Cat product review | Savannah's Paw Tracks

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11 Jan 2016

Transformed by My Diet #NaturalBalance #ad

HIYA!! SAVANNAH HERE!!!

Most of you know that I, Savannah, am a former adult shelter cat. I was surrendered by some humans to the county kill shelter after they trapped me. All they left was a note “STRAY”. Clearly, I had been living a bit of the ‘wild outdoor’ life but I do not recall for how long. I was FIVE years old, approximately, when I was dropped off.

This post is sponsored by Natural Balance and the BlogPaws® Pet Influencer NetworkTM. I am being compensated to help spread the word the word about Natural Balance available at PetSmart, but Savannah’s Paw Tracks only shares information we feel is relevant to our readers. Natural Balance and PetSmart are not responsible for the content of this article.

Now how, you are saying, does that bit of information connect to my #NaturalBalance in my title for this post? I have always longed to return to my ancestral diet of lots more protein than any grains.I am now about 9 years old and my ‘senior’ cat tummy has been struggling with all those fillers and grain other cat foods have in them. And then we learned about Natural Balance® Pet Foods commitment to helping us cats return to our ancestral diet to bring us into our prime of life even as seniors. I am gonna ROAR about their Wild Pursuit™ line of cat food, now available both online and in the stores of PetSmart®.

Last post (click here) I sent Plush Savannah to go shopping. This time I decided I needed to visit PetSmart® myself to view the Natural Balance® line of Wild Pursuit™ for cats. I know they have a reputation for creating Foods with Substance for Pets with Character™…and you all know I am LOADED with character; right???

Now this is an aisle I will visit many times to come

Some of you may not know, but Natural Balance adheres to the fact that EVERY cat has a unique personality worth celebrating. They produce premium quality food and back every single product with a Buy With Confidence guarantee. They have professional peeps involved in their food creation who have nutrition/veterinary degrees and they help human pawrents select the best products to address their companion animals specific needs. PAWSOME I say, totally PAWSOME!!

Now you are wondering how this ancestral diet has expanded both my, and TKS’s, personalities…have we REALLY found our WILD SIDE?? Natural Balance is suited for all life stages for us cats. So both TKS and I can share the wild spirit while we are eating a diet that promotes the healthiest life style for both of us, even though I am a senior and she is still just a ‘kid’. I don’t ever want to have to go back outside and live in the wild but I sure do enjoy having a healthy diet that makes me still feel wild!

Because I am eating with enthusiasm, what is nutritionally relevant, and akin to my ancestral diet, so many things are changing in my life; even as a NINE year old senior cat. I play more, do more zoomies and have much more confidence when I explore the corners, and cupboards, of my home. I totally luvluvluv doing zoomies all over our FIVE level town home…just like being in the mountains and WILD!

Now The Kid Sage, aka TKS, is trying valiantly to resemble the behavior of her wild side ancestors. She just sometimes forgets that they, like us domesticated felines, do need to have a catnap after devouring a high protein, grain free meal.

What?? I thought we were gonna ROOAAR…not nap!

And there you go, TKS does seem to have the ability to occasionally miss the point…sigh…still so much training she must go through. TKS and I decided we did not have to wait on Mom L to get to PetSmart for more of this pawsome food…so we set to order from PetSmart online! No thumbs required!!

Finally, we had our yummy healthy diet right there in front of us…but somehow Mom L forgot to complete the dinner service! What’s up with that Mom L? (click on photos to bigify and hover over photos to view complete captions…totally worth it)

So, like…is Mom L gonna dish this up or do I have to do it myself?

Same here Savvy; doesn’t she know we don’t have thumbs?

Finally, CHOW!

I encourage you all to visit a PetSmart near you, or visit them online, and check out all the available yummy flavors of Natural Balance’s Wild Pursuit Cat food . You will not regret it. You will be taking your cats back in time to their ancestral diet.

Be sure to keep up with all things Natural Balance by visiting their social media sites: Facebook , Pinterest , Instagram and Twitter.

PAW PATS, SAVANNAH

HEAD BONKS, THE KID SAGE aka TKS

Posted in Cat product review and tagged #Natural Balance, cat product review

14 Dec 2015

20 Comments

A Wildness Pursuit with #Natural Balance

HIYA! SAVANNAH HERE!!!

What a week this has been. I was using my iPad to paw through some of the cat food products in our local PetSmart® store, and one in particular caught my attention.

Natural Balance Pet Foods ® was showing cat food called Wild Pursuit™! I’m thinking this might take me back to my wild side!! The description talked about how we cats could now eat kibble and pate soft food that will take us back to our ancestral diet! Grain free formulas and lots of unique protein made me even hungrier.

