Fancy Feast Question

[mjpeter]

My 5 1/2 month kitten, Gizmo, is a huge fan of Fancy Feast as it seems many other cats are.  We do try to rotate with other premium brands, but it's always a struggle to get them down.

Anyway, I have a question about Fancy Feast:  We are using the "Kitten Turkey" type right now since he is still technically a kitten.   I understand that he shouldn't be eating the other kitten line, the "Ocean Whitefish" since it contains fish, so we are having a hard time with variety.  Is it okay to start giving him some of the Fancy Feasts Classics that are meant for adults, or should we keep feeding only the kitten variety?  All the other canned foods are listed as all stages, so it hasn't been a problem.

Oh...and here's Gizmo at 5.5 months.  I don't want to admit how much we spent on cat toys, cat trees and special shelving.  All he wants is cardboard boxes, lol.

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• mjpeter
• Feb 1, 2016

 

[molly92]

He's still growing, so I think it'd be best to stick with kitten food to make sure he gets all the nutrients he needs for now. Have you tried mixing other brands in with his Fancy Feast?

What an adorable face! The name Gizmo suits him very well!

 

[LTS3]

Personally I feel that you can add in some adult / all life stages food. It won't hurt or stunt growth at all. My cats have been eating adult food since they were kittens, my Aby since was was weaned, and both grew up just fine

I know some people like to feed kitten food until a year old or so but it's just preference.

It's ok to feed seafood once in awhile, just not all the time. There are other brands of kitten canned foods with different meats that you can try rotating in for variety.

 

[lisahe]

I agree that it's fine to feed him adult food labeled for all ages/life stages. Just as long as he's getting enough calories to keep him happy while he's growing, he'll be fine!

 

[donutte]

My boys ate both kitten food and adult food from the day they came to my home (although, that was because they wanted to be "one of the big cats" and eat their food). They were 8 weeks old when I brought them home. Always started them with the FF kitten food then they and the adults pulled a switcheroo. So I think you're good mixing adult food in there

 

[ghiblithecat]

I got my kitty Ghibli when he was about that age. He is about 8 months now and gets a mixture of kitten and adult food. However, that is only because he loves Nutro Natural Choice soft loaf for kittens! Mainly since I got him I have been feeding him all life stages/ adult food wet. My vet said that feeding kitten food to "kittens" is more so important for those who feed dry food. I feed all wet food and raw, and I know he is getting enough protein and fat. The only thing I would say is that you make sure you kitten is getting enough food. Feed him literally as much as he wants for a while because he is at a stage where he is reallllllly growing rapidly every day!

 

[donutte]

YES! They do grow SO FAST that first year, and especially the first few months! I got my boys on July 14th (8 weeks old), they weighed 2.5 lbs each. They were neutered on August 25th, and weighed 4.5 lbs each by that point! They are now 8.5 months old and Oscar is 9 lbs, and his brother Oliver is a whopping 10 lbs - and they are still growing!

And we free-fed dry and also fed canned. So these guys do eat a lot.

 

[hatchytt]

Hecate is about six months old and gets kitten chow as dry and adult wet food. I'm going to have to phase out some of the fish flavors, (she doesn't seem to like it as much and it seems to make her sneezy and her eyes watery), but otherwise, she seems to be fine with it. She likes the chicken flavors alot.

 

[violetxx]

That should be absolutely fine 

Kitten foods are meant to be high calorie, so just be sure to feed him more often in the adult food. Raw fed kittens don't eat anything differently than adults, the only rule is that they should eat as much as the want - whereas once they are adults they should eat 3 to 4 smaller routine feedings.

Feeding the fish flavour once a week is fine if you need to. Also, for rotation purposes here is a list of the best wet food on the market if you should decide to add a high quality wet food (<5% carbs) once in awhile. There is no point to feed medium quality or premium brands - they are so high carb that your better off sticking to FF.

Best of luck! 

http://www.naturalcatcareblog.com/2010/12/the-7-best-natural-commercial-cat-foods-so-far/

 

[jade14]

I think Fancy Feast Classics are just fine to feed.  I feed the Turkey Kitten to my cat and he loves it.  I've been feeding him the Classics as well since he was about 4 or 5 months old because he likes them a lot and I have a hard time finding wet he likes.  He does well on it too, I find on the higher end grain free brands he gets runny poop.  It's best to avoid the fishy flavors but it is fine to feed once in awhile in my opinion.  Just not regularly.  

