Fussy Cat Cat Food Review

If you shop at Coles, Woolworths, or IGA, then you’ve probably seen this popular brand of “cat food”.

Fussy Cat has been a household name for quite some time. There’s been lots of negative consumer feedback over the years which seems to get ignored by manufacturer Real Pet Food Co, and retailers will continue to sell it as long as it makes a profit.

So should you feed this to your cat?

In our Fussy Cat cat food review we’ll consider why this probably isn’t the best product for your cat.

Fussy Cat review

What the marketing says

Fussy Cat from Australia’s Real Pet Food Co has an optimum position in the marketplace – there are far better foods available in pet stores and pet shops, but Fussy Cat has free reign of the supermarket shelves. Supermarket brands are a cheaper and more convenient option for most, and Fussy Cat fits that bill.

They market this cat food as “real food means real flavour”, but ask yourself what they mean by “real food”? If it wasn’t real it would be, what, “fake food”?

As per trend it’s a “grain free” food as cats don’t need grains. They don’t need non-grain fillers either, like excessive vegetables, but they don’t mention that on the packaging.

Like most cat foods these days they throw in the word “premium” as if the word has meaning in pet food.

It doesn’t.

What the ingredients really say

For this review we’ll look at Fussy Cat Grain Free Chicken & Turkey with Cranberry simply because it sounds Christmassy, but the truth is all “flavours” are pretty much the same ingredients.

It may surprise you given how large Cranberry is written on the front of the bag that it’s only included as what could be considered a “speck of dust” in the ingredients. If you consider salt as 1%, cranberries are 8 ingredients lower, so almost non-existent. Cranberry is good for cats in moderation, but don’t expect your cat to benefit from cranberry in Fussy Cat – looks like it’s included so they can stamp it on the packaging.

Fussy Cat Cat Food Review

There are three ingredients in Fussy Cat which potentially amount to most of the product. Two of these are ambiguous vegetable meal/vegetables and vegetable starches. This is a cunning pet food labelling trick called “splitting”, done to hide the fact vegetables are the main constituent of the food.

Would you buy a cat food labelled as “Vegetables”?

Probably not.

Cats are obligate carnivores.

While we’re speaking of cunning labelling tricks, unlike real “premium” cat foods which use a guaranteed analysis, on Fussy Cat cat food we only find a typical analysis. It’s a subtle difference, but it means the protein and fat content is in no way guaranteed. They state 36% protein and 18% fat, but it doesn’t have to be. In reality it can be much more carbohydrates which aren’t healthy for your furry friend.

What vegetables are they anyway? It doesn’t say. The probable truth is whatever waste vegetables (such as carrot tops or potato skins) are thrown out the back door of human food facilities.

Even the meat ingredient (which is 1 part to the 2 parts vegetables) is ambiguous. It’s some possible concoction of poultry or beef or parts thereof, and like the vegetables probably what’s been thrown out of a human food factory.

Whatever can be sourced cheaply, basically.

This is also how all formulas are formulated the same – they can cherry pick the flavour name based on the spattering of different meat inclusions.

The bad points don’t end there. We find other ominous warning signs – ambiguous palatants to entice your cat to eat something they would otherwise turn their nose up, and ambiguous natural antioxidant.

When pet food manufacturers conceal what ingredients really are there’s only one logical reason why – they don’t want you to know.

Fussy Cat Cat Food Review

There’s very little positive to say about Fussy Cat cat food. The same applies for the wet food, rolls, and treats – all substandard products which your cat won’t thank you for.

If you want something better, perhaps take a look at Applaws also available at Coles and Woolies.

Where to buy Fussy Cat cat food

Supermarkets.

Not that you would?