Of course I meowed to Mom L immediately to get her moving right down to our PetSmart® store to fetch some home for me and The Kid Sage (TKS) to try. I was excited to know that this Wild Pursuit cat food was available at our local PetSmart and on PetSmart.com.

Her response shocked me!!

Mom L: Savvy, why don’t you come along with me so you can pick out just what you want? You know you have very picky particular taste and smell needs.
Savannah: Mom L, you actually suggest that I, MOI, ME, Savannah The Cat, accompany you outside to a store!! Nope, I am not doing that; I am just fine right here in my comfy castle. You can take Plush Savannah with you.
Mom L: Ok, if you are sure. I’ll just get her harness and leash. But don’t complain if she picks out something you don’t like.

So off to PetSmart® they went. Plush Savannah spotted the Natural Balance Pet Food® section right away.

Immediately Plush Savannah searched for just what she knew I was craving. I need something that is not only 100% grain free, but also has high protein; I am, after all, descended from real wild cats! Plush Savannah selected the Wild Pursuit products I told her about. After all, I may be older than TKS, but this food is for all ages and it is food with substance for pets with character! That’s ME!!!

There were two delish flavors, for both dry kibble and canned pate food. There was my favorite chicken, turkey and quail *smacks lips* and some with fish such as trout, salmon and tuna. The dry kibble even has freeze dried chunks of yummy meat…enough to make me and TKS return to our wild side and ROAR!!

Plush Savannah preferred the fish flavors, but Mom L made sure she brought home the chicken, turkey and quail for me. Now they were off to check out. (hover over photos to see what Plush Savannah thought about the check belt)

Yikes! this belt is moving Savvy’s food too fast!

Whew, caught up with it

Finally, Plush Savannah and Mom L returned. I had a good whiff of the kibble bag first and then I let TKS take a turn and checking out the kibble and the canned pate food.

Who is that blue cat?

One really great thing to know about Natural Balance is their Buy With Confidence guarantee. This assures us that every production run is tested for quality and safety. Now TKS get to check out the wildness in the Wild Pursuit.

I feel my WILD coming on!

I thought she was going to eat that bag before Mom L got it open for her to taste.

You can see she was using her sharp white toofies to break up her meaty kibble…she was really getting into to pursuing her wild TKS! She couldn’t even wait for the cans to be totally opened when she was able to take a whiff of their scrumptious high protein meaty aroma.

Can I tear into this now Mom L?

For myself, I found that the pate was of more interest as I can only eat prescription kibble. But unfortunately, I had already started my afternoon nap…so I wasn’t able to move from my nap spot to do much tasting.

Smells…zzzz…umm…meaty…zzzz

I do know for sure that TKS and I are feeling our ancestral diet has been taken into account by all the expert nutritionists who help formulate Natural Balance Pet Foods Wild Pursuit product. They know how to make a house cat leap back to our ancestors and really ROAR!!

I am getting my wild on!

PAW PATS, SAVANNAH

Be sure to keep up with all things Natural Balance by visiting their social media sites: Facebook , Pinterest , Instagram and Twitter.

Posted in Cat product review, Uncategorized and tagged #Natural Balance, cat product review

09 Dec 2015

35 Comments

Part One: My Journey To Wellness…#Raw Paws Pet Food

HIYA! SAVANNAH HERE!!

I bet’cha most of you didn’t know that I had a wellness challenge, or four, over the past eighteen months. Some of you know part of the story, but most do not know the whole story. So just as I promised in on November 10, I am going to tell you why I was starting to feel more playful, had more energy and, well, I was just feeling more ‘cat’ like.

The reason for that, and many other changes in my wellness had to do with a dramatic change in my diet. I was slow to change at first, but when I found just the flavor and texture I liked, I went RAW!!!

Yes, I most certainly did. It wasn’t easy to do because I am such a ~~picky~~ particular eater. But we had excellent coaching and support all the way. My wellness challenges are both physiological and emotional. I have been stressed ever since TKS arrived. About six months later when she was finally allowed out and about, I started to vomit after eating a meal. The vomiting escalated over the next many months to sometimes three or four times a day. Sometimes every day, sometimes a few days passed with no problem. Then I became really constipated. And finally my energy level dropped and I just didn’t feel good.

We have done all the blood work, x-rays, ultrasound tests. We have learned I cannot tolerate certain canned foods with too many additives, grain fillers etc.; especially not beef. I am a pate girl all the way and so I am also not inclined to partake of pumpkin soup, goats milks (dry or liquid) and I won’t eat if my food has anti-acid meds in it. I do not have IBS nor pancreatitis. I seem to have something similar to human ‘acid reflux’. So Raw Paws Pet Food gave Mom L and Dad P and me hope.

