Instinct Original Pate Wet Cat Food, Grain Free Recipe - Variety Pack, 5.5 oz. Cans (Pack of 12)

This is a great food and my cat loves it! The only thing that seems a bit strange to me is the difference in consistency between batches, and even the difference in consistency between the 3 ounce cans and the 5 ounce cans. Seriously, it looks like a different food, with the 3 ounce cans looking much smoother in texture, and the 5 ounce cans looking much more "grainy". I hope that the following review will help someone with a cat that has stomach issues similar to mine...I have tried many, many products aimed at helping with digestive upset for my cat. Her pain and suffering was so great that I thought I was going to have to put her to sleep. I went to multiple vets and had thousands of dollars worth of diagnostics done to try and find out why she was having acid reflux, crying and subsequently vomitting (endoscopy, xray, ultrasound, bloodwork, etc). One vet told me to just give her pepcid. This worked for a while, but then became completely ineffective after a while. The same vet then told me that she probably just has food allergies and would have to be on steroids for the rest of her life, and thats all that could be done, and prescribed different kinds of Science Diet (which we all know is actually a terrible food for cats with digestive problems).Well, what do you know, the steroids didn't help AT ALL. I tried probiotics of various brands for pets, I tried digestive enzymes, I tried many different natural products designed to help ease digestive / intestinal inflammation.... I tried a homiopathic vet (the only one in my area) and spent a few thousand more dollars rerunning tests and running other tests for pancreatitis, etc. I tried MAKING her food from raw meat to try and eliminate food allergies to commericial foods as a potential problem, etc. I TRIED EVERYTHING, but still my cat was constantly licking her lips, then crying in terrible pain and vomitting very consistently, and now was losing interest in her food and was losing weight and starting to look boney. I was determined to not give up on her though. I had just lost my wife to infection during a failed bone marrow transplant / cancer during all this, and was not about to give up on my girl.I stopped making her food and started getting her Natures Variety canned Rabbit formula and the duck formula. She loved the food but it did not seem to be helping her feel all that much better, even though a lot of other people were having great success. I then found a site called wellvet dot com that said that this Ulcinex was very effective at repairing ulcers and the stomach lining in pets. It also said that it was very effective at controlling vomitting that occurs a few hours after eating, which is EXACTLY what was consistently happening, and no other product that I had found so far claimed to do same thing. I was skeptical as soon as it started talking about chinese herbs and such, but I figured it was worth a shot.I started giving this as prescribed from wellvet ALONG WITH Georges Aloe Vera juice (the one without preservatives and no taste), which is said to help a lot for acid reflux sufferers (I found a few people that said it worked great for their cats), and continuing the rabbit / duck formula. All the while praying, within a few days I started noticing a drastic improvement. She was licking her lips less, and was able to relax for longer periods of time without jumping up in pain and crying. She vommitted once within a several day period. Several days later, NO MORE CRYING, and instead of hiding behind the bedroom door licking her lips the whole night, she started sleeping with me at night like she used to. Now, several weeks later, she is literally 90% better. NO MORE VOMITTING AT ALL, is in very little pain, VERY little lip licking and only very occasionally at that. She also gets much more rest, and has put on several pounds and is back above her normal weight and has a nice chubby belly. My cat suffered daily for 2 long years during this whole process before I found this and the other two mentioned products. The aloe vera juice on its own didn't seem to completely do the trick, so I think its the combination of the three things that is really effective. I only hope that no permanent damage has already been done, but now I have my cat back and don't have to suffer through losing a great wife and a great cat. If you have a cat with severe stomach issues, you owe it to yourself and your cat to try this along with the Georges Aloe Vera and Ulcinex.Metagenics - Ulcinex - 90 TabletsWarren Laboratories - George's Aloe Vera, 64 fl oz liquid

My older cat cannot get enough of this food. I split the can between her and my younger cat and once she had a taste of this, she wouldn’t eat the regular food. So yes, I just ordered two more boxes. It’s a little expensive but any things for my baby.

