Fit Food Friday: Gather

I recently had an opportunity to try out Petcurean's new line of food, Gather.



I tried out one of their cat products, and one of their dog products.



The cat food that we tried was the chicken flavor, and uses organic, free range chicken. It is also completely grain free.

Theodore got pretty excited when he heard food hit his bowl. This is his first try of the food. I can safely say that he was a fan. He is a bit of a food hound, for a cat, but can be a bit picky when it comes to kibble foods.

The kibble pieces in this cat food are teeny tiny, and are flat. Theo actually ended up having a little bit of trouble eating the last few kibbles in his bowl each time because of the shape. The flat pieces seemed to stick to the bottom of the bowl a bit. But that didn't phase him at all.

Even after over a week of eating Gather cat food, Theo was still a fan, and still quickly cleaned his bowl (except for the couple of pieces that got stuck to the spit on the bottom of the bowl, anyway). I think time really is the test for cats and food, because they have to eat it long enough for the novelty to wear off, at least a few meals.

I was really happy with him on this food.

The dog food that we tried was actually the vegan flavor of Gather, called Endless Valley.

Anyone who has followed my blog for long knows that I have fed raw for years, both alone, and as a part of a rotational diet. So that part of me is somewhat opposed to a vegan dog food. However, I can see a distinct need for something like this. Years ago, while trying to figure out Koira's allergies, I put her on a number of different foods, trying to figure out what she was allergic to. This food would be a great option for that. It would eliminate all animal proteins, and give something to feed regularly while the allergy situation is figured out, slowly adding back in different ingredients.

It has just the slightest green tinge, but otherwise, without reading the bag, I don't think anyone would know this was vegan. I tried it out with about 10 different dogs as treats, and not one dog refused it, even with a few dogs being pretty picky.

With this food being from a great company like Petcurean, I have to believe that it is the best possible option if, for some reason, your dog has to be on a vegan diet for allergies. That said, I do have an issue with humans forcing their pets to eat vegan just because of idealogical nonsense.




Overall, I was happy with both of these foods. I likely wouldn't feed the Gather Endless Valley vegan food for long, simply because there is no reason to with my dogs. But I like knowing that it is out there, because I know how hard it can be to do elimination diets with dogs while getting them the right nutrition the entire time.