is in the US doesn't mean all the ingredients come from here. One of the things that surprised me is that many of what we all consider great foods get their vitamin premixes from China.

And you'd be surprised by how much of our human food comes from China...something like 60% of the apple juice sold in the US comes from China. Whole Foods brand organic frozen vegetables come from China. It's really scary...

littlesushi

· #13 · May 17, 2012

We feed our kitties weruva, but it's not their favorite. They much prefer meals where they get tiki cat.

catinthemirror

· #14 · May 17, 2012

I feed mostly raw, but I do have canned food on hand for when I need it. Both Weruva and TikiCat are some of the few canned foods I buy because I feel pretty confident of their quality, and my cats really love them. Both even come in BPA free cans, which I appreciate a lot. So I give both a big thumbs up! I can even get both for the exact same price... as long as I buy each brand from a different store :roll: Thankfully I shop around.

TikiCat does seem to contain a lot more meat vs water compared to Weruva. They both seem very low in fat and calories though, and since my older cat is prone to being underweight I'm not sure I'd ever want to only feed her low calorie foods. I'd worry about her not getting enough fat and calories to keep her weight up. I'm not sure if that's a reasonable concern or not? It's just a concern I have because both are so low in fat compared to other kinds of canned food.

When I buy Weruva I usually buy Nine Liver or Paw Lickin' Chicken (my guys don't like any kinds with duck, and the places I shop don't carry the beef kinds for some reason), which both seem the least soupy in my experience. I don't buy any Weruva with seafood, because all the kinds with seafood (except for the Chick Magnet pouches) contain menadione sodium bisulfite. I guess TikiCat changed their formula at some point to get rid of the menadione, because some of the cans I read list it in the ingredients but it's no longer listed as an ingredient on their website. I only buy the cans that don't have menadione in the ingredients list. Anyway I guess it depends on your comfort level with menadione, but I avoid it and I try to limit fish anyway. But at least both my cats are very very happy when they get their chicken Weruva! :catmilk

See less See more

cinderflower

Discussion Starter · #15 · May 17, 2012

catinthemirror said:
They both seem very low in fat and calories though, and since my older cat is prone to being underweight I'm not sure I'd ever want to only feed her low calorie foods. I'd worry about her not getting enough fat and calories to keep her weight up. I'm not sure if that's a reasonable concern or not? It's just a concern I have because both are so low in fat compared to other kinds of canned food.

When I buy Weruva I usually buy Nine Liver or Paw Lickin' Chicken (my guys don't like any kinds with duck

my older cat is prone to losing weight as well. when i asked my vet if there are any supplements like boost or ensure for cats, he said no, so i asked him if it was okay to give her some meat baby food between meals (along with her regular food--just a few extra calories) he said to go ahead and try, and it works fine. she would probably eat other things, you could probably get some fatty cold cuts like pastrami (i don't even know if that's okay to give cats and i don't eat it) just anything for a between meal snack. the other cats get jealous lol--but only one of them likes baby food. i've never seen a cat who didn't but i guess there's a first for everything. i don't know if cats eat peanut butter but i bet that would work well. i bought a case of the paw lickin' chicken too, i thought it looked pretty good.

The USFDA recognizes the Thai FDA

well, i'm none too impressed with the USFDA but i liked the other information about thai factories. as far as i'm concerned, nothing could be as disgusting as a packing house that meets all regulations--and that's for PEOPLE. makes me shudder to think what bad pet food has in it lol.

i know, stuff comes from everywhere these days, that's why i know that the only way i could really and truly know where it came from and how it was handled is to grow it myself and that's beyond the pale. i buy raw produce, i don't buy organic because the definitions vary so much and whole foods/alfalfa/wild oats are so much more expensive, and i honestly don't think it's worth it.

i don't even buy seitan anymore--i make my own. (i'm so republic of boulder) (not really, it's not hard to make), i don't eat tofu very often (it's very high in fat), i haven't acquired a taste for tempeh (fermented soy protein) and i have a juicer because i think it's better than what you can buy (and it's cheaper but that's just a bonus). seitan is where i get most of my protein, it has 18 grams in 1/2 a cup, 1 carb, 1/2 gram fat--80 calories, so you really can't go wrong with it. it doesn't have a gross taste, maybe acquired? it just isn't as versatile as tofu but you can still mix it with a lot of other things. and you'd be amazed at how much protein you can get out of some grains, like quinoa. <---which is really good, i don't know why it doesn't get more press.

i buy mountain high plain yogurt that's made in boulder (no growth hormones, cattle antibiotics or other assorted anagrams) but even so, you never know. we export rocky ford cantaloupe all over the u.s. and we killed people last year with listeria. i eat cantaloupe too, i just seem to always miss the e.coli contaminated spinach and salmonella peanut butter. (drat! i miss EVERYTHING) a really good friend of mine works for eden soy and even they have horror stories, so i've reached the point of saturation. i can't hear any more awful things that are done to food or i won't want to eat anything.

i am actually a little surprised that there isn't a natural pet food company in boulder. there is plenty of beef in colorado, plus venison, elk, rabbit, duck (although i haven't jumped off that bridge with my cats yet. some day.) AND--buffalo. they raise them just to be eaten.

but we're getting a couple of trader joe's, so i guess that has to suffice.

See less See more

chasekwe

· #16 · May 17, 2012

My kitten Sam got a stomach bug back in January and got sick on his homemade raw food a number of times. As a result, he won't eat it any longer, I've tried switching him back but he is so stubborn and I don't have the heart to starve him.

I switched to Weruva which is the best quality food my local pet store carries that isn't completely ridiculous. I think I've tried every single flavor at this point. Sam is a growing boy and eats 12.5oz a day and still whines for more. He only likes the ones packed in gravy as opposed to aspic. Right now I typically rotate between 2 different chicken ones, the steak frites and one of the fish ones packed in gravy.

I haven't had any negative results with the weruva, it looks like food I'd almost be willing to eat and the steak frites smells downright tasty. But with Sam eating 2 5.5oz and half of a 3oz can every day it costs me about $100/month for his food. I hope he'll eat less when he is finished growing.

Violetzephyr

· #17 · May 17, 2012

I love Weruva, Hanx does too. It has a very high water content which isn't bad for cats, just bad for my wallet

cinderflower

Discussion Starter · #18 · May 17, 2012

i know. it's a shame decent pet food isn't a little less expensive. but since i just switched over to pine litter, i'm saving about $70 a month that way so it can go to food, if need be.

you might want to try it, i'm sure you've already seen all the posts for wood stove pellets. if not, just ask.

GhostTown

· #19 · May 17, 2012

Interesting thread. I didn't know about the Tiki stuff. I might have to give it a shot.

I feed Weruva Paw Lickin', and Soulistic Chicken & Pumpkin "Sunrise Sumthin' or Other". It is the most widely accepted Grain Free within my little herd. You do have to feed them more of it though.

1 - 19 of 19 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.