 

[plan]

 
However, that is only because he loves Nutro Natural Choice soft loaf for kittens! Mainly since I got him I have been feeding him all life stages/ adult food wet.

Bud loves the Nutro too. I wouldn't have tried it if not for the fact that they sell it in those "perfect portions" containers, and I was glad I did because he really liked it.

As for Fancy Feast, I only give it to Bud when I'm low on food and need to grab something from the nearby grocery store, and if nothing else is available. The Classics line is all pate, which is good for Bud (he only eats pate, and doesn't like other textures), but just FYI if your cat is used to eating cuts, flakes, etc. Some cats might not care about texture, but mine certainly does.

Also, I hate to bring this up, but Fancy Feast and its owner (Nestle) are in the middle of a scandal and PR nightmare after it was revealed that ingredients in its cat food are sourced from providers in Asia who use slave labor. It's hard to believe that it's 2016 and such a thing still exists, but nonetheless, it's true. This is another reason why I avoid FF as much as I possibly can. The only thing worse than FF, in my opinion, is Friskies.

 

[ghiblithecat]

 
Bud loves the Nutro too. I wouldn't have tried it if not for the fact that they sell it in those "perfect portions" containers, and I was glad I did because he really liked it.

As for Fancy Feast, I only give it to Bud when I'm low on food and need to grab something from the nearby grocery store, and if nothing else is available. The Classics line is all pate, which is good for Bud (he only eats pate, and doesn't like other textures), but just FYI if your cat is used to eating cuts, flakes, etc. Some cats might not care about texture, but mine certainly does.

Also, I hate to bring this up, but Fancy Feast and its owner (Nestle) are in the middle of a scandal and PR nightmare after it was revealed that ingredients in its cat food are sourced from providers in Asia who use slave labor. It's hard to believe that it's 2016 and such a thing still exists, but nonetheless, it's true. This is another reason why I avoid FF as much as I possibly can. The only thing worse than FF, in my opinion, is Friskies.

Have you tried Sheba? They carry it in most grocery stores. It's the brand I get when I need something quick and cheap. I actually really approve of the ingredients besides byproducts being the third ingredient (first is chicken, and chicken broth. The fourth is chicken liver. I don't even really have a HUGE problem with byproducts because cats would naturally eat other parts of the animal anyway. Ghibli REALLY likes Sheba pates. So much that I think if it were up to him, he would eat them all the time. The consistency of the pates is a lot like Nutro natural soft loaf.... maybe even more mousee-like and soft! 

 

[plan]

 
Have you tried Sheba? They carry it in most grocery stores. It's the brand I get when I need something quick and cheap. I actually really approve of the ingredients besides byproducts being the third ingredient (first is chicken, and chicken broth. The fourth is chicken liver. I don't even really have a HUGE problem with byproducts because cats would naturally eat other parts of the animal anyway. Ghibli REALLY likes Sheba pates. So much that I think if it were up to him, he would eat them all the time. The consistency of the pates is a lot like Nutro natural soft loaf.... maybe even more mousee-like and soft! 

Yeah, I agree completely, re: Sheba.

Bud eats the turkey, chicken and beef flavors, and very occasionally the salmon. The only problem is that flavor fatigue seems to set in after a while, and I have to rotate another brand in for a bit. He really loses his mind for the Sheba beef, though...it's pretty much a guarantee that, if he hasn't had it for a few meals, he'll finish everything in his bowl.

Right now my cat food cabinet is stocked with a case of Perfect Portions (only chicken and turkey flavors come in the case, unfortunately), a few loose packs of Sheba PP beef flavor, a few cans of FF pate, some Blue Buffalo cans, and a few cans of generic Key Food grocery store brand that he seems to like occasionally to break up the monotony.

I don't have any Nutro right now, but I will pick some up when I go to PetCo to get Blue Buffalo Wilderness dry food. That's his overnight snacking food that I put in a separate bowl so he has something to tide him over, and so he doesn't wake me up at 5 a.m. for food. FWIW, I stopped feeding him the Blue Buffalo dry for a while, and when I started feeding it to him again, his coat got really shiny like it used to be.

I can't say for sure whether the Blue Buffalo Wilderness is responsible for his shiny coat, but it does seem to have a correlation. I mean, it's looking really nice lately.

 

[mewlittle]

maybe try other kitten wet brands

and he can have the fish kitten fancy feast 1-2 times a week wont hurt