Friskies Urinary Health canned food ?

momofmany

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I'm not an expert in food ingredients by any means, and get more information from the folks here than I find by doing the google.

I noticed that my local Petsmart has started to carry Friskies Urinary Health canned food. My cats personal junk food is Friskies canned food and I buy it for them once in a while to keep their lives interesting. My Muddy is chronic FLUID and on prescription dry (free fed) and prescription wet (morning meal). Our evening wet meal for everyone is a mid-quality wet food with the occasional junk food thrown in. I bought a couple cans of the Friskies Urinary Health food and gave it to them tonight for dinner. They seemed to really like it.

If this means getting more urinary health food into Muddy, then I'll buy more of it. But if it's a junk food manufacturer's ruse to get you to buy something you think might help your cat but really doesn't, then I'll steer clear of it. If it's no better than junk food, then I'll treat it as such.

Can anyone help me analyze it's content?

Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein (Min) \t12.0 %
Crude Fat (Min) \t3.5 %
Crude Fiber (Max) \t0.2 %
Moisture (Max) \t78.0 %
Ash (Max) \t1.5 %
Potassium (K) (Min) \t0.20 %
Magnesium (Mg) (Min) \t0.022 %
Taurine (Min) \t0.05 %

Ingredients
Water sufficient for processing, meat by-products, chicken, wheat gluten, corn starch-modified, artificial and natural flavors, soy flour, potassium chloride, taurine, calcium phosphate, salt, added color, thiamine mononitrate, Vitamin E supplement, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, niacin, calcium pantothenate, Vitamin A supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), pyridoxine hydrochloride, manganese sulfate, copper sulfate, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, biotin, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, potassium iodide.
 

Willowy

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It's no better or worse than the other Friskies formulas, ingredients-wise. The Special Diet formulas are lower in ash than the regular formulas and claim to have "low magnesium" (but the magnesium level for the regular food isn't listed so I can't compare) and to "lower urinary pH". I'm not really sure what the preferred ash, masnesium, and pH levels are for cats with urinary issues, so I'll leave that part up to those who have a better idea about that.

Personally, I prefer the pate formulas. . .they don't have the soy flour and wheat gluten like the shredded formulas do. Of course, the kitties have other ideas
.
 
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momofmany

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Originally Posted by Willowy

Personally, I prefer the pate formulas. . .they don't have the soy flour and wheat gluten like the shredded formulas do. Of course, the kitties have other ideas
.
You are right - mine LOVE the shredded ones cause they LOVE the gravy.

Thanks for your thoughts!
 

white cat lover

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Maybe it is a marketing ploy - but I buy it & feed it to Squishy. (He has had chronic urinary issues - blood in urine, sometimes crystals - and is on Rx diet for life also) I figure it's no more $$ than the regular Friskies, and if it helps I'll take what I can get!
 

minka

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If you feed friskies as a 'junk food' then, you might as well replace it with the urinary health kind; two birds with one stone so to speak.
The thing that worries me however is that it contains menadione.. It's toxic to the liver and has been banned from human consumption.
 

sharky

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This is a UTI certified food aka has testing to prove it should work... correct the ingrediants are at best low end...
 

minka

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Originally Posted by sharky

This is a UTI certified food aka has testing to prove it should work... correct the ingrediants are at best low end...
What good is a healthy bladder/urinary tract if your liver is busted though?
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by Minka

What good is a healthy bladder/urinary tract if your liver is busted though?
the vitamin K issue has been hashed out on this forum before... Being lucky enough to have eastern and western medicine trained vets one with a nutrition degree I have discussed the issue to find it a fairly mute issue ....
 

Willowy

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Since the majority of pet foods contain meniadone, and have for some time, but pets (even those fed nasty cheap stuff their entire lives) aren't keeling over of liver failure in huge numbers, I'm going to say that either it's not dangerous or there's not enough of it in pet food to be dangerous. I would expect to see a lot more pets with liver issues, and I just don't.
 

just mike

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Originally Posted by sharky

the vitamin K issue has been hashed out on this forum before... Being lucky enough to have eastern and western medicine trained vets one with a nutrition degree I have discussed the issue to find it a fairly mute issue ....
Yep and yep.
 

minka

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I guess I'm the only one not willing to take that chance then.
To me that's like saying 'There isn't enough cyanide to be dangerous, so who cares?'
 

Willowy

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Originally Posted by Minka

To me that's like saying 'There isn't enough cyanide to be dangerous, so who cares?'
That's a good analogy. . .lots of things contain cyanide. Lima beans and spinach, for example. Just not enough of it to be harmful. In fact, small amounts of cyanide can actually be good for you. . .
 

feralvr

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Now that Pipsqueak has FIC, I am trying to find the best diet for him. I do not want to put him on dry c/d, although my vet didn't mention this to me, yet... he has been 3/4 wet food and 1/4 dry. I am going to put him on all wet food now. He has been on grain-free for eight months now and I never had a problem before with urinary issues with him before. He is a VERY high-strung cat and very controlling, so internal stress could be the culprit here.

Anyhoo, I am going to pick up some of the Friskies Urinary canned food and see if Pip likes it and then can add that in with his grain-free wet for added variety.
 

minka

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Originally Posted by Willowy

That's a good analogy. . .lots of things contain cyanide. Lima beans and spinach, for example. Just not enough of it to be harmful. In fact, small amounts of cyanide can actually be good for you. . .
There are NO amounts of cyanide that are good for you, the amount in plants is just so small (unless you eats the pits, which then can cause death) that it typically does nothing. But "Workers who inhaled low levels of hydrogen cyanide over a period of years had breathing difficulties, chest pain, vomiting, blood changes, headaches, and enlargement of the thyroid gland."

I would rather stay away from it plzkthx.
 
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