Anyone using Feline's Pride?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Kathleen and Fred

Kathleen and Fred

Active Member
I posted this just before the switch, so if anyone sent me a message, I hope your re-respond! I'm doing my best to get Fred, Bella and Lucy on wet food. We're starting with the Fancy Feast and Friskies, plus some Nutro that seems OK (but not on Binky's chart).

However, eventually, I'd like to transition to the raw stuff and really don't want to do the recipes myself. Has anyone tried the Feline's Pride? How is it for content, kitty acceptability, and cost? It looks good on their site.

Thanks,
Kathleen and Fred
DX: 12/24/09
Joined: 12/25/09 :D
 
I started with feline pride chicken, just to see if my girls would like it. Two of my cats loved the raw and the FP, however I cannot feed it any longer, because according to Binky's chart it is too high in phosphorus and my kidney kitty can't have it.

Personally, I liked it, didn't smell and looked like ground chicken. It is a bit pricey, but is good quality raw.

I recently tried the Nature's Variety (there was a coupon available for free trial) and my girls liked that too. I did notice that it smells slightly, but I think it may be a little less costly than FP.
 
I have found that my kitties either love it or hate it. Mostly love it. I haven't gotten any in awhile, because it is on the pricey side.
 
FP is my favorite commercial raw food but, as others have mentioned, you may need to take out a loan to feed it.

FP is what my obesity project, Bennie, lost weight on. He maintained muscle mass while losing fat. FP was generously donated to the Bennie Project by FP's owner and company founder (Shelby)....for which I, and Bennie, will always be grateful.
 
It's excellent food, but yes, very expensive unless you're feeding only one cat. I mix it with Wellness grain free canned. Gandalf won't eat it on its own, so I syringe an ounce to him twice daily. He loves it that way, practically sucks it off the syringe. It gets "crusty" too quickly if left out all day. I'm not sure about the phosphorus issue, label says the turkey I have is .36%, less than 1%. It's guaranteed analysis, not a minimum or maximum listing like with canned food.
 
I started Gabby and my civie kitten on FP. They both liked it a lot and the transition from canned was completely seamless. The cost for the food isn't bad - the packaging and shipping drives the cost up. That said, it is packaged extremely well and I had no concerns about spoilage. If I hadn't opted to make my own (I use a pre-packaged mix-in supplement, Feline Future, http://www.feline-future.com/index.php?map=OTHER) I'd probably still be ordering FP.

I tried Natures Variety. The cats were not enthusiastic. There were hunks of bone which I found worrisome. I found it at a local pet food store. The food was freezer burned. I don't know if this was an issue of how it was shipped or a problem with the store.
 
Am I reading that right? Looks like the shipping charge for 10 pounds of the chicken is higher than the cost of the chicken itself. Yeeesh.
 
I bought it for a while. Feeding six cats on it was an arm and a leg, and the shipping was prohibitive, so we found a distributer two hours away from us and made a treck once a month to pick it up. It was well liked, and my cats didn't have any problems on it, but it was three times the cost of making our own from Dr. Lisa's recipe, and that wasn't including the cost and time to drive and get it (although the time to make the food was pretty much the same as the drive to get it) so we stopped buying it (also we weren't thrilled with the way the distributer got to us most times - as we always had to meet in parking lots)

Connie
 
I repackage the Nature's Variety using a Foodsaver vacuum pack thingy. I freeze 5 or 6 nuggets in each packet, that way I can thaw out enough for a day (mixed with other food), and it doesn't get freezer burn. It's a nuisance, but it keeps much better.

ETA: I would return it to your retailer if it was freezer burned when you bought it. In fact, I would return it if it was freezer burned at all up to the use by date.
 
Vicky & Gandalf said:
It's excellent food, but yes, very expensive unless you're feeding only one cat. I mix it with Wellness grain free canned. Gandalf won't eat it on its own, so I syringe an ounce to him twice daily. He loves it that way, practically sucks it off the syringe. It gets "crusty" too quickly if left out all day. I'm not sure about the phosphorus issue, label says the turkey I have is .36%, less than 1%. It's guaranteed analysis, not a minimum or maximum listing like with canned food.
Click to expand...

I refer to Janet & Binky's chart when looking at food options and it showed the phosphorus levels as follows. Since I was told by vet to keep to foods that are 250 or less in phosphorus, sadly I cannot feed the FP any longer. However, the NV is well within the ok range for phosphorus:

Feline's Pride Chicken 380
Feline's Pride Turkey 401
Feline's Pride Cornish Hen 345
Nature's Variety Beef 149
Nature's Variety Chicken & Turkey 145
Nature's Variety Lamb 177

So, while over FP is an excellent raw choice, it is no longer is a viable option for my needs. Unless it's changed since Janet posted these values.
 
Karen and Flo said:
Am I reading that right? Looks like the shipping charge for 10 pounds of the chicken is higher than the cost of the chicken itself. Yeeesh.
Click to expand...

Karen, did you check the shipping rates for distributors in California? Maybe it would be cheaper that way.

Just to add my two cents, Tigger is doing so well on this food. He gets 6 ounces/day and maintains his weight nicely on that.
 
I emailed the west coast distributor per the instructions on the website, but haven't heard back yet. It would have to be a helluva discount to make it feasible. I'd love to try it though.
 
Hillary & Maui said:
I refer to Janet & Binky's chart when looking at food options and it showed the phosphorus levels as follows. Since I was told by vet to keep to foods that are 250 or less in phosphorus, sadly I cannot feed the FP any longer. However, the NV is well within the ok range for phosphorus:

Feline's Pride Chicken 380
Feline's Pride Turkey 401
Feline's Pride Cornish Hen 345
Nature's Variety Beef 149
Nature's Variety Chicken & Turkey 145
Nature's Variety Lamb 177

So, while over FP is an excellent raw choice, it is no longer is a viable option for my needs. Unless it's changed since Janet posted these values.
Click to expand...

Hillary, you are correct. I looked at some CRF links and discovered the phosphorus % should be under 1% for CRF kitties and under .5% is even better. Using the calculations found here: http://www.felinecrf.org/tinned_food.htm I calculate that the FP Turkey is 1.5% in phosphorus. That may be easier for others to understand than the kcal value found in Janet & Binky's charts.

Thank you very much for bringing this to everyone's attention. Gandalf is borderline renal insufficient, so I will continue mixing the Feline's Pride the way I am and giving him only 2 oz per day. That should minimize the phosphorus content but still give him the boost of raw food. If you look at protein and fat values for FP from J/B charts, I consider them better than Nature's Variety, especially the Turkey which is why I buy it. Protein is a concern in end stage CRF kitties, so NV is better in that respect.

Feeding special needs kitties is always a challenge and we are very fortunate to have these resources!!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top