# What is it about Felix cat food?



## Scarlett20

I try to keep it to an absolute minimum, but why is Felix the favourite cat food of so many cats?

I admit to always having an emergency box of Felix for the times when my 2 decide to have a 'picky food day'.

Is there another supermarket cat food which you class as 'macdonalds' which is better than Felix but just as tastey.

What about Sheba fine dining pouches or Sheba ocean collection pouches?


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## shamykebab

Tell me about it . My two always have one meal of Felix, then later on they get a tin of better food (eg. Grau, AC, Smilla). More often than not they'll pick a bit at it, then go on hunger strike until I mix a bit of Felix in with that too. 

Over six months of trying to wean them off it and we're still nowhere near! Fussy little beggars.


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## Treaclesmum

Mine love it too, especially the fish flavours!! They were both weaned onto Whiskas by their 'breeders', but Treacle now dislikes the flavour of the jelly in Whiskas (although they're enjoying the Oh So Meaty with beef in gravy!!). 

Tried some Butcher's Classic today but Treacle didn't even say hello to it! 

Don't know why, but Felix is the firm favourite of the jelly foods in this house!!!


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## maisiecat

Bob came to us as a Whiskas cat and has been through most brands, of all qualities, mostly licking off the gravy or jelly and not wanting the rest, so he went back to being a Whiskas cat. He also came to us being mad on Purina dry which he was easily weaned off as long as there was another dry available. If he gets his 6 kibbles with his wet he is OK otherwise he will shout and shout until he gets it.

Maisie, yes, another Felix cat. Also gone through many options and although she will sometimes eat Whiskas bite & chew for a change, she is hooked on Felix Meaty Loaf. Not only that, it has to be mashed to a pulp or she will lick it to death and leave the chunks.


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## RabbitMonster

Is Felix cat food bad or something? Molly started off on Felix and then I bought her Whiskas wet food, but she wasn't a fan, so she's back onto Felix. Handy for me cus it's usually the only thing on special offer! Is it bad for cats though?


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## spid

It's not 'bad' so to speak, it's just not 'good' - there are other foods that are much better and cheaper - have a look at the stickies at the top of this section. A lot of us biuy our food from Pet Supplies, Pet Food, Dog Food, Cat Food and Pet Accessories at Zooplus where we get grau, bozita, amionda carny etc. All better quality foods than felix and whiskas and mainly cheaper.


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## Ali82

Mine won't touch it. I always pick something junky to hide medications in, she loves Sheba and Whiskas but won't so much as touch Felix and Gourmet.

I guess there are a number of reasons why cats seem to particularly like these foods but primarily I suspect most of them contain digests and/or other attractants.

Rabbitmonkey- No Felix isn't bad for cats, it's a complete food that provides them with everything they need. There are better choices out there though, have a read of the feeding sticky at the top of this page for more information.


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## RabbitMonster

So what are the best (and cheapest) jelly and hard food for cats/kittens?


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## The Minkey

Rabbitmonkee said:


> So what are the best (and cheapest) jelly and hard food for cats/kittens?


Check out the zooplus site, it gives the price per kilo for all of the cat foods they sell. Bozita seems a really good deal with a high percentage of real meat content. They list the ingredients too whereas Whiskers etc don't give anywhere near such a comprehensive breakdown.


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## RabbitMonster

Thanks for the advice, but I was more just wondering what people's opinions on the best food is. There seems to be a lot of breeders on this, and they seem to know their stuff, so I was wondering what they all thought


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## spid

IMHO - the very best food is a raw diet - the very worst is a dry diet. However, I know a lot of breeders that feed dry only. It's horses for courses. Some feed a good quality wet (bozita etc), or a better quality grain free dry (Acana, Orijen or Applaws), some feed raw (like Natural Instinct), and some a mixture. You have to do the research yourself really - read the stickies at the top and have a look through the old threads.


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## simplysardonic

I use a better quality wet alongside raw, the cats are looking really good on it


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## Treaclesmum

To be honest, I wish that Felix didn't contain so many vegetable extracts, and it also seems to have fish included in every flavour, even the meat ones... :mellow:

Even Whiskas Oh So Meaty is better than that!!


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## RabbitMonster

Is it bad for the food to contain vegetable extracts? Is it also bad they contain fish extracts?


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## spid

Cats are obligate carnivores - they can't digest vegetable protein as easily as meat nor grains either. Obligate means that they MUST eat meat. To fill their food with vegetables and grains is just adding stuff to their food that they don't find easy to digest and end up pooping most of it out the other end. Raw fed cats actually don't have smelly poos (hard as it is to believe, it is true). Companies that make pet food add these things to the food because it is cheaper than meat - the consumer thinks they are buying a good product and at a reasonable price but have to feed more of it than a better quality food because of the added extras that don't actually 'feed' your cat. For fish, fish isn't actually a food that cats would naturally eat but also they shouldn't eat lots of it (can't remember why - Hobbs might) so for it to be in every flavour of Felix is not good.


