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Friskies and 9Lives Wet Food
- Thread starter danimarie
- Start Date
I agree. I change foods often, because I don't like putting all my trust in any one brand. It's never been a problem.
As for the topic of this thread, I am going to have to switch to cheaper foods when I run out of the Felidae (dry and canned) that my cats are eating now. I was planning to use Friskies and 9 Lives. It's definitely better than no wet food, which is what my cats would be getting otherwise. After reading this thread I'll just stick with Friskies for the time being.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #23
Ok I'm sticking to Friskies until the budget allows more. Like I said, we were buying Iams, which is pricier than the Friskies, but they really don't like it.
My cats have never had the premium wet foods on an ongoing basis, simply because when I first was buying catfood they didn't exist, and every attempt over the years to move my crew to higher quality as it became available has been met with high resistance.
The current crew have been offered pretty much every premium brand/variety I can find locally -- my petfood supplier carries a wide variety and has some new varieties lately, so I'll be trying again soon. Their usual response is to eat about one in four or five of the offered possibilities once, and refuse it thereafter, and all others elicit the "what spaceship did YOU just get off???" look, as they saunter out of the kitchen.
And what do they eat? They're getting a premium dry, and four varieties of Fancy Feast. That's all they will accept.
Earlier felines in this house have had a variety of other non-premium wet foods. They were easier to please in terms of variety, but never interested in premium stuff. They've all been healthy, active, happy cats, though. Shasta lived 21 years with no health problems whatsoever, on Miss Mew, Nine Lives, Whiskas, and a host of others of the same quality.
So, I really do identify with the philosophy "any wet food they'll eat scores over any other they won't". Doesn't mean you shouldn't try to get them on better quality, but I think I'm past feeling guilty about not succeeding, and therefore past potentially feeling guilty if it should ever be necessary to stay with the lower quality to save a few bucks.
And on that note, time to go open a can of Fancy Feast.
The current crew have been offered pretty much every premium brand/variety I can find locally -- my petfood supplier carries a wide variety and has some new varieties lately, so I'll be trying again soon. Their usual response is to eat about one in four or five of the offered possibilities once, and refuse it thereafter, and all others elicit the "what spaceship did YOU just get off???" look, as they saunter out of the kitchen.
And what do they eat? They're getting a premium dry, and four varieties of Fancy Feast. That's all they will accept.
Earlier felines in this house have had a variety of other non-premium wet foods. They were easier to please in terms of variety, but never interested in premium stuff. They've all been healthy, active, happy cats, though. Shasta lived 21 years with no health problems whatsoever, on Miss Mew, Nine Lives, Whiskas, and a host of others of the same quality.
So, I really do identify with the philosophy "any wet food they'll eat scores over any other they won't". Doesn't mean you shouldn't try to get them on better quality, but I think I'm past feeling guilty about not succeeding, and therefore past potentially feeling guilty if it should ever be necessary to stay with the lower quality to save a few bucks.
And on that note, time to go open a can of Fancy Feast.
My cats favorite junk food brand is Purina Pro-plan chicken and liver. It's like an upscale Fancy Feast and the ingredients are similar. I try to only give it to them as a treat though so they don't get so addicted to it that they won't eat better brands like Foster and Smith, Wellness, Avoderm or even Iams. But if my cats were to become so finicky at least there is one wet food they love so it's not like I would have to resort to an exclusive dry diet.
Higher price doesn't always mean higher quality. I was giving Holly Proplan dry until she threw up and had diarrhea from it. The first time was right after she ate it. She stopped eating. She ate some Friskies and 9 lives and began improving. The next day I fed her PP again and she vomited. Seems like a coincidence except that my little guy vomited right after eating it too. Holly loves 9 lives and Friskies and so far no ill affects. A month ago cheap wouldn't have been my first choice.
I agree with your philosophy. It can be the highest quality, most expensive food in the world and if they won't eat it, it's worthless. Lilith and Sophie have very sophisticated palates and they enjoy the premium foods. Henry, on the other hand, is not as finicky and will eat the premium foods but also loves his Fancy Feast. Fortunately, he seems to like the classic pates best. The only food so far that he has refused to eat is the Halo Impulse rabbit and garden greens. The girls wouldn't eat it either. Halo and Merrick are 2 premium brands that they do not like. They will eat the Spot's Stew but only occasionally. Henry ate it but left the veggies behind. I stopped buying it.
Give them what they will eat. if it's Friskies than that's that. If you can get a few cans of premium food on sale and want to try it on them, go for it. Petsmart and Petco often have Nutro Natural Choice on sale. My cats LOVE this brand. They hated the Nutro Max but love the NNC. If you find a premium brand that they like at one of the big box stores, you can shop around at some of the online retailers like Amazon, wag.com, chewy.com and petfooddirect.com for deals on cases that make them quite affordable. Some of them offer savings codes for new customers. You can also use Ebates to get cash back from some of these retailers. Amazon has a subscribe and save program that I love. I use it to buy cat food (and other things) every month. If you have 5 or more items (they don't have to be expensive), you get 15% off each item.
