Paws And Claws Vs. Friskies?

[MissMolly08]

I'm curious if anyone has used the Paws and Claws brand from Tractor Supply? It seems comparable to Friskies and I know many here say Friskies is o.k. and part of their rotation. We already buy the 4health from Tractor Supply so I figured maybe I'd just get that too since it's a little cheaper than Friskies... Any thoughts?

If it helps, here is the info to compare the "Mixed Grill" of each brand.

FRISKIES:

Ingredients

Meat By-Products, Water Sufficient for Processing, Poultry By-Products, Liver, Chicken, Rice, Artificial and Natural Flavors, Salt, Calcium Phosphate, Guar Gum, Added Color, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Carrageenan, Magnesium Sulfate, Taurine, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Supplement, Copper Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source of Vitamin K Activity), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Biotin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Potassium Iodide.

Guaranteed Analysis
CRUDE PROTEIN 10.0% min
CRUDE FAT 5.0% min
CRUDE FIBER 1.0% max
MOISTURE 78.0% max
ASH 3.0% max
TAURINE 0.05% min

PAWS & CLAWS:

Ingredients
Meat By-Products, Water Sufficient For Processing, Poultry By-Products, Fish, Animal Liver, Rice Flour, Guar Gum, Salt, Tricalcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Sodium Tripolyphosphate, Vitamins (Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin Supplement, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Biotin, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Folic Acid), Minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Proteinate, Potassium Iodide, Manganese Sulfate, Sodium Selenite), Choline Chloride, Magnesium (min.) Sulfate, Carrageenan, Added Color, Taurine.

Guaranteed Analysis:
Crude Protein (min.) 10.0%
Crude Fat (min.) 5.0%
Crude Fiber (max.) 1.0%
Moisture (max.) 78.0%
Ash (max.) 2.5%
Taurine (min.) 0.05%

 

[maggiedemi]

My cats wouldn't eat the Paws & Claws. You might have better luck though.

 

[IndyJones]

Neither of them is good Imo they both have unspecified meat and animal products.

Friskies made one of my old cats violently ill.

 

[MissMolly08]

Neither of them is good Imo they both have unspecified meat and animal products.

Friskies made one of my old cats violently ill.

I appreciate that some people feel that way but with my budget, I can't be too picky. I already feed FF classics which also have unspecified by-products.

 

[maggiedemi]

My cats will only eat Friskies, Fancy Feast Classic & Grilled, and Sheba Cuts.

 

[lisahe]

I appreciate that some people feel that way but with my budget, I can't be too picky. I already feed FF classics which also have unspecified by-products.

The two foods look pretty similar but I see two pluses to the Tractor Supply food: less ash and no menadione, which is a somewhat controversial vitamin K supplement. I remember other Cat Site members saying Tractor Supply foods worked out well for their cats at a very reasonable price. No matter which you choose, one of these or both, it's good what you're feeding your cat(s) wet food.

 

[MissMolly08]

The two foods look pretty similar but I see two pluses to the Tractor Supply food: less ash and no menadione, which is a somewhat controversial vitamin K supplement. I remember other Cat Site members saying Tractor Supply foods worked out well for their cats at a very reasonable price. No matter which you choose, one of these or both, it's good what you're feeding your cat(s) wet food.

Thank you. They looked pretty similar to me too but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. It's nice to see the cheaper one actually has some pluses! I have actually been debating going to an all wet diet. Right now I do 50/50 and the dry is convenient for me but my cat isn't as fond of it now that she's used to the wet anyway. I already rotate FF, 4health, Merrick Rabbit and Pro Plan TrueNature but I can't afford to feed more of those. I'm trying to do some math and see if maybe the Paws & Claws would allow me to stretch the budget enough to replace the dry.

 

[lisahe]

Thank you. They looked pretty similar to me too but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. It's nice to see the cheaper one actually has some pluses! I have actually been debating going to an all wet diet. Right now I do 50/50 and the dry is convenient for me but my cat isn't as fond of it now that she's used to the wet anyway. I already rotate FF, 4health, Merrick Rabbit and Pro Plan TrueNature but I can't afford to feed more of those. I'm trying to do some math and see if maybe the Paws & Claws would allow me to stretch the budget enough to replace the dry.

Oh, that would be great if the other food could help you feed only wet food! Some grocery store brand foods also seem decent, maybe they're worth looking into as well, depending on where you shop? Fingers crossed that you can make it work or cut back a little more on the dry food, particularly if your cat prefers canned!

 

[himawari]

It'd be great if the inexpensive wet food could allow you to give wet food exclusively. Other grocery brands might help with that. My cat likes Abound and I hear Sheba is a good choice as well. One of my friends feeds Iams. Buying in bulk when it's on sale in your local grocery store or maybe use Chewy will help lower costs too.

 

[lisahe]

Some of the Abound foods, particularly the chicken pate, sound very good! (Unfortunately, we don't have Kroger where I live.)

Some people find good deals on canned cat food at various types of dollar stores, too, though I've seen some where everything costs a dollar, even cans of food that cost less at the grocery store! Some Cat Site members have also mentioned getting good deals at Big Lots but I've never found any good cat food there.

