Weaning my cats OFF Fancy Feast

KittyCatCove

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For anyone that feeds FF to their cats, you know FF is like Kitty crack. However, I'm starting to believe FF is doing my cats more harm than good. The phosphate content of FF is way too high. I want to start weaning them off FF for good.

Has anyone done this with success? Any type of healthier wet cat foods you can recommend that your cat(s) actually like as much as FF?

I would greatly appreciate all comments, suggestions and recommendations.

Thanks! :)
 

Ppsneepie

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I did this with my cat, P , and heavily encouraged my sister to do the same. She finally crossed over.

I found it surprisingly easy. Because my girl doesn’t have teeth, I found a special bisque food, and as soon as she started on it she never went back to the FF. I think the key is finding a good that’s more convenient to eat.

Treats, however, are another story. I stopped giving my kitty any kind of treats after adopting her, because she had been given temptations for most of her life. Unfortunately, she refuses to eat any other brand, because they aren’t the same as “kitty crack”, so she doesn’t really get any treats. It doesn’t seem to bother her though, and she doesn’t beg or get upset anymore when the other cat in the household gets them. (I haven’t gotten the other off them yet, mostly because I only have half custody over that cat, if you will).


But yeah, just stick to your guns. If kitty won’t eat a straight up new food, mix both together for a bit. A week, a month, whatever is comfortable for you and your kitty. Once you feel like it’s time, only give your cat the other brand of food. And if she doesn’t eat it? Too bad, keep replacing it every few days, and in a week most cats will just give up. It won’t kill your kitty to eat just dry food for a little bit!
 

fionasmom

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I would not mind transitioning mine from FF as well but it has never worked. There have been isolated instances when BFF has worked with one cat or the other, or Fussie Cat which is also not the best food, but I have spent a small fortune in pet stores sampling every other brand of wet food that seems of better quality and some of it was rejected by the ferals outside as well. If anyone has found a sure fire brand/flavor that was a big hit, I would like to know what it was.
 

daftcat75

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I did this with my cat, P , and heavily encouraged my sister to do the same. She finally crossed over.

I found it surprisingly easy. Because my girl doesn’t have teeth, I found a special bisque food, and as soon as she started on it she never went back to the FF. I think the key is finding a good that’s more convenient to eat.

Treats, however, are another story. I stopped giving my kitty any kind of treats after adopting her, because she had been given temptations for most of her life. Unfortunately, she refuses to eat any other brand, because they aren’t the same as “kitty crack”, so she doesn’t really get any treats. It doesn’t seem to bother her though, and she doesn’t beg or get upset anymore when the other cat in the household gets them. (I haven’t gotten the other off them yet, mostly because I only have half custody over that cat, if you will).


But yeah, just stick to your guns. If kitty won’t eat a straight up new food, mix both together for a bit. A week, a month, whatever is comfortable for you and your kitty. Once you feel like it’s time, only give your cat the other brand of food. And if she doesn’t eat it? Too bad, keep replacing it every few days, and in a week most cats will just give up. It won’t kill your kitty to eat just dry food for a little bit!
What's the bisque food? I have a newly toothless cat that may want a more lickable texture. She's also got IBD so I don't have my hopes up here. Usually smooth cat foods use xanthan gum and that runs right through my Krista. Mousse texture in, mousse texture out. :(
 

daftcat75

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Have you tried Tiki Cat After Dark? I only found these after I learned chicken is a no-go protein with Krista. That wipes out the entire line for her. But they do look like clean recipes that probably have a high appeal. The Tiki Cat Grill fish flavors and the Tiki Cat Raw Turkey have both been a hit with my Krista. Though I can't feed her fish or bone (in the raw) on the regular. But that's my cat. Yours may love and thrive on Tiki Cat.
 

lisahe

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I guess I kind of took a cat off Fancy Feast: our previous cat loved their foods with wheat gluten and fish-based pates but I took her off them in her last couple months of life. Among other things, she had kidney disease and some bad digestive issues so my goals were to a) reduce her phosphorus intake and b) eliminate some ingredients, like grains and fish, that I suspected might be causing her IBD symptoms. Fortunately, she really took to Weruva! I think the best thing is to try feeding a lot of different kinds of food, not all at once, but every now and then to start, though, as fionasmom fionasmom says, that can be an expensive endeavor. If one of your goals is to reduce phosphorus, I'd recommend using the food chart on catinfo.org as a guideline.

