Is Friskies an okay food?

[wertzso]

Thank you all for the advice. I will finish him up on the Fancy Feast and will buy him the better food from then on out.

Between the Royal Canin, Taste of the Wild, and Science Diet which would you all say is the better brand of dry and wet foods?

Also, should I feed him both wet and dry foods or should I just give him wet? I've had a lot of people say that dry food isn't good for cats and can lead to kidney failure later on due to the lack of moisture in it (and cats get most of their water intake from their food). Do kittens need more wet food than dry food? I just want to do what's best for him, and he's my first pet that I've had to take care of by myself so I'm all new to this. It's a bit overwhelming at first

 

[starfar]

I bought Dobby a bag of Nature's Variety grain free dry and our first vet basically told me to throw it out she was one of the purists that believe ANY dry food = unnecessary carbs. I didn't even have to grapple with the idea because Dobby won't have anything to do with dry, even mixed with wet!

I've stuck with the dreadfully expensive Nature's Variety wet only and she absolutely loves it.. I have no idea what consistency her poo is ( I hear sphynx are known for pudding poo ..ew) but she goes regularly and is thriving. My only qualm is the god awful smell of her poo. And apparently only raw will fix that!!

 

[lucylue]

Thank you all for the advice. I will finish him up on the Fancy Feast and will buy him the better food from then on out.

Between the Royal Canin, Taste of the Wild, and Science Diet which would you all say is the better brand of dry and wet foods?

Also, should I feed him both wet and dry foods or should I just give him wet? I've had a lot of people say that dry food isn't good for cats and can lead to kidney failure later on due to the lack of moisture in it (and cats get most of their water intake from their food). Do kittens need more wet food than dry food? I just want to do what's best for him, and he's my first pet that I've had to take care of by myself so I'm all new to this. It's a bit overwhelming at first

Mine does not do dry and I feed wet 4 times a day. She is doing awesome.

 

[Archaicertes]

I give Friskies as an occasional treat.

FYI: vets have little pet nutrition training. They are likely to recommend the diets that fund education programs and pay them to promote them.

Another FYI: your own doctor likely has little nutrition training too.

My last cat was on Hill's Diet for a urinary track issue (likely caused by the cheap cat food we could afford). The first version of that diet made most cats obese. Version 2 was a weight control that never worked. He always seemed hungry. Now I try to feed my cats grain-free with no meat by-products or too many ingredients that just don't sound natural for a cat.

When my one cat had worms, a vet wasted my time and prolonged his discomfort for months by pressing that it was a food allergy and got me to try one of their diets because I wasn't feeding them the food they accept. They also tried to recommend a diet to clean his teeth, but my boyfriend in Pharmacy training said there wasn't anything in the food that cleans teeth.

 

[Lindsay]

Friskies and other grocery store brands contain a ton of fillers and are less nutritionally beneficial for your kitty. You end up needing to feed more or end up with a cat that can develop skin problems or have more issues with runny poop, stomach aches, and lots of other digestive and tummy issues. Not to mention it seems like Sphynxes already can have sensitive tummies and if your kitty was eating Royal canin before, a really good brand of food and then you switch him to something not as good he could really have a bad reaction to it.

I know it can seem expensive but you have to try to do what is best for your kitty. I feed my cats Taste of the wild and it costs me about 24$ for a medium sized bag of food (I believe its the 15 lb. bag) and it lasts us quite a long time with 2 cats. Tsume (our siamese) only eats 1/2 cup a day and Akasha the sphynx eats roughly 1/2 cup a day as well. I've had no sensitive tummy issues, no poop problems, and my cats love it!

I also don't think you should give the kitten anything except for cat food unless you do extensive research into a cat's diet. Not saying that to be mean but some human foods can have extremely negative affects on a cat's system. Unless you are feeding raw and have knowledge of how to properly do so I would only feed a grain free dry food and wet food.

In the long run what you spend towards a higher quality diet will save you vet bills in the future.

I have more experience with dog nutrition then I do with cats but its the same basic idea. With my dogs most of them started off eating icky garbage food and you could tell! Their coats were not as shiny and healthy, they had greasy fur, bad gas, icky poops, and 2 of my dogs have food allergies! Once we switched them to a high quality grain free it was shocking how much better they did! Their coats looked better after only 2 1/2 weeks, their poops are much much better, they have no bad gas and they maintain weight better. They also do not eat as much of the grain free as they do the icky brand because the grain free has more nutritional value so they end up eating less because they are more full.