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## RabbitMonster

Ohh dear. It sounds like Felix isn't a good cat food at all then!

I did notice that Molly's poos were less pungent when on Felix than when on Whiskas. Does that mean Whiskas is even less healthier than Felix? :skep:


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## spid

Not necessarily - both are of an ilk - but maybe Felix use something different to whiskas that is less pungent poo making - I don't feed either so can't go and check the packet - sorry.


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## Treaclesmum

Rabbitmonkee said:


> Ohh dear. It sounds like Felix isn't a good cat food at all then!
> 
> I did notice that Molly's poos were less pungent when on Felix than when on Whiskas. Does that mean Whiskas is even less healthier than Felix? :skep:


I've actually found the opposite - my boys do very nice poos after a meal of Whiskas Oh So Meaty! But they will NOT touch the normal Whiskas, (which does smell very odd anyway!). Felix can give them smelly poos if they have too much in one day, so I try to limit it


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## RabbitMonster

Treaclesmum said:


> I've actually found the opposite - my boys do very nice poos after a meal of Whiskas Oh So Meaty! But they will NOT touch the normal Whiskas, (which does smell very odd anyway!). Felix can give them smelly poos if they have too much in one day, so I try to limit it


It was the Whiskas kitten stuff Molly was on at one point and the after-effects were HORRENDOUS!! She's on a mixture of half-a-pack-per-meal of Felix kitten grub and hard food, and she's not overly pungent anymore, but it can still be bad sometimes :skep:


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## jo-pop

I hate poo, just saying


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## hayleyj08

spid said:


> Cats are obligate carnivores - they can't digest vegetable protein as easily as meat nor grains either. Obligate means that they MUST eat meat. To fill their food with vegetables and grains is just adding stuff to their food that they don't find easy to digest and end up pooping most of it out the other end. Raw fed cats actually don't have smelly poos (hard as it is to believe, it is true). Companies that make pet food add these things to the food because it is cheaper than meat - the consumer thinks they are buying a good product and at a reasonable price but have to feed more of it than a better quality food because of the added extras that don't actually 'feed' your cat. For fish, fish isn't actually a food that cats would naturally eat but also they shouldn't eat lots of it (can't remember why - Hobbs might) so for it to be in every flavour of Felix is not good.


Would be interested to know more about the fish thing - is fish flavoured food ok? My boys always have fish wet food as it's their favourite!


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## spid

http://www.petforums.co.uk/cat-health-nutrition/224890-how-much-fish.html try this, read Hobbs' response


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## kerfuffle

The fish thing is regarding mercury, too much fish puts the cats at risk of mercury poisoning. Whilst fish extracts probably won't be that risky in comparison, I can only assume companies put fish extracts in to make the food smell more and therefore more palatable to cats. Unfortunately, this also creates fussy cats who won't eat anything else that doesn't smell as much (hence the food addiction OP has noticed), so you're creating the problem by feeding smelly food in the first place.

I love feeding raw food, no smell when the food is fresh, it gets eaten quickly rather than grazed on, and the poo pong is not as bad. Unfortunately it sounds like a lot of work to actually get the mix right so I'm relying on NI to supply the raw food, and yet we only have their word on it being complete since the statements they give on the % (eg, of liver) keeps varying so I daren't feed it too often.


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## Treaclesmum

kerfuffle said:


> The fish thing is regarding mercury, too much fish puts the cats at risk of mercury poisoning. Whilst fish extracts probably won't be that risky in comparison, I can only assume companies put fish extracts in to make the food smell more and therefore more palatable to cats. Unfortunately, this also creates fussy cats who won't eat anything else that doesn't smell as much (hence the food addiction OP has noticed), so you're creating the problem by feeding smelly food in the first place.
> 
> I love feeding raw food, no smell when the food is fresh, it gets eaten quickly rather than grazed on, and the poo pong is not as bad. Unfortunately it sounds like a lot of work to actually get the mix right so I'm relying on NI to supply the raw food, and yet we only have their word on it being complete since the statements they give on the % (eg, of liver) keeps varying so I daren't feed it too often.


I thought the fish thing included other things too, like they mustn't have too much Vitamin A or magnesium? These are naturally occurring in fish, so it makes sense to limit their fish intake.


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## RabbitMonster

kerfuffle said:


> I love feeding raw food, no smell when the food is fresh, it gets eaten quickly rather than grazed on, and the poo pong is not as bad. Unfortunately it sounds like a lot of work to actually get the mix right so I'm relying on NI to supply the raw food, and yet we only have their word on it being complete since the statements they give on the % (eg, of liver) keeps varying so I daren't feed it too often.