We feed our cats lots of different kinds of food, including about one cat each of FF Classic Pate and FF Naturals chicken a week. They only eat one canned meal a day but get very picky about those cans so it's good to have FF in the rotation as a sure thing. Their other foods (homecooked and commercial raw) are all fairly low in phosphorus so what's in the FF doesn't worry me too much, particularly because the cats get plenty of water in their various foods.

What's the bisque food? I have a newly toothless cat that may want a more lickable texture. She's also got IBD so I don't have my hopes up here. Usually smooth cat foods use xanthan gum and that runs right through my Krista. Mousse texture in, mousse texture out. :(
I know this isn't what you were asking -- though I suspect the bisque might be Caru, which I remember others saying their cats loved -- about but wanted to say that I accidentally made bisque for our cats today by adding way too much water to their cooked pork chop (which was chopped fairly fine in the mini-processor) EZ Complete food! Best of all, the cats loved it. EZ food comes out with a particularly smooth gravy (I add cooked egg yolk to it) but I'm sure Alnutrin could make something similar. (I don't remember what you might be making for homemade these days, sorry!)
 

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Trying not to make homemade until dentist gives me all clear on her RME (remaining mouth extraction 🙊😹 after several dentists and several extractions I wanted this to be the last dental procedure she’d ever need.)

But I also really want her eating her Rawz again so that I’m not totally on the hook for homemade. Which is currently building on Lisa P’s recipe (I think) with individual supplements and fussy cat substitutions.

At this point with her, I can’t tell if it’s still mouth (shouldn’t be) or gut. Or maybe memory of pain that’s still holding her back. 😿
 

jen

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Just want to ask... what is considered to be a normal/acceptable phosphorus level for a regular healthy cat? Just curious and have been thinking more about this lately.
 

MycatBrutus

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My cat who used to eat nothing but awful dry food (kit n kaboodle) for 10 years, has recently been eating some Fancy Feast (one can of that in the morning) but then she gets the healthy Wellness Core chicken, turkey and turkey liver grain free in the evening. She eats it as well as Fancy Feast.

 
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KittyCatCove

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Thanks for the replies guys!

I guess it's going to have to be a process of elimination. Like you guys have already said, it will probably cost a fortune to do it this way, but I really don't see any other way.

I just started the wet food trials this week... so far I tried: Wellness, Royal C and Hills, but my Patches doesn't like any of them.

I am not a vet or professional cat disease expert, but IMO, I personally believe FF causes CKD (and a few other issues) in cats.
 

lisahe

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Just want to ask... what is considered to be a normal/acceptable phosphorus level for a regular healthy cat? Just curious and have been thinking more about this lately.
I wonder about this, too... our cats were young (one or two) when I asked the vet about it and she said not to worry about it, given their age. (And then she said something about feeding them lots of meaty wet food!) I think it's less of a concern if cats are eating all wet diets through I do keep their phosphorus for their commercial foods within a moderate range (less than around 1.5% dry matter). At least on average: Fancy Feast, for example, is higher but Weruva is lower and they get more foods with lower levels than with higher levels. I just looked on Catinfo.org and it seems like Dr. P. recommends keeping food in or below that 1.5% DM range. I probably got that from her!

All that said, I should ask our vet about this next year when we bring the cats for their annual exam.
 

Azazel

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Just want to ask... what is considered to be a normal/acceptable phosphorus level for a regular healthy cat? Just curious and have been thinking more about this lately.
According to the AAFCO, which most vets will cite, the minimum amount of phosphorus in adult cat food should be .50 (dmb). I have had conversations about phosphorus with my vet who has a pretty good understanding of feline nutrition. She believes that most pet foods have far too much phosphorus in them. When I make my raw cat food I try to keep it around .80 for adults, this is without bone though. I think if you add bone you’ll be closer to around 1.00 or higher.
 

lisahe

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I have had conversations about phosphorus with my vet who has a pretty good understanding of feline nutrition. She believes that most pet foods have far too much phosphorus in them.
That's very interesting, Azazel! And it makes me all the more curious to revisit the phosphorus question with our vet next year. I'm pretty sure our cats are also getting pretty low (overall) phosphorus thanks to all the boneless homemade food they're eating but I do think about this. And I do know our vet really dislikes foods like Friskies and Fancy Feast (particularly for older cats) because of the phosphorus. (I suspect she also sees a lot of cats whose only supplements to dry food are Friskies and Fancy Feast... unfortunately, that's how we used to feed our previous cat and I don't think that's unusual.)

