Friskies wet Vs. High Quality Dry

mai_kitties

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I know that wet food is better then dry. I've read all the debates here regarding that. The question is, is Friskies low quality crap food better than the highest quality dry food available?

It's been 4 months since I settled on 4 cans of Friskies a day for 7 cats with a supplement of Chicken Soup and the results just suck. Their fur went from being shiny and soft to being greasy and dull. Their bowel movements could easily kill an elephant now, loose stools and horrible stench. They had been doing pretty good prior to this on a diet of Chicken Soup and a supplement of whatever grain free wet was on sale.

I keep hearing that any wet food at all is better then the highest quality dry, but I'm just not seeing it. I just can't believe that something as low in quality as Friskies would be better then say Wellness dry.

I am rethinking my feeding strategy. I know I have to keep the wet since I have one cat that is prone to crystals but $100 a month for the cat food budget only goes so far with the highway robbery that is the canned cat food business.
 

sharky

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Any wet is better than NO wet ...

is Friskies = to say a mid grade/ higher end premium with grain ...
MAYBE

Friskie s has WAY more moisture , protein and fat( dry matter of course) , many formulas are no grain or low grain, has artificial colors and flavors ( ie dyes)

Wellness has no by products of animals ( I have little issue with by products in a wet but do in a dry , has multiple grains ( not including core ), no dyes , has veggies ( cats have a small need for veggie matter )


IMHO find a dye and artificial color free wet and YES it = s better than high end dry
 
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mai_kitties

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Originally Posted by sharky

IMHO find a dye and artificial color free wet and YES it = s better than high end dry
I'm not questioning that... I'm asking is a low quality, chock full of grains and dyes, wet food better than a high quality dry food.

I'm fully aware that a good and even not so good wet food that doesn't have these things is going to be better than a high quality dry food.

If the only wet food you had to choose was Nine Lives, Special Kitty, or Friskies would you feed that to your cat over a high quality dry food?
 

chris10

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Originally Posted by Mai_kitties

If the only wet food you had to choose was Nine Lives, Special Kitty, or Friskies would you feed that to your cat over a high quality dry food?
Yes.........
 

gingersmom

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I can only afford to give Friskies as wet to my crew at the moment, and the only flavor I feed is the savory chicken shreds in gravy. They all like it, their coats are gorgeous, and having read a LOT of labels before settling on that one specific flavor, I thought that it was the best choice for my cats, given what little choice I had in what I could afford.

Additionally, as two of mine are Bengals, I have to be careful what I feed them as most foods tend to upset their tummies. This is one can of wet that has good results for the whole gang.

I do feed them all Royal Canin dry, however. So I can't say which does them better - I'm just glad they are able to get wet more than once a week at the moment.
 
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mai_kitties

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So now I think I have two choices... cut out the dry all together and just feed them the Friskies or go 50/50 with higher quality wet.

My budget only allows me to spend $2 a day on wet for 7 cats.

So which would be better in your opinions... low quality wet food such as Friskies with no dry at all or higher quality dry with a mid range wet that is under $1 a can such as Nutro or Authority, maybe even a higher quality if I buy the 12 oz cans?
 

furryfriends50

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The other thing is to do a TRUE cost comparison. How big is the .78 can? If it's this stuff

http://meowmix.com/wet-food.html#cb

it's 2.75 oz (enough for 1 cat for one meal). That comes out at 28 cents an oz.

Purchased by the case at Pet Food Direct, EVO 95% beef comes out at 13 cents an oz.

http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/prod ... HATSAW8915

So the EVO, purchased at Pet Food Direct in the large cans, is less than HALF as expensive as the Meow Mix, and about 400 times better.

Since most cats like their canned food fresh, open a can in the a.m., feed part of it, and then divide the rest into baggies, freezing whatever they will not eat today.
So, 5 oz per cat * 13 cents = 65 cents per cat

But with raw you can easily spend less than 50 cents per cat a day.
 

kittyl0ve4

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Actually, I feed my kids Friskies wet. They LOVE it and their coats are shiny, they are full of energy.