When you say raw food, I'm assuming you don't mean a bit of chicken leg bought down the local grocery shop or butcher's?


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## kerfuffle

Rabbitmonkee said:


> When you say raw food, I'm assuming you don't mean a bit of chicken leg bought down the local grocery shop or butcher's?


Balanced raw cat food in regards to % of meat, offal, bones, liver, supplements as required. A bit of chicken leg is okay as a treat, but it is not balanced enough to be fed as main food source for a cat or you risk malnutrition. This is why it's easier to feed pre-made cat food. Some vets have bad experience with raw feeders who aren't doing it right and leading to problems; you will find certain vets to be against raw feeding, and others to be supportive.


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## kerfuffle

Treaclesmum said:


> I thought the fish thing included other things too, like they mustn't have too much Vitamin A or magnesium? These are naturally occurring in fish, so it makes sense to limit their fish intake.


Salmon and other oily fish are high in Vit A, white fish not so much, except for liver. Not sure about magnesium. As always, neither Felix or Whiskas will tell you the animal/fish source of the 96% of their ingredients. "Fish extracts" is still a minimal amount though and I doubt feeding Felix/Whiskas will result in Vit A poisoning of your cat as despite their shoddy reputation on the forums as junk food, they do their tests on macro and micronutrients even if they won't tell us what ingredients go into it. So in their cases, the fishy smell from the extracts is just more likely to create fussy eaters.

Which I suppose benefits them, as your cat is hooked on their food, it keeps the company in business and you keep buying from them since your cat won't eat anything else.

Note: "you" doesn't refer to anyone in particular; I'm just generalising the situation.


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## Guest

spid said:


> Raw fed cats actually don't have smelly poos (hard as it is to believe, it is true).


i didn't believe this until i started feeding NI, but i can confirm they are small and odourless.

and yes, i'm sitting here on the internet discussing the characteristics of cat poop!


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## Tiffa

doujyr said:


> i didn't believe this until i started feeding NI, but i can confirm they are small and odourless.
> 
> What is NI?


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## Paddypaws

Tiffa said:


> doujyr said:
> 
> 
> 
> i didn't believe this until i started feeding NI, but i can confirm they are small and odourless.
> 
> What is NI?
> 
> 
> 
> Natural Instinct - Frozen raw human-grade meat dog food, the dog breeders' choice.
Click to expand...


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## Citruspips

"and yes, i'm sitting here on the internet discussing the characteristics of cat poop! [/QUOTE]"

Life doesn't get better than that


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## Torin.

I've noticed cats that are in Felix are harder to wean off onto a better quality diet than cats on Whiskers. But this is purely anecdotally.

Now that Flicka's been successfully weaned off Felix (as her old home gave her) onto better quality wet for about 5 months, she now gets a Felix pouch about every 3-4 weeks. To use them up, pretty much. I was a bit worried the first time, but in rotation with other things it doesn't seem too bad addiction-wise. But I am being very cautious about it all!


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## KCTT

Torin said:


> I've noticed cats that are in Felix are harder to wean off onto a better quality diet than cats on Whiskers. But this is purely anecdotally.


I thought this too, I tried to get Topsy off Felix onto higher meat content and he would have non of it. He ended up going cold turkey on Hill ZD due to his allergies for about a month. Once we started reintroducing the better quality food that he had previously refused to try he ate it no problem at all.


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## XXxxMiaxxXX

I don't know if this will help but may be worth a try....

Our 'big' cats were rescues and they were felix kittens. They wouldn't touch anything else other than tinned tuna.

We tried everything to wean them off but nothing worked. So one day I noticed that Purina made Felix and when I compared the ingredients the Purina one food seems to be 'slightly' better than Felix so I gave it a go. They loved it and ate it and I was happy; however, it gave them diarrhea (cat poo again lol). I then noticed Purina one did an indoor version so I tried that, they ate it and stomachs settled. I have now been able to move them up to applaws but they do have days when they turn there noses up.

The Purina indoors has been hard to get as not all supermarkets still stock it so I've tried them on Gourmet and they will eat the gravy ones.

I have since been told by a lady who runs a cat rescue that she will give the new entries to the rescue Felix for the first week or so as its very gentle on cats stomachs which is why some cats prefer it over other foods. Our big cats did have problems with their tummies when they were kittens so this would probably explain why they are so fussy about other foods etc.


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## davros123

Have you tried Miamor from ZooPlus? I asked for suggestions in one thread on here for my picky boy (he would also yum down felix and whiskas). 

Always a clean bowl when I feed Miamor and its not too pricey either


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