Is fancy feast truly horrible for cats?

Thanks for the informative and thoughtful post!

Leos Mom said:

Everyone touts the expensive brands as the only way to go and shame people for using what they deem the "junk foods or low quality" brands, however, its become too PC for me, that I feel many aren't thinking of what the higher brand foods now contain which are equally detrimental in the short and long run.

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Just wanted to pop in to say - not everyone touts expensive brands. I personally "tout" a homemade diet (cooked or raw) for all the reasons you outlined: quality and ingredient control. Unless you're feeding primarily kibble, it usually costs less than feeding Fancy Feast.

Every single can of Fancy Feast contains synthetic vitamin k3 - commonly known as menadion sodium bisulfate & some other names. It is banned for pets & people in Europe and for people in the US. It basically causes red blood cells to break up and burst and prevents blood coagulating. Unlike other forms of vitamin K, it is not excreted and it accumulates in the tissues. I fed my cat fancy feast for 10 years, then she cut her paw & it was all over. I brought her to the vet to stitch it - she needed only one stitch - but the bleeding wouldn't stop - she needed a blood transfusion which she got but then she still couldn't hold down food. 3 weeks (and $4000) of trying to save her life - she was put down. I started researching anemia in felines and there is case after case of these cats becoming anemic & dying for no known reason. My cat had an ultrasound, an echocardiogram - her kidneys, liver, thyroid, heart were healthy. She was spayed as a kitten had no coagulating problem then. Other ingredients that have been questioned are cranberries - which is contained in many premium brands and contain benzoid acid - the same ingredient in asprin, and Rosemary extract - causes seizures or Yucca extract - the Yucca plant is toxic to cats. Fancy Feast also contains the controversial carcinogen carrageenan in almost every can. If it is all you can afford, I strongly recommend that you alternative giving it with one of the these other brands - or giving home cooked chicken, liver, eggs on alternate days - check the web for recipees or ask your vet. After spending literally a day on the internet searching dozens of cat foods - I only found 2 that did not contain any of the ingredients I listed & they were Organix - and only the regular variety - NOT the organic grain free (which contained carreegnan) or the the pate (which contained cranberries & yucca & alfalfa which has some issues if you research) and the TIKI brand cat food. Both are expensive but the TIKI is really expensive. The HALO brand came close but only the SPOTS STEW  variety and unfortunately that contained garlic powder (and we all well know how controversial garlic is for cats), plus a lot of vegetable which add little to a cat's diet. I would recommend getting these brands and feeding alternatively with home made meals & if you have to use the fancy feast - giving that while supplementing the others. Dry food was a nightmare - every food I found contained either Rosemary Extract, carrageenan or MSB except for Petsmart's own Authority Brand kibble. And of that the only one I would recommend would be the Real Turkey for Sensitive Stomachs because the other all contained corn & corn products - high on the list - and corn is not readily digestible for cats. It was overwhelming doing this research but that is what I narrowed healthy choices down too - products without questionable or toxic ingredients and that is a damn shame isn't it? It won't be until we start SCREAMING for some regulation in the pet food industry that we will force these manufacturers to come up with safer food products at reasonable prices. IF anyone finds any other food products that don't contain these ingredients - I would love to hear about it. In fact, maybe I'll take this post and start a new thread and see what others come up with.

I really appreciate all the research you've done. I had no idea that all these ingredients were harmful. I thought I had spent a lot of time researching and it is frightening how much you need to be aware of to find a safe and healthy cat food. I know Tiki has the reputation of being one of the very best foods, I believe they are manufactured in a human grade facility The protein, fat and carb rations are very good,. My cats wouldn't eat it but I am going to try again, I have gotten them to eat Wellness chicken by dividing one can of FF into 5 dishes - putting it on top, i also put water in the cans i have just used - about one Tb per cat - and mix it in, Unfortunately Wellness has a high fat content.