Ingredients of Fussy Cat

The ingredients of Fussy Cat cat food (Chicken & Turkey with Cranberry) as of October 2021:

Meat Meals and meat by-products (poultry, including turkey, and beef) and/or poultry by-product meal, vegetable meal and vegetables, vegetable starches, tallows (poultry and/or beef), palatants, vegetable pulp, sunflower oil, oilseeds, salt, cellulose fibre, potassium chloride, dried chicory root, choline chloride, methionine, taurine, vitamins and minerals, cranberries, yucca schidigera extract, natural antioxidant.

Fussy Cat “typical analysis”

Fussy Cat cat food (Chicken & Turkey with Cranberry) “typical analysis” as of October 2021:

Protein36%
Fat18%
Crude Fibre5%
Carbohydrates *Barely any whatsoever 👍
* May be estimated. Read how to calculate carbohydrates in a pet food.

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3.5 Total Score
Fussy Cat cat food review - good or bad?

Fussy Cat cat food is designed to look better than it is, more likely being a bag of vegetable waste rather than species-appropriate meats.

CONS
  • Lots of vegetables
  • Ambiguous main ingredients
  • Ambiguous "palatants"
  • Ambiguous antioxidants
  • Analysis is not guaranteed

34 Comments
  1. What’s your opinion on the fussy cat grain free wet food line?

    Any chance of anreview

  2. VIP fussy cat is the only dry cat food my eldest cat cannot eat without giving him urinary cystitis. I believe this dry food was the cause of it.

  3. Hi I don’t generally feed this brand but I’m looking after a friends kitten and she left a heap of different foods for my cats to try and quite simply my cats eat it like it’s treats which made me wonder if it was cat junk food – I’m glad I checked I think I’ll keep it as treats for tricks and not give it to them as general food.
    One question I like most crazy cat ladies watch Jackson Galaxy and it seems Australian doesn’t follow the same rules where the names ingredient has to make up a certain percentage of the ingredients, am I right in assuming this?
    I try not to feed my cats dry food as a rule and generally throw a lot of money down the drain as I put it out over night in case they get hungry – spoiler alert in the last year they have about 4 times lol

    • Reply
      Pet Food Reviews (Australia) April 11, 2023 at 2:20 am

      Hi Willow, Australia has it’s own standard for labelling of pet foods (Australian Standard AS 5812:2017) which differs from other countries. That said, most countries allow the manufacturer to make the ingredients sound different to what they really are. i.e. “meat first” doesn’t mean there’s a lot of meat in a food, not if there’s a load of other stuff which isn’t meat (like grains or potato).

  4. Years ago I used to give my cat the Fussy Cat raw meat that come with 5 in a pack. He was a healthy cat before eating this. Anyway he began to display nervous system issues that affected his brain. The vet said Fussy Cat has a bad preservative in it that affects some cats. I stopped giving it to him and he got better and has never had it back. A couple of weeks ago I did a home shop and the store substituted my cat food for Fussy Cat in sachets. I looked on the box of satchets and couldn’t see the preservative, so I decided to use this food. After 1 week my cat was showing the same signs and actually had 3 small seizure type reactions. I WILL NEVER USE THIS FOOD AGAIN. !!!

  5. My girl has decided Fussy Cat is the only dry food she’ll eat, and she won’t even finish a 50g sachet of wet food, let alone eat enough to get the 200 calories a day she’s supposed to. She’s overweight and nothing has helped.

  6. Why don’t you mention who sponsors you oh right you won’t that’s right you hide that so don’t talk about being sneaky that’s why you can most cat foods except certain expensive ones who throws a couple of bucks your way

    • Reply
      Pet Food Reviews (Australia) December 18, 2022 at 12:11 am

      Hi Mick, I assume from your anger you feed Fussy Cat, and would rather refuse to believe what I’ve written in this review than accept it?