When I first got Monster, I was feeding him Fancy Feast Medleys, after he was weaned. I didn't know it was as bad as everyone says it is. When I heard it wasn't so good (after getting Mittens), I tried to switch to something better, but Monster wouldn't eat anything else.

Finally, I found something besides Fancy Feast that he would eat. Friskies. I am not an expert at cat nutrition, but I don't think Friskies is all that bad. I switch up the flavors, I only get the kinds with gravy, never pate, Monster loves his gravy. I switch it up, chicken, beef, gourmet grill, turkey with cheese. I also buy the more expensive kind of Friskies Selects? Hearty beef stew, Braised beef dinner, Turkey, Chicken and turkey, all of those kinds have greens in them.

I tried to stay away from dry all together because I am very paranoid about Monster getting crystals in his urine. He loves to nibble on dry though and I felt bad taking it away. So I buy a bag of Iams Proactive Health Indoor weight and hairball control. I only give them some before I go to bed, enough to last through the night, so they have something to nibble on while everyone is sleeping.

They may not be the best quality,
but I give them the best of what I can afford. They are happy with it. I think my cats' fur is beautiful, shiny, and healthy.
 

sharky

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I would do no dry if the kitties will let you...

I do the 50/50 mix of low and high but my low is no colors or flavors and is .35 cents to 49 cents for 5.5 oz.... so my mixing with no grain high end s to low grain comes out to 1$ to 1.25$ a day for five cats... they also get dry and raw ... costs me about 50$ a month for 5
 

farleyv

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I feed my cats 9 lives and Friskies wet. I have a diabetic and he can only have certain flavors of these. I got my list from a diabetic cat site. So everyone gets it.

For a while I switched to Natural Balance dry as wet was getting too expensive. I would seperate my diabetic out at feeding time and continue to give him the wet. Now, I have a 900.00 vet bill because it was garbage. One of my cats came down with crystals. He has to have s/d dry now only because he absolutely refused to go within 2 feet of the s/d wet. But it is what the vet wants him on.

So, yes, low quality wet IMO is far superior to high end dry.
 

Winchester

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We feed Friskies wet with Royal Canin dry to all our five cats. Their coats are just beautiful, shiny and glossy, even our grand dames who are 16 years old. They prefer the pate, so that's what we give them, although we do add in some shredded and some meaty bits from time to time. They've been on this pretty much since they were born (they did have some Purina dry for awhile) and they're all healthy.
 

addiebee

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Originally Posted by sharky

I would do no dry if the kitties will let you...

I do the 50/50 mix of low and high but my low is no colors or flavors and is .35 cents to 49 cents for 5.5 oz.... so my mixing with no grain high end s to low grain comes out to 1$ to 1.25$ a day for five cats... they also get dry and raw ... costs me about 50$ a month for 5
35 t0 49 cents for 5.5 oz... what are you buying????

Wow... that is all it is costing you? For 7 fosters - wet and dry.. I am spending more than twice that! I am feeding them a mix of Authority Sensitive Solutions dry and Natural Balance LID Duck and Green pea dry... my intent was to switch all of them to the LID/grain free, but I haven't done it yet.

They also get a mix of good and not-so-good wet. The all grain-free wet made Jake vomit so that is a no-go. I use Authority, the grain free FFs, some of the grain free Sophistacat gourmet line which is like FF (their sardines in aspic is pretty good and the boys love it), By Nature, Natural Balance LIDs, Wellness, etc. Often buying whatever wet is on sale. I am getting the idea that in order to prevent vomiting, I need at least 25% of the cheaper (grainy) stuff.

I would love to go raw, but these are not my cats and I need to keep in mind that when they get rehomed, I doubt anyone is going to do that kind of diet for them. I think a raw program would help my colitis/IBD boy, Archie.
 
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