Fancy Feast added fish to formula

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DimitriG

Member Since 2023
My cat has been eating Fancy Feast Classic Turkey and Giblets pate ever since her diagnosis and has been doing great on it. She cannot eat fish or chicken because of allergies so this was a good diet for her. She started looking like she was getting sick lately and acting like she has a food allergy again (scratching, twitching) so we suspected the food. Lo and behold, the formula was changed and now includes fish. Thanks for nothing, Purina. I am not sure how it has changed the nutritional profile in terms of protein, fat, and carbs.

Now I am on the hunt for a new food which doesn't have any chicken or fish in it that a diabetic cat prone to pancreatitis can eat.

Tonight I tried Merrick Limited Ingredient Turkey which she seems to like, but it has more carbs and fat than the FF did. Is this a decent choice?

Others I want to try are Wellness Core 95 Turkey, Rawz, Identity, and Hound and Gatos. They all seem okay from a carb standpoint, but seem to have more fat than the FF.

Looking for advice, but also wanted to let folks know the FF formula changed. It's easy to miss.
 
I'd also take a look at Tiki Cat and ZiwiPeak. Tiki may have a lot of chicken flavors but it's a high quality food and likely there are some flavors that your cat can eat. I have a cat with irritable bowel and has to eat novel proteins. I use ZiwiPeak. It's pricey but it's a good quality, contains no gums or carrageenan, and there are flavors that don't include chicken or fish.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
I'd also take a look at Tiki Cat and ZiwiPeak. Tiki may have a lot of chicken flavors but it's a high quality food and likely there are some flavors that your cat can eat. I have a cat with irritable bowel and has to eat novel proteins. I use ZiwiPeak. It's pricey but it's a good quality, contains no gums or carrageenan, and there are flavors that don't include chicken or fish.
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I looked at Ziwi but all of the flavors have mussels in them.

TikiCat After Dark has a new turkey version which looks interesting and I might try. In the past other cats did not like Tiki, though. Be aware it does (at least that flavor does) have guar gum in it.
 
With the food allergies it might be worth a try making your own food at home. I buy pre ground bone-in protein from Hare Today and mix it up with some Alnutrin and water. The hardest part is remembering to pull it out of the freezer to thaw. I started feeding this to my diabetic picky eater, but now all the cats get it and they just love it!
 
I forgot about the mussels.

An alternative to Alnutrin is another pre-mix from FoodFurLife. Several of us that feed a raw or semi-cooked diet use FoodFurLife.
 
Thanks. I will investigate.

We actually do cook her turkey breast and she loves to eat it. We don’t mix anything else in with it. Is that necessary?

The problem is we have six cats and the others like it, too. It gets expensive so it is nice to toss some food down for the others that is okay if she eats, too, if she still has an appetite after eating “her” food. Most of the food we buy is eaten by the rest but it is too hard to manage the multiple cats so she gets “her” food morning and evening when she gets her insulin. Others may get some cooked turkey too if they beg hard enough but mainly as a treat.

We also go away for the day sometimes and we don’t like to leave her without any food while we are gone so we use the cans for that, too.

Thanks, again.
 
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Plain meat on it's own is not a complete diet so, yes, you do need to add supplements to make cooed or raw meat a complete balanced diet. As a treat and no more than 10% of the diet, plain cooked meat is fine.

I have a copy of a spreadsheet that is great for cats with different food allergies. It's only for ingredients so you'll need to use another spreadsheet or chart to look up carbs and fat content. I can share it with you if you're interested.
 
DimitriG said:
Thanks. I will investigate.

We actually do cook her turkey breast and she loves to eat it. We don’t mix anything else in with it. Is that necessary?

The problem is we have six cats and the others like it, too. It gets expensive so it is nice to toss some food down for the others that is okay if she eats, too, if she still has an appetite after eating “her” food. Most of the food we buy is eaten by the rest but it is too hard to manage the multiple cats so she gets “her” food morning and evening when she gets her insulin. Others may get some cooked turkey too if they beg hard enough but mainly as a treat.

We also go away for the day sometimes and we don’t like to leave her without any food while we are gone so we use the cans for that, too.

Thanks, again.
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I have a question about homemade food, example chicken, I assume it's boiled, and it be grounded or in pieces, but what do I flavor it with?, I assume I use the same water I boiled with, but I do not want to put any spices that are bad for them, any suggestions?
 
The Merrick LID turkey is low carbs (4%) which is still really good. You don't need to worry about fat levels unless you are trying to get your cat to reduce weight.

Purina started adding fish to more flavours of food (including T&G) a year ago in Canada. :arghh:

There are also freeze dried raw options by Primal and Stelly and Chewy's. If you expact to the combo of turkey and duck, there are options like from Nulo in both wet and freeze dried.

I too have a kitty with IBD who can't do fish (or mussels/seafood). Rabbit is another option you could try, though a pricier one.
 
CORKY said:
I have a question about homemade food, example chicken, I assume it's boiled, and it be grounded or in pieces, but what do I flavor it with?, I assume I use the same water I boiled with, but I do not want to put any spices that are bad for them, any suggestions?
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I use a mix-in that contains vitamins and minerals (Alnutrin) but no spices. It’s important to provide a supplement to make the meat a complete meal. Taurine for example is important to replace, as a deficiency can cause heart problems.
I also feed raw, not cooked. But if you’re going to cook it, roasting is probably the best option and preserve the juices that come off. No salt no spices. Cats will eat meat alone because they are obligate carnivores :)
 
SpotsMom said:
I use a mix-in that contains vitamins and minerals (Alnutrin) but no spices. It’s important to provide a supplement to make the meat a complete meal. Taurine for example is important to replace, as a deficiency can cause heart problems.
I also feed raw, not cooked. But if you’re going to cook it, roasting is probably the best option and preserve the juices that come off. No salt no spices. Cats will eat meat alone because they are obligate carnivores :)
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Thank you very helpful I have read that Taurine is very important I’ll see if I can get all those supplements together and try home cooking, I brought up my girls as baby with home cooking like all veggies in a blender no baby food they have never been sick thank God:bighug::bighug::cat::cat:
 
CORKY said:
I have a question about homemade food, example chicken, I assume it's boiled, and it be grounded or in pieces, but what do I flavor it with?, I assume I use the same water I boiled with, but I do not want to put any spices that are bad for them, any suggestions?
Click to expand...

You don't. Cats like the meat flavor just fine :) Supplements may add a bit of yummy taste to the mixture. You can use plain water to make the food with or with the leftover water from boiling / poaching.

Adding a little crushed up freeze dried meat treats to each serving will also add flavor and yumminess.

A pre-mix such as EZComplete or TC Feline makes a home made diet super easy. Just measure out and add to the meat along with water. Some people prefer to buy individual supplements.
 
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