Purina Friskies Extra Gravy Wet Cat Food Review

Friskies Extra Gravy wet cat food range receives the Cat Food Advisor rating: 1 star.

Although this product range includes some named meats, it is predominately made up of unnamed meat by-products and artificial flavors.

It has an AAFCO nutrient profile for adult maintenance.

Each recipe includes its AAFCO nutrient profile: Growth (kitten), Maintenance (adult), All Life Stages, Supplemental or Unspecified.

The Friskies Extra Gravy product line includes eight wet cat foods.

Recipe and Label Analysis

Friskies Extra Gravy Pate with Tuna in Gravy was selected to represent the other products in the line for a detailed recipe and nutrient analysis.

Label and nutrient data below are calculated using dry matter basis.

Ingredients Analysis

The first ingredient is meat by-products, an item made from slaughterhouse waste. This is what’s left of slaughtered animals after all the prime striated muscle cuts have been removed.

With the exception of hair, horns, teeth and hooves, this item can include almost any other part of the animal.¹

What’s worse, this particular item is not from a named source. So, the meat itself can come from any combination of cattle, pigs, sheep or goats — which can make identifying specific food allergies impossible.

Although most meat by-products can be nutritious, we do not consider such vaguely described (generic) ingredients to be as high in quality as those derived from a named animal source.

The second item is water, which adds nothing but moisture to this food. Water is a routine finding in most wet cat foods.

The third ingredient is poultry by-products or slaughterhouse waste. This is what’s left of slaughtered poultry after all the prime cuts have been removed.

In addition to organs, this item can also include feet, beaks, undeveloped eggs and almost anything other than prime skeletal muscle.

The quality of this ingredient can vary, depending on the caliber of the raw materials obtained by the manufacturer.

Although this item contains all the amino acids a cat needs, we consider poultry by-products slightly lower in quality than a single species item (like chicken by-products).

The fourth ingredient is chicken. Chicken is considered “the clean combination of flesh and skin… derived from the parts or whole carcasses of chicken”.²

Chicken is naturally rich in the 11 essential amino acids required by a cat to sustain life.

The fifth ingredient is fish. This item is typically sourced from clean, undecomposed whole fish and fish cuttings of commercial fish operations.³

Although it is a quality item, raw fish contains up to 73% water. After cooking, most of that moisture is lost, reducing the meat content to just a fraction of its original weight.

After processing, this item would probably account for a smaller part of the total content of the finished product.

The sixth ingredient is artificial and natural flavors. There are so many great quality palatants, gravies and flavors to use in cat food which are meat-based, that it is disappointing to find artificial flavorings. We understand that flavorings are used to make the foods more appealing and tasty for our cats, but natural or meat-based flavors are always our preference.

The seventh ingredient is carrageenan, a gelatin-like thickening agent extracted from seaweed. Although carrageenan has been used as a food additive for hundreds of years, there appears to be some recent controversy regarding its long-term biological safety.

From here the list goes on to include a number of other items. But to be realistic, ingredients located this far down the list (other than nutritional supplements) are not likely to affect the overall rating of the product.

This recipe receives a 1-star rating.

Nutrient Analysis

Based on its ingredients alone, Friskies Extra Gravy Paté with Tuna in Gravy looks like a below-average wet product.

The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 44.4%, a fat level of 28% and an estimated carbohydrate level of 20%.

As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 47.2% and a mean fat level of 21%. Together these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 24% for the overall product line, alongside a fat-to-protein ratio of 45%.

This means the Friskies Extra Gravy product line contains above-average protein, and fat content with below-average carbs when compared to typical wet cat food.

Has Purina cat food been recalled in the past?

Yes, Purina has had a number of cat food recalls over the years.

The last one was in July 2021 when cans of Purina Pro Plan Complete Essentials Tuna Entree in Sauce Wet Cat Food were recalled as they may have contained plastic.

In March 2019, Purina issued a recall of one of its Muse cat foods.

In 2012, a single lot of Purina Veterinary Diets OM Overweight Management Feline Formula was recalled due to low levels of thiamine. Production Code #11721159.

In June 2011, Friskies issued a small recall due to the potential risk of salmonella contamination. This recall only affected a small range of Friskies products, – the Friskies Grillers Blend dry cat food recipe in 3.15lb and 16lb bags with best-by dates of August 2012.

In the same year, some other Purina dry cat foods were recalled due to suspected salmonella contamination. The products affected were: Purina ONE Vibrant Maturity 7+ dry cat food, 3.5 lb. and 7 lb. bags, with a “Best by” date of May 2012 and Production Code #03341084 or #03351084 and Purina Cat Chow Naturals, 6.3 lb., Production Code #10331083 13, with “Best by” date of August 2012.

You can view a complete list of all cat food recalls since 2021 here.

To stay on top of any cat food product recalls, sign up for our free email alerts, here.

About

Nestlé Purina PetCare is an American subsidiary of the Swiss corporation Nestlé, based in St. Louis, Missouri. It produces and markets pet food, treats, cat and dog litter. 

The cat food brand owned by Purina are: Beyond, Breeze, DenaLife, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Kit & Kaboodle, Petivity, Purina Cat Chow, Purina ONE, Purina Pro Plan, Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets, Tidy Cats and Whisker Lickin’s.