Purina Canned Cat Food Shortage

Thought it was just my local stores & definately thought it was (at the time) panic shopping before the last big snowstorm. When I went back yesterday the store aisle was completely empty. Of all canned cat food. Reasonably I thought it was maybe cause trucks'd been stranded due to weather?

Nope to everything.

Purina is having production issues due to Covid.
I'd stocked up before last March, but out of all the products in 2020 that ran out or were problematic finding, canned cat food wasn't one of them.Most people I'm sure could care less both about cats or their food. The world has bigger problems.

But for those of us with them it sucks.
The shreds canned food is a waste of time since most cats will only slop down the gravy leaving the rest. When a cat decides it's not eating a certain flavor you can't make it do so. Changing brands, or from wet to dry, causes "floor drama" out either or both ends. Or worse health problems.

My guys can live without it for awhile, but I recently finally caught the feral kitty who as it turns out isn't 3-4 yrs old but 13-14 yrs old with damaged teeth from trying to chew his way out of somewhere. Determined by my Vet, who was kind enough to tackle his neutering & other health issues. He needs soft food. I can't get my hands on his preferred flavors so in retaliation he's been peeing on what I could find.
Neatly & in the dish.
What cat even does this???!!!

Long story short the shortages are expected to go on for awhile.

www.tnonline.com...
www.wnep.com...

a reply to: Caver78

Well, purina's garbage...

Do your cats a favour and feed them foods where the first three ingredients at least are meat. The cans are like the same price as purina's trash...

originally posted by: Caver78
Thought it was just my local stores & definately thought it was (at the time) panic shopping before the last big snowstorm. When I went back yesterday the store aisle was completely empty. Of all canned cat food. Reasonably I thought it was maybe cause trucks'd been stranded due to weather?

Nope to everything.

Purina is having production issues due to Covid.
I'd stocked up before last March, but out of all the products in 2020 that ran out or were problematic finding, canned cat food wasn't one of them.Most people I'm sure could care less both about cats or their food. The world has bigger problems.

But for those of us with them it sucks.
The shreds canned food is a waste of time since most cats will only slop down the gravy leaving the rest. When a cat decides it's not eating a certain flavor you can't make it do so. Changing brands, or from wet to dry, causes "floor drama" out either or both ends. Or worse health problems.

My guys can live without it for awhile, but I recently finally caught the feral kitty who as it turns out isn't 3-4 yrs old but 13-14 yrs old with damaged teeth from trying to chew his way out of somewhere. Determined by my Vet, who was kind enough to tackle his neutering & other health issues. He needs soft food. I can't get my hands on his preferred flavors so in retaliation he's been peeing on what I could find.
Neatly & in the dish.
What cat even does this???!!!

Long story short the shortages are expected to go on for awhile.

www.tnonline.com...
www.wnep.com...

Our cat has decided to upgrade to lunch meat.. turkey, ham, etc.. and sends us the bill.

Cats are evil.

originally posted by: blueman12
Cats are evil.

True.

a reply to: blueman12

Why are you even on the internet??

Can confirm on all accounts.

Canned Cat food shelves been empty and I wondered.

While I do have a cat, she eats dry food, so we good

Dunno if she’s evil, jury is still out

a reply to: Caver78

Purina Canned Cat Food Shortage

They can't find enough migrants to harvest. It's left rotting in the field.

Feed the cats chicken tenders, boiled or baked. It's a whole lot cheaper than canned cat food.

a reply to: schuyler

You have to make sure you get some organ meat in there, liver and kidney and such. Cats need taurine. They don't produce it naturally. Without it they go blind over time. It's added to canned and dry food. Most organ meat and other offal contains it. Wild cats and such, they eat most of the parts of the things they kill for a reason.

a reply to: Caver78
Let them eat mice. That's what they're for.
The last thing we need is feline food riots.
Anyway, "nine out of ten owners (who expressed a preference), said their cats preferred Whiskas". Or is that just in England?

originally posted by: dug88
a reply to: schuyler

You have to make sure you get some organ meat in there, liver and kidney and such. Cats need taurine. They don't produce it naturally. Without it they go blind over time. It's added to canned and dry food. Most organ meat and other offal contains it. Wild cats and such, they eat most of the parts of the things they kill for a reason.

