Friskies— An Fyi

Kflowers

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I don't use Friskies, I was paraphrasing a review on the site I posted. The poster said that his vet had to remove the bones from his cat's stomch, so I would figure they were quite hard and sharp.

Looking for the bones in the pate seemed like the easiest way to check the food to decide whether or not it was acceptable.

I don't think bone would tear, but I would expect cartiladge to tear, sort of.
 

babs' slave

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I don't use Friskies, I was paraphrasing a review on the site I posted. The poster said that his vet had to remove the bones from his cat's stomch, so I would figure they were quite hard and sharp.

Looking for the bones in the pate seemed like the easiest way to check the food to decide whether or not it was acceptable.

I don't think bone would tear, but I would expect cartiladge to tear, sort of.
Thank you for the info. I'm not even sure this is cartilage. It looks like it, but if I rub it between my fingers, it disintegrates.
 

Kflowers

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I don't know much about meat. Hopefully, someone who does will come by and suggest what it might be. I'd really like to know now.
 

Richard2121

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I will say that I choose to incorporate Friskies into my 4 cats' diets because it allows me to also afford much higher quality wet foods. I can give them a 5 or 6 brand rotation as opposed to just 1 or 2 cheap brands. The added variety and numerous textures keeps them interested in the foods I offer. Friskies has given none of my 4 cats issues regardless of how frequently I choose to feed it to them. Whether that be all 4 of their meals in a day are Friskies or just their evening snack, none of them have gotten sick. I am not discounting any previous posts in this thread or saying that the rumors are not true, but I think sometimes the food gets blamed when maybe there were other factors that were impossible to detect (i.e. stress, tracking something into the house that caused minor infection, etc.). I am obsessive when it comes to researching cat foods. So I do feel like knowing if a product or brand may be causing harm to my pets.
 

Willowy

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Honestly, eating meat sold for human consumption is disturbing to me because of all the lumps and bumps and. . .things. That's normal in meat. I definitely don't worry about random animal-part things in pet food.
 

babs' slave

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I will say that I choose to incorporate Friskies into my 4 cats' diets because it allows me to also afford much higher quality wet foods. I can give them a 5 or 6 brand rotation as opposed to just 1 or 2 cheap brands. The added variety and numerous textures keeps them interested in the foods I offer. Friskies has given none of my 4 cats issues regardless of how frequently I choose to feed it to them.
My cat Stubbs ate dry food and Friskies and dry food her entire life. She lived to 19 ( a long time for indoor-outdoor) and I can only remember her having one bad day, the day she passed away in 2005.
 

8kitties

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I feed my outdoor cat with megacolon some friskies wet mixed with water 2x a day....the other cats get what he won't eat from the 2 cans a day. But that is just for him to take his miralax with, the main food is purina naturals grain free (dry). I haven't seen them throw up the wet food except once and it was mixed with whole dry food, so I think it was a classic case of eating the dry too fast without chewing.
 

weebeasties

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We have fed Friskies Shreds in our rotation for years. Towards the end of last year Sunshine would occasionally throw up after eating. I didn't think too much of it at the time - I assumed that she had eaten too fast - and the other cats were fine. Then in January Rocky became extremely ill, vomiting everywhere. He had eaten the Friskies Shreds for sure that day, but I had split the can with another cat who was fine so I didn't think the food was a culprit. I took Rocky to the vet and had him checked out. Everything seemed normal.
A friend mentioned that she had heard of some people having problems with Friskies, so as a precaution, I decided to take it out of the rotation for awhile. All I can say is Rocky hasn't thrown up since then and neither has Sunshine. It could be a coincidence. All I know is that Sunshine was vomiting about once a week for two months and for the past two months (without Friskies) not at all. I would think that if it was the food, the others would have been ill as well, but I don't feel comfortable adding Friskies back into the rotation. There's that little thought in my mind that it could be a problem and I just don't want to risk the cats' health for a few pennies in savings.
 

penwright1029

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I prayed to understand what was killing our girl, Kit. I was led here to find that Friskies cat food was the culprit. After second guessing ourselves, ever since she became ill and was dying from kidney failure, we thought we had done something wrong.
From Kflowers post, I went to consumeraffairs.com and read everyone of the posts and complaints there. I ran to our pantry to check what the lot numbers are on the cans we have. Everyone of them is 1159.
Our boy, Max, ate one bowl of the Salmon Pate and, promptly, threw it all up. Since then, we had tried feeding him the other flavors as well as the Salmon thinking maybe he just had a sour stomach. But, since that time, he would only eat a small amount and then walk away. Now I know why he won't eat it anymore. He just sniffed the last can we opened. And that, I guarantee you, is the last one we will open.

