# Are there any decent healthy-ingredient Fancy Feast flavors?



## Jenlee (Mar 21, 2008)

I thought I read before that some flavors were not that bad, but I searched and could not find it. Sorry if I missed it. Right now, this is the only brand that my "dry-food addict" will eat on a consistent basis. 

Thanks in advance,
 Jennie


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

I feel your pain, that's the only food I can get Cinderella to eat also. I know there were three that someone listed that were the "least worst" One of them is my diva's favorite: Flaked Fish & Shrimp Feast. I'm not sure what the other two were, but maybe someone else will remember.


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## Jet Green (Nov 28, 2005)

There are several flavors that are grain-free, although some of them have meat by-products as the first ingredient and/or contain fish. (In the Fancy Feast world, that's as good as it gets.)

The flavors I know of are: 
- Tender Beef Feast
- Gourmet Chicken Feast
- Turkey & Giblets
- Liver & Chicken
- Beef & Liver
- Beef & Chicken

Several of the seafood flavors are also grain-free, but I don't buy usually them so I don't know which ones. Basically, stay away from the ones that are labeled chopped, grilled, minced, marinated, chunky, elegant medleys, or whatever. Just go for the basic "gourmet" loaf variety.

Hope this helps.


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## Stryker (Apr 2, 2007)

> Are there any decent healthy-ingredient Fancy Feast flavors?


YES, *you'll find them listed here*.

For heavens sake, don't beat yourself up over feeding Fancy Feast. It is a staple for many cats, and they thrive on it. I wish all the people who carry on about "by-products" would just take a moment and consider how they would describe "mouse" or "rat".......yet, if we could feed mouse and rat, my bet is you would see 75% fewer posts in this Health & Nutrition section!


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Thanks for the list. There _are_ quite a few of us who feed our kitties Fancy Feast and it does get a little old being told how horrible it is.

My vet said any wet food is better than dry, and the best wet food sometimes turns out to be what your cat will actually _eat_.


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## Jenlee (Mar 21, 2008)

Thank you for the list. I am off to shop now!

Jennie


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## moggiegirl (May 15, 2005)

The loaf style Fancy Feast cans are the ones to go with. They have a short ingredient list that is meat based and have no glutens or gravy or rice. Read the label just to be safe. 

Of course there are better quality canned foods but a cat is far better off eating Fancy Feast canned than any dry food, no matter how premium. I think the artificial flavorings in Fancy Feast are very appealing to cats, that's why it has a reputation for being "kitty crack" but it's not the kitty crack that dry food is. And Fancy Feast canned should be considered for all cats refusing to eat any other wet food and for sick cats that have a reduced appetite. 

Premium brands of canned like Natural Balance are great I think for healthy cats but there are certain cats, such as diabetic cats that cannot eat a lot of the brands that are considered high quality because of the addition of rice, fruit and veggies which are also unnecessary fillers for healthy cats. I would like to see more companies make high quality canned foods that do not contain rice, fruit and unnecessary veggies, that have the same nutrient profile as the Fancy Feast but with high quality meats and no artificial flavorings and colorings. The only brand I know of that is like that is By Nature Organics and my cats hated it.

Someone at a cat show once said that the best cat food is useless if the cat won't eat it so I agree that if Fancy Feast is the only wet food your cat will eat you should not beat yourself up. 

I tend to give my cats a variety of wet foods, lots of high end brands, but I also give the occasional treat can of Fancy Feast, to balance out other brands like the high carb Natural Balance. Wellness is a great brand but I tend to question how healthy those sugar filled blueberries and cranberries are for my cats. My opinion is that no commercial cat food is perfect and all commercial pet food is flawed one way or another so variety is the spice of life. The best cat food I feed my cats is a raw diet called Felines Pride but it's so expensive that I don't feed it exclusively but in combination with a wide variety of wet foods. I discontinued dry and don't feed any kibble except the occasional greenies.

You can buy the occasional one can of another brand every now and then to see if your cat will eat it while you're feeding Fancy Feast.


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## talullah (May 25, 2008)

This is SO helpful. Thank you guys for the information!


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## Jenlee (Mar 21, 2008)

Does anyone actually know what percentage carbs the Natural Balance Pea & Duck can has? I called Natural Balance and was told it was 5.9%, which I thought was great. Was I given the wrong info?

How do you figure the carbs by subtracting protein, fiber, & moisture from 100?

Thanks,
Jennie


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## Fran (Jan 9, 2008)

Hi there! A while back, I found this great website ("Binky's Page") which was actually about feline diabetes but had some terrific data on canned and dry food nutritional content. I thought it was interesting so I bookmarked it. I think they include Natural Balance in there - although I am not sure if it is one of the regular flavors or the Duck and Pea. I hope this is a start... 

http://www.geocities.com/jmpeerson/index.html main page, plus two other links:

http://www.geocities.com/jmpeerson/dryfood.html

http://www.geocities.com/jmpeerson/canfood.html

 Fran


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## Stryker (Apr 2, 2007)

Jenlee said:


> ...How do you figure the carbs by subtracting protein, fiber, & moisture from 100?


Dr. Lisa Pierson, who is well known in the field of feline nutrition explains it *in this piece*.

Be prepared to do a little work...as she says, it can give you a headache!

Some of her other material is available on *her website* (of which the above section is one part). It is really a must-read for anyone who wants to understand what cats must eat and why...and is much easier reading than the carb section!


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## melysion (Mar 12, 2007)

Maybe a little OT but I sometimes wonder if people tend to over analyse the whole 'what to feed my cat' aspect. I try to feed my cat the best quality food I can and I'm a great believer in raw being the optimum diet but it worth noting that many, many cats have thrived on 'lesser' quality foods and live to a ripe old age.


