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Fancy Feast is one of the most popular cat food brands on the market today. As such, it is readily available in many grocery stores, pet food stores, and is also available online.
Fancy Feast is owned by Nestle Purina PetCare. They introduced the Fancy Feast brand name in 1982 and only had 7 flavors of wet cat food initially. The brand name was introduced as their “gourmet line” of cat foods.
Nestle Purina PetCare has been the subject of several pet food recalls over the past several years. Be sure to frequently check the FDA pet food recalls website. You might want to sign up for their email alerts as well.
Ingredients in Fancy Feast Tender Tongol Tuna Appetizer Wet Cat Food
Tongol tuna, water, xanthan gum, guar gum, sodium nitrite.
From the list above, there are only five ingredients in this formula. Do they offer your cat what it needs for healthy and sustainable growth?
Top 5 Ingredients Analysis
Tongol tuna
Tongol is simply a type of tuna fish which is a well known saltwater fish. There is some debate about whether fish products should be included in cat food at all, because cats in nature do not eat much sea food. A lot of cat owners would rather see meat from other animals such as beef, chicken, turkey, or other meat sources. However, tuna does supply a good amount of protein and also contains an excellent amount of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.
Water
As you might expect, water is mostly added for moisture and cooking purposes. It does not add any nutritional value to the food.
Xanthan gum
This is a substance produced by bacterial fermentation or created synthetically and is used in cat foods as a gelling agent and thickener. It is composed of glucose, mannose, and glucuronic acid. It is what causes the black rot on veggies that have been in the fridge too long. Once the bacteria has fermented, it is pasteurized (killed) and filtered. The resulting xanthan gum is then treated with isopropyl alcohol, dried, ground, and diluted to desired consistency. The finished product is a loose, whitish-colored powder. The behavior of xanthan gum makes it ideal for food processing purposes and is used in human food frequently. Nutritionally speaking, it is a carbohydrate with about seven grams of fiber per tablespoon. Xanthan gum is made using carbohydrates from corn, wheat, dairy, or soy which are all common food allergens for many cats.
Guar gum
This ingredient is also sometimes called guaran. It is primarily the ground endosperm of guar beans. The guar seeds are dehusked, milled and screened to obtain the guar gum. It is typically produced as a free-flowing, off-white powder. This ingredient is mostly used to thicken the food and give it more texture. It is an FDA-approved, all natural GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) ingredient used by the food and cosmetic industries. It also is used to improve the shelf life of the food and helps lower the glycemic index of food. Many cat food companies claim this ingredient also aids in digestion and weight loss. There is some minor debate about the benefits of this ingredient with some claiming negative impacts, but in general, this is thought to be a relatively non-nutritious yet safe ingredient.
Sodium nitrite
Nitrates are used in curing, which is a broad category of techniques for preserving foods, mainly meat and fish, that involves the use of salt, sugar, or some form of dehydration. In each case, the goal is to make the food unattractive to the bacteria that cause food spoilage. This works because bacteria are tiny organisms that require, among other things, moisture, oxygen and food. Take away one of these things and they die. So basically, that’s a fancy way of saying this ingredient is used as a preservative. In addition, it also gives cat food that red, meaty look. While unsubstantiated, there are claims that sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate can cause chemically induced cancer in cats. In rare circumstances, pets have died due to to receiving too much of this ingredient in their food.
Allergy Risk Associated With Fancy Feast Tender Tongol Tuna Appetizer Cat Food
The fancy feast tender tongol tuna appetizer wet appetizer can be termed as a potential allergy-causing formula. While it does not directly contain allergy causing ingredients like corn, wheat or soy, it contains corn extracts which can lead to allergies too. Therefore, it is highly advisable to avoid feeding your cat on this Fancy Feast cat food if your cat is allergic to corn or corn based substances.
Conclusion
Apart from the available slices of tongol tuna, every other ingredient in this formula can be rated as average. The company has kept its promise of offering 100% fish protein. However, the other ingredients do little in helping the cat nutritionally. We do like the limited number of ingredients in this food and many cat owners seem to like it as well. Overall, we think this cat food is probably an average quality cat food. Let us know what you think in the commenting area below.
