Friskies "special diet" canned foods?

Hey folks,

In addition to feeding EVO, By Nature, and Natural Balance, I also feed some authority and some friskies wet to my cats. Due to previous UTIs and my all-male cat crew, I'm now strictly feeding no-fish foods.

About 5 months ago I noticed some friskies "special diet" for urinary health canned food and bought some to try out with the cats. They seemed to like it as much as the regular friskies foods, so I've bought a couple cans here and there when I see it.

Yesterday they had friskies on sale at petsmart (40 cents a can) and they happened to have cases of the beef/liver and chciken/beef special diet varities, so I bought a case of each.

At worst, I figure it can't be any poorer quality than normal friskies...and at best, maybe it does help with urin ph.

Here are the ingredients and analysis for the beef/chicken:

Ingredients:
Water Sufficient For Processing, Meat By-Products, Poultry By-Products, Beef, Animal Liver, Chicken, Brewer's Rice, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Tricalcium Phosphate, Guar Gum, Caramel Color, Taurine, Carrageenan, Choline Chloride, Vitamin E, A, D3, B12 Supplements, Thiamin Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc, Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Natural Flavor, Niacin, Calcium Panthothenate, Riboflavin Supplement (Vitamin B2), Cobalt Carbonate, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source Of Vitamin K Activity), Folic Acid, Potassium Iodide, Biotin.

Guaranteed Analysis %:
Moisture (maximum) 78
Crude Protein (minimum) 10
Crude Fat (minimum) 7
Crude Fiber (maximum) 0.5
Ash 2.8% max
Magnesium 0.024 max
Potassium 0.20 min

I have a couple questions....

1. What do you think about the food, percentage and ingredients wise? Do you think that the levels listed promote good urin ph?

2. If they say that it "helps maintain urinary tract health by reducing urinary ph" does tha mean that they actually had to prove this using clincal trials (and that it must at least sortof work)?

3. I know the ingredients are poor quality, but I'm sure that the ingredients in science diet Rx C/D canned are just as bad.... Given that, would feeding this about 1/3 of the time have a negative effect on the cats (given the low quality protien)?

Thanks!
Art

EDIT: For comparison here's the info for hill's science diet C/D canned with chicken:
Ingredients

Pork By-Products, Water, Pork Liver, Chicken, Rice, Corn Starch, Oat Fiber, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Fish Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Chicken Liver Flavor, Calcium Sulfate, Guar Gum, Fish Oil, Brewers Dried Yeast, Glucose, DL-Methionine, Choline Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Taurine, Cysteine, Calcium Carbonate, Dried Egg Yolk, Glycine, Vitamin E Supplement, Iodized Salt, Potassium Citrate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Zinc Oxide, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Beta-Carotene, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin, Biotin, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid, Calcium Iodate.

Protein 43.8
Fat 20.9
Carbohydrate (NFE) 26.5
Crude Fiber 2.0

Calcium 0.72
Phosphorus 0.68
Sodium 0.32
Potassium 0.80
Magnesium 0.052
Taurine 0.40
Omega-3 Fatty Acids Total 0.96

My cats only liked the Friskies Ocean Fish Special Diet. So I usually just buy them what they like. They like regular Friskies flavors and 1 senior flavor. When I was strictly feeding diets for UTI health I used Pro Plan for urinary health wet and Nutro Max wet foods.

I feed my 8 cats Friskies Special Diet and they love it!

YES that diet is proven ... by the extended testing of 18-24 months

Can it be fed to cats without urinary prolems as a prevenative ( in a rotation with other wet foods)?

Thanks!

It's good to know that I'm feeding them something good that is less than 1/3 the price of the Rx canned food. I just looked up the ingredients again on the other special diet varieties and the turkey doesn't have fish either....so I'll try some out and get a case of it if they like it... If they like all three types, I may just cut out the regular friskies and feed them only the special diet cans along with the EVO, natural balance, and by nature.

The high inclusion of by-products worries me, but if the best the Rx food has is "pig by-products"....well, unidentified by-products can't be that much worse. Hopefully I can get them to eat 1/2 can a night so that they won't be hurting nutritionally.

Thanks again,
Art

Hi Art,

These ingredients are harmful to cats. THat high of an ash content is above the recommended dosage for healthy cats. Ash has been linked to urinary tract issues so if your goal is to alleviate the UTI in your cat, this will definitely not help.I would cut out friskies completely as it also causes a whole host of other problems.

Good luck!