Fancy Feast Problems

[daisysdad]

Problems with Purina Fancy Feast??
Do you feed your cat Fancy Feast?
Have they recently started refusing it?
I have been feeding our baby FF for years, in fact she will only eat Grilled Turkey in gravy.
However she is now outright refusing the product. At first Purina denied changing the formulation,
but yesterday they admitted to me that there had been a 'realignment' of ingredients. Whatever that means.
We all know how sensitive cats are when there is something wrong with their food and this gives me some concern.
Is the product just suddenly unpalatable, or is there something to be concerned about here.
We all know the problems when your mainstay food for your baby is suddenly not available to you.
This is bad enough, but I'm worried that this change is in fact harmful in any way.
The change seems to have come about during the production of Fancy Feast with a best before date of 2019 onward.....
I know of no recall situation, please feel free to contact me if you doubt the authenticity of this.
If your cat has suddenly been refusing this product, I would advise you to contact Purina. Contact details on their web site.
Please delete if not allowed.

 

[duckpond]

I dont feed the fancy feast very often, my cats are not big fans of pate of any kind. I feed it occasionally, but they are so fussy with pate i cant tell if there is any difference. Mine also stop eating favorite foods a lot, sometimes it seems there is a change in the formula, like i think i am dealing with with Earthborn right now. Sometimes i think they are just cats and they get fussy, very easily. Its hard to feed cats sometimes. I feel your pain. I dont think the changes are normally harmful, except in the fact that cats can tell, and it often turns them off their food.

 

[Vega's Dad]

I'm in Canada, too, and didn't notice the problem. My girl eats pate. I have cans with best dates from Nov 2018 to Jan 2020. She eats the same way.

 

[BattleWaifu]

My boy cleans his plate still for FF. Maybe they are just bored with it.

 

[tuffsmom]

Tuff still gobbles all his FF. Loves it .

 

[Monk'sMom]

Speaking of FF-- (not to hijack this thread but it's been on my mind) does anyone know WHAT is in this brand of food that makes most cats love it so much more than other foods?
One of mine loves it but I had to take her off of it because she needs a special diet. Another ikes dry food and refuses ALL wet food unless it is Fancy Feast. I have not met a cat that doesn't go crazy for it.
What's in it that does that?

As to the "realignment" admission from Purina, it could be an improvement in terms of healthfulness per their concerns for liability, not necessarily a bad thing. Again it come down to the same question^ of what is in it and thus what the change was.

 

[Furballsmom]

If I didn't know better, the FF change is because they are putting more focus on their Muse line, (I have no idea, theyre just accomodating their beancounting accounting dept, I'm sure) and yes, the Big Guy is struggling to eat what used to be his absolute favorite.
Speaking of, daisysdad, did you have any luck transitioning your furbaby, did you try Muse?
As to what's in it, my guess is a special formulation of fortiflora.

 

[dustydiamond1]

The only wet Gypsy will eat is FF gravy lovers and only the gravy lovers! (Pretty picky for a girl who we first laid eyes on when she jumped out of our apartment dumpster 2 years ago this spring) I'll check the can dates when we get home.

 

[CatloverinFL]

Problems with Purina Fancy Feast??
Do you feed your cat Fancy Feast?
Have they recently started refusing it?
I have been feeding our baby FF for years, in fact she will only eat Grilled Turkey in gravy.
However she is now outright refusing the product. At first Purina denied changing the formulation,
but yesterday they admitted to me that there had been a 'realignment' of ingredients. Whatever that means.
We all know how sensitive cats are when there is something wrong with their food and this gives me some concern.
Is the product just suddenly unpalatable, or is there something to be concerned about here.
We all know the problems when your mainstay food for your baby is suddenly not available to you.
This is bad enough, but I'm worried that this change is in fact harmful in any way.
The change seems to have come about during the production of Fancy Feast with a best before date of 2019 onward.....
I know of no recall situation, please feel free to contact me if you doubt the authenticity of this.
If your cat has suddenly been refusing this product, I would advise you to contact Purina. Contact details on their web site.
Please delete if not allowed.

YES, YES, YES! Fancy Feast has been all of my cats favorites for many years, but yet, for the past 6 to 7 months they started not eating it, and/or were picking at it. I have since lost TWO of them who ate it for YEARS to two different types of cancer(!).

I always thought I could trust Purina brands, like FF, as they I thought were made in the USA, not China, but I have wondered the exact same thing you have brought up? Why did my cats suddenly stop wanting to eat what was always their once favorite brand?

And my by far biggest question to myself has been why in the H did they both suddenly come down with cancer at almost the exact same time?

Was it their food?? Has Fancy Feast has a recall that was blacked out by the press? What exactly have they/Purina changed in their canned gravy types of foods?

