Fancy Feast names slightly different in USA vs Australia?

So I've got my list of cat foods and their carbs, protein and fat, printed from this excellent site and have been buying some Fancy Feast cans.

My boys already loved the cod, sole and shrimp one, and now they're also gobbling down the ocean white fish and tuna one (it's called that here in the shops), but I'm a bit confused about some of the others on the list.

Some have slightly different names here to on the list. Like there's one which is chicken something or other, classic grilled (no gravy), but here it's called "Tender Chicken & Liver". Is this still ok? The cats ADORE it!

 

Is there a band around the bottom which says Classic? Otherwise, you may need to contact them to see if the recipe is the same.

 

The two varieties you mentioned that your cats eat are low carb but not all the classics fancy feasts here in Australia are low carb and I avoid the classics varieties that list cereals and their byproducts on the can. The fancy feast kitten varieties don't have cereals in them and some of the new Whiskas loaf style pouches are low carb too as well as the Whiskas loaf style in cans. Some of the Dine and Ultimates are low carb too.

 

The band does say Classic, yes. That's why we thought it must be the same.

Fancy Feast kitten? Is that ok to feed to Dweezil?

Which Dines and Ultimates are low carb? My boys used to love some of the Ultimates.

 

The Kitten Turkey and Giblet is good.
Feed the kitten Fish only 1-2 times per week.

 

Turkey and giblet. I must be hungry...it sounds really good. *drool* lol

 

I don't buy any of the Dine varieties but they have been recommended as low carb and the Ultimates are all mostly okay but I think another member of this board said one of the varieties has rice in it. I think the Nature's Gift might be okay too but you will have to check it out as I don't buy it.

 

Hi,

Regarding food in Oz, 'GraceAndAngie' wrote this:

Wet cat food for Australians

The list below was posted to me by Vyktor's Mum, another Australian who has helped me a lot. That little list is the best guide I've found for Australians. I've also found cat food fresh mince, available near the meat section in the supermarket. That doesn't have any vegetable products in it. A lot of people talk about food spread sheets and lists here (Binky's Page is one of them) but they're not relevant to us because the food is different. Americans use Fancy Feast a lot but this isn't any good in Australia as it has grains in it.

"suitable food is whiskas LOAF VARIETIES ONLY, natures gift, ultimates (except for the one with rice), the premium woolworths select and ziwi peak (this ones expensive but probably the most appropriate canned food for cats in existence). you want to avoid giving fish varieties more than a couple of times a week."

The mince and casserole Whiskers tins are high carb because the gravy has flour in it. The loaf varieties ("jellymeat", "loaf with chicken and beef", "loaf with lamb and kidney" and "loaf with chicken and turkey" and the fish ones) are the only low carb Whiskers.

The two cheapest options are the whiskers loaf tins and the cat food mince.

People talk about Ziwi Peak as being very good quality - I've never bought it. I can't tell you about Nature's Gifts, Ultimates or Premium Woolworths Select as I've never bought them either. The cat mince that I was buying seemed better quality than Whiskers as it didn't have as much jelly in it and it was all recognisably meat.

This info is from the European and International food thread here:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...for-europeans-and-international-buyers.64843/

(I would have given the link to the individual post but couldn't work out how to do that now website is updated. Sorry...)

Eliz

 

Oh!!! So fancy feast is NOT good here!!!? How can it be a different formula!? I am disturbed!

We were just saying tonight that since dweezil's gone onto fancy feast low carb ones, his symptoms have worsened. Ugh!

 

You may have to do a bit of 'reading the labels' to find a good cat food for Dweezil. Look for any type of grain (corn, rice, wheat), any type of cereals or cereal by-products, or high carb vegetables like peas or potatoes of any kind. If those are in the top few ingredients, it's likely a higher carb food and something to avoid for your sugardude Dweezil.

I looked at the Fancy Feast Australia website and it does list cereal and ceral by-products as the second ingredient.

So yes, it makes sense that Dweezils' BG levels have gone up because in Australia, the Fancy Feast foods are NOT low carb.

https://fancyfeast.com.au/recipes/

 

Oh wow. How horrible. Why does Australia put cereals in cat food that the exact same food in the US does not!?

I'm now researching other foods. SAFE foods like some of the Ultimates ones and also this Ziwi Peak thing. I've never seen it anywhere, but have heard of it.

I LOVE the name Sugardude!! That's Baby Dwee's new name. lol

 

I've just bought four tins of Ziwipeak from a pet place online in QLD. I've bought a tin each of beef, lamb, venison, and venison & fish. To see if Dweezy likes it. Hopefully he does. They were $3.25 per tin, but the tins are bigger than the Fancy Feast ones, so I don't think it's ridiculously expensive.