One thing I have tried to do to avoid contamination problems is buy my canned food and keep it for about a month - hoping the cat sites and food warning programs will alert me to any problems. It is never ending but so worth all the work. Thank you again and keep posting what you learn

LDG said:

Thanks for the informative and thoughtful post!

Just wanted to pop in to say - not everyone touts expensive brands. I personally "tout" a homemade diet (cooked or raw) for all the reasons you outlined: quality and ingredient control. Unless you're feeding primarily kibble, it usually costs less than feeding Fancy Feast.

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Indeed.

There was a few hours between Oliver running out of our homemade raw and us making another batch (I just fell behind with midterms happening), and we fed him a can of Fancy Feast. We keep a few Classics on hand just for that sort of occasion. Well, it's been several weeks since he's had anything other than raw or the occasional can of tuna. He was so unimpressed. He looked at it, looked at us, looked back at it, smelled it, licked it, looked back at us and just sort of stared. I could really just see his message in his eyes... "What the hell?...."

He meowed for the entire 2 hours we were preparing his current batch!

It is horrible. One of the doctors always flinches and sighs when people say they use this.

Try Fussie Cat, Wereuva, BFF, Tiki Cat. They all have tiny cans or pouches for around 99 cents.

If you think dry vs. wet food is just a matter of opinion, you should look further into it. 

When your cat has severe health issues when it's too late (as in older) you will regret not feeding canned food only.

I don't mean to scare or sound preachy I am trying to spare you and yours some unnecessary PAIN.

Fancy feast's two main ingredients are usually meat and liver, then meat by-products. That is good enough, believe me. I flat out refuse to pay 1.75 per can of cat food.

ander35 said:

 
Fancy feast's two main ingredients are usually meat and liver, then meat by-products. That is good enough, believe me. I flat out refuse to pay 1.75 per can of cat food.

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Let alone $0.99 / 3oz. can x 2 = 2 bucks a day x 365days  = $730 pre-tax a year per cat, not for me. 

For the price (when on sale), I think FF is fine, all things considered, if you don't wish to go the homemade route.

I like throwing in Evo 95% Beef - for the larger tin @ 500+ calories,  it's good value for the dollar.  There's 2.5 meals right there, assuming   ~ 100 cal. / meal.  

I've found a good food without by products and without the synthetic K vitamin. It is Authority and it is about $1 per 6 ounce can. That's almost as cheap as FF, but a lot better.

Meat by-products...ah, those wonderful words. 

 "usable product other than flesh  obtained from slaughter animals including edible organ meats and various inedible products (as hair, bone, or fertilizer)." -Merriam Webster Dictionary definition.

RAW is the only real alternative. Good for you for being aware.

RickyCatDad said:

 
RAW is the only real alternative. Good for you for being aware.

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I'm also a raw only feeder, but we must remember that some cats simply aren't easy to transition, if at all.  It's good that we have threads like these to help owners find something that they can feed their cats other than raw/home-cooked.

ander35 said:

 
I've found a good food without by products and without the synthetic K vitamin. It is Authority and it is about $1 per 6 ounce can. That's almost as cheap as FF, but a lot better.

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Authority has rice in it. I am not saying that it is bad food--I fed it to my kitty once in a while because the carb amount was still acceptable (11%). But the rice does make it less desirable to some owners.

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RickyCatDad said:

 
Meat by-products...ah, those wonderful words. 

 "usable product other than flesh  obtained from slaughter animals including edible organ meats and various inedible products (as hair, bone, or fertilizer)." -Merriam Webster Dictionary definition.

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While fancy feast does contain some meat by-product, it also contains muscle meat and liver. The placement of this in the ingredients list is ahead of the by-products, indicating that there is more of this in the food. In addition, some varieties are grain-free and do not contain carageenan making fancy feast a better option than some premium brands, in this respect.

By-products are not created equal, some sources will be better than others and will feature things like connective tissue, skin, nerves, etc., which is not all bad when you consider that cats that hunt are eating similar items when they chow down on a mouse or vole.