  7. Three times out of four when I buy this cat food, there is always a burst sachet. I do click and collect so I don’t actually select the actual box of food. Today I picked up my shopping and on the way home I was nearly vomiting. The smell got so strong. When I got home I had to wash every jar and can in the same bag. I opened the cat food outside, it was so putrid. I had to put the box and two sachets in a sealed plastic bag in to the bin. I washed my hands several times. I still can’t get rid of the smell out of my mind. I don’t think I’ll buy this product again.
    Suzanne

  8. This real pet food company have lots of problems. Company owned by Chinese fund group “Hosen Capital”

    Please check their product reviews. there are dogs cats lost lives or ill after having their product

    https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/fussy-cat-prime-steak-mince-5-x-90g
    https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/v-i-p-petfoods-fussy-cat/

    https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/billy-margot-dry-dog-food?rating=1
    https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/farmers-market-dry-dog-food?rating=1
    https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/ivory-coat-dog-food?rating=1
    https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/nature-s-gift-all-natural-canned?rating=1
    https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/v-i-p-dog-rolls
    https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/v-i-p-petfoods-chunkers
    https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/paws-fresh-pet-mince

    is there any government organisation or group monitor/investigate/control pet food industry? most of pets have very similar symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea. (not sure but very similar with Melamine Poisoning Symptoms)

    It is so upset, melamine is not approved for use in animal or human foods and therefore any use of it would be illegal in US and FDA believes it was these contaminants that made cats and dogs sick. (Ref. https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/recalls-withdrawals/melamine-pet-food-recall-frequently-asked-questions#:~:text=Melamine%20and%20its%20related%20compounds%20are%20not%20approved%20for%20use,made%20cats%20and%20dogs%20sick.)

    However in Australia, Gov permits the minimum allowance of melamine in pet food (https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Rural_and_Regional_Affairs_and_Transport/SafetyofPetFood/Report/c02)

    Pet food must be also managed and regulated by Government. it looks like pet food industry in Australia is self regulated by manufacturers

  9. Absolute rubbish this food – my cat is far from fussy but does not touch just about any of this crap, company is nothing a scammer

  10. Please do not give your cat this appalling food, my cats ate it once and bleed with bowel movements for three days.

  11. Well I’ve been feeding my cat this for awhile. My cat is 15 and vet said she has perfect teeth and health. I don’t feed her anything else for dental benefits, so it must be ok in that regard.

  12. My cat is addicted to “junk food”. She does not recognise fresh food (chicken or beef), or things like ZiwiPeaks. She likes large-sized kibble (as in the above brand’s Chicken & Turkey with Cranberries), presumably for the crunch when she bites into them. I am adding a portion of Healthy Everyday Pets Poultry to her food, but it is a struggle. Are there any good-quality kibbles of a similar size to the Fussy Cat variety mentioned above? Most of the ones I have seen are tiny.

    I am not on Facebook, and I am not interested in joining. It would be useful to have a non-Facebook point of contact.

    • My cat is exactly the same! I inherited her from a friend and she’s been on Fussy Cat for years – she also loves the Chicken & Turkey with Cranberries flavour in particular. I’ve tried to introduce Healthy Everyday Pets, but without much success. I too think that the smaller size of the kibble and the lack of crunch is a factor.

      So in saying that, I’m also very keen to know if there are high-quality grain-free dry food options of a larger biscuit size!

  13. My cats love this food. I love that I can get it from the supermarket but its still reasonably good for them and a good price. I have tried more expensive wet and dry foods and they won’t touch it but they eat this so I am happy with that. They also get grain and by-product free wet food as well as fresh human grade meats.

    • By products when named like with freeze dried foods are fantastic for cats and dogs, but yeah only when named otherwise it’s a guess of what’s actually in there.
      Grain free also doesn’t mean it’s better it’s still starch it still changes to sugar and cancer still feeds on it, I don’t like corn or wheat in foods and I know rice has arsenic but high GI grain free foods are really no better when you’ve seen and watched what I have.

      You’d also be quiet surprised just how unhealthy even our food is, after all nothing can escape pollution fallout unless they had food made under the ground which they don’t.

