Instinct Limited Ingredient Diet Grain Free Real Turkey Recipe Natural Wet Canned Cat Food by Nature's Variety, 3 oz. Cans (Case of 24)

My cat has been eating Instinct LID turkey 5.5oz cans for more than half a year. It helped her get recover from itchy skin. When we presented her these smaller 3oz cans, she refused to take it. Not a single lick. We noticed that the cans had some dents (as like the big cans), but there was no leak, so we presume the contents are not compromised. The contents smelled a little different from the bigger cans; smelled more like pork ?! Other than that, the consistency of the pate was fine. Very disappointed that my cat wouldn’t eat these smaller cans at all. It’s such a waste of food to throw it away night after night.

I went on the Natural Cat care blog and researched the healthiest foods to feed my kitten. We first tried Tiki cat canned chicken and at first she would eat it but then decided, "nope, not gonna eat this". I wrote to another brand on the list of best foods and they wouldn't send me a sample. I wanted something I could buy locally and just try before ordering a case! Petco had this food by single cans. I bought 1 each of the duck, lamb and turkey. My now 7 month old kitten liked all of them but will eat an entire 3.5 oz can of the turkey in one sitting! The turkey is also considerably cheaper than the duck or lamb. Our local Pet Supplies Plus will price match if I order a case from them but the amazon price for the turkey was the best I found and easy enough to order this when I need something else to qualify for the free shipping with a $35 order. There is controversy about the special clay in the ingredients but with all the research I did it seems not harmful and possibly beneficial in removing toxins. Bottom-line she is actually eating it more than her beloved Origen kibble (on the best dry foods list) and a predominantly wet food diet is healthier for cats.

Our cat had a pelvic injury prior to adoption which caused a blockage 6 months after adoption, had to get anesthesia and a manual "clean out" at 1.5yr old, apparently the pelvic fracture makes him prone to constipation. Different vet said to give fiber but seems like bulk would not help his situation because the colon and rectum is too small. Read about low residue, this food is the closest low residue NONPRESCRIPTION diet. I just make sure to add extra water to it so he doesn't get dehydrated from miralax. But it's definitely this food bc while slowly transitioning him from fancy feast to this, a miscommunication caused him to go backwards in transition (higher ratio FF/LID) and his constipation flared right back up again. Now he's been steady on just the LID and its proven to be miraculous. I can tell how much better it is just by how much easier it rinses out of the bowl! The Fancy feast would stick like glue to the bowl and required scrubbing in steaming hot water and soap. This stuff rinses right out, and even if it's caked on and dried out it still slides right out with hot water alone - no scraping necessary. I figure that must be at least part of what's going on in his intestines. For cats w/ pelvic injury history/megacolon & chronic constipation this is worth a try. It worked for us. No more vet or home given enemas! No more scooting his butt across the floor! I just wish they would come out with food like this for me lol.

Let me preface by saying that I tend to be skeptical of overtly negative reviews, and I was aware of other reviews mentioning the discovery of small, white (possibly bone) fragments in their food when I made this purchase. I was optimistic given that many reviews mentioned nothing of the sort, and also because just last week several people answered one of the Questions above inquiring if there was any truth to the matter, and they all said they had not seen any. However, I have opened two cans now (Limited Ingredient Diet Turkey Formula) and can confirm that there ARE, or in the very least there CAN BE: small, white, occasionally sharp fragments in the food. In the first can, I found two almost instantly after stirring the food around a bit on a plate. I found more in the second can without much searching. If you press them between your fingertips they will kind of break into smaller fragments or crush into a more powdery texture. I didn't find anything much larger than an 1/8th of an inch perhaps, but one of them I found in the second can had a very sharp point, so I called it quits. Perhaps some of the other reviews made me nervous about the possibility of my cats choking on them, particularly if they may also be found at a larger size. Regardless, I would prefer to proceed cautiously wherever my kitties are concerned. I want to commend Nature's Variety customer service though -- they answered the phone promptly and the woman I spoke to was very considerate and understanding. She said it would be reported, and that her guess was that they were small bone fragments, but offered to have me send in a sample so they could test it. I ended up declining that option, since I decided I would err on the side of caution and not continue to use the food. But they have promised to send me a full refund, since Amazon will not accept returns, and I fully appreciate that. I'm no expert, and I've described what I've seen as honestly as I can. Maybe it is completely safe -- maybe it is cause for question or concern. In the meantime, I intend to keep searching for a healthy and unquestionably reliable LID wet food to pair with the Nature's Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Turkey -dry- food I recently switched to (no quality concerns there, and so far it has had the most positive effect on my kitten's digestive troubles of any food he's been on). One final comment, regarding my two cats' reactions to this food: the one with zero digestive issues gobbled it right down (after I removed all the fragments I could find). The one this food was intended for, however, sniffed it and walked away, and turned his nose up at it unless I mixed it with their last wet food, Weruva Cats in the Kitchen Funk in the Trunk (which both of them devour like little fiends).

My cat loved this food. Unfortunately, her vet changed her food to a prescription diet to help her flush out her kidneys. I now order from the vet's office.