KittyCatCove KittyCatCove , I know Azazel already posted a link to Dr. Pierson's food charts that list phosphorus but just want to add that it's worth checking every food there. There was one that we were feeding -- Koha duck stew -- that our cats loved but the phosphorus turned out to be very high (647 mg/100 calories), considerably higher than for, say, typical Fancy Feast Classics. I don't know why it's so high (maybe the duck includes a lot of bone? maybe there was a data error? who knows!) but I took it out of the rotation. I didn't contact the company -- when in doubt, check with the manufacturer -- but would if I were going to consider bringing it back.
 

nwc

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Huh. I always heard that the classic FF chicken/turkey pates were good. Are the phosphorous concerns only for the fish flavors, or all of them?
 
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KittyCatCove

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That's very interesting, Azazel! And it makes me all the more curious to revisit the phosphorus question with our vet next year. I'm pretty sure our cats are also getting pretty low (overall) phosphorus thanks to all the boneless homemade food they're eating but I do think about this. And I do know our vet really dislikes foods like Friskies and Fancy Feast (particularly for older cats) because of the phosphorus. (I suspect she also sees a lot of cats whose only supplements to dry food are Friskies and Fancy Feast... unfortunately, that's how we used to feed our previous cat and I don't think that's unusual.)

KittyCatCove KittyCatCove , I know Azazel already posted a link to Dr. Pierson's food charts that list phosphorus but just want to add that it's worth checking every food there. There was one that we were feeding -- Koha duck stew -- that our cats loved but the phosphorus turned out to be very high (647 mg/100 calories), considerably higher than for, say, typical Fancy Feast Classics. I don't know why it's so high (maybe the duck includes a lot of bone? maybe there was a data error? who knows!) but I took it out of the rotation. I didn't contact the company -- when in doubt, check with the manufacturer -- but would if I were going to consider bringing it back.
Thanks for the reply Lisahe. One can go crazy try to get their cat off FF. I should've never started feeding them FF in the first place. I feel the FF put my cat Buddy (RIP) over the edge and accelerated his CKD. I feel horrible about that because his death was basically due to my own ignorance. After that ordeal, I have become much more astute and aware about feline nutrition.

I typically feed my 2 (FF addicted) girls the "grilled" flavors. However, a funny thing has been happening lately... my Patches now only licks the gravy out and leaves the solid pieces of food in the bowl. She has been eating more of her Hills Science diet dry food, which makes me feel a bit better. I've noticed her water intake as also increased, which makes sense since she's eating more dry food now.
 

lisahe

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Thanks for the reply Lisahe. One can go crazy try to get their cat off FF. I should've never started feeding them FF in the first place. I feel the FF put my cat Buddy (RIP) over the edge and accelerated his CKD. I feel horrible about that because his death was basically due to my own ignorance. After that ordeal, I have become much more astute and aware about feline nutrition.

I typically feed my 2 (FF addicted) girls the "grilled" flavors. However, a funny thing has been happening lately... my Patches now only licks the gravy out and leaves the solid pieces of food in the bowl. She has been eating more of her Hills Science diet dry food, which makes me feel a bit better. I've noticed her water intake as also increased, which makes sense since she's eating more dry food now.
Yes, I think a lot of us learn about feline nutrition and what's in cat foods after the death of a cat who's eaten inappropriate food for a lifetime. We fed our previous cat a steady diet of suboptimal dry food plus a can a day of some sort of Fancy Feast (some fish Classics, other Medleys, a few meat-based Classics). It was digestive issues that got her, though she had early CKD (plus thyroid disease), too. I still feel terrible about her illness, too, because I just didn't know better and the vet clinic we used and the Internet weren't much help at the time.

The only FF foods I'll feed the cats we have now are certain Classics (not fish-based, without sodium nitrite) and Naturals. The phosphorus is high but, as I think I mentioned before, most of the cats' other foods are pretty low in phosphorus, plus they're getting plenty of water in their diet, which is probably at least as important. I don't feed them anything but those FFs -- nothing grilled, no gravy lovers, etc. -- because of the wheat gluten that raises the carbs and just isn't processed well by cats in the first place. Even if I don't like all the chemicals in those foods, they're minimized in the cats' diet and the foods are very meaty, which is more than you can say for lots of more expensive foods, many of which have peas, potatoes, and stuff like lentils or chickpeas added. Those things just don't belong in a cats' diet.

Have you already read Dr. Pierson's Catinfo.org site? That's where I first started learning about how to feed cats and it's still my favorite reference site.
 
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