This is ba

 

[1 bruce 1]

YES, YES, YES! Fancy Feast has been all of my cats favorites for many years, but yet, for the past 6 to 7 months they started not eating it, and/or were picking at it. I have since lost TWO of them who ate it for YEARS to two different types of cancer(!).

I always thought I could trust Purina brands, like FF, as they I thought were made in the USA, not China, but I have wondered the exact same thing you have brought up? Why did my cats suddenly stop wanting to eat what was always their once favorite brand?

And my by far biggest question to myself has been why in the H did they both suddenly come down with cancer at almost the exact same time?

Was it their food?? Has Fancy Feast has a recall that was blacked out by the press? What exactly have they/Purina changed in their canned gravy types of foods?

This is ba

I am so sorry!! =(
Cancer is the bane of the lives of most people, pet lovers or not.
I certainly hope FF didn't cause their cancer. Depending on their lineage (if known) and other factors (vaccines and environment, which I won't really get into), cancer can be rampant or not. It's so frustrating.
Again, I am so sorry. Having a cat or dog or pet or friend or family member with cancer is so draining, but having two at once? I can't imagine. =(

If the recall was blacked out, I would be infuriated but there seems to be an infatuation with recalling raw pet foods lately that makes the whole recall thing (IMO) a bit suspicious.

Bottom line, we do the best we can. We feed our cats what they do well on, what they willingly eat, and when problems arise we give the food we feed a hard side eye, and that's not a bad thing. When it comes to cancer and other diseases, diet is a good thing to look at, but don't ignore other potential factors such as genetics, breed (or breeds, or unknown heritage) or environment factors that we might not even have thought of, from candles to cleaning supplies to fabric softeners.....or to just plain "why me" dumb luck.

I hope you and your kitties are able to have a LOT of quality time together. Whatever the cause, cancer sucks and no cat deserves it, and no loving owner like you deserves the stress.

 

[Furballsmom]

Bottom line, we do the best we can. We feed our cats what they do well on, what they willingly eat, and when problems arise we give the food we feed a hard side eye, and that's not a bad thing. When it comes to cancer and other diseases, diet is a good thing to look at, but don't ignore other potential factors such as genetics, breed (or breeds, or unknown heritage) or environment factors that we might not even have thought of, from candles to cleaning supplies to fabric softeners.....or to just plain "why me" dumb luck.

very true.

 

[JamesCalifornia]

~ I notice Purina has a new label on Beyond dry cat / dog food : Contains NO Ingredients From China
Could be something in the recipe for all Purina pet foods has changed ??

 

[catlover73]

I do not feed fancy feast regularly to my cats but have always used it to re-start their appetite after an illness. That is the only time my cats seem to show any interest in wet food. Mine will only eat pate style wet food. I wonder if the texture of the food or the gravy changed when the formulation was changed.

I had to change my cats dry food years ago after the product sold out to a different company. They suddenly would not touch their dry food they had been eating for years. I realized that the food texture was way off. The food would quickly turn into food dust in their bowl. I can't blame my cats for not wanting to eat food that looked like dust. I went back to the independent pet food store I had bought the food at and asked them if anyone else had noticed this issue. The owner told me that she heard this from a lot of people. They were taking back open food after the change because people's cats and dogs would not eat it. I found a new dry food I liked that I fed for years after this. A few months ago I noticed everyone was eating less of this food. I went online and did some research to find out the food was now being manufactured over seas and was getting a lot more bad reviews. I switched their dry food again. My cats love their new dry food. Hopefully this one will not have any quality changes any time soon.

If the taste or texture is off at all after changes were made this could be why your baby is rejecting the food.

 

[daisysdad]

Thanks for all the responses. All very plausible. The answer I don't know. It could be just a change in the smell. Can't be the taste because she won't even eat it. I just wish that they would stop trying to fix something that ain't broke! It's causing me so many headaches here.
It would never be my choice to give her FF, but it's all she would ever eat and I've tried them all. At the end of the day, if she will only eat that, then she gets it. We all know it's full of garbage.
Now of course we are paying for that. What was all she would eat, becomes nothing and she is left with kibble only.
When she flat out refused to eat it I wouldn't take any chances. Cat's know. I always have to suspect the worst and thought I'd better raise the issue.
Purina of course don't much care. Just me complaining and all I get is the 'we understand your frustrations' 'here are some coupons for the food she won't eat.'
I have seen so many people saying the same thing as me and I can only hope that they get onto Purina as well and make them look at the change again.
Of course there are those that are having no problem as well.
I ran some very unscientific experiments. I had some old tins. She would eat them, no problem. Give her a new tin...... refused. Back to the old tin and she eats it. Tried this several time and always the same result. I was scouring the stores looking for all the different dates! At least I managed to narrow it down.

So I am back to trying different wet foods, knowing that she will probably not eat them. She is very stuck in her ways and if it's not what she had before, she won't entertain it. There have been times when I've had 10 or more cans open at a time.
At least the neighbourhood strays get a treat.

