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Old November 16th, 2009, 05:45 PM
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goldengal goldengal is offline
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Eagle Pack - now Holistic Select

I so seldom post, but read all the time, and especially about the lost pets which breaks my heart.

For about 4 years now, our guys and gals have been eating Eagle Pack Holistic Lamb & Rice. We purchase 6 bags at a time since we do have 4 dogs - well 3 and a lil half pint who is the joy (and did I say the boss?) of the house.

When my son in law picked up the 6 bags last week, the bag was white with some green on it whereas it used to be purple. Since our Berner (5-1/2) was recently diagnosed with Lymphoma, he was concerned the ingredients might be different. Back at the time of the pet food scare (melamine), I wrote to the nutritionist at Eagle Pack often, and contacted him yesterday, and today had a reply. Oh, even before I received his email, I had checked an old bag of Eagle Pack with the new bag, and the ingredients are the same, and he confirmed that. I do not know how many feed EP, but this is what he said:

"We were sold 2 years ago to a family owned investment company that is helping us keep up with state of the art improvements. The Holistic Select bags have new graphics but the formulas are the same. EP is the same."

I do not know how many feed Eagle Pack, but I did want to pass this along. It has worked great for us for years, and I know some say we should change every so often, but the way I look at it "If it ain't broke, why fix it." Take care.

Pat
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Old November 19th, 2009, 08:12 PM
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Eagle Pack is now owned by Wellpet. Wellpet now owns Wellness too - there have been some concerns raised on other forums I'm on about the formula being changed or alternatively, the sources of the ingredients may have changed.
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Old November 20th, 2009, 08:40 AM
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As far as I know they are staying relatively the same. They will be removing corn from their products. Not too many EP products had corn in it but a few had gluten and stuff.

On the bags where I live they said they are now using less salt and a few other things. They have little info booklets stuck to the bags.

I should warn you to expect a price increase sooner or later.
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Old November 20th, 2009, 09:41 AM
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Does anyone know if they are/have changed to formula for the canned cat food? Mine seem to be refusing to eat it lately. Either they are just bored with it or there is now something about it they don't like.
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Old November 20th, 2009, 11:25 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ownedbycats View Post
Does anyone know if they are/have changed to formula for the canned cat food? Mine seem to be refusing to eat it lately. Either they are just bored with it or there is now something about it they don't like.
Not that I am currently aware of. EP is a big seller where I work and I have not noticed anything different about the cans. I've only noticed the revamping of the dog food bags. It probably all depends on where you live though. If you are having an issue, I would email or call them. I don't believe I've ever met the product rep. for Eagle Pack so I wouldn't be able to ask him/her.
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Old November 23rd, 2009, 06:30 AM
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Back at the time of the pet food recall, I was in touch with John Marsman, Nutritionist at Eagle Pack, and recently wrote to him as indicated above with reference to the Holistic dog food. Here is a communiquie I received from him, with permission to post:

"WE as pet owners are all very sensitive today about what dog food companies are doing. During the recall some companies flat out lied, got caught and made us pet owners very leery. Many of you know I have top Brittanys and I love them as much as everyone reading this loves their dogs. Those of you who have been loyal to Eagle Pack and Holistic Select probably have not followed what other pet food brands are doing. ALL brands have done some combination of raised prices, reduced bag size &/or cheapened product. We refuse to cheapen our product. We have built a loyal following over the years based on our quality and integrity and do not want to betray your trust.

The question is not why we are more expensive, but why are others cheaper? Remember when gas was under $2 per gallon, when milk was $1.79 a half gallon? Eggs at 69cents a dozen? It truly hurts us to have to raise prices and deprive some of feeding the best to their best friend. But in the long run your pet will be healthier for a longer period of time and your vet bills will be less. For those feeding Holistic Select our Eagle Pack brand is less money and is outstanding.

I, as in me, here at Eagle Pack, was the first one in the pet food industry to inform pet owners that some ingredients used by ALL brands are not made in the U.S. EVERY pet food company has some ingredients that are sourced overseas. If they tell you differently they are lying. We faced the facts and were honest with pet owners. We caught a lot of grief but again you can trust us. Can you trust the company that denies an ingredient is sourced overseas? Because I exposed this, most companies today will admit an ingredient or 2 are sourced overseas.

Do you take vitamins…from overseas? Glucosamine? Overseas…I could go on and on."

Unfortunately, I do not have any info with regard to cat food, but would suggest you write to Eagle Pack. Take care.

Pat
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Old November 23rd, 2009, 09:39 PM
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I did notice yesterday that they have redesigned the cat food labels. They are now a cream color and have different color star shaped backgrounds. It's hard to explain.

