Fancy Feast; Is it really as good as it looks?

Right now, I'm on the lookout for a brand of canned cat foot that will replace the ordinary supermarket kitty kibble. We've all seen those commercials for fancy feast. My question is; is it really as good as it looks on t.v? And do cats like it? Is it healthy? I always read the label before buying pet food, but I was wondering if you guys could save me the hassle of checking with your replies.


By the way~ If you know of another premium canned cat food product, please say so in your post.

do a search for wet food on here...

FF the dry is = to human junk food... filled with by products , corn , soy , artificial colors and flavors..

FF medleys are by product filled///

Grocery options are limited as far I what I call good

Meow mix ( the pouches and tubs only)

Sheba in the gold tubs( not complete so not for sole nutrition)

some Iams ( chicken and beef ( check to make sure not by products containing)

Natural life( walmart )

Those Fancy Feast Medleys really burn me up! You pay so much for a bit of spinich with your byproducts. At one point, my local grocery store was selling it for $1.19 a can! The price has dropped, but it's still outlandish for the quality of food.
I've never seen a cat turn the stuff down though, so maybe the markup funds all the research into how inedible things can be made tasty for cats.

FF dry is not very good 1 is by products, 2 is lots of grains and 3 dyes in the food.

FF wet not any better 1 by products, 2 grains and some still have wheat gluten in it. Also FF wet is known as kitty crack.

I've got a few of Nature's Recipe canned food to try. We feed Royal Canin and Friskies canned foods - tho I won't buy the Friskies that have wheat gluten in it (mainly the chicken/turkey ones). So read the labels.

Originally Posted by Kibasgirl

By the way~ If you know of another premium canned cat food product, please say so in your post.

Click to expand...

The marketing and price give the impression that Fancy Feast is premium, but it's not. It's not the worst, but it's not something I feed because of the by products and the price. For 40-60 cents a serving, there are much better options IMO...see my last paragraph.

When you read the labels, my suggestion would be to avoid "by products". Those are cheap miscellaneous parts of animals that are of very unpredictable and questionable quality. Sure, some good "by products" would be a natural part of a cat's diet in the wild but when the only reference on the label is "meat by products" or "chicken by products" we don't really know what we're getting, plus that means that the vast percentage of the meal IS by products rather than the minute portion that would be the case if a cat ate a whole bird or rodent, etc. I hope that makes sense.

As far as other suggestions go, it depends on your cat food budget and where you would like to be able to get the food (grocery store, big chain pet store, small pet food store, feed store, etc).

My cats eat a variety of canned food, mainly Wellness, some Natural Balance, Merricks, and Innova EVO. They've sampled a number of others and those are their favorites. Recently they've sampled some Avoderm and By Nature cans which they seem to like, so far . The 5.5oz cans of these brands average $1-$1.20 each....so in reality they don't cost much more than FF, per serving.

I haven't ever opened a can of fancy feast that looked like the tv ads. I personally think it looks and smells nasty - but the cats do eat it. I used to give Cindy the elegent medleys because it was the only thing I could get her to really chow down on - but since the recall, they don't get anything with gluten. I also bought a few cans that were gluten free after the recall for a short term solution. I wouldn't feed it to them on a regular basis.

If you do some research and watch for discounts, you can get stuff online for just as cheap or better. I used to pay 79 cents or more for those elegent medleys. I just ordered a bunch of Natural Balance, a case of Wellness Beef & Salmon (new without the garlic), and a case Eagle Pack to try from PetFoodDirect. Even with the shipping, after taking the 22% discount I got from them, it's only costing me 70 cents a can (yes, I figured it out before I ordered ).

If you're looking at Meow Mix, the pouches are 39 cents at Petsmart. If you're staying away from wheat gluten, though, make sure to read the ingredients. There are some flavors that have it and some that don't. Same with those little tubs. I personally think the tubs are a giant rip off. Petsmart also has some better stuff than you can find in the supermarkets, and often just as cheap or cheaper with their discount card. Watch for their sales and stock up.

Good luck!

my cats really like fancy feast canned. however, i stick to the better ones. the ones that don't have by-products first. i also try to stick with the "gourmet" flavors. but the guys like a couple "roasted" and "chunky" flavors too. when it's not on sale, i buy FF in the 24 case at target. it works out to 42 cents per can. the best petsmart has had it on sale this month was 46 cents per can. i do have to go to petsmart for certain flavors.

FF medleys are a birthday/holiday treat around here. at 80 cents a can, the budget can't handle that daily.

the FF gourmet gold is my cats favorite treat. i buy the little 1 lb pouch and it's one of the treats they get. they all think it's awesome. but way too junky for a regular food.

my cats have liked the Nutro Indoor canned flavors. (senior and chicken & liver)

my cats also like friskies in gravy for breakfast. for whatever reason they like friskies in gravy better than FF in gravy. i just buy what they will eat.

I did get a few cans of FF for Charlie at the shows, but he had softer stools and didn't seem to like it - so I'll take something else for him to eat (canned wise)