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Is Friskies OK?

For the past couple of months I have been feeding my cat dry food until recently I discovered a dry food diet is not the healthiest for cats. Now I am giving him a mix of dry food and canned food because he won't eat much of the canned food by itself. In fact, he eats mostly the juices. I was wondering if Friskies is as good as they make a big stink about. Now I am a college student, living alone so I can't afford to put him on organic or homemade catfood. Nor I can really afford to buy canned food that is like $1.00 per can. If Friskies isn't the best, what is pretty good that is very affordable?
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Avatar universal
I do not know the answer:  I have been feeding my 4 cats dry cat food and wet can friskies  for a long time.  I am concerned that friskies may cause urinary problems.  I give a urinary supplement in liquid form to my cats every day.  That my be why, they have not had any urinary problems with Friskies can cat food.  I also feed them Purina wet can food in 3 oz cans.   I have to stretch the wet cat foods.  I have 4 cats.  3 males and one  female.  All my cats have the herpes virus.  The female seems to tolerate the herpes virus better.  The female is 4 years old. Where the males are 2 years old, 14 years old and  16 years old.  One male cat has chronic diarrhea.  Reallly stinks, and it is watery.  I have tried many home remedies.  None seem to work.  I had the 14 year old cat with the dairrhea  on anti Diarrhea liquid med for 10 days.  on half teaspoon  every 12 hours.  This is just over the counter pet stuff.  The stuff started working on the 7th day.  He got hard stools.    I stopped the stuff after 10 days, and on the 12 day, his diarrhea returned.  Stinking and messy as before. My 14 year old cat has had this diarrhea for months.  I have 4 fountains  around my apartment.  So my cats, get flowing water all hours of the day.
I am so tired of the stink of the diarrhea .  He squats and  squirts from his bowels.  I know he is miserable with it.  He does not cover it up.  So the smell is worse for me.
Soon as I smell the feces, I  get out of bed and remove it from the litter box.  My other 3 cats have hard stools.  
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I found my cat -his name is cat- on our back porch last february. We aren't the most wealthy family, so we just bought the cheap stuff. His teeth must've been filed down so he never eats dry food. Cat eats all canned food, mostly from the brand friskies. Its november now and Cat has THE softest and shiniest fur. Part of him is black and black cats are often shiny, but he seems like mostly healthy cat. I hear that the nicer a cat's fur the healthier the cat, but I'm not a vet so I don't really know. I hope it is so it doesn't mean I've been feeding my cat crap for the past 7 months.
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1 Comments
I feed my cats Friskies canned and they are quite healthy, even Miss Teia (who will be 18 next months) has a nice, shiny coat and no problems beyond those one expects with a senior kitty.
874521 tn?1424116797
here is another great article from a very trusted Vet with lots of knowledge regarding pet foods...

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/01/02/veterinary-nutritionists-favor-commercial-food.aspx?e_cid=20130102_PetsNL_art_1
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874521 tn?1424116797
I will include a site you can read to get facts on what to feed...this Vet has done extensive research into commercial foods, if you follow all her links in BLUE within her article also on the right side of her page you will find what products are recommended for best nutritional content.

she does NOT recommend dry foods of ANY source, whether it be the expensive ones sold in  Veterinary clinics or the cheap grocery store brands...

she does say even the 'cheapest' can food is far better than the most 'expensive' dry kibble...

read all her write up and follow the links for tons of info...

http://www.catinfo.org/
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Avatar universal
Friskies, I mean. 3 different veterinarians have recommended this brand to me for various reasons and my sister, a vet tech, this is all she gives her cat and she additionally (person #4) has recommended.

I am interested in the facts. I mean an individual has posted what food is best to feed her cat within her means, and it would be wrong to answer based on opinion when she is looking for factual information.
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Avatar universal
why is this the worst possible food. it is very often recommended by veterinarians, so I'm wondering your source?
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874521 tn?1424116797
hi Miniar and welcome, thanks for the great post...you are so right about the need to research pet foods. I don't know if you have ever read the site by Dr Pierson DVM? I will include a link. Dr. Pierson's site has very good detailed information....she does state that even the worse can food on the market is better than any dry food...mainly due to the preservatives and high carb content.
I would recommend this site to all cat owners out there who are confused about what to feed..
www.catinfo.org
also www.catnutrition.org

good reading♥
Helpful - 0
2010074 tn?1328098735
Not all dried food is the same,
Most of what you can get from the grocery store is utter rubbish, and most of the cans from 'round there contain more of the same, with excessive levels of salt and other additives.

I have an overweight old cat ('round 12 years old) and I've gone through this and that brand trying to find what works best for her and this means a LOT of googling, a LOT! (Not that I minded, I was already googling 'bout dog-food for our puppy and I have the sort of mind that's pretty much geared for this.)

What I found out is that most of the whole dry food v.s. not-dry-food seems to revolve around comparing fresh meat and fish to the grocery store dry-food, the worst option for a cat that money can buy, however cheaply.
I also found, surprisingly enough, that many of the most celebrated cat foods, things like Eukaneba, was not really much better than a box of whiskas, nutritionally speaking, it seems they're just really good at marketing themselves.

Long story short, I ended up getting an utterly huge bag of Orijen for Mús (pronounced moose, means mouse, so kitty's a 3-in-1 pet). It's pricy, yes, but the bag's lasted... oh... 'bout 3 months now, cause Mús doesn't eat as much (which was a part of the problem with her), seems far more satisfied generally, is far more active than she was with Eukaneba or Leonardo or other "special fat-cat food" from brands I would only find at the vet's office, and she seems to feel better, all round.
I think the primary difference is that Orijen is very high protein. In fact it's pretty much "protein based" nutrition, and that makes perfect sense, cat's are carnivores after all and there's no reason to feed them anything corn based what so ever, and most dry cat foods, 'specially from the groceryshops, contain an awful lot of corn.

Now, of course, the best you "can" feed a cat is just meat and fish and give 'em access to a tray of cat-grass, but I know that's nowhere near an option for everyone, but instead of reading the "best food ever" statements given on the front of most cat-food containers, it's best to make sure to read and learn (or write down) the nutritional needs of cats and then compare that to the list at the back of the box and try as you can, within your own means, to come as close to fulfilling those needs as possible.

Helpful - 0
535822 tn?1443976780
I have also been giving my cat dry friskies and the wet friskies , you say its the worst possible may I ask, why and what is good to give them that is not too expensive
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
The thing is that if dry food is given, you need to make sure your cat ingest enough water by other means. Cats are not attracted to drink, old water, they prefer if it moves, goes with their instinct. The problem with canned food for male neuter cats is that the content of salt is tooooooooo high and also makes them developed urinary problems, of course pet brand foods will tell you anything you want to hear. And no, friskies is the worst possible food you can give your cat.
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Avatar universal
I buy my kitten (well kittens now) Whiskas wet food pouches in pack of 12. Its usually like less than $5 for me at walmart. I tend to buy 2-3 boxes so that I have enough at least for mb 2.5 weeks. I feed a combination of dry food and wet food. You might want to try that too. I know can food is at times very expensive....

Good luck
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