Friskies Canned

Oh not back to Friskies yet, I'll add my 2 cents worth on the Best Cob litter.  Yeah, if you liked feline pine, you could get their version of that even cheaper ($5.99 for 40 lbs) but the Best Cob although it doesn't clump hard, it does kind of pucker up like wet particle board so you can use your cat litter differ and just lift that whole wet section out.  Also, when digging in the box, if you run your scooper underneath, the sort of dissolved stuff will stay in the scoop and the harder pellets will roll right off, so yes, I think it's easier to scoop than feline pine.  And the chunks are mostly much smaller which encourages them to dig more rather than just drop the tootsie rolls and run (well, some of them still do that).  I think it's super absorbent (it says a 40 lb. bag will absorb over 18 gallons of liquid) and it's also LIGHTER than any clay litter so you can totally fill up your supermarket plastic bags with it and still be able to carry it out to the garbage can.  (I don't have garbage pick up so I keep mine in cans and then take the bags to the dump once or twice a week.)  Finally, it does NOT stick to the bottom of the box.  Well, if you let it get totally soaking wet, it might stick until you tapped the box, but it doesn't have any of that GLUE that adheres to the box.  So it makes washing out the boxes a breeze.  I don't add litter to boxes as they go down but will sometimes pour the contents of one dug out box into another and then start a new box with the empty after washing it.  I have LOTS of boxes going at all times and don't want to put clean litter in with dirty litter because soon there would be an underlying smell beyond what they've already given me with spraying the doors to mark their territory.  I buy Stink Free by the gallon, love that stuff.  (PetsMart's own brand of oxiclean type deodorizor).  As for boxes, I never have less than 10, and in the winter it's 15 to 20.  They behave better when they can always find an unused box,

Wasabipea said:

 
So you could sort of use a big spoon for quick clean ups? I might have to look into that! It is cheap enough to change often and probably less dusty, I'd think.

Sorry - end of hijack!

And now back to our regularly scheduled Friskies discussion .

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With Roni I really would leave her litter alone as the change may lead to outside peeing or holding it if she is not used to change/alternative litters.  I say that as someone who has mostly accepting cats but a few would rather go on floor then in some of the litters offered.  If you change keep her current box and offer a new box along side it.

catsallaround said:

 
With Roni I really would leave her litter alone as the change may lead to outside peeing or holding it if she is not used to change/alternative litters.  I say that as someone who has mostly accepting cats but a few would rather go on floor then in some of the litters offered.  If you change keep her current box and offer a new box along side it.

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and @Red Top Rescue  -

thank you both for the info.

It sounds like something I might like to try, good idea about the two boxes and give her a choice. I do worry that the dust from clumping litter aggravates her urinary issues and wouldn't mind trying a more natural alternative. Plus I LOVE the idea of it not sticking to the bottom of the box! And she doesn't scratch, she drops and runs - she might enjoy it. I see her trying to scratch the dirt outside sometimes.

She has been terrible about using her box with all her problems and is getting better now, maybe because she could be starting to feel better? It might be the perfect time to switch, if she less apt to associate the box with pain, it could be a perfect time to introduce a new litter - yet still keep the old one too just to not rock her world too much.

Good call, and thanks again. Sorry for the short, have to run....

I agree with the Friskies pate fans.  My 5 fur babies prefer this over the higher priced wet cat foods.  And speaking of litter, when Menards has a sale on their 40 pound boxes of scoopable Master Paws clumping litter I stock up on it.  Usually use that as a base and  then 1 or 2 inches of Clump and Seal on top.  Which I also buy when on sale and use coupons.

I feed my four kitties all canned.  My boy is on prescription food, I've tried others and he always gets sick again, so that's that.  My three girls are on Sheba and Fancy Feast pates, because for whatever weird reason they just absolutely hate all the good brands I had researched and approved for them. ;-)   Those were things like the grain-free Felidae, Wellness, Holistic Select, Innova, and several others that have under 5% grain/veggies/fruit.  I liked all those quality 95% meat ones and it was good because they come in the 12 or 13 ounce cans, but the girls weren't having it. 