Anyway...if you are having the same problem, I urge that you tell Purina. Perhaps if more than just me complain, they will do something.
Thanks.

 

[Vega's Dad]

I always thought I could trust Purina brands, like FF, as they I thought were made in the USA, not China

Some FF are made in USA, some imported. They didn't say imported from where. I assume Thailand where lots of other pet food were made. But I don't have a clue

 

[Vega's Dad]

Thanks for all the responses. All very plausible. The answer I don't know. It could be just a change in the smell. Can't be the taste because she won't even eat it. I just wish that they would stop trying to fix something that ain't broke! It's causing me so many headaches here.
It would never be my choice to give her FF, but it's all she would ever eat and I've tried them all. At the end of the day, if she will only eat that, then she gets it. We all know it's full of garbage.
Now of course we are paying for that. What was all she would eat, becomes nothing and she is left with kibble only.
When she flat out refused to eat it I wouldn't take any chances. Cat's know. I always have to suspect the worst and thought I'd better raise the issue.
Purina of course don't much care. Just me complaining and all I get is the 'we understand your frustrations' 'here are some coupons for the food she won't eat.'
I have seen so many people saying the same thing as me and I can only hope that they get onto Purina as well and make them look at the change again.
Of course there are those that are having no problem as well.
I ran some very unscientific experiments. I had some old tins. She would eat them, no problem. Give her a new tin...... refused. Back to the old tin and she eats it. Tried this several time and always the same result. I was scouring the stores looking for all the different dates! At least I managed to narrow it down.

So I am back to trying different wet foods, knowing that she will probably not eat them. She is very stuck in her ways and if it's not what she had before, she won't entertain it. There have been times when I've had 10 or more cans open at a time.
At least the neighbourhood strays get a treat.

Anyway...if you are having the same problem, I urge that you tell Purina. Perhaps if more than just me complain, they will do something.
Thanks.

Vega is a picky girl, too. So I try anything I can find. Besides FF, Whole earth farm, chicken soup for the soul and Friskies are the only brands she would eat. Pate only. Don't know if they would work for your baby.

 

[maggiedemi]

Try Sheba Cuts. My cats are being really picky lately with their Purina canned food, both Fancy Feast and Friskies. But they've been eating Sheba Cuts all week.

 

[daisysdad]

Some FF are made in USA, some imported. They didn't say imported from where. I assume Thailand where lots of other pet food were made. But I don't have a clue

There is nothing to tell me where this was made. As it has a Canadian label on it, I just assumed it was imported from the USA.

 

[lisahe]

Cats are so sensitive to ingredient changes! Ours stopped eating Merrick LID food when the company added pea protein to it: I hadn't checked the label but the cats could sure tell the difference. Then again, ingredient changes don't always show up on labels immediately. We've gone through ingredient changes (and complete discontinuations) with so many foods! They're very frustrating, particularly because in some cases the companies have promised they aren't changing anything but do.

daisysdad , if you haven't tried Nutro Natural Choice minced chicken or sliced turkey, they might be worth a try. They're decent foods and (if I remember the FF correctly) have a similar sort of shape and gravy to the food you'd been feeding.

Good luck!

 

[Shadokat]

My fancy feast problem is a little bit different. I have two 7 month old kittens and recently bought them the fancy feast kitten pate thinking they would love it. Well, they do beg for their wet food but when I open the can they don't eat it all. This is two nearly grown cats sharing a tiny can. They eat around the edges, presumably to get at the "gravy" part, but then leave me with a ball of uneaten pate. They quite often go through the "bury my leftover food" ritual where they drag things from all over the house to cover their uneaten cat food. Quite often in the process of "burying" the food, they push it off of the plate. If nobody catches it right away I end up picking up a ball of icky crusty pate covered in carpet fibers or other assorted floor gunk. So it isn't that mine have stopped eating it. They aren't eating it from the get-go.

Problems with Purina Fancy Feast??
Do you feed your cat Fancy Feast?
Have they recently started refusing it?
I have been feeding our baby FF for years, in fact she will only eat Grilled Turkey in gravy.
However she is now outright refusing the product. At first Purina denied changing the formulation,
but yesterday they admitted to me that there had been a 'realignment' of ingredients. Whatever that means.
We all know how sensitive cats are when there is something wrong with their food and this gives me some concern.
Is the product just suddenly unpalatable, or is there something to be concerned about here.
We all know the problems when your mainstay food for your baby is suddenly not available to you.
This is bad enough, but I'm worried that this change is in fact harmful in any way.
The change seems to have come about during the production of Fancy Feast with a best before date of 2019 onward.....
I know of no recall situation, please feel free to contact me if you doubt the authenticity of this.
If your cat has suddenly been refusing this product, I would advise you to contact Purina. Contact details on their web site.
Please delete if not allowed.