\This Statement above is so so True. When I got Romeo the breeder was feeding him Friskies along with his parents and siblings. Which caused a few trips to the vet which we are still doing from G.I. tract infection from it along with a SUPER SENSITIVE TUMMY from Frishies. If I did not have insurance on him I would have already racked up at least around $1000 in vet bills by now. Friskies is the worst food you can feed your cat. I feed Science Diet Kitten to my kitten. I feed both Wet and Dry to Balance out his diet and satisfy his Palate. Romeo is now permanently on Probiotics due to the Super sensitive Tummy that Friskies caused along with the G.I. tract infection. For your cats health, well being, and lifespan the High grade cat foods is well worth the money. The medications from his G.I. tract infection have costed me $111 to this day being that I just had to get get him a weeks worth of Fortiflora Probiotic sachets for him.

 

[lapril]

What are some opinions on Blue Buffalo Grain Free (both wet and dry)?
I go back and forth between that and royal canin

 

[Pookerville]

We switched Gretta to the Royal Canin Sensitive Stomach and it has made a WORLD of difference! Firmer poops and much less stinky. It cost a bit more, but it is worth it.

 

[Graddydani]

Royal Canin i'd say but we all have our preferences.

 

[Frankiesmum]

My guys eat Royal Canin Active Fit 32, and I give them a spoonful of tuna (water packed, drained, then flaked) on top of their kibble every morning. They had been eating Royal Canin at the breeder's, and she's been a sphynx breeder for 20 years and said RC was the best she's tried with her cats. I live in France though, and there aren't nearly as many kinds of cat food here at the pet stores as back in North America. A 4kg bag of RC costs 35€ ($45 USD) and it lasts me 3-4 weeks.

As I mentioned in my latest article that I posted up on Catster.com, owning 2 sphynx cats was more costly than I had thought, but if it means me going without something (new shoes or make up or a night out) so that I can buy them what's best, I don't hesitate And I agree with all the other posters who said that it's worth buying good quality food which will (hopefully!) result in fewer trips to the vet for stomach troubles or illnesses throughout your cat's life!

Good luck

Hi. I wonder if you can order online from Zooplus for delivery to your area of France, Skinnymini? You can get all the US/Canadian cereal free food like Taste of the Wild and Origen, and also some high quality German cereal free food from them - they are a German company but they deliver (usually free) in UK, so maybe France as well?

 

[wertzso]

Just wanted to give everyone an update. My baby boy finished up his Royal Canin food and I immediately switched him to Orijen. It's a grain free dry food out of Canada. A local pet store recommended it to me, and upon researching it, I couldn't find any negative feedback on them He is doing very well on it so far.

 

[KacyAnne]

Mim gets Royal Canin kitten instinctive wet food and Blue Buffalo Wilderness dry. We have never had a problem with it and Mim always has healthy, solid poops. I would really be concerned with your baby's stomach and digestion - a lot of sphynx kitties are pretty sensitive and you could end up with some pretty gnarly bathroom situations. A lower quality food could cause lots more trouble and money down the road. Just make sure you buy the absolute best you can afford, with your baby's best interest in mind. There are so many options out there to research, I remember literally searching for weeks. I narrowed it down to Blue Buffalo and Taste of the Wild: both good foods.

 

[KacyAnne]

And be careful to switch foods gradually so his stomach doesn't get upset and he can get adjusted. Good luck!

 

[Loki2012]

We had our baby on friskies for exactly 3 days. If we hadn't switched to grain free we wouldn't have been able to live in the house with him! Seriously his poo could melt the paint!

However after switching to grain free, no more "room-clearing" #2's.

 

[VenturaGuy]

In a pinch if you need to go with a store wet food make sure it has no gravy. Its extremely high in gluten it can clog a cats intestines.
Also its simple- feeding a cat store brand is like you eating Mc Donalds every day.

 

[Embracing-Joyx4]

I am new here and soon to pick up my baby male...all I can say is you should feed the best food you can afford and definitely wet also best meaning no by products. If you wouldn't feed it to kids (by products, fillers, dyes etc) don't feed it to a sphynx . We are going with a "product with which I will not say is the best but the first ingredient is Meat that is most important dry or wet. Just happens that my breeder recommended something that she feeds which is also what I had painstakingly research and he is doing great so far. I have three fur kiddos and I really always hated wet food. But getting a sphynx has made me re-evaluate the benefits especially to males. I have two fur males and those two wont touch wet, so I feed them good dry food first ingredient is meat meat meat.
Oddly my female just took to wet food and eats it she doesn't eat a lot of kibble and I introduced the wet to see if she will lose weight and for over all health now that I know the benefits. I also invested in a drinking fountain. I went to my breeders house and she has a dozen of her own feline & sphynx and babies they All were beautiful skin, eyes clear so iam sticking to what she feeds. Just do your research...cheap food they eat more of....kinda like kids like spagettios and junk like that. Good food fills them and keeps them satiated longer therefore they eat less so the food last longer way longer. I spent $25-28 on a new bag of food I got at petsmart in feburary and I still have it feeding 3 indoor cats and one stray that comes around. So they eat about half of what they were eating. Hope this helps