Parenting-Furkids
Cats => Cat Food And Nutrition => Discussion Of Brands And Ingredients => Topic started by: Middle Child on August 12, 2016, 09:52:53 PM
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And it's not a good change. Pea fiber! Menadione sodium bisulfate!
What the heck are they thinking? Do they think raw feeders are stupid? Do they not understand that people feed raw to get AWAY from such crap? I have written to them my opinion and the sad fact that I will no longer be using their product.
I am really disappointed. S&C are rotation meals for Jennie and Queen Eva. Were. Their supper meal only, every other night. It's the only way I can get any bone into Queen Eva.
http://www.stellaandchewys.com/products/cat-dinners/
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A good Tweet for WHENEVER DeeDee has time.
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Here's the standard reply that everyone who has complained is getting:
Thank you for your email. We're sorry to hear about your decision to discontinue using Stella & Chewy's. We do understand your concern, but would like to explain why we began using these ingredients for the betterment of our products.
Stella & Chewy’s is constantly working towards providing the best product on the market. During our ongoing research, we found that adding a “carrier” (ie. and ingredient used to keep things like vitamins and minerals in place without negatively affecting the food) was an ideal way to ensure that each bite of your cat’s food is completely balanced and nutritious. After a great deal of thought and development, we determined that pea fiber was a much better carrier for our food than many of the more commonly used ingredients such as rice hulls.
You’ll be pleased to find out that our dinners for cats are still 98% meat, organ meat and bone – the pea fiber is used quite minimally and is less than 1% of the total recipe! An added benefit of the pea fiber is that it will help to keep the shape and texture of the food a bit more consistent – this should mean less chance for excessively crumbly product!
Vitamin K is a biologically required, fat-soluble vitamin for both dogs and cats. The most common dietary form of vitamin K is leafy green vegetables – however, research has found that leafy greens can cause multiple health issues in cats, especially urinary issues in male cats. The other common dietary supplement used is Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (MSBC)– MSBC is the supplement Stella & Chewy’s has chosen to utilize. According to NRC (National Research Council) Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and cats, MSBC is safe to about 1,000 times the dietary requirement when fed normally (ie. not intravenously or through other unusual routes). Of course, as with all of our supplementation, the amount we use in our product is quite minimal. While we understand some pet-parents’ concerns about MSBC, there does not exist any scientific study that has found that proper use of the supplement would be toxic or harmful to pets.
We certainly understand your concern, and will be sure to share your feedback with our team.
Please feel free to let us know if you have any further questions.
Thank you,
Stella & Chewy’s
About what I expected, really.
bangshead bangshead bangshead
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I wonder what the REAL reason is for the changes. It is in our rotation, but when it is gone... it will be gone forever. All of it.
What a shame too. It is a food I ALWAYS recommend to people that want to make the jump from canned to raw, but are very leery of doing so. It is an easy jump. Or at least it was. What a bummer...
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I wrote to them again asking just that. I said "are you saying the food has not been balanced all these years?"
I got back another non-answer
Our products have always been AAFCO compliant and fully complete and balanced, over time as AAFCO standards/requirements change and as the natural nutritional value of our ingredients fluctuates we need to adjust to ensure always delivering a complete and balanced meals to animals.
I sent them links about the harmful effects of pea fiber in cats and the toxicity of menadione Sodium bisulfate complex.
It's such BS
I'll continue using he rabbit and I might try one of the other frozen proteins, just to keep the bone in Queen Eva's diet. That is until they mess with the frozen too.
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thumbsup1
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I was able to get some of the old formula from Chewys.com. Expire date next June. So I have enough for 5 months.
I've ordered the frozen duck to try for Queen Eva. Until they change the frozen formulas I'll keep using those.
Someday hopefully in the not too distant furture I will have a home, with room for a deep freezer and wil be able to order from hare Today. They have fine ground with bone choices right? That's what I need for Queen Eva's bone in meals.
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I mixed up what we had in the pantry. I put the mixture into daily feeding portions. We are now officially done with Stella & Chewys dehydrated. There are too many other choices (for us) to keep it in our rotation.
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I mixed up what we had in the pantry. I put the mixture into daily feeding portions. We are now officially done with Stella & Chewys dehydrated. There are too many other choices (for us) to keep it in our rotation.
thumbsup1 thumbsup1 thumbsup1
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I too wrote Stella and Chewy's about my dismay in the using of the MSBC (Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex) and she wrote back that after so many complaints they are looking to start using a different constituent at the beginning of the year (2017). It pays to write in with our concerns.
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One more problem though... Most of us saw the 60 Minutes or 48 Hour show on how the world's Olive Oil Industry has been taken over by the mob, thus the majority of olive oils at the grocery store are contaminated with fake oils and chemicals. They say you can only get REAL olive oil from small expensive growers now. So when I see "olive oil" on the label of Stella and Chewy's, I KNOW she isn't using some expensive small-batch brand. She is using the cheapest money can buy, and that means it's mob-tainted and contains God-knows-what. I think I have to stick with Primal instead. It's the ONLY other similar brand to Stella's that contains organic vegetables.
Please consider dropping Stella and Chewy's a note on your fears of the olive oil she uses as well.... we have to keep her on her toes so she makes sure to test her olive oil for contaminants.
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Cindymecindy, WELCOME to the forum and thank you so much for posting in this thread. It's good to know they are considering dropping the MSBC (but that still leaves the pea fiber). However I didn't know that about olive oil (I never use it myself) and it is very important information.
In fact I didn't know olive oil was used in S&C. Off to look at the ingredients lists again, wonder what else I missed!
Thank you!
<edit> The olive oil is in the frozen formulas, but not the (feline) freeze dried. :(
I am still using old formula freeze dried S&C, it will be all used up by June.
I use the frozen rabbit one meal a week, Sunday morning for Queen Eva and Jennie.
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I too wrote Stella and Chewy's about my dismay in the using of the MSBC (Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex) and she wrote back that after so many complaints they are looking to start using a different constituent at the beginning of the year (2017). It pays to write in with our concerns.
Thanks for the info! thumbsup1 thumbsup1
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We use a LOT of olive oil. It never seems to "pay" to make (what one thinks) are changes for the better. :(
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Olive oil discussion has been moved to: http://parenting-furkids.com/index.php?topic=4712.0
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Based on several issues Jennie and Queen Eva seem to be having that they never had before (excessive hairball puking, constipation, some loose stool) I have stopped the S&C a few months early. I believe the bags of "old formula" I stocked up on are in fact, new formula in old bags.
I wrote to S&C with this additional complaint and was told I had to contact the store I bought them from. I have two opened bags (one had very large bone pieces in it, which Queen Eva left in her dish and Jennie choked on, so I opened a different bag) and four unopened. I wrote to the on line store I bought them from with the whole story (long e mail) and they were entirely sympathetic and have refunded me for all 6 bags!
Sadly S&C are getting new customers all the time, if you read the reviews, and people aren't realizing that the formula has changed and that pea fiber is now the 5th ingredient and toxic fake K is still in there.
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thumbsup1
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thanks for reaching out. ...snip ....On our cat food we did get feedback on a few ingredients (pea fiber, Menadione Sodium Bisulfate) as being undesirable. We have listened and have already updated all of our cat food recipes without those ingredients. We are in the process of updating the cat food bags, but those ingredients are no longer part of the cat food we're making.
I responded that their website still lists the ingredients and there is nothing on the site stating that this change has been made. I also told them I won't be returning to their product having found meals to replace the S&C meals that I prefer anyway, (because I no longer trust them.)