What IS a bit inconvenient (though not a problem if he does like the food) is that there are no pet shops anywhere near me that sell it, so I must go online and then of course they charge postage of between $7-$15. Meh. If he likes it, I'll buy a HEAP to save on the postage.

 

Hope that Dweezil likes some of those foods you have ordered. Don't give up if he doesn't take to a flavor right away. I remember when I was getting my Wink to eat wet instead of dry. It took a while to find a flavor he really liked and then it took time to convince him that other flavors were yummy too.

Sugardude is a nickname I use for any male kitty with diabetes. Wink is a sugardude!

 

Heheh.

Both my boys actually LOVE wet food but in the past have been fussy about WHICH wet food they will gobble down.

 

I want to order some apparently excellent dry food called Young Again Zero Carb. It seems excellent. I don't know if Dweez will find enough variety in the very few low carb wet foods available here.

 

I am annoyed. I looked at the two fancy feast varieties we have, and neither say cereals or grains on the labels. I went to the website for fancy feast australia, and they also do not list these ingredients either.

What!?!? Do they have too high carbs or not!?

 

Hi,

I do understand your frustration.
My understanding has been that the Australian Fancy Feasts (or at least some of them) do contain grains and are made to a different recipe to those in the US. (Well, this is what Australian members have found to be the case in the past). I've also been told that Australian pet food labelling is somewhat lacking and it can be hard to tell what's actually in the tin by reading the label. (This is true of some other parts of the world also).

Did you read the ingredients information on the link Deb gave?
https://fancyfeast.com.au/recipes/
I only looked up a handful of varieties but every one of those contained cereals or corn starch.
Did the varieties you are feeding not list any cereals at all? If that's the case, you may be OK...

It would seem to me that you have have a few options here:
You could go along with the food advice other Australians have given in the past.
And/or you could contact the manufacturer and ask for the current ingredients list.
(But meanwhile, you could either continue to feed the Fancy Feast and see what effect (if any) that has on your cat's blood glucose. Or you could stop feeding the Fancy Feast and see what effect (if any) that has on your cat's blood glucose. Sometimes, where there is insufficient cat food ingredient information, it really is just a matter of 'try it and see what happens'.... (I've done that many times....)

Eliz

 

Thank you! Yes, we have completely stopped the FF. Dweezy started showing diabetic symptoms again about a week after eating the FF twice daily and he is now drinking and peeing almost as much as he was prior to diagnosis.

I will check that link and see...i couldn't see it before for some reason!

Ah yes, this is the same site i was looking at before. Some of the varieties we don't have list cereals, but the ones we had which are cod, sole & shrimp as well as whitemeat and tuna do not list it at all.

Ooh! But the only other one we had, tender chicken and liver, DOES have cereals!!!! Ah HAH!!

Oh, and the ultimates cat food, they seem good (the indulgence ones) but they have gelling agents, which i've read are carbs.

 

Yes, the gelling agents could be carbs, but they are so far down on the ingredients list, the amount is negligible and not likely to impact your kitties BG levels. Here in the States, the Friskies pate style foods do have some rice in them, but the rice is far down in the ingredients list, so you know there is a very small amount. For most kitties, this small amount is ok and does not impact the kitties BG levels. Of course, ECID - Every Cat is Different and some cats are more carb sensitive than others.

What Elizabeth said about trying different choices in food to see how Dweezil is reacting is a good plan.

There are many reasons why BG levels can and do fluctuate from day to day, cycle to cycle, hour to hour. Perhaps your cat exercised more, or ate more food right before you tested them. Perhaps your cat slept a bit more ( I know, it's hard to believe ANY cat can sleep more than they already do!) or perhaps your cat is feeling a bit under the weather with a touch of a tummy upset or your kitty got a bit stressed out seeing a strange cat or human in their territory. You kind of have to learn to roll along with the ups and downs in those BG cycles. Some days will be better than others. Some will be worse.

Remember to look at the overall condition of your cat, not just the BG levels. We used to mention the WCR or Whole Cat Report or talk about the 5 P's for evaluating how you're kitty is doing. The 5 P's are peeing, pooping, purring, preening, playing. If all 5 P's are present in proper amounts and your cats appetite is good, that gives us the WCR and it helps you to know your kitty is doing ok.

I remember once when Wink stopped purring for a couple of days, and he is a major purr machine. I knew something was wrong and did a couple of BG tests for a few days. They were higher than his normal OTJ <100 mg/dL (<5.5 mmol) numbers so I knew he wasn't feeling in top shape. He had a bit of digestive upset and diarrhea which cleared up in a couple of days and he started to purr again and his BG levels went back to normal.

 

Aww, poor little non-purring Wink!! I'm so glad he got his purr back quickly!