ANYWAYS, the new cans rang up, get this

$2.45 A CAN!!!

Maybe it's just my store?? I don't see my boss purposely trying to rip people off like that.

Anyways, if the cans are really going to be that expensive they have lost me as a customer.
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Old November 24th, 2009, 12:53 PM
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Kathryn, was the 2.45 for the 13 oz cans or the 5.5 oz cans? We have to buy cat food this week, and Ill check to see if our store has changed labels yet, and raised the price. given that the 12.5 oz Wellness cans are $3 something, 2.45 isn't a complete rip off (but still annoying). Never mind, I just realized your price is in US dollars. I don't want to even think what it's going to be here. Ouch.
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Old November 24th, 2009, 03:10 PM
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It was for the larger can, but still! That's insane! The average price for any brand of large can of catfood where I work is about 1.29-1.99.

I buy Innova Evo cans for about 1.79 a can! For the big ones I mean. 2.45 is just insane
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Old November 25th, 2009, 02:00 PM
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I would love to be able to buy cat food in the large sizes for 1.29-1.99. (without having to change my canadian $$$ to US$$$)
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Old November 25th, 2009, 02:04 PM
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Yep, the only brands we can get here in the 1.29-1.99 price range are the crappy brands. :sad:
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Old May 23rd, 2010, 11:35 PM
Wolff-jigs Wolff-jigs is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by goldengal View Post

For about 4 years now, our guys and gals have been eating Eagle Pack Holistic Lamb & Rice. We purchase 6 bags at a time since we do have 4 dogs - well 3 and a lil half pint who is the joy (and did I say the boss?) of the house.

Since our Berner (5-1/2) was recently diagnosed with Lymphoma, he was concerned the ingredients might be different.

Pat
I used to feed Eagle, it was a good feed and I liked how at the time they owned their own rendering plant.
I've fed over the years, Blue Seal, Show results, Science Diet, Purina One, IAMS, Wayne, Canidae, and now Canine Caviar.

I fed IAMS for years but switched to Canidae because I felt the need to see if a feed change might make a difference with the bloat-torsion problems my dogs were having, it didn't...
I was using the Canidae for quite a while, and I had it shipped to me from a dogfood place on line- the cost to do that was not much more than if I could buy locally. The sales tax alone would be almost the $10 shipping charge I paid, and as a bonus I got it all delivered to my front door

But one day I found a very dried out mouse in the feed, there were no holes in the bag, and no decay odor, so it had to have been packed in with the feed YUK!
Sometime around then I switched over to Canine caviar after reading the ingredients and all that. and that's what I feed now. I like the chicken & pearl variety and it takes so little to keep weight on the dogs.

I used to do a lot of research into the feeds, Kcal/lb etc., what always gets me is those who buy by PRICE, feeds like "Old Roy" because it's on sale for $9.95 or whatever. What most don't take into account is, the dog requires "x" amount of Kcal's/lb per day based on size, breed, activity.
If you compare the cheap feed with premium, you will see the cheap feed has lots less Kcal's/lb and that's why you have to feed say 8 cups a day when with a better feed you might only need 4 cups.

With that in mind, the cheap feed could be HALF the price of the better feed but the 2 wind up costing the SAME per day to feed!

A lot of people will still shop by price...

I am sorry to read about your Berner, Lymphoma may be a misdiagnosis (common) for the well known cancer that is passed along by an inheritance mode, and has been well published in the journals. The cancer I've lost Berners to was called in the journals- histiocytosis of the Bernese Mtn Dog
There is a systemic form and a malignant form, both are extremely nasty horrible diseases.
The study found this has a heritable polygenic mode, so a dog affected by histiocytosis is almost certainly going to pass it along to offspring, that was how it started with one stud dog (Swiss import I think I remember) who was affected.
I wish your dog well in whatever treatment options or course of action you decide upon.
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Old May 24th, 2010, 08:15 AM
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quincymycat quincymycat is offline
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I have been using EP Holistic Chicken and rice formula for years....I have a guy with allergies and this is one of the best he has tolerated. I used to buy one large bag every month....cost around 47.99. Two months ago I went in to buy my bag and as soon as the clerk picked it up to carry it to the cash for me I noticed the smaller bag size. The colour of the packaging had changed too, but that I did not care about...it was the size. The bag was about 3 pounds less than the original size. The price was also $49.99 now. I am now having to buy 2 bags each month to make it between stock ups.
The formula is the same on the feline with the exception of removing Vitamin K from the food.
The Global I buy the food from gives one bag free after 11 purchased (used to be 10, but inflation has hit everywhere). I now reach my free bag faster!!
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