Comments on: Wellness Core Cat Food

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 05 May 2011 21:06:25 +0000

I am currently looking into the difference between Wellness Complete and Wellness Core, wondering if I should switch from the Complete formula to the Core formula. I have been feeding my three cats (all of them 3 years old now) the Complete formula since they were kittens. They all have beautiful coats, healthy weights, and lots of playful energy. So after reading these reviews regarding urinary crystals I think I will stick with Wellness Complete. Thanks for the heads up!

By: Momma Kat

Momma Kat — Tue, 03 May 2011 07:51:02 +0000

I just got back from the vet and they told me that my kitty’s urine PH is 8! All she eats is Wellness. The vet said we should try some other food. Interesting to see this many postings about this food’s adverse reaction on kitties.

By: Kay

Kay — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 11:21:38 +0000

I wasn’t feeding my male cat strictly with Wellness Core. I sometimes switched to the other wellness dry foods and canned foods. However, after I started feeding him a regular diet of Wellness he developed a urinary blockage twice. I didn’t think it was the food since Wellness is supposed to be a high end quality product for our pets but after stumbling upon this website I suspect Wellness products in general may have a tendency towards causing urinary problems in cats.

By: Jessie

Jessie — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 00:40:01 +0000

Wow. This website may have just well saved me. My story is similar to many, many here, struvite stones after a while of switching to mostly Wellness Core dry. My kitty (Jerry) is on Hill’s c/d but since I have another cat (his name is Mario. Liz in the post above me, I can’t believe there is another kitty named Mario!), I cannot separate their food, it simply does not work. I feed both of them the rx food mostly but I’ve also been buying Wellness canned, but not the Core thankfully. Does anyone have any other recommendations that might still have a low enough pH? Or perhaps more importantly is it bad for my other cat to have the s/o?

I agree with previous posters, it really is quite a shame that I can’t get a good quality cat food that doesn’t just outright cause stones. Wellness should be ashamed of themselves and I won’t even say here how much we had to pay when Jerry blocked and ended up in the hospital with subsequent surgery because he had a lot of stones, not just crystals. And seemingly because this brand made it sound like a high protein diet was going to be great? Wow.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 01:44:21 +0000

Oh my, good thing I only bought two cans of Wellness Core to try. I decided to look up on the web what people were saying about it and I must say I wasn’t ready for all these stories! How in the world can they sleep at night knowing they are still selling this stuff and hurting our furry friends every day! I hope everyone that has had problems is writing Wellness. I’m going back to science diet canned food. I tried doing raw but I am not that comfortable with me making their food!

By: Liz

Liz — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 03:18:25 +0000

I just got home from visiting my cat Mario who is being monitored by my vet after being transferred from the local Emergency Vet Hospital. I had to rush him there in the middle of the night when I noticed that he was struggling to urinate. It was determined that he was completely blocked and he had to have a urinary catheter put in and had to have his bladder and urethra cleaned out and flushed with sterile water. He came through the procedure okay and is now being monitored to make sure the blockage does not reoccur. I had switched Mario to Wellness Core Dry food back in August after my Vet recommended putting him on a high protein dry food to lose weight. I did extensive research and finally decided on Wellness Core. I too wish I had added the words “blocked urinary tract” or “crystals’ to my search. Mario went from being a very happy and healthy 4 year old cat to one that almost died and is now painfully recuperating with IV’s, pills, etc. Almost $2,000 later, Mario is now on a completely wet food only diet. It is very scary and unsettling to know there is a product on the market that can lead to such distress.

By: sheryl

sheryl — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 07:30:24 +0000

My cat just got home from a three day stay at the vet. He was almost completely blocked and his urine ph was high. His diet consisted of all Wellness products including Core. I cannot believe what I am reading right now. Wellness should be paying our vet bills. I am just so thankful that I caught it on time or I would have lost my best friend. Really. Now lets just hope he deals well with the steroids he has to take for 20 days, and continues to recover. I am returning the Wellness cans as well as unopened dry food bag.

By: Senacia

Senacia — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 12:34:39 +0000

I would not go to Innova EVO Turkey and Chicken Cat and Kitten dry food. My kitty had struvite crystals after eating it and it’s ash content is close to 10% which is only stated on their website, not the bag itself. Don’t go with Innova EVO! I really don’t recommend it!

I just bought a bag of Wellness Core and I wonder if I can take it back. I have three kitties, one of which is prone to struvite crystals. He was put on the Urinary SO blend wet cat food from Royal Canin. However, at $43 for 24 cans which only lasts 12 days for one cat, it’s getting expensive. I may just start making my own raw cat food if I’m going to be paying that price.

By: Mona

Mona — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 16:13:34 +0000

Does anyone know if the Wellness Complete (carried by petsmart) had the same problem. After hearing about all your stories I am terrified to buy another bag of wellness! I am considering switching to Innova which is comparable in price and also seems to be a high quality food.

By: Susan Schindehette

Susan Schindehette — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 04:19:18 +0000

Wow! I just took my 13-month old Abyssinian to the vet (they’re grea t- exclusively cats for three decades), and he asked what I’m feeding my cat. I said some Wellness raw and canned as well as Instinct canned, and that I keep a bowl of Wellness CORE on the side, which my cat almost never touches.

The vet told me to absolutely discontinue the Wellness dry, and that in his practice had been seeing all kinds of urinary tract problems directly traceable to it. He said that Wellness doesn’t have their formulation right, and that cats should not have it, at all.

Seems like a lot of smoke for there not to be some fire here.