We have yet to successfully get a BG reading, but over the weekend when we get our urine sticks we can at least have a look at that, and HOPEFULLY be successful finally at getting a BG reading today when we try again with his ear.

In terms of the 5 Ps, he seems good. He is purring, playful, preening as normal, pooping well, however...the last P is the peeing one, and he is peeing a lot more than usual. Before diagnosis he was always a 3 pee a day boy. Shortly before diagnosis when we noticed his symptoms, he was peeing about 4-5 times a day. After his diagnosis he went back to normal peeing, but now over the last week (since the introduction of the Fancy Feast twice daily), he's returned to peeing 4-5 times and is also drinking very frequently.

We measured his water though and it's not ridiculously high. It IS high, but right now he's only on the diabetic dry food until his new lowest carb food arrives.

So...I think based on this behaviour, those Fancy Feasts are maybe not so good for him.

 

It's not only how many times Dweezil is peeing, but the size of the clumps in the litter box. Are they more normal size clumps or huge and sticky?

 

Our litter is something called OzPet, which has a two level box. It's excellent and we've used them ever since getting our babies six years ago. The top level they pee (and poop) in and then any wet litter disintegrates and falls through the little holes and into the base tray below, so it stays cleaner on top and nicer for the cats. You can generally clean the entire box every 4-7 days depending.

When Dweezil is peeing more, the top of his box ends up quickly getting a lot of powdery dark litter (too much to fall through the holes like it's supposed to), and underneath gets really yuck and dark and gluggy and sticky. Also, it smells of apple cider (which was the very first sign we noticed late last year that he may have Diabetes. His breath has never smelled though, thankfully) and underneath in the bottom tray gets mould in it. Small patches of white and pale blue mould. As soon as we saw this late last year, we googled and it was either from humidity in the air (and it is VERY humid here as it's Summer) or too much sugar in the pee.

When I got his urine sample for the vet when we brought him in and he was diagnosed in mid December, his pee did not smell at all, no more than a normal mild cat pee smell. And yet it later tested through the roof for glucose.

 

Those sticky clumps of pee indicate that Dweezil is peeing out the excess sugar. That indicates he is over the renal threshold. You want to try to get the BG's under renal threshold if at all possible.

 

I've actually increased his Glargine dose to 2 units again when I give him his shot in the evening (my partner still gives 1 unit in the morning when she does it). He was on 2 units twice a day for the first week after diagnosis when he exhibited the same symptoms as he is again now, and also within a week he was doing SO much better. So I'm waiting for improvement...and for the pee sticks. And to hopefully get a BG reading.

For some reason, I cannot edit my signature! I want to correct the misspelled Glargine and also update the dosage he's on, but it says my signature is 5 lines too long. What the!?

 

Yeah, the new software has a limit of 3 lines, and 3 links. It helps to put some spaces between elements, and some sort of separator mark. See my signature link for an example.

 

the cod and the kitten (yes its fine to give an adult cat kitten food the nutritional requirements of cats change very little throughout the life cycle) in the oz FF are okay but nearly all of the rest are packed full of cereal - I have rang and complained about why we dont get the US versions, they gave me some guff about different markets wanting different products - I feel like we're the third world country they're dumping their crap on!

Many of the Dine varieties are okay too - the ones that arent list cereals in the ingredients.

Hope he likes the ZiwiPeak though that is the best - I have to mail order it too. If you order from mypetwarehouse.com.au postage is free for orders over $50 - two trays of tins.

Hope you can start getting the BG tests very soon, it's the only way to really know what's going on inside and what dose you should be giving but one thing you shouldn't be doing is giving different doses AM and PM - you need to be consistent. Since you're not home testing yet to be safer you might want to stick with the 1u

 

Oh! I thought it was ok to give a slightly different dose morning and evening! Is that bad, like it will cause constant spikes and unevenness due to the levels always going up and down? Oh dear.

I can't wait for this Ziwi Peak stuff to arrive. I have a feeling it may already be here, but I cannot get to it as they sent it via courier. I specifically requested NOT to be sent by courier because unless you're able to sit at home all day waiting for them, they constantly attempt delivery and miss you, over and over. I think this cat food turned up yesterday but I was not home and now I won't be able to get to the place it's waiting for me until NEXT Friday. *sigh*

Anyway, if Dweezy likes the food, we'll buy a heap of it at once.

I too am SO annoyed at that stupid answer by Fancy Feast!!! Our MARKET likes putting crap in our cat food?? Why would an owner choose to buy cat food with CEREAL in it?? We're not the ones eating it, our cats are, and do the CATS control the market? No. Not really. Blegh.

 

Per Cat Info you can add 20-25% plain meat or poultry to the canned food to bump up the protein content and reduce the carb content proportionately.