Dr. Elsey's Cat Food

I have two cats, an eight-year-old and one who's about a year and a half old. I free-feed Blue Buffalo kibble, which I have been pleased with for many years now, and continue to be. But I bought a 6.6 lb. bag of Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein Chicken Recipe because I like to give them a treat every now and then, not that it's necessarily better than the food they always have available, but because it's something different and, despite what some of the professionals say, my experience with cats has been that they like to try something different from time to time. Normally, I rotate between the various Blue Buffalo recipes but, every now and then, I'll buy another premium cat food. As a result, they fought over it. That says something when you consider that they always have kibble available. I won't list all of the ingredients here because the list is relatively long, but there's nothing that looks scary to me. The first six ingredients are chicken, dried egg product, gelatin, chicken fat, natural flavor, and salmon oil. Then you get into a long list of vitamins and minerals, for the most part. The only thing that I would question there, and which I always question when I see it in an ingredient list, is natural flavor. What is natural flavor? Shouldn't the kibble have the natural flavor of the natural foods that it consists of? "Natural flavor" doesn't tell me anything, so I wonder about that. However, there is no gluten, byproducts, corn, soy, wheat, fillers, or other ingredients that cats sometimes have trouble with. It's 89% protein, and it seems clear that the taste is something that my cats love. It also has a clean smell, which might seem like an odd thing to say but I've tried some kibble that doesn't. Given that I free-feed, that's important to me, although we all know that cats often enjoy some pretty rancid-smelling stuff. Besides the uncertainty of "natural flavors," my only concern is that I don't think I could afford to feed them this as a regular staple. They like Blue Buffalo well enough too, and it has great ingredients, as well as a price that's more reasonable. Had I been regularly feeding them another food, and given them Blue Buffalo as a treat, they might fight over that too. If I had reason to believe that Dr. Elsey's was better for my cats than Blue Buffalo, I would eat the cost and let them eat the better food, but I've raised four cats into their mid-20s on Blue Buffalo, one nearly making it to 29 years of age, so I'll stick with the Blue as a staple. However, I will certainly buy it again as a treat or to mix with the Blue Buffalo kibble.

I originally bought this from Chewy.com; glad its back in stock at Amazon as their price is lower. My kitty has an irritable bowel with some intermittant rectal bleeding. I did some research and this food was recommended as a brand that could help. Since my boy has been eating this ( along with his regular Fancy Feast dry food) he has had no issues! I believe this food has helped him tremendously. He also has more energy. Great looking bright eyes and coat, too. I've noticed some reviewers here have noticed a difference in the appearance in the food from how its looked in the past i.e. lighter in color, smaller size pieces etc. I contacted the company and they assured me its just a processing issue and there has been no change in any of the ingredients. My cat still loves it so I will continue to purchase. Also this food contains NO peas or lentils, which has been linked to heart issues in other grain free foods. I recommend this food highly. UPDATE 9-10-22 Contacted Dr Elseys customer service...the reason the product looks different/arrivres broken etc. is because they use FLAX as a binder and they can't get it due to supply issues so since have added extra EGG to the product as a temporary substitute. They are hoping to get the flax supply issued as soon as possible. Hope this helps customers that have had questions about the appearance of the product etc.

I'm again VERY, VERY disappointed from Elsey's new batch of Cleanprotein Chicken Formula Dry Cat Food, 6.6 Lb. I have 24 rescued cats , majority started vomiting after eating this new batch , their stool become different as well , like paper wood . This brand was good in the beginning, absolutely not the same consistence anymore and I can't take risk to buy it again, I purchased 6 big bags this time and invested, such a disappointment. Extremely disappointed ,more than happy to send 5 bags back to US and the manufacturer

Dr Elsey has been my trusted kibble brand for years, but recently my cats which are on it have been shedding a lot. It used to help reduce shedding, so perhaps the formulation has changed?

My cats accept this. Will continue to feed this. Seems healthy. Price seems to be increasing and not always in stock.

But my cat has no problem eat it. And it is a high protein diet so my cat don't eat much. One bag can last quite long time.