They also have dry food on demand. Nutra Choice Pure Vita Chicken and Peas. A bit expensive. They get a "wet" food because they are spoiled, and Greenies, and whatever we are having for dinner. One likes potato chips, but he doesn't get those very often unless he steals them. On, and Parmesan Cheese Brittle. And bacon. I was never allowed a pat as a child, but I've had cats pretty steadily going on 50 years now.

originally posted by: DISRAELI
a reply to: Caver78
Let them eat mice. That's what they're for. The last thing we need is feline food riots. Anyway, "nine out of ten owners (who expressed a preference), said their cats preferred Whiskas". Or is that just in England?

Couldn't be true. "Meow Mix" is the only cat food cats ask for by name.

a reply to: schuyler
Not gonna disagree & garlic chicken is their preferred treat.
Except for my one "foodie" who thinks mashed rutabaga is da'bomb. He just ain't wrapped right.

My kids DO mouse...in the garage & basement.
I've learned to not say jack-squat to my one girl until she drops the body. Too many times she hadn't killed it yet & the keystone cops occurred with me & them all chasing it down. On the bright side they don't drop it on the bed, or usually where I walk in the dark so no "EWWWWWW".

Haven't found any mouse nests this winter, so the kids are earning their kibble.

We finally were able to get some more delickable treats for our one cat. We put her special supplements in it to control her epilepsy...which works great at controlling her grand malls. She is super fussy, she even wants her treats put in her dish with flowers on it, she bitches at me with her eyes and walks away if I put it in a plain bowl. I get three servings out of a package for a buck an envelope, kind of an expensive way to give medicine but it works because she eats it. A lot of other cats must be addicted to that too, the wife read many complaints of them being out of stock everywhere and a lot of people use it for putting meds in to give to their cats.

There has not been much of a shortage of cat food around here other than that. We stocked up on cat food months ago and although their regular cat food has been sold out occasionally, Dr. Tims, we have been able to maintain a supply. Dr. Tims is the only food we found that the cats do not puke up all the time...yes, occasionally they do puke, but once every couple months is way better than five times a week. The epileptic cat eats plastic and although with the special supplements she eats less plastic, she still does have a little craving. I suppose plastic is an endocrine disruptor so it is probably what she was eating to dampen the epilepsy risk.

originally posted by: dug88
a reply to: schuyler

You have to make sure you get some organ meat in there, liver and kidney and such. Cats need taurine. They don't produce it naturally. Without it they go blind over time. It's added to canned and dry food. Most organ meat and other offal contains it. Wild cats and such, they eat most of the parts of the things they kill for a reason.

Wish more people knew this factoid.
I loath liver but will boil some up for the cats. ICK!

Yeah I'm feeling the pain too. I was expecting this and bought extra several weeks ago and was just buying more at the store when I went but I'm well into my stores now and running low. Fancy Feast is the preference around here lol. I feed the ferals dry mostly, and all of ours are good hunters if need be. I've been buying chicken leg quarters at Aldi's for them and we occasionally use some for ourselves too. Very cheap! $5/10lb bag. I hope I can find an affordable grinder to process it easier for the whiskered gang. Good luck with your kitts!

originally posted by: schuyler
"Anyway, "nine out of ten owners (who expressed a preference), said their cats preferred Whiskas". Or is that just in England?"

Couldn't be true. "Meow Mix" is the only cat food cats ask for by name.

That's precisely why Whiskas were famously obliged to drop their original claim "Nine out of ten cats prefer...".
"We can't let you say that, because you obviously haven't asked them."

A cat gets hungry enough, they eat nearly anything

We feed ours a mix of things.

The old lady gets a Sheba portion and kibble.

The younger boys get a Sheba portion and kibble and some rehydrated, freeze-dried raw.

We tried the old lady on the raw, but she doesn't like it and that's why she doesn't get any.

The Sheba has disappeared lately, so they're on crap cans in the meantime. We've had no trouble with either the freeze-dried or the kibble, but both of those are expensive, high quality boutique foods. I'm not surprised we're not having any issues with them. And I know the Sheba isn't really quality, but they love it and it's only a small part of their diet.

I panicked and ordered a six month supply from Chewy.com. Our cats split one can every morning [but have dry food available all of the time] and I didn't want to have to see their desperate faces if we ran out of their canned food.