Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Nutrience Pet Food Campaign from BzzAgent



Yes!  A BzzAgent Campaign for my furballs!  I love my cats and purchase high-end food for them, both because I love them dearly and because one of them has digestive issues (he's a barfer). Previous dry food brands have been Nutro and Royal Canin.

The campaign I was selected for is for Nutrience pet food.  It has both dog and cat varieties.  I have three cats.  Two are indoor, and one is outdoor.  The outdoor one is a feral cat who we eventually after 2+ years convinced to come inside at night when it is cold outside.  Of the two indoor cats, one has been a indoor cat all of his eight years (he's the barfer), and the other came to as a stray older kitten, now about three years old.  He is inside but does have supervised outside time on a harness and leash. 

Here is what my Nutrience BzzKit came with:

Nutrience BzzKit Contents September 2013

As you can see, a coupon for a full free bag for me was included!  Also five coupons of $5 off a any bag to share, two flavours of sample bags, and a French/English information booklet on all the varieties of Nutrience dog and cat food.

Our first plan of action was to mix the sample bags in with all of our cats' current dry food to give an adjustment period.  This lasted 10 days.  Both indoor cats seemed to like it, our outdoor cat seemed to LOVE it - not a kibble left in the bowl the first few times.  The indoor barfer cat was fine with the mixed days, and fine for about a week with only Nutrience.  He has had one big "sicky" recently and we will be watching him closely.

We are concerned about our second indoor cat and are seriously considered switching him back to his old food.  He seems to be having bathroom issues since the full switch - he'll be in the litter box with the "I'm-trying-to-go" stance/look for 10 minutes+ at a time, over and over.  There is only a tiny piddle if anything each time.  He does seem to be pooping at other times.  We are worried about crystals or something else as this is a totally new thing for him and there is no other change to his diet, litter type/location, or habitat. 

Now, in terms of finding a vendor in order to use the free bag coupon...

We started by first calling a private pet food store close to my place of work where we had recently picked up a bottle of Vetericyn for our outdoor cat's hot spots.  No luck there, but they did offer to order it in for us.  Since it was for a free bag, we declined otherwise we'd feel guilty.  We called our regular private pet food store and they did not carry it.  Next we tried one of the bigger chain stores, no luck.  Finally, the fourth try - PetSmart - had it.  I would have preferred to support a smaller local store, but no avail.  The flavour selection was limited, but we were able to get the big bag for free, almost a $40 savings.

After 10 days of mixed food and about 10 days of solely Nutrience the initial verdict is that it is good for our outdoor cat, but varying results for our indoor cats.  We'll keep monitoring the situation.

The indoor "barfer" cat eating Nutrience dry food




Monday, October 21, 2013

Final thoughts on Crest Pro-Health suite



The Crest Pro-Health™ BzzAgent campaign ended a few weeks ago and I want to share some final thoughts.   Overall, not a bad suite, just not as good as I was hoping. My review of the Oral-B CrossAction®toothbrush stands.   Its good for when I have a cold, that's it.

With regards to the Crest® Pro-Health® Multi-Protection Rinse (mouthwash), it DOES make a difference with morning breath if it is used right before bed.  I still can’t attest to during the day as the no-eating/drinking-for-30-minutes-after-use rule has prevented me.

The  Crest® Pro-Health® Toothpaste: I thought it was good.  Until I went to the dentist.  I forgot to take a picture of my teeth before my appointment, so there is no “after” shot to compare to my first short.  The reason I won’t be repurchasing is that for the first time ever my dentist told me I had coffee stains on my teeth!  She even showed me the brown marks with a mirror.  I have been drinking coffee every morning for six years.  I can only attribute this to the change in my toothpaste.  

I believe the problem is that the toothpaste I sampled was non-whitening.   I have since discovered that Crest Pro-Health™ does have a whitening type.  If the price is right when I run out of the whitening brand I returned to after my dentist appointment, then I will consider trying it out.  I did like the Cool Peppermint flavour.