So I'm considering adding Friskies pate to the mix (I'd still include Sheba and FF pates) due to the reasonable price, high meat content, no corn, and availability of large cans.  The girls have had a few 5.5 oz cans, because the person who rescued my little ex-barn kitten gave me some with her, and they did seem to like it.  I think with cats it must be the stinkier the better.  I felt guilty about giving it to them, but they ate every bite, so maybe it's not so bad after all. ;-)  

But I'm wondering, does anyone know how bad it is really to have rice in cat food?  I see all the Friskies pates have either rice or brewers rice (in the special diet ones).  Friskies Plus has corn oil too, so that's absolutely out. 

Also, does anyone know (or has anyone calculated) the caloric content of the Friskies pates?  With rice being in there, plus water being pretty high on the ingredients list, I'm wondering if the price really is reasonable.  In other words, if it's cheaper but I have to feed them twice as much as Sheba or FF, then it's not really cheaper. 

My kitties flat out refuse any type of canned food other than Friskies. Even then, they won't touch anything salmon, ocean whitefish, or tuna. Also, the beef ones give my youngest belly issues (and AWFUL gas). I stick with the chicken or turkey. Doesn't matter if its pâté, shreds, bits, etc. (although the "tasty treasures" are a big hit )

Mine prefer Friskies kibbles over other brands, but their favorite is Latz canned wet food, Friskies and Latz are both by Purina.

More expensive ones seem no to be so good for them, some they like, but they eat too much of those, with Friskies they eat so that they are not too fat.

Frozen white fish cubes are some special they get rarely and are bit crazy about.

JTbo said:

Mine prefer Friskies kibbles over other brands

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Is the Friskies kibble there as brightly colored as in the US? I was told that artificial food colorings aren't used much in Europe. Here the kibbles are so brightly colored, and I think something that's green and purple striped can't possibly be good for daily consumption .

chandler49 said:

My cat doesn't like the expensive brands Wellness, Blue Buffalo.  A Petsmart employees told me he thinks Wellness formulas are to rich for a cat.
I'm trying Friskies for my 13.5 year old. She's been
on a low fat food from the vet for years because of high blood fat levels. But she sleeps about 20 hrs a day - no energy - but her blood sure looks good on this low fat food.  I just feel at 13.5 years feed what she likes and forget about the blood work. Quality time over quantity time.
She seems to like Friskies Poultry Platter - anyone out there using Friskies full time for canned food?

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I agree. I only realized that in the last year of my late cat lotto.

Red Top Rescue said:

I use the Friskies LOAF cans and avoid all the others (shreds, filets, etc.) because they have wheat gluten in them.  I also use the Fancy Feast Classics for my older fussier cats.  Since wheat gluten is NOT a natural food fo
animals, but often used as a protein source in pet foods, I just read the labels and stay away from it. Back in 2007 when so many animals were poisoned by various brands of pet food, it turned out that the common thread was wheat gluten from
China that had melamine in it.  Because I avoided wheat gluten, none of my animals got sick back then.  So far, I have had no problems with Friskies canned foods.

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the only friskies I can get is the pate. What's to be said about that?

Not a fan of full time friskies feeding. Ok as a rotation. Not the greatest ingredients.

So I found a .pdf file on a website showing caloric content of a number of popular brands of cat food, and I got my answer about calories in Friskies pates (similar number of calories as Fancy Feast pates).

My question about how bad is rice is still bothering me.

For curiosity's sake, I looked at the ingredients in 9 Lives pates.  I don't see it talked about here as much as Friskies, even though to me it's a similar quality grocery store brand food.  Turns out the ingredients in 9 Lives pates are quite similar to those in Friskies (generally start with meat byproducts and/or poultry byproducts and water), BUT most of the 9 Lives ones don't have rice (or any other grains).

