Fancy Feast problems

#1

For those of you who feed this to your cats have you noticed lately the tiny white chunks in the food? We’ve been feeding our cats the Tender Beef Feast for at least 2 years now with nothing else and all of a sudden my boys won’t touch it. We went through something similar last year where my dog wouldn’t even lick the spoon! But it got better and now this. I’ve tried other flavors, lots of other flavors, and they’ll eat 1 or 2 cans and that’s it, and those too have the white chunks in them. My Max has lost weight from not eating! I’m scared to death. My husband felt the white specks and said it felt like bone. Sorry to gross you out, I’m not saying it is bone but there are by-products in there so it is possible. What else could it be?

I called Fancy Feast 2 weeks ago to complain and she said they haven’t changed the formula since 2003. So what’s with all the chunks? It’s impossible to find a food, that’s not expensive, that both cats like. I’ve been buying and returning cat food like a weirdo lately. Something has changed and I sure wish we could find out what the heck their doing to it.

#2

Wow, that doesn’t sound good. :?? My cat is allergic to FF so she can’t eat it at all. I give her Purina Pro Plan wet food. FF is a Purina company, too. I think I’d try them on something else because you can’t have them losing weight.

#3

That sounds scary. Do they not eat dry food? It’s way better for the teeth. My kitties only get wet food for a treat and are content with 9 Lives if they get it.

#4

I know, that’s why yesterday we returned the FF and got a few different brands of cat food. They scarfed it down this morning now they don’t want to touch it. I’m getting really worried now. I don’t know what else to try. I’ll see about trying what you give your cat Jan and hope for the best.

#5

Yes, they were on dry food their whole lives up until 2.5 yrs ago when one of them got diabetes. So after researching it online I found that the wet food is WAY better for them than the dry as they are carnivours. They aren’t meant to eat all the carbs, they aren’t built that way. So after a few months, low and behold, his diabetes went away! And they’ve been on the FF ever since.

And the claim about it the dry being better for their teeth isn’t true either. I think the only thing that helps keep animals teeth clean is chewing on bones. (Which I don’t recommend anyone give their cats bones to chew on, I’m referring to dogs.) Dry food isn’t hard enough to get the crap off of their teeth. [U]I’m only speaking from my experience with my 2 boys[/U]. [B][U][I]I don’t mean to offend anyone in anyway as we’re all protective of our pets.[/I][/U][/B] But I can’t go back to dry food seeing as the one is suseptible to diabetes.

#6

I read an article in a vet column in my newspaper recently and she said that cats should really have both dry and wet.

I always fed my cats dry food, but now my elderly cat doesn’t have a lot of teeth so there’s no choice anymore really, plus she has all these allergies to foods or something in them. I think you really have to base your choices on your particular pet. Some of them can go forever on dry food w/o a problem, others not. :shrug:

#7

We put my cat on dry food a few years ago as he was overweight and he didn’t like it as much, and therefore wouldn’t bite people until he got fed on demand. He has lost some weight but the downside appears to be that it makes him constipated

#8

He’s probably not getting as much moisture and fat as he was on the wet food. There’s probably something simple you can do to make it better for him.

#9

I use Fancy Feast but haven’t noticed any problems with it but now I’ll be checking more carefully.There are other grain free canned cat foods out there if you can find one that they like.
Cats should only be fed frain free wet food.I also went through the Diabetes with one of my guys,8 months of out of control blood sugars 3 different insulins…within 3 weeks of getting him off dry food his Diabetes was in remission.
Cats are true carnivores and they require protein to get all there nutrients and can’t properly digest corn,wheat,rice or barley and that’s what dry food is made of-mostly.
I know I do go on a bit about the food but after Melle’s experience I did a lot of reading and I now try to encourage folk to get their cats off the dry

#10

Bluebell has half Hills Science Diet T/D and half same brand Furball formula mixed together. She does not have milk at all, and about once a fortnight she has a taste of tinned Fancy Feast Roast Chicken! She only has half a cup of food a day so it is a huge outlay but lasts for ever. She will not even taste anything else. (Oh, I lie. She will delicately lick one little tonguetip of tinned red salmon juice)

I hope you find a solution soon, it must be such a worry.

#11

I have a cat with tooth problems (she has a 2nd extraction scheduled for later this week), and my vet just told me that it is NOT necessary that I feed her wet food. Dry is just fine.