 

[MissMolly08]

It'd be great if the inexpensive wet food could allow you to give wet food exclusively. Other grocery brands might help with that. My cat likes Abound and I hear Sheba is a good choice as well. One of my friends feeds Iams. Buying in bulk when it's on sale in your local grocery store or maybe use Chewy will help lower costs too.

We do not have a Kroger here unfortunately and I actually started off feeding Sheba but they are discontinuing the cans and are now only offering those little "perfect portion" trays which are ridiculously overpriced! It's like .75 here for 2.6 oz of food. That makes Sheba cost more than I spend for the Merrick on Chewy! There's just so much to try to figure out. If I go to all wet then bigger cans may be the better value and I just realized I can actually get Wellness in the large cans for cheaper per oz than I am spending on the Merrick too.. BUT... my cat really likes the rabbit and Wellness doesn't have rabbit... It's hard to decide what trade offs to make with price vs. what my cat likes and having enough variety too. If I cut the rabbit, my cat will really only be eating chicken and turkey.... It sucks that cheaper foods don't offer novel proteins.

 

[Willowy]

It may be my personal superstition, but I feel like my cats do better on Purina products. Some dog people say that Purina has the best vitamin/mineral premix (which is why a lot of show dogs are fed Pro Plan even though the ingredients don't look so impressive) so maybe that's why. Anyway, as part of a rotation I think Paws and Claws is fine, but I probably wouldn't feed it as the sole diet.

 

[lisahe]

We do not have a Kroger here unfortunately and I actually started off feeding Sheba but they are discontinuing the cans and are now only offering those little "perfect portion" trays which are ridiculously overpriced! It's like .75 here for 2.6 oz of food. That makes Sheba cost more than I spend for the Merrick on Chewy! There's just so much to try to figure out. If I go to all wet then bigger cans may be the better value and I just realized I can actually get Wellness in the large cans for cheaper per oz than I am spending on the Merrick too.. BUT... my cat really likes the rabbit and Wellness doesn't have rabbit... It's hard to decide what trade offs to make with price vs. what my cat likes and having enough variety too. If I cut the rabbit, my cat will really only be eating chicken and turkey.... It sucks that cheaper foods don't offer novel proteins.

I forgot all about those Sheba perfect portions, those do sound like a terrible deal! I know what you mean about all the trade offs: they make it so hard. So does the fact that there aren't many affordable novel proteins. This is one reason so much of our homemade food is pork: there aren't any commercial pork foods I like to feed consistently and it's cheap to buy pork at the grocery store! Other than that, they also get mostly chicken and turkey, with a little lamb (mostly organs, I think) thrown in.

 

[MissMolly08]

Thank you all for the input. I still have like a month's supply of dry food I am going through right now but I will definitely pick up some cans of the Paws & Claws and probably the Friskies too to see how she likes them. If I can get those in the big cans and make it the bulk of my rotation while still keeping the rabbit she loves so much, I should be able to make this work.

 

[Vega's Dad]

You may consider friskies poultry platter. It has muscle meat as first ingredient.

 

[MissMolly08]

You may consider friskies poultry platter. It has muscle meat as first ingredient.

I am definitely going to have the Poultry Platter in there. It appears by the Tractor Supply website that they have a "poultry platter" in the paws and claws as well but for some reason I only see it on their webiste in a variety pack with some fish flavors which I don't want. I'll have to check the store and see if they have it in the single cans and if muscle meat is the first ingredient in that brand as well.

I finally finished all of my calculations and it seems if I get rid of the FF classics in my rotation (since they are such small cans anyway) and replace that with Friskies and then add in a little of the Paws and Claws too while keeping the ProPlan and the Rabbit she likes so much...I can feed an all wet diet for the same price I pay now doing 50/50! Now let's just hope she actually eats the Friskies and Paws &Claws without issue!

 

[MissMolly08]

Well she ate the Paws and Claws this morning! Hopefully her tummy handles it well and she continues to like it!

 

[jen]

I appreciate that some people feel that way but with my budget, I can't be too picky. I already feed FF classics which also have unspecified by-products.

Whats good about Fancy Feast Classics though is that it is very low carb (under 3% in all the classic feast cans).That is important to me.

Friskies is over 10% carb which is too high for cats.
EDITED: Friskies Classic pate is low carb, but most of the others are over 10%

 

[MissMolly08]

Whats good about Fancy Feast Classics though is that it is very low carb (under 3% in all the classic feast cans).That is important to me.

Friskies is over 10% carb which is too high for cats.
EDITED: Friskies Classic pate is low carb, but most of the others are over 10%

I am only feeding 3 of the classic pate flavors anyway... Mixed grill, Turkey & giblets and Poultry platter. My cat doesn't eat the other varieties. She licks all the sauce/gravy and leaves all of the meat if it's anything but pate! Even 10+% carbs is less carbs than a dry food though so would it really be that bad? If it allows me to replace the dry then I'd think it would still be better...

 

[jen]

I am only feeding 3 of the classic pate flavors anyway... Mixed grill, Turkey & giblets and Poultry platter. My cat doesn't eat the other varieties. She licks all the sauce/gravy and leaves all of the meat if it's anything but pate! Even 10+% carbs is less carbs than a dry food though so would it really be that bad? If it allows me to replace the dry then I'd think it would still be better...

I think you are correct!