If you have explored cat food options in the market, you would know that Friskies is one of the cost-effective options out there. People on a budget usually go for Friskies for their cats and kittens, but it is important to make sure that the food is actually good for your cat. Lucky for you, if you are looking to go for Friskies, we have done an analysis of whether the brand is good for your cat or kitten.
Keep reading and find out what type of Friskies food you should buy and what type of food you should completely avoid.
Is Friskies good for cats and kittens?
It is no surprise that Friskies has been around for a very long time. If it’s been around for that long, it should be good right?
Yes and no. See, a lot of things depend on your cat and kitten too. Some types of Friskies foods are actually good, but if they do not meet the nutrition requirements for your cat, they are useless for you.
Friskies cat food is divided into 2 main categories, wet food, and dry food. These may be available in canned form as well.
Generally, canned wet food is better than dry because it contains good proportions of meat and other important ingredients that are good for your cat.
Wet is also good because a lot of cats do not want to have water, but they can still get hydrated through a serving of wet food. But it can be a bit expensive though.
Dry on the other hand has multiple issues, they have some sketchy ingredients added in the mix and can have a ton of negative impacts on your cat.
Therefore, you need to think twice about Friskies before feeding them to your cat. We will recommend some alternatives to Friskies cat and kitten food at the end of this article, so keep reading.
Reasons why Friskies are bad for cats and kittens
To elaborate on the statements below, let’s talk a little bit about how Friskies can affect your kitty and the other things you need to be wary about.
If your cat is currently eating Friskies and is facing any of these problems, you should see a vet as soon as you can.
It can cause diseases in your cat
A consistent diet of Friskies can lead to problems with the kidney and pancreas in your cat.
Some cats develop kidney stones by eating Friskies every day, and then they have to be given a lot of medications to heal, which is a problem of its own.
Many of the different preservatives and flavors cause diarrhea in cats. The effect is 2 times worse on kittens because they need proper dietary care and nutrition.
If they ingest Friskies in large amounts, their life can be at risk as well. When choosing cat food for your kitten, please thoroughly discuss it with a vet first.
It may not be safe for your kitten to eat
As you know, kittens have very specific criteria of diet that they need for growth. Without it, they can lose out on a ton of vital nutrients and grow to be malnourished.
Friskies is a cat food intended for adult cats, so logically, it should be avoided by kittens altogether.
In addition to that, cat food contains heavier ingredients like fats and fiber in a much higher proportion.
If these are fed to your kitten on a daily basis, it can get diarrhea and weakness, affecting its overall energy throughout the day.
There are other options for kittens that may even offer organic food, so your kitten can grow to be strong and healthy.
Some ingredients are harmful to both cats and kittens
Keeping the kitten and cat food differences aside, friskies cat food contains some questionable ingredients.
These are a bit unusual to see in the contents label, considering they are present in big amounts.
Firstly, friskies are known to use low quality rice and corn. Some foods contain a big amount of corn, so this can really affect your cat’s health. It has been causing sickness in many cats.
Different flavors have different ingredients that we deem as problematic. For example, the pate poultry platter cat food has poultry by-products, way too many artificial flavors, and carrageenan.
If we look at another cat food called Friskeis surfin and turfin, we will see that there is a good amount of rice, corn (low quality), soybean, liver flavoring and many other harmful artificial flavors.
This is not just with one cat food, as you can tell, but with most dry friskies cat food, you will notice some sort of meat by-products being used.
Now it is up to you to see what is best for your cat and kitten’s health, and whether friskies are the best fit for it.
Does not suit well to cats that have allergies to certain ingredients
If you have a small kitten who is just transitioning to cat food right now, it can be hard to know if it has any allergies.
Therefore, we generally avoid giving kittens wide varieties of cat foods because 1. Their stomachs are not used to it and 2. Any sort of allergies can become a big problem.
Adult cats do not have such delicate stomachs, so it’s okay that you feed them a different kind of cat food.
However, most cats are usually allergic to chicken, fish, beef, duck, and even dairy. If Friskies are given to the cat and your cat starts throwing them, please have a look into our in-depth research on Cat Throwing up Friskies.
And unfortunately for your cat (if it eats friskies), you will find this in most friskies cat foods. So naturally if you feed this cat food even in a small quantity, it could flare up some serious allergies.
Now that you know of the different reasons why friskies are not the best for your cat and kitten, let’s look at some alternatives to friskies.
Alternate foods you can feed your cat instead of Friskies
As promised, here are a couple of alternatives to Friskies for your cat.
We have not included kitten food in this list, as we don’t recommend the same type of foods for kittens as cats.
The best option for kittens is to stick to organic foods and boiled vegetables. Those are pure and very suitable for a young kitten.
Now let’s move on to the alternate cat food options.
Fancy Feast
Fancy feast is a very famous cat food that is commonly seen as a great alternative to Friskies. It has various types of cat food available, along with different flavors for your cat to try.
It is good for cats, though some ingredients can still be a bit questionable but they are better than friskies.
Fancy feast is also a bit cheaper than purina friskies and is available in both wet and dry versions.
Wet is mostly better for an adult cat, dry has contents that are not too good for it, so vets usually recommend the wet canned version.
If your cat needs a higher protein content and lower carbs in its diet, then a fancy feast may be a good fit for it. A great comparison is given at Friskies vs Fancy Feast.
Royal Canin dry cat food
Royal canin is one of the classic cat food brands out there. It is great if you are looking for good cat food with all the necessary dietary requirements for your cats, then royal canin is great.
They also have a cat food version that is suitable for cats with kidney problems and specific urine care requirements, which is great for older cats.
However, some foods can contain wheat and rice, and sometimes even corn, and that is not very good for cats
But hey, as long as you read the contents clearly, stay in contact with your vet, and feed everything to your cat in moderation, you should be good to go.
Conclusion
In conclusion, is Friskies good for cats and kittens?
The short answer is, no. There is a certain criteria that has to be met for cat food to be good for your cat and kitten.
Some reasons why Friskies are harmful for your cat are that it has harmful and allergic ingredients, hence not safe for kittens either.
Friskies is also known to cause diseases in cats like UTIs, kidney stones,and even kidney failure.
But that’s not a big problem because you can always switch to other foods if you feel that friskies are not the best choice anymore.
Your kitten will require different care as compared to your adult cat, hence the food will be different as well.
For adult cats though, fancy feast and royal canin dry food are a good option. You should try to stick to wet food though as that has a better water content as compared to dry food.
Lastly, stay in contact with your vet! Cat foods like these do contain allergens sometimes, and you never know which ingredient could flare up an allergy in your cat.
If something like this happens, make sure to talk to a vet immediately.