Letter to Castor & Pollux

[Middle Child]

I sent this email to pawmade@castorpolluxpet.com this morning based on this page

http://www.castorpolluxpet.com/product/natural-ultramix-indoor-cat-food-chicken-vegetable-stew

Dear Castor and Pollux:

Great for cats recovering from illness or injury, and needing to gain back lost weight.  More calorically dense than kibble and easy to digest, canned food lets your cat easily add needed calories and nutrition without adding a lot of volume.

But remember: Wield a light spoon. Canned foods are more calorically dense so watch your cat carefully for any unwanted weight gain and adjust the feeding amount as necessary.

I saw the above passages on your website.  You are incorrect.  Most dry food is full of carbohydrates that make cats fat, since their bodies do not process carbohydrates.  Canned food is more protein dense, more nutrient dense, not caloric dense   Cats who need to lose weight SHOULD be on a canned food diet. Cats who need to gain weight should also be on canned food.

Just add a spoonful of wet food to your cat's normal kibble meal.  Mix well and then warm to enhance the aroma and flavor. The moisture from the wet food also brings out the flavors and aromas inherent in the kibble.

You should not advise people to mix canned food with dry food.  Dry food takes many more hours to digest than canned food.  Mixing the two will prevent the cat from getting the most nutrition out of the canned food.

Cats do not need all the fruit and veggies you add to your stew canned foods.  If you would remove those it would be a good food. Cats' bodies are not designed to process fruits and vegetables, so they are useless filler. Cheap canned foods add corn, wheat gluten other grains and by-product, expensive canned foods add fruits and veggies but they are all the same, things a cat's body can't use. Useless filler.

It really bothers me to see a pet food company that is so expensive and that people tend to trust make these false misleading statements about cat food and nutrition on their websites.

Imagine if you started telling the truth.  You might be surprised.

http://www.castorpolluxpet.com/product/natural-ultramix-indoor-cat-food-chicken-vegetable-stew

[CarnivorousCritter]

I've composed this, but have it in "Send Later" box because I may be in a better mood about it later: 

Please Research Felines

Castor & Pollux:

I'm not even going to get into the fact that a cat will digest the canned MUCH faster than the kibble (which will ferment in the stomach anyway), or bring up Amylase enzymes (why don't you google it?) so here are some basic questions for you:
Did you know that a cat's jaws do NOT rotate?
Did you know that a cat has NO teeth which grind?
Did you know that a cat can NOT process carbohydrates? (Something about the Pancreas and sugar...
 www.catinfo.org:
www.diabeticcatcare.com
www.littlebigcat.com   )

<<<Quote
Just add a spoonful of wet food to your cat's normal kibble meal.  Mix well and then warm to enhance the aroma and flavor. The moisture from the wet food also brings out the flavors and aromas inherent in the kibble.>>>

Signed,

[Middle Child]

Castor&Pollux did not reply to my letter.  I am, however, still feeding the Castor&Pollux Chicken and Vegetables Casserole.  I KNOW the cats don't need those fruits and veggies, but they have to eat something, and the two finicky ones, one (The Kitten) who has a limited diet, both like it and The Kitten does not appear to have any digestive issues with it.

They get it most mornings for breakfast, and something else for the other meals.  Every third or fourth day I stop feeding it for two or three days, because if I feed it too often they won't eat it at all. I just ordered another batch, with fingers corssed that this batch is a good as the last.

This seems to be a problem even in the high end foods, consistency I mean. Cats will eat a food with great enthusiasm, and then you open a new case with a new batch number and they won't touch it.  When I pay a fortune for food, I expect consistency to be part of the bargain, they should not be changing suppliers of ingredients looking for the lowest bidder, so the food is always different.   If I wanted that I'd buy grocery store food.

[Shadow]

Quote" Just add a spoonful of wet food to your cat's normal kibble meal.  Mix well and then warm to enhance the aroma and flavor. The moisture from the wet food also brings out the flavors and aromas inherent in the kibble"

 Also forgot to add that mixing wet and kibble can be dangerous, if the cat does not eat all the food within a half hour bacteria (mycotoxins) starts to form, thus can cause a very upset stomach and even death.

[Middle Child]

The new batch of Castor&Pollux arrived.  They've changed the label and the name of the food it is now called Chicken & vegetable Stew.  The Castor &Pollux name is in smaller less obvious print and the "Natural Ultramix" is more prominent. It is still made in the USA but it no longer says "paw made in the USA" it now says "made with love in the USA"

The ingredient list is the same.  Anxious to see if the food itself has changed from the last batch, I opened cans right away, even though I still have about half a case.  The food looks and smells slightly different.  Not bad different though, and no red flags went off in my head. The two cats who eat this food ate it without complaint.

So this food stays. It's slightly more expensive than the Merrick Before Grain the other cat eats, and it has vegetables and fruits and some grain,  but at least it is something two notoriously finicky cats will eat. I vary their diet with the BG whenever I can coax them to eat some of it (not often)

Soulistic is being phased out.  Too inconsistent and gives The Kitten diarrhea.

[Lola]

Quote" Just add a spoonful of wet food to your cat's normal kibble meal.  Mix well and then warm to enhance the aroma and flavor. The moisture from the wet food also brings out the flavors and aromas inherent in the kibble"

 Also forgot to add that mixing wet and kibble can be dangerous, if the cat does not eat all the food within a half hour bacteria (mycotoxins) starts to form, thus can cause a very upset stomach and even death.

Gooood point!!   

[Lola]

MC,
I don't have much trouble with consistency of the foods...not too often anyway.  I stick to two brands.  I throw in a third once in a while, to see how things go.  Too many brands in rotation...too many end up barfing or diarrhea.  Cats and dogs both.