It started when Mom L met representatives from Raw Paws Pet Food at the 2015 Blog Paws Conference.

The representatives asked if Mom L was interested in trying her cats on a raw diet and she said she would consider it. She must have signed up or something, because the Raw Paws people contacted her just before she and Dad P left on the bazillion years long trip this past Summer. The Raw Paws folks were so patient, they agreed it would be best to start me when there was as little stress in my life as possible. And what with Mom L and Dad P gone for 3 weeks, and then we would be moving immediately upon their return, we all decided to wait until early September.

We asked for one, five pound ‘chub’ (see photo above) of their complete chicken and two rolls, two and one half pounds each, of their complete poultry for cats. I bet you are wondering what “Complete” means? According to the Raw Paws website:

What does complete mean?
The term ‘Complete’ references a ratio of food that is equivalent to what a cat may eat in nature if it were a wild animal. This ratio is referred to as the 80/10/10 rule, meaning 80% meat, 10% bone and 10% organ. Our entire line of Raw Paws Complete and Balanced products meet the nutritional adequacy standards established by AAFCO. This means they are suitable for all life stages including: puppies, adults, seniors and pregnant or lactating females.

So, Mom L spoke with a representative, as well as exchanged email with both of the co-founders before the product arrived. We wanted to be sure we knew how to handle the raw product, how to store it, how long it can sit in the fridge and how long it can sit out waiting for me to eat it. You see, I am also a ‘grazer’…I like to nibble a bit, go away, come back for some more…about three times for one meal. (hover over photo to view captions)

Anyway, the product arrived. Packed really well with lots of dry ice. And every shipment contains a really nice Thank You card. We really feel like Raw Paws, being a small raw pet food company, goes the extra mile to give special attention to their customers.

It took a week to move me and The Kid Sage onto raw cat food. The first chub, Complete Poultry for Cats, had supplements, Mom L wanted to try it to make sure we would get sufficient taurine. Ingredients: Chicken Breast Meat, Chicken Necks, Turkey Heats, Turkey Gizzards, Turkey Liver, Colostrum, Dicalcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Chloline Choride, Salt, Taurine, Iron Proteinate, Zinc Proteinate, Vitamine E, Selenium Yeast, Niacin, Vitamin C, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Thiamine Mononitrate, D-Calcium Panothenate, Riboflavin, Vitamin A, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Biotin, Vitamin B12, Vitamin D3, Folic Acid, Calcium Iodate

TKS and I both rejected it completely. Even when Raw Paws had Mom L barely cook it in a little frying pan for like 3 minutes…still no deal.

Next we tried the Complete Chicken chub. It doesn’t have the supplements, so Mom L exchanged emails with the co-founders and the holistic DVM who collaborates with them to insure that this would give us sufficient taurine, vitamins and minerals etc. Ingredients:Chicken, Chicken Bone, Chicken Heart, Chicken Liver, Herring Oil, D-Alpha Tocopherol

For about a week we needed the food to be mixed with our canned cat food (all grain free BTW). But by the second week, we were both showing up and waiting for our meals, actually excited. Of course, TKS is ALWAYS excited about food, but even I was waiting for my delish raw chicken to show up on my plate.

Is it ready yet?

How much longer Dad?

Nibble, nibble

Slurp, slurp

We contacted other bloggers whom we knew used and praised Raw Paws Pet Food before we agreed to do this product review. They are a small company with a big heart and building their customer base through attention to detail, thoughtfulness in their customer relations and by providing what we believe is a very high quality product. We have tried a raw product suggested by a VET, and TKS and I both tried to cover it up. How can raw cat food be ‘raw’ with pumpkin seeds, carrots, cranberries and about elebenty other ingredients, additives etc.??? We will be sticking with Raw Paws and hoping they bring on some Quail eventually.

Unfortunately for me, there has been a set back. I will talk more about that in my Friday’s post. You see, two things happened. First, Mom L didn’t realize how long it would take the new shipment to reach us as we live on the West Coast and Raw Paws is located in Indiana. So TKS and I had to go back to canned cat food for 5 days. TKS readily returned to the raw diet…I have not. We are starting over. And as I am eating canned cat food again, I have lost the incredible wellness the raw diet brought to me for almost a whole month.

While eating an almost total raw diet…I did not vomit; I was not constipated and pooped regularly without probiotic and both TKS and I had stools that were smaller and LESS SMELL!!! Woo Hoo. TKS is eating totally a raw diet at this time. She thriving on it. I hope I can get back to it as well. My over all wellness depends on it. More about that on Friday.

This is a product review. Disclaimer: We received the nine pounds of raw cat food for free when we agreed to do this review. That, in no way, influenced our opinion. Savannah’s Paw Tracks only shares product information that we feel is relevant to our readers.