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I don't have a problem with Friskies or 9 Lives pate, though I do feel Friskies is better than 9 Lives. I actually feed a LOT of 'Grreat Choice' which is the lower end of Petsmart's house brands. About the same quality as Friskies, though the pates don't have grains. A bit cheaper than Friskies too. I try to stick with pate whatever brand I feed though I'll admit, we do have Friskies 'Saucesations' in the cuboard as an occasional "treat". 
I feed several brands and formulas, I admit most are considered "lower end" foods. I try to keep it grain, fruit and veggie free which surprisingly isn't hard to find for a low price. Grreat Choice, Fancy Feast Classic, Sheba and even some grocery store brands meet those qualifications. They also get some dry which I rotate every couple of bags but currently consist of 2:1 ratio of Authority Grain Free Chicken (Also a Petsmart brand) and Purina Cat Chow. (Green bag - Using it to stretch the food while we are super tight on money) My babies are all in good health with super soft coats. Not those gross greasy coats some cats seem to have. Bleh! They are of good weight, have small/firm stools, large pee puddles in the box (I add extra water to their canned meal to ensure plenty of fluids and have a fountain) and hardly shed. I also feel any wet is better than none though so work with what you can! Sometimes I will catch a good sale or have a high value coupon (or both!) for "better" brands at a cheap price and do stock up on those. However, Grreat Choice, Fancy Feast Classic, Sheba and Friskies are my top 'go to' brands on a budget.
I feed several brands and formulas, I admit most are considered "lower end" foods. I try to keep it grain, fruit and veggie free which surprisingly isn't hard to find for a low price. Grreat Choice, Fancy Feast Classic, Sheba and even some grocery store brands meet those qualifications. They also get some dry which I rotate every couple of bags but currently consist of 2:1 ratio of Authority Grain Free Chicken (Also a Petsmart brand) and Purina Cat Chow. (Green bag - Using it to stretch the food while we are super tight on money) My babies are all in good health with super soft coats. Not those gross greasy coats some cats seem to have. Bleh! They are of good weight, have small/firm stools, large pee puddles in the box (I add extra water to their canned meal to ensure plenty of fluids and have a fountain) and hardly shed. I also feel any wet is better than none though so work with what you can! Sometimes I will catch a good sale or have a high value coupon (or both!) for "better" brands at a cheap price and do stock up on those. However, Grreat Choice, Fancy Feast Classic, Sheba and Friskies are my top 'go to' brands on a budget.
My local Petsmart can't keep the Grreat Choice foods in stock. They are always out. I have never tried it out on my cats because A) they are super picky and B) the shelves are always empty. According to their website, the 5.5 ounce cans for .37 cents right now. It's actually cheaper than Friskies right now.I don't have a problem with Friskies or 9 Lives pate, though I do feel Friskies is better than 9 Lives. I actually feed a LOT of 'Grreat Choice' which is the lower end of Petsmart's house brands. About the same quality as Friskies, though the pates don't have grains. A bit cheaper than Friskies too. I try to stick with pate whatever brand I feed though I'll admit, we do have Friskies 'Saucesations' in the cuboard as an occasional "treat".I feed several brands and formulas, I admit most are considered "lower end" foods. I try to keep it grain, fruit and veggie free which surprisingly isn't hard to find for a low price. Grreat Choice, Fancy Feast Classic, Sheba and even some grocery store brands meet those qualifications. They also get some dry which I rotate every couple of bags but currently consist of 2:1 ratio of Authority Grain Free Chicken (Also a Petsmart brand) and Purina Cat Chow. (Green bag - Using it to stretch the food while we are super tight on money) My babies are all in good health with super soft coats. Not those gross greasy coats some cats seem to have. Bleh! They are of good weight, have small/firm stools, large pee puddles in the box (I add extra water to their canned meal to ensure plenty of fluids and have a fountain) and hardly shed. I also feel any wet is better than none though so work with what you can! Sometimes I will catch a good sale or have a high value coupon (or both!) for "better" brands at a cheap price and do stock up on those. However, Grreat Choice, Fancy Feast Classic, Sheba and Friskies are my top 'go to' brands on a budget.
Holly loves just about every flavor of 9lives and Friskies. I'm keeping her away from all dairy including whey though. Mandie had eaten Friskies chicken and tuna yesterday and sucked it up. Seems like the ones Mandie prefers have fish as a main ingredient. I don't want to give her too much fish because of the mercury in it. Holly has her vet check up next week. Hopefully she keeps doing well.
