Limited Ingredient Diet, Natural Dry Cat Food, Grain Free Recipe - Real Salmon, 4.5 lb. Bag

I have an 8 year old cat who has been having some pretty serious GI issues. We always struggled to keep him under 14 lbs, but during his last episode he registered as 11.5 with no change in appetite/cat feeder changes. This has been very concerning. We’ve had labs and imaging, with no real answers. While we’re still trying to figure out exactly what’s wrong, our vet suggested Instinct rabbit based food in case chicken sensitivity is an issue. We gradually changed/mixed in as directed. And all 3 cats seem to really like the new food. The cat in question has had some more interesting litter box deposits than the other 2, but that’s likely just due to whatever is going on, not just because of the diet change. They’ve been on this for about a month now, and I think we’ll stick with Instinct for the time being. PROS: -limited ingredient list -cats are just as excited about this as their previous food -higher quality -notably softer coats CONS: -Price -Largest size of rabbit protein food is 10lbs and I’d personally like a 22lb bag -stinky food- smells like fish food -foul feces odor (I literally have to take it right out after the sensitive one goes number 2. He’s always had smellier BM’s than the other two. I still don’t notice the smell of theirs even on this food.) I’ll take a happy healthy cat and a stinky litter box over constant vomiting and pain. All the cats have softer shinier coats since switching. And sensitive kitty’s stools are a little firmer with time, but still notably softer than with the other food. The other cats’ BM’s haven’t changed outside of color, but that’s likely because of the color of the food. Other observation: the kibble in the bigger bag is smaller than the kibble in the smaller bag we used as a trial. I prefer the smaller size so I will continue to purchase the larger bag.

I feed all 3 cats this Turkey dry food, and they are all pretty much as healthy as can be. Our girl calico cat was having major issues with red itchy dots around her ears and fur, and I think this food severely helped reduce her itchies. All of our cats are 4-5 years old and solely eat this food, and they are perfect little angels💕 no complaints, they love this food

This is on repeat. My cats love this food. I have a cat with allergies and one without, but it’s the only dry food they enjoy and keep going back for. I don’t give this to them as a primary source of food but when I do, they are right at the feeder waiting to get their snack. It usually stays fresh in the containers and lasts long. Unfortunately it does make their wastes stinky as dry food digests slower.

I tried Instinct foods because my cat has is really sensitive towards chicken and grains. She eats hypoallergenic, however with that one she stared to have a lot of diarrhea and vomit. As I say, she is VERY sensitive towards anything actually. As being limited ingredient I tried this food, and my cat immediately started looking better, no more diarrhea or vomit and she looked much better in general. The only downside with this food is that the taste is not so good - I had to mix this food with a little of her hypoallergenic food and rabbit flavor from the same brand. That is the only way she would eat Instinct. I would love that she loves this food as much as the hypoallergenic one. But clearly, this food is helping her so much! I love the limited ingredients and she seems to be gaining healthy weight. I really hope future batches come more tasty without a change of recipe!

Finally a food that works with my cat's IBD. He vomits on everything, including Ultamino, Hydrolyzed food from the 3 major Rx Food companies, and Novel Proten diet. I'm an RVT and these diets usually work. So, I did months of research of clinical trials and discovered that some cats stomachs and bowels become inflammed in the presence of carbohydrates. Cats do not need more than 13% carbs, ideally much less. Cat food (wet and dry) is packed with carbs. With prescription dry foods over 50% carbs. I would get the cat who's sensitive to carbs... and poultry. This food is one of the kibbles with the lowest carbs on the market (aside from Tiki Cat), plus they really only use one source of protein. My cat had never had rabbit before, so I chose this one. Almost an immediate improvement in vomiting, and after a few weeks, he didn't vomit anymore. The Royal Canin wet food with rabbit has less carbs than this brand of wet food, though. The only negative is that it's really expensive. However, I think it's worth it for cats with special requirements. He developed small cell lymphoma (usually happens with cats w/ IBD), and was on chemotherapy and steroids for a year... and this food. He is a year off the meds and cancer free. He's 16yrs old and still kicking butt and taking names.

BUYER BEWARE!! I purchased this item 2 weeks ago. Upon feeding it to my cat, I immediately noticed a darkening of my cat's stool (black). Plus her stool was EXTREMELY STINKY! I passed it off as her digestive system adjusting to a new product. I also noticed she would burp after consuming the product. Again, I thought her system was just adjusting. However, over the course of several more days she went from pooping just once per day to anywhere between 2-4 times in a 12 hour period. In the latest incident this morning, which by the way was the "last straw", she pooped 5 times in an 8-9 hour period. The first was firm, 30 min later it was soft . 7-8 hours after that she had flat out diarrhea (2X), accompanied by excessive howling and finally vomiting. I then began reading some of the negative product reviews and discovered others have been experiencing the same issues. I wish I had read them before purchasing this product! My guess is that the product must be contaminated with some toxins, pesticides, antibiotics, or growth hormones depending on where the ingredients are being sourced. I believe Instinct needs to step up and have their product tested by an independent lab and issue a recall before someone loses their cat because of this "so called" cat food. Sadly, I have to issue a "1 star" rating, because Amazon's system won't permit me to issue anything less. However, my TRUE rating of this product is "0 stars". This is the response I received from Instinct today (10/8/18): Hi Stacy, Thank you for reaching out to us. The first thing that you mention is darker stool, this is actually very normal for the LID Rabbit kibble as it is a very dark meal and will often turn the stool an extremely dark color; this is safe and normal. When introducing a new food we recommend doing a slow transition to avoid any stomach upset or loose stool. We recommend slowly increasing the amount of new food being added to the present food over a period of 3-4 weeks. This normally looks like 1/4 of the new food with 3/4 of the old for the first week and then increasing to 1/2 and 1/2 the next week and so forth until after about 3-4 weeks, your pet is fully transitioned to the new food. If any digestive upset or loose stool occurs, make the transition more gradual. With all of our products, we utilize robust systems to ensure the quality and safety of our foods. Our quality control and quality assurance programs include but are not limited to: Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOP’s), Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP’s), A Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Points (HACCP) Program, Lot Segregation, other human food industry best practices, and High Pressure Processing (HPP). At every point in the process – from raw material receiving to finished product – there are quality steps and check points. Raw materials and finished products are routinely tested. The manufacturing plant and any warehouses where the product is stored are also inspected on a routine basis. We are confident that we produce high quality, safe products. All of our rabbit is antibiotic-free with no added growth hormones. MISSY | Consumer Engagement Specialist

Cats love this food. It's a little expensive for the size of the bag but seems to be of good quality. My cats send to be able to digest it with no problem.

Per my vet's suggestion, we needed to try a limited ingredient, grain-free food for our cat. Rabbit was the suggested meat and since our cat snubs all pate food, we thought to give this a try. We tried rehydrating it, mixing a small amount in with her prior dry food, all by itself, mixed in with her licky treats all to no avail. She is most picky so maybe other pets will like it - she does not.