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## ~Siameseifuplz~ (May 6, 2007)

> I wish all the people who carry on about "by-products" would just take a moment and consider how they would describe "mouse" or "rat"


Yes that's true but the problem is that by products are everything EXCEPT meat so if your food has mainly by products there is very little meat in the food. Also it is not consistent make up to the by products. In one can the by products are mainly bones and the next bag has very few bones in the by products, just very inconsistent.

But there is a lot worse out there, try and go for one of the grain free ones.


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## Jet Green (Nov 28, 2005)

~Siameseifuplz~ said:


> the problem is that by products are everything EXCEPT meat so if your food has mainly by products there is very little meat in the food.


Agreed. Since my cats will pretty much only eat Fancy Feast, I supplement a bit by giving them chicken baby food as a treat. I feel better knowing they're getting a little extra muscle meat protein.

This has already been said a couple of different ways, but as my husband put it after watching me rinse bowl after bowl of rejected premium cat food down the drain, "You know, it's not actually healthier for them if they aren't eating it." :?


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## melysion (Mar 12, 2007)

~Siameseifuplz~ said:


> the problem is that by products are everything EXCEPT meat so if your food has mainly by products there is very little meat in the food.


Arent at least some of the 'by products' offal? That *is *meat (although not muscle meat) and therefore an important part of the cats diet.

Of course one cannot assess the quality of the by products - but then one cant really assess the quality of the muscle meat either IMHO. I fear much of the muscle meat is pretty low in quality, even for the premium brands.


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## Jet Green (Nov 28, 2005)

melysion said:


> Arent at least some of the 'by products' offal? That *is *meat (although not muscle meat) and therefore an important part of the cats diet.


Going by the smell and taste* of Fancy Feast, I'd guess it's _mostly _offal. Liver seems to figure prominently in the flavor names and ingredient lists. (Maybe that's the secret ingredient that makes it so addictive? ) 

I know they're supposed to get some organ meat, but I think I've read that too much is bad for them, although I don't remember why.

------
* Yes, I grabbed the wrong fork one day and licked it before I realized. Ewww.


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## melysion (Mar 12, 2007)

I think that too much liver can be bad for them, but not sure why. It might be due to high levels of Vit K but don't quote me on that. I'm definitely no expert!! But hearts are very good for cats (from what I read) due to the high level of taurine.


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## noludoru (Jun 19, 2008)

My problem with meat by-products is that they can contain 4-D animals and other unspecified crap, so I wont feed a commercial brand that has them in it. I certainly don't mind if they eat random body parts from animals as long as I have checked the meat out and I'm sure it's safe.

And I just want to add, I am NOT bashing anyone who feeds fancy feast or a food with by-products in it.. you all clearly care about your cats a great deal, and we all have our reasons for feeding what we feed, and some of us have finnicky cats!


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## Jet Green (Nov 28, 2005)

What are the four D's again? Dying, diseased, deformed...I've forgotten. I wouldn't feed those to my cats deliberately, of course, and I'm sure no one would. But like you said, lots of us have finicky cats, and as far as mine are concerned, all the D's stand for Delicious! :lol:

(Sorry, I've had a rough week and am finding humor in strange places. :twisted


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## noludoru (Jun 19, 2008)

Disabled, diseased, dead, or dying. Probably not in that order. Then again it's like 1am here and I could be wrong.

And you're definitely right about the delicious bit... fancy feast really was "kitty crack" for my cats when they were on it. My vet screamed at me for putting them on it, when I didn't know a thing about nutrition back then. And now is pushing Science Diet. :roll: Fancy Feast, IMO, is an upgrade from Science Diet, and I'd feed it any day over SD.


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## moggiegirl (May 15, 2005)

noludoru said:


> Disabled, diseased, dead, or dying. Probably not in that order. Then again it's like 1am here and I could be wrong.
> 
> And you're definitely right about the delicious bit... fancy feast really was "kitty crack" for my cats when they were on it. My vet screamed at me for putting them on it, when I didn't know a thing about nutrition back then. And now is pushing Science Diet. :roll: Fancy Feast, IMO, is an upgrade from Science Diet, and I'd feed it any day over SD.


You're right because the canned science diet has grain fillers that Fancy Feast loaf style does not have. I've even seen corn meal in some of the canned Science Diet.


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## Katmann (Jul 1, 2008)

*Thanks for the list of best FF flavors of canned cat food*

Thanks to the two posters who posted the best (healthiest) FF flavors, the list will be a big help in getting our rescued Maine **** back in good health.


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## ziggystyles (Jun 21, 2005)

Im trying to remember how it was phrased one time. A while back I heard or read a comment about pet food and the process the meat goes through. Even though the meat can be top quality, the FDA or whomever doesn't grade the quality of meat that is destined for pets. Basically they were saying that the meat could be perfect for a human to eat, but since it goes to pets, it wouldn't be graded or something. 

Either way, I think it would be great to start up a cat food company making canned pet food under strict quality requirements. If you were able to label and prove its quality and origins of meat and such, i think it would be a tremendous success. Hmm, while cat food isn't for humans to eat, I wonder if it could be labeled Kosher? That there usually is a sign of strict requirements and standards for the processing of the meat. 

Just imagine the advertising potential, you could show other brands that have mystery meat, fillers....etc, and then your product which is "100% beef rib meat" or whatever.


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## mstx (Mar 4, 2008)

What about the melody flavors? Which ones are okay to feed my cats? I feed them the Gormet Chicken now but Munchkin really likes the Melody too for a snack now and then....


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