So...doesn't the similar ingredients/no rice make 9 Lives pate a better choice than Friskies pate?  Or is Friskies pate still better, despite the rice (and if so, why)?

Again, I'm talking about in a rotation of foods, probably just one, maybe two days a week.  And it's all theoretical at this point...I may still decide to stick with what we've already got going.

9-lives tends to give my cats runs and they are picky about it so leads me to think they know something I do not. I can put down 6 cans of friskies and they happily eat it, 3 cans of 9-lives and I will have left overs.

Ah, okay.  I've never used 9 Lives so I don't know anything about it other than what they listed in the ingredients on the website.  The last thing I need is a bunch of kitties with runs!

Willowy said:

Is the Friskies kibble there as brightly colored as in the US? I was told that artificial food colorings aren't used much in Europe. Here the kibbles are so brightly colored, and I think something that's green and purple striped can't possibly be good for daily consumption .

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Probably not, there are green and orange ones in addition to tan and brown ones in version that has vegetables (cat's can't use vegetables, what a pointless ingredient! but it is only one, that local shop has), but I often go to get big sack of one that has no vegetables in it and that has only brown and brownish red ones in it.

My cats eat lot of small critters and such living food too, I don't know why they prefer Friskies and why they barely touch quality food and meow about being hungry then, but such they are.

Oh, I have one cat whi loves potatoes, but he also eats cardboard too, so I can't leave much cardboard on sight because of that one. It is so that some humans do like a lot from sugar and eat lot of it too, even it is not necessarily best for them, I guess same works for cats too, but getting them used to something else seems to be bit of a problem. Of course budget limits a lot too, good thing they have got to eat outdoors most of the summer.

Do they make 9-Lives in large cans? Still no 13oz Friskies available locally so made my once-every-six-month trip to the city as Petco (~45 miles away) had 6 cases on the shelf. Car broke down and had to have it towed home , didn't even get to complete all of my "city" errands. Turned out to be some very expensive cat food. Yikes! What a day. Do you think the cats cared?   

Friskies is having an issue getting supplies according to the Petsmart sign yesterday-not sure what it will affect but I bought a dozen cases as it is the ONLY food I know for sure my diabetic thrives on.  He also has had past urinary issues.  9-lives makes 12 or 13 oz cans but I ONLY have seen them at Big Lots last few years. 

If your going that far may be worth it to look into home delivery. I know there is a few that deliver for ok price.  Or ask them to order in MANY cases for when you get there.  

We got hit one time coming back with dozens of cases of Whiskas that was on sale-so much for that savings.  

Do you have reliable online pet shops in US?

We in Europe have for example Zooplus which has free shipping over some minimum order sum, which I can't now remember, but it was not too much and I usually got free shipping to home door.

I have to order most of the stuff online anyway as we don't have much locally or even range which I can travel at the moment.

Cat food is one of rare things that I get locally, but even that I have to get further away from the city and it is pushing my limits hauling big sack of cat food on my bicycle, it is nearly 3 hours sweating back from city and about 2 hours to city, but I can get that better Friskies only from the city so no other way around it.

Wasabipea said:

 
@Red Top Rescue  - holy moly... that litter - 40 lbs at 8.99? I guess it's not scoopable if it's made for horses? That would be one heck of a scoop! Great price though.

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@Red Top Rescue  do you think it would work with the Omega Paw litter box?

Sorry, not trying to hijack the thread. On Friskies. The princesses of finickyville won't touch it. Another on the long list of rejected foods by their highnesses.     

Kat0121 said:

@Red Top Rescue
 do you think it would work with the Omega Paw litter box?


Sorry, not trying to hijack the thread. On Friskies. The princesses of finickyville won't touch it. Another on the long list of rejected foods by their highnesses.  :king:   :king:

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Here they use sawdust and straw for horses, sawdust might be scoopable, but it is easier to just dump it all and put fresh one in, also sawdust gets carried around, but I get it free so no complains. Cats actually seem to prefer sawdust over sand even at outdoors.