Our pets are very much a part of our family. We have five cats, a dog and two fish. They are all treated with love and respect. Some might even say that we spoil them a bit too much, after all our dog has his own toy box as does our cats. They also have plenty of comfy bedding all over our home. We even gave up our love seat for the cats and the ottoman for our dog.
We take our pet’s health into consideration all the time. We make sure they eat well, get plenty of exercise, regular vet visits and plenty of love and snuggles.
I’ll be honest with you. We haven’t always read the labels on the foods we feed our pets. We always assumed the food was good for our pets, especially brand name foods. It wasn’t until our vet referred to the food we regularly fed to our cats as “Skittles” – that is was as healthy for them as feeding them a bowl of Skittles. My heart sank when I heard those words from our vet. How could I be feeding what was essentially “junk food” to our pets?
From that day on I have made sure that I know what my pets are eating. I read the labels and try an avoid things like artificial colors, preservatives and ingredients. The more wholesome and natural the better.
Our dog is not a picky eater. He’ll eat any type of food that I feed him (I make sure to feed him the good stuff). I just have to watch out for his sensitive stomach.
Our cats tend to be a bit picky when it comes to their food. With five cats it’s not always easy to find something that they all enjoy.
We mostly feed the cats dry food but a few of our cats need wet food too (our oldest cat has a hard time with dry food these days and our “baby” doesn’t like dry food).
I was recently sent some cat food from Mom Central from Rachael Ray ™Nutrish™. I received a bag of dry food, a few containers of wet food and other goodies.
Nutrish™ is natural food for cats from Rachael Ray ™. It’s #1 ingredient is real meat like fish or chicken (which cats love). Nutrish™ is free from “junk” like artificial flavors or preservatives.
Nutrish™ foods are made from wholesome recipes your furry friend is sure to love in both wet and dry varieties.
Some flavor varieties include;
- Chicken Purrcata
- Ocean Fish-alicious
- Lip Smackin’ Sardine & Mackerel
- Ocean Fish & Chicken Catch-iatore
- Tuna Purrfection
I love the fun names they gave each flavor.
I like that they are made with real meat. After all, in the wild cats don’t eat overly processed or fake meats. No way! They want the real deal. They want health cat food. I’m pretty sure the King of the Jungle would rather enjoy real, fresh meat then fake meat.
I’ve checked the ingredients of other cat foods we had in the pantry. Keeping in mind that I am a label reader even when it comes to pet foods. I’m impressed by the ingredients. I also like that Nutrish™ products tend to be a lot more affordable then other brands.
I also like the variety of flavors. One brand I’ve used in the past only had a few flavors. Not only that when you put the other brands wet food on the cat dish it looked like a chunk of liverwurst. With Nutrish™ wet food you can actually see the bits and pieces of meat.
I let all of our cats try the dry food. They all seemed to enjoy it except one. She’s very picky about her food. Statistically speaking if 4 our of 5 of our cats liked the food I’d say it was a hit with my cats.
I like that the dry food had natural looking colors and piece. I don’t like to see a bowl full of different colored shapes. I’m pretty sure my cats don’t care if they are eating a yellow bone or a red heart. The shapes and colors are more for humans than animals.
Even our youngest cat who is not a fan of dry food nibbled on the Nutrish™ dry food.
Since we only had three containers of wet food to try out – and five cats – we opted to give our youngest cat, Bella, the Nutrish™ wet food. That doesn’t mean that our other cats didn’t want to enjoy it too. Every time I opened the container they all came running – literally!
I made a video and shared it on Instagram of Bella patiently waiting for me to serve her the wet food. Towards the of the video where she stops and looks over it’s because our other cat, Anakin, was making his way towards the food.
You can even see her smelling to food in the video as she patiently sat on the floor in front of the dishwasher while I put food on her dish.
You can see the video here – She Scribes Instagram – Bella & Nutrish video.
Bella didn’t seem to have a favorite. She loved all three varieties and gobbled them all up.
In addition to the cat foods I also received some recipe cards to make a human and cat friendly recipe. I opted to create my own. I made chicken balls (instead of meatballs). I just “tweaked” the recipe for the cat version. I didn’t want to include anything that could be harmful for cats (like garlic).
Here is the recipe I made.
Ingredients:
- 1 pounds of ground chicken breast (I had to ask the butcher to make me some – I couldn’t find it on the shelf)
- 3/4 of a cup of breadcrumbs (plain – nothing in them)
- 1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 tablespoon of Italian seasoning
- 1 large egg, beaten
Directions:
- Preheat the over to 350 degrees.
- Put the chicken, egg and breadcrumbs into a large bowl and mix well together (I used my hands just like I do when I make meatloaf).
- Take out of chunk of the mixture and put aside.
- Put the remaining ingredients in the bowl and mix everything together well.
- Using your hands shape the mixture into small meatballs and place them on a pan. I used non-stick foil on the pan.
