Fancy Feast

The devil makes cat food.

At least, I'm pretty sure he does. Everyday I go to work (I work at a pet-store, you can see my rants here, here, here, and here, something invariably winds up getting my panties into a twist.

One thing that really...REALLY bothers me is Fancy Feast canned cat food. Not only do I have to re-arrange the ENTIRE wall of Fancy Feast (what, you thought those cans re-arranged themselves? PFT all me kiddies...all me), but I have to explain the difference between marinated morsels and chunky. Grilled and roasted. Flaked and sliced. Gourmet and minced. They even have an Elegant Medleys line, with countless more varieties.

You get the drift.

Why the hell do we need all these options? I understand that cats like variety. But DAMN.

My biggest beef with Fancy Feast, however, is not the amount of options available to the consumer. No, that's not my issue at all - people love their pets, and they want to have as many options as possible to help care for them. See? I get it.

No world, my biggest problem with Fancy Feast is that IT'S HORRIBLE FOR YOUR CAT.

The majority of Fancy Feast products list some sort of by-product in the top five ingredients, which is a definate no-no. More on that later, though.

I'd say that the most condemning aspect of the food is that it doesn't offer a complete and nutritionally sound diet for cats. It's really high in calories (which means your precious Fluffy may be prone to weight gain), and what you're really paying for is water - since water makes up a good percentage of the content. Cats are carnivores people. They need meat. Lots of protein. That means lots of meat. And those meat by-products I mentioned earlier?

Urk. By-product, in case you didn't know, are the leftovers of the meat industry. Fancy Feast will usually list these as "meat by-products." Personally, I'd like to know what type of meat my cat is getting. If it's listed as "poultry by-products" you could, theorhetically, be feeding your cat pigeon beaks. Or seagull feet. Doesn't that sound yummy? By-products are the hooves, intestines, stomaches, bones, ears, blood, etc. that are left-over from the meat-producing industry. Slaughter-house crap that no one else will touch, basically.

All in all, it's not the most horrible food that's offered on the market, and it's great for people who have cats that are spoiled silly and have a holier than thou attitude are a bit picky. It's also great for people who have cats that need to gain weight.

My recommendation? Use it as a topper on some dry food for kitty, if you have to. Dry food is also usually cheaper than wet food, on a monthly basis. I usually only spend about thirteen dollars a month on my cat food, and that's for the ultra-premium dry food. You'll also see a turd decrease - because it usually doesn't have as many fillers in it, a good quality dry food will usually produce less fecal matter because more of it is being absorbed by the cat's intestinal tract.

And who doesn't like scooping less?

Beware of any brightly-colored dry (and wet) foods though - they've usually got high amounts of food dye, and those can be bad for Fluffy.

Fancy Feast, unfortunately, fails in the dry-food category as well. Brewer's rice is the number one ingredient - that's leftover rice from the beer industry, in case you were wondering. Also, it's rice. You're feeding rice to your carnivore.

The point is, ALWAYS check your ingredients. You might be surprised at what you find - that shrimp feast you bought kitty may not even have shrimp in the top five ingredients (the ingredient list is sorted by weight).

I really like these foods, rather than Fancy Feast:

My top three dry foods (the wet foods in all three are pretty spiffy too, if you absolutely insist on wet food):

Wellness Core - Really awesome food. Jacked-up price though - be prepared to pay out the nose for this one. With a protein anaylsis of 50%, Core has one of the highest protein analysis that I've seen in cat food (excluding raw diets), and it's completely grain-free. All of the ingredients used are top-notch, however the steep price tag associated with it tends to put people off. We retail it for 11 dollars for a 2 lb. bag.

Innova Evo - We don't sell this food at my store, but I've heard good things about it. Visiting the website only solidified my opinion even further, and vetrinarians and consumers alike seem to love it. This one also features a 50% protein analysis. It's also grain-free, but also carries a hefty price tag.

Solid Gold Indigo Moon - This food has a 46% protein analysis, which puts it at the higher end of the spectrum. On the website it says that it's $10.89 per 4 lb. bag ($31.69 for a 15lb bag), but at our store it retails for 12.99 a bag, so be prepared for that (then again, I've been told our store is quite pricey). And notice...no by-products. My only beef with it is the kibble size - extremely small. So be warned about that. Out of the three, this one is the most economically friendly.

Bottom line? Even if you can't afford my top three (I'm a bit of a food snob, even when it comes to my animals, and I will fully admit it), make sure to read the ingredient list.

Look at the analysis on the back of the bag. Look at the ingredients. Some sort of recognizable meat should be the first ingredient. Stay away from too many fillers. And, if you feel like you're completely clueless, ask the sales associate - we're there to help you find the right food for you, not try to swindle you into buying the most expensive food on the market.

:) Have a nice day!