While I do feed mostly Nature's Variety, I am not opposed to feeding FF on occasion. The most important thing is that cats MUST eat and the food MUST contain meat of some sort.

Raintyger said:

 
Authority has rice in it. I am not saying that it is bad food--I fed it to my kitty once in a while because the carb amount was still acceptable (11%). But the rice does make it less desirable to some owners.

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Authority does contain rice, but this is in the form of brewers rice which is different from regular rice in that brewers rice are small bits that have been separated from larger kernels of rice. Technically still a grain, but in smaller quantities than say brown or wild rice that is in some canned wet food. Nice thing about Authority is that the meat source appears to be all muscle meat.

So I bought Authority and my cat won't eat it. Do you people really spend $4.50 per day on cat food? I am about to give up and just start feeding my cat dry food, because the only wet food that isn't 4.50 a day is FF. 

Fancy Feast or even Friskies pate flavors are better than kibble . If that's what your cat (and your wallet!) prefer, no problem .

How do you guarantee that homemade foods are balanced properly?  I have the usual concerns with commercial anything, but the good commercial foods seem to be well balanced. 

RemmieBrandt said:

 
Every single can of Fancy Feast contains synthetic vitamin k3 - commonly known as menadion sodium bisulfate & some other names. Fancy Feast also contains the controversial carcinogen carrageenan in almost every can.

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I had to edit your long post to two sentences since I wanted to quote those two sentences.

I will agree with you when you say Fancy Feast contains synthetic vitamin K3 which is listed as menadion sodium bisulfate. This is listed in the ingredients for all of their GRILLED line of cat food.

Some flavors of Fancy Feast do contain carrageenan it them. But the GRILLED line of flavors (there are 12 different flavors) do "not" contain carrageenan.

Click on the link below and it will take anyone to their Grilled flavors. If anyone clicks on any of the flavors on that page and then clicks on the "Ingredients" tab for that flavor, it will take you to the ingredients for that flavor and there is no carrageenan in it.

http://www.fancyfeast.com/gourmet-cat-products/wet-cat-food/grilled

Basically, for all 12 GRILLED flavors, none of them contain carrageenan unless carrageenan has another name which I'm not familiar with.

Night Wing said:

 
I had to edit your long post to two sentences since I wanted to quote those two sentences.

I will agree with you when you say Fancy Feast contains synthetic vitamin K3 which is listed as menadion sodium bisulfate. This is listed in the ingredients for all of their GRILLED line of cat food.

Some flavors of Fancy Feast do contain carrageenan it them. But the GRILLED line of flavors (there are 12 different flavors) do "not" contain carrageenan.

Click on the link below and it will take anyone to their Grilled flavors. If anyone clicks on any of the flavors on that page and then clicks on the "Ingredients" tab for that flavor, it will take you to the ingredients for that flavor and there is no carrageenan in it.

http://www.fancyfeast.com/gourmet-cat-products/wet-cat-food/grilled

Basically, for all 12 GRILLED flavors, none of them contain carrageenan unless carrageenan has another name which I'm not familiar with.

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Yes, the NO carageenan in the Grilled is good news. I (think) this must be a new thing as I'm pretty sure it used to, at least here in Canada Purina (and other brands) reasoning is that shredded, chunky, etc., needs a binder to hold the food together. Whereas the pates don't require this ingredient as much. All of the FF pates should be carageenan-free as well.

Maybe if a few consumers banded together and spoke to Purina, perhaps they would consider doing away with the synthetic Vit K3 and use the K2 which is the naturally occurring one! ...

Sheesh, all this info is overwhelming for a relatively inexperienced cat owner like me. I've got a friend who says dry food is best, and she's urging me to feed my kitten dry food. Then I see people on here saying wet food is essential, and others who are going the homecooked or raw route.

Is there a good FAQ or resource specifically for new owners of kittens? My primary concern is making sure my little guy gets the nutrients he needs as a kitten...then I can figure out what he needs as an adult when the time comes.