Finding food that both my cats like has been a challenge. I use Nutro dry weight management for my older cat (the one with bad teeth). I use Science Diet Mature Hairball formula for my slightly younger cat. They both prefer the Science Diet stuff, but I keep trying to get the older cat to eat the weight management formula because she needs it.

They both LOVE fancy feast, but only if it’s the kind which is sliced in gravy. They also really enjoy the newer (and more expensive) cans which have the “savory sauce” or “delicate sauce and garden greens”. They prefer fish/chicken/turkey to beef - both of them turn their noses up at that. I have not noticed any quality control issues with the Fancy Feast cans - they get these as treats.

#12

This thread was meant to help me find out if anyone else is having problems with their cats eating FF. Nothing else.

The way I feed my cats is based on my research and my dealings with the diabetes. I wasn’t saying you shouldn’t feed your cats dry food, I just said canned is better for them. I don’t want people to get all huffy about this, it’s just been my experience having fed them dry food for 8 years and then switching them to the canned food made a huge difference for them. Eddie was no longer diabetic and he lost weight which he desperately needed to do. No I didn’t over feed them, he just found his way to Max’s bowl as Max is a finicky eater. So before I could come back and pick up Max’s bowl Eddie would get to it first. And Eddie inhales his food, he never chewed the dry food, he just swallowed it whole. Our lives revolve around “did you pick up Max’s bowl”? It’s insane. But it is what it is.

I’m worried for my Max. I have an appt at 2:30 today for the vet to see him just to rule out any other possibility. If in the end I have to go back to dry food to get Max to eat then that’s what we’ll do, but until then I’m going to keep trying to find a canned food that they’ll both eat.

#13

It doesn’t matter what topic it is it always does this. Just have to expect it and read between the lines. :wink:

I hope your kitty is okay, I’ll keep him in my thoughts and cross my fingers! :hug:

#14

I think the teeth issues vary from cat to cat. I once had a cat with horrible tarter problems on the teeth, the other cat had no problems at all and they ate the same diet.

Now I have a cat I adopted as an adult who is overweight but his previous owners only fed him meow mix. He has minor teeth issues, and no way will he let me brush them. But my other younger cat still has no teeth issues and I’ve had her since being a kitten. I currently feed my cats Precise, they have never been recalled, the dry does have rice but no other grains, no “by products” and they meet human food standards.
http://www.precisepet.com/ The store I buy it from is a small locally owned pet store and they are very selective about the products they carry. I can’t afford some of the other cat foods they have. LOL. The brands they carry are not typically seen at Petco.

#15

My boy has lost 1.5 pounds in one month. :cry: They took some blood and the vet just called to tell me that nothing looks concerning that they could pinpoint an actual problem. We have to try and get his urine somehow (that should be fun) and then she threw out the big C word. But, “let’s just try some pepcid and the petromalt for a few days and get the urine and then we’ll go from there with possible x-rays.”

:verysad:

#16

:frowning: :hug:

#17

My aunt’s cat went off it’s food for ages, turned out she had a respiratory infection and couldn’t smell her food, and therefore didn’t recognise it as food. My aunt was told to try her on something smelly like sardines and to heat them first to make them smell more. It worked. Hopefully it’s a simple thing for your cat.
My vet tried to get us to try and get a urine sample from our cat by putting only a little litter in his tray so that he would use it, and then pouring off what was left. We weren’t successful, he’s too fussy about the tray.

#18

I have three cats and only one of them will eat those stringy bits in the FF. I tried mashing it up with a fork, and that goes ok with two of them.

I have decided to feed them mostly dry food, and fresh cooked meat once in awhile. One cat likes only chicken and beef, the other two like fish.

I always suspect what might be in cat food in cans. I mean: what else can they put in there? When you think about it, it could be most anything… remember Gilda Radner’s bit on hot dogs and toenails?..“It’s nadda toenail, but it looks like a toenail…”

#19

Poor kitty. It’s hard to worry about a kitty.

#20

bailsmom… there is a dry food that is mostly protein called EVO I can’t remember who makes it but I was able to give Melle a small amount daily without his screwing up his blood sugars.

wait… I think it might be made by Felidae…you could try it if he gets to finicky.
I hope all goes well for him…hugs to you and your lad