- With the chunk of meat and breadcrumbs you set aside make itty bitty meatballs out of them and put them on another pan (use non-stick foil if you can).
- Bake for about 8-10 minutes and remove the tiny meatballs from the oven. Continue cooking the remaining “people” meatballs for another 5-10 minutes.
- Remove the meatballs from the oven and serve. I served ours over some pasta with marinara sauce and a sprinkle of mozzarella sauce on top. I served the other (tiny) meatballs to the cats.
Normally I make them to add to soup.
I didn’t want to add any seasoning or cheese to the cat’s meatballs because I don’t want to risk getting them sick or serving them something that is not good for them.
For more information visit Nutrish.RachaelRay.com/Cat.
If you would like to try Nutrish™ dry or wet cat food check out the “Where to buy” page. You can also download and print out money saving coupons.
You can also check out the brand on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Nutrish™ would like to give a lucky reader some samples of Nutrish™ cat foods to try out with your feline friend.
PLEASE NOTE: Contest entrants are only eligible to win once per sweepstake, per household as part of a campaign sponsored by Mom Central Consulting.
This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only and will end on August 18, 2014 at 11:59 PM (EST). The winner will be chosen at random using a random number generator from all eligible entries. The winner will be notified via e-mail and will have three days to reply or a new winner will be chosen in their place.
To enter please comment on this post and tell me why you would like to win the Nutrish™ cat foods prize package?
For extra entries you can use the Rafflecopter widget (below) but you must complete the initial entry requirement or the additional entries wont’ qualify (I do check). Extra entries are optional.
Kimberly
*I participated in an Influencer Activation Program on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Nutrish for Cats. I received a sample of Nutrish for Cats to facilitate this review and a promotional item to thank me for participating.
Maralea says
I like that they are natural ingredients. This would be perfect for my daughters cat.
Rita says
I would like to win cuz I love how healthy and natural Nutrish is and Rachel Ray def a name I trust 🙂 this be perfect for my 2 cats!
Shelley P says
I’d love to try Nurish with my senior cat. She is eating more soft food than dry and I think she would really enjoy the wet varieties. She needs a healthy cat food that is packed with good ingredients and no junk!
Jennifer R says
We have one cat that is very skittish. I would love to win the Nutrish™ cat foods prize package to spoil her with some quality foods. Maybe she will come out of hiding then.
Linda Szymoniak says
With five dogs and three cats, I buy a lot of pet food. As I’ve learned about the healthiness (or lack of, in some cases) different brands, I’ve been working on finding the best balance of nutrition, taste, and cost to keep my furbabies happy and healthy, without breaking the bank. I’ve been wanting to try Nutrish for them for a while now, and this would be a great way to introduce my cats to it.
Kim Henrichs says
i’m always trying to find a better food for my cats!
Cindy Merrill says
Both of my cats are great pets, worried about their nutrition, I’d love to try these sample, see if my cats like them.
Raine says
I’d love to try this because my 5 cats are just like most human kids- they want taste and are very picky. I want to feed them healthy food they’ll enjoy. Rachael Ray’s reputation is impressive, I know that my crew would eat this and I know they won’t be getting a bunch of dyes and ‘ unknown’ garbage.
darby says
I would donate this to the local food shelf
tammy shelton says
We just added a new member to our family. A 3 month old black & white Kitty. Her name is Fancy!
D Schmidt says
I would love to win because we have a new kitten and want him to eat the very best foods.
beth says
I want to win b/c the vet said my cat needed to healthier and this looks like it would do it!
Kelly Tupick says
I would like to win this for my cat Camo. He loves trying new foods and seems to eat pretty much everything.
Brynn says
I have been wanting to get my cats on healthier food to better their diet. They are getting older and need it
Christina Foley says
I would love to win for our 2 kitties.. we started the switch with our dogs to RR Nutrish last week and they love it. I caught one of the cats (the super picky one) trying to steal dog food.
sandy weinstein says
i would like to win b/c i use coupons and winnings of cat and dog food to donate to the pet food bank at SAFE Haven cat shelter and clinic.
Cynthia R says
I would like to win the Rachel Ray Nutrish giveaway because I have 3 hungry cats and I love Rachel Ray!
Anne says
I would like to win the Nutrish cat foods prize package for my elderly cat who has issues with eating; it’s hard to get her to eat sometimes, and I really have to make it count!
Brutus Duffy says
I have 8 cats and received a tiny sample of the dry and they loved it! Would like to try the wet food to see if they like it as well. Thank you.
Madonna says
I want to win so we can try this out. Our cats deserve the best and we havent’ tried this brand yet
Kimberly Schotz says
Our cat Chuck is an important member of our family. I want him to have the best quality food.
Nancy says
I’d like to win this for our daughter’s two cats, Lillian and Audrey.
Dawn Keenan says
We have 5 kitties and are always looking forward to trying healthy products.
Heather Dawn says
I would like to win this because my cat doesn’t like “cheap” food. This looks like something he would love.