The odd thing is, he will only eat Friskies dry food and has done well with it. Now I'm not sure what to do. I've tried a bunch of healthy foods, but he will not eat it. He has gained a lot of weight, which really concerns me.

One last note: Blue is not that great, either. Two things, our girl was eating the sensitive stomach formula when she kind of jumped, then stopped, but then continued to finish her bowl. Max would not eat it. We didn't know for sure, but something happened to Kit when she was eating it. I felt the, so-called nutrition bites, and could not believe how hard they are. I started removing them every time I fed our kids. Apparently, Kit broke a tooth and ended up with an undiagnosed abscess, which was found by our mobile vet when the shut down, due to Covid-19 was removed. By then, it was too late. Kit was my husband's precious girl. He still is not over losing her. I miss her, too. After syringe feeding her for two days, I, stupidly, fed her the canned food again. Even though she was starving, she still only ate two bites. At least, we can stop second guessing whether she had gotten into something in our basement. That is what the vet thought.

I also read the transcript where the owner of Blue was sued for saying there aren't any by products in their food. It was proven there is and he had to pay restitution. His stance on it was, even after proving what they put in their food, he wasn't going to change anything nor was he going to make it known that there are meat by products in their food. You can find this by doing research. It is how I found it when I suspected Blue's food had caused damage to Kit. Blue Buffalo supplier charged with 8 criminal counts

I agree with the original poster of this subject. Do not feed canned Friskies to your cats. I will have to find another way to feed Max, who is 5. Kit was only 11 years old.
 

JamesCalifornia

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~ Sadly much pet food is basically not much in the quality control / ingredients specific. They can use almost anything and label it "by-products". Friskies has recently discontinued several of the flavors they produce. Most recent is Tuna & Egg Flaked.
Best information I can find is quality of product is the issue. Much comes from China. Perhaps they will source elsewhere or just discontinue some items.
If I only had a few cats I would just cook the food myself and freeze. A vitamin/mineral supplement and taurine added with brewers yeast would be needed.
Good luck to us all ... 😼💕
 

JamesCalifornia

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I don't cook much, but I am considering making his food rather than buying ready made.
~ People tell me it's easy. I sometimes steam chicken thighs with some chicken livers. You can cut it off the bone and drop into a blender to make @ pate if you like.
 

Furballsmom

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P penwright1029 , as JamesCalifornia JamesCalifornia mentioned there are specific recipes for raw/homemade feeding and supplements such as EZcomplete that provide all the minerals, vitamins and nutrients a cat must have, such as taurine.

If you decide to move to this method full-time rather than just intermittently like JamesCalifornia where the nutritional balance is maintained with commercial food, definitely start your own thread :)-there are quite a few members who do this and can give you feedback and guidance.

If it would help, you could post about your baby in the Crossing The Bridge forum. It would be a way to honor her and tell us about her life. Your husband may benefit from Day By Day Caregiver Support Inc. – Providing compassionate support for the grief that comes before, during and after the loss of a pet , or from this Resources for Grieving

I've tried a bunch of healthy foods, but he will not eat it. He has gained a lot of weight, which really concerns me.
Without hijacking the thread, --try getting him to exercise more through playtime, take him for walks etc, and maybe there is something useful here regarding helping him to eat;

CatFoodDB - Cat Food Reviews to help you find the best cat food for your cat

Any Good Tips To Get Your Cats To Eat? Share Them Here!
 
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MoonstoneWolf

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Wow and my vet said that the Friskies has helped my feral cats so much. Their eyes are clear, their fur is great. My cats only vomit because they eat too fast (think of us sitting there shoving mouthful of chips in our mouth all day). They've been eating Friskies dry and wet for 2 years now and no issues but maybe feral cats have stronger stomachs then a cat that never was outside (as ferals will eat just about anything)

I think it's a lot like humans. My one boy has issues with anything 9 Lives whereas the other cats don't have an issue at all.
 
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cataholic07

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Friskies is not a good brand and something I would stay far away from. You can check out the reviews about it here: CatFoodDB - Friskies Cat Food Reviews

I'm pretty sure my first cat got her Gi lymphoma because of carrageenan :( That one has been linked to stomach inflammation as well as cancers. Dyes in the food has also been linked to cancers. I think its always a good idea to invest in the best food possible that's within your budget. You can check out the catfood website for a massive list of brands so you can find better quality food at a price you can afford. :) I'm feeding my cats raw, TC feline and Primal because I worry about what's in their food. I wish it was better regulated to be honest. Why is it that carrageenan and food dyes that are linked to cancers a ok but a raw diet not so much. People worried about the heart disease potentially from grain free but not about the ingredients that give cancer. I wish AAFCO and FDA would actually care about what is in the food. Pea protein shouldnt count as animal protein but it does and that is why some brands can be "high in protein" but it be mostly peas.
 
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