      If you or a friend has access to Netflix you should watch “What the Health” I knew they were doing it for pet food I didn’t realise to what degree they were doing it to our food though, I also knew they didn’t care but this was just insane.

      • Yes I understand about the grain free. My boy started getting matted hair on his back and something similar to dandruff. I changed foods to the VIP grainfree dry and the problem went away and his coat improved so much. So that’s why we kept using that product. I figure that I don’t want to do completely raw (I just don’t have the time and I don’t really want to touch gross things lol). And they don’t really like the more expensive brands I tried. However, I now have a kitten and he was on whiskas and Friskies kitten food. Lucy keeps eating it and now won’t eat the vip food. So I have just purchased Ivory Coat kitten food so at least she is going to get something better than the cheap supermarket brands. I will start transitioning when it arrives. The kitten will stay on whiskas kitten wet food for now as I don’t want to change everything all at once. When he has fully changed over to the good quality dry, I will look into wet foods.

        • By the way I wasn’t going to reply but I feel I have to after I said something wrong, Dine was not the brand I was remembering in fact the ingredients list is utter crap as it doesn’t tell you anything! Sheba I think was the brand I was thinking of.
          Sorry for that little bit of failure on my part.

        • I messed up my reply and added a website to it by accident and now it’s pending … I’ll post you this one and then once it leaves pending I’ll delete that one and leave this one or whatever.

          Alright I’m not sure I’d trust Applaws after that cat problem they had one time, when a food kills pets you kind of don’t really want to promote it to anyone obviously, the dog version so far with Angel no issues at all, but then the dog version was never the problem.

          Natures gift is pretty good for a supermarket brand, very limited ingredient list and easy to understand what goes into it.

          Fish4cats is another, I recently watched that film for us but pets are very much a part of our world of food as well, there is no chicken or cow that is specifically grown for dogs after all.

          Anyways they tested a lot of fish and even the small fish have lots of bacteria and Mercury and what not so you can feed it from time to time but it shouldn’t be a consistent diet.

          Taste of the wild finally has cans in Australia sadly no cat cans.

          Oh interesting Artemis has cat cans they should be good as their Osopure food is amazing.

          I was sure there was another brand but it seems maybe it wasn’t Australian as I visit the online USA Chewy as well when looking through foods.
          Dine is either a Purina or Mars brand but I think it’s like a higher quality product even though I’m not sure how much quality they care about, read an article a few days ago that made me hate them even more than I already do, they were so mean and not understanding it really did feel like all they cared about is money, which is true if you’ve read everything about them.

        • As an add on be weary of any foods containing Vitamin K or its scientific name of MENADIONE SODIUM BISULFITE, it has been known to cause liver failure when taken long term.

          I noticed Artemis adds it and that plenty of cat foods use it, broccoli and kale and I think certain seaweeds are excellent sources of natural Vitamin K they could very well use these but for some reason they opt for synthetics.

          Also Carrageenan is carcinogenic so that one as well.

        • Feline Natural and Ziwi have amazing quality wet foods but I guess it all comes down to how much of the can your using as they tend to be quiet expensive if you have to use a lot.
          I’ve also noticed that K9 Natural tends to have more water in their wet whereas Ziwi fills the cans with actual food, I’m not sure how it for the cat cans though.

          Holistic select are good, I’ve used their tinned food twice as in 2 big dog cans, it smelt good, the pups liked it and didn’t have any problems with it. They have an exceptionally wide range of flavours.

          Umm who else makes tinned cat food from the good list? Haha you know what I was going to go look up something else but I’ll quickly take a look at tinned cat foods for you so I can remind myself of what’s available in Australia.

        • Michele MacDonald July 30, 2017 at 12:36 pm

          wellness core make a tin food and they are on the best dry food list in australia,it’s only sold through pet barn though and i’m not sure how good they are as i have only fed the dry wellness core.

        • Aww cuties! 😀

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