WARNING: Contains VOLCANIC ASH, recognized carcinogen, heavy-metal-laced toxic material given GRAS status in 1977 for use in FOOD CONTAINERS ONLY, not allowed for human consumption.This is the same review I have posted for the other verified purchases of this brand's products, applying to both the dog and cat food containing Volcanic Ash, also commonly called Montmorillonite and Bentonite Clay.I found this food brand on Dog Food Advisor, a site I love and trust, even today, and began using the Instinct Rabbit, Duck and Lamb for dogs and cats, the canned varieties, with my cat and dogs. We first used the food over a year ago, with health consequences we are still attempting to figure out. However, after a few months of dedicated, exclusive dietary use for our cat, she went into liver failure. The dogs became ill and are recovering after withdrawing the food. The cat's condition is difficult and, unfortunately, we don't know how that is going to play out but our vet is hopeful. Years ago, we had an incident with a different cat and a different food, garlic causing Heinz Anemia. We thought that was irresponsible, using garlic with dogs and cats when they are not human and cannot ingest the same chemicals. This makes that look like nothing. Montmorillonite Clay, also called Bentonite Clay and, most commonly, called Volcanic Ash, is a substance comprised of various minerals and toxic metals. The circulating folk wisdom is that this substance has an ionic charge that makes it impossible for the high levels of toxic metals and radioactive isotopes found within to leach from the ash into your system. Basic chemistry throws this out the window. What is worse, ionic charge is not the issue. Acid leaching is the issue. In the same way that acid in Orange Juice will leach lead from a leaded crystal goblet and that tomato sauce will leach lead and other metals from clay cookware and clay utensils, the human stomach, with a pH of around 3, will leach from Clay/Ash. A dog has a pH of 1.5 to 2. A cat has a pH of 1. Again, this chemical soup is not allowed in human food, with our less acidic stomachs, because our less acidic stomachs will leach lead and aluminum and arsenic and mercury from this toxic substance. Our bodies, in response, will sweat metal, excrete metal in our waste, store metal in our fat, all in an attempt to rid ourselves of what we have ingested from a less acidic stomach leaching less of the heavy metals in this than our dogs and cats will leach.When we went to our Veterinarian and then to our Internal Medicine Specialist, they each had us discuss all possible issues, all supplements and foods, as we are very into holistic medicine. Both honed in on the same issue almost immediately. The Instinct brand of food uses Montmorillonite Clay (Bentonite Clay, Kaolin, Ash, what have you) and this is poison, simply and plainly, an active poison. This substance was last evaluated by the FDA in 1977. As stated earlier, it was declared to be GRAS (Generally Regarded As Safe) for use in packaging (in the cardboard itself, as a drying agent and in silica packets) but was not declared safe for use in food. In other words, it is not technically legal to use this in food. In 2016, the FDA warned a company that had started selling this clay for human ingestion to stop doing so and warned consumers that it is not safe, due, primarily, to lead contamination and the high likelihood of lead poisoning. No research was done into the effects of the clay, whether or not anyone got sick, and I have been informed that none will be, as the warning was given and the consumer has access to all the information they need in the GRAS database. Basically, the FDA leaves it up to you and me to look up this chemical and be smart enough not to ingest it. And, still, here it is, in cat and dog food.Ash or Clay is made up of Silica, Aluminum, Lead, Uranium, Mercury, Arsenic, etc. It contains radioactive isotopes, lending to the ionic charge that some people cite as the magic that will stop your body from absorbing these and other chemicals upon ingestion of this toxic substance. There is a belief that the ionic charge of clay makes it safe, keeping the lead and aluminum from being absorbed by the body binding them. This is, forgive the expression, bunk. Ionic charge is unrelated to acid-leaching. In Mexico, during a tragic time when children were dying without explanation, it was discovered that clay cookware was poisoning them. Ionic charge did not stop leaching of metals into acidic foods and it will not stop this from leaching into your baby's body.The worst part of the issue with this additive, not including what is happening in our family, is that we all have different tolerances and our bodies will react differently to this toxic substance. Some can ingest this for years before developing cancer or liver failure. Some, with weak livers or weak immune systems, will get sick immediately. Animals with sensitive livers will often turn up their noses at this food brand, from what I was told, because they learn the taste of metals, the substances that make them feel ill. The radioactive isotopes weaken the immune system, as does lead, as do many elements in the clay, such that cancer and immune reactivity syndromes can occur, along with unexplained illness and repeated infection. Liver failure is only one possible consequence of ingesting Volcanic Ash and it can occur months or years later, as exposure is cumulative. The way that the body purges itself of metals is complex and involves multiple organ systems, including the skin. Our bodies will even resort to storing metals in our fat cells when the metals can't be purged safely. We end up with metal deposits in the brain. In studies, Montmorillonite Clay was found to cross the blood-brain barrier and cause cell lysis (cell death) but, oddly, not in cancer cells, which don't seem to mind the substance one bit. Had our girl not had this reaction so early in our use of Instinct pet food, we could have poisoned all of our dogs right along with her, over the course of who knows how many months or years. Our vet said that "idiopathic liver failure" is often attributed to food additives years after animals have died, by owners who remember using a product that contained a substance the industry no longer uses. Most companies stopped using Ash after it was found to cause cancer and liver failure. Instinct changed the name and assumed that none of us would figure it out.The FDA, notorious for allowing dangerous substances in food and cosmetics, does not allow Volcanic Ash, Montmorillonite Clay, Bentonite Clay, Kaolin, etc., in food, for the obvious toxic danger it poses, an issue we have known about for decades. If this substance is unsafe for human consumption, with our less efficient acid-leaching stomachs, then this substance is more unsafe for dogs and still less safe cats than even their beautiful siblings. Please understand, you shouldn't be giving this additive to any animal, ever. I rarely say, in the absolute, that you should never use a product. However, this entire pet food company should be off limits until they remove Ash/Clay from their products, remove, not rename.