I really tried to resist the adorable packaging of BFF Cat Food
My inner dialogue upon seeing it on the pet store shelf went something like this…
“Aww, look it’s a girl and a cat, in CARTOON form, in super cute colors! OMG, look at the sweet names of the different formulas…’Tuna & Chicken 4Eva‘, sooo cute! I have to get…. NO!!! Don’t fall for it. Put it back.”
I’m always scared of being marketed to, because clearly I’m easy! But, as I was so intrigued by their unbelievably cute and unique labels, I did a little research to find out what BFF Cat Food is all about. Guess what? It’s not all presentation – there is some great food inside that impossibly cute can.
Grain free canned food is expensive, and the price of some brands seems to be increasing a little too rapidly. B.F.F is made by Weruva, and is intended to be a lower cost option for high quality, low carb, grain free cat food. All of the formulas are fish based, and made in a human food facility.
The first thing I noticed when opening up a can of “Tuna & Salmon Soulmates” was just that – tuna and salmon. BFF has a very natural texture, at least it does in the 4 flavors we’ve tried so far. Genuine pieces of chicken and fish – cut, shredded, etc. Not a puree or a paste. Pixie ADORES texture, so she was very happy to see this in her bowl. Weetzie is a little texture-phobic, and often greets a dish of meat that actually looks like meat with great apprehension bordering on fear, often not finishing the meal. But not this stuff. She’s cleaned her bowl every time, which is a pretty good indicator that BFF probably tastes GOOD.
So, we’ll definitely be adding BFF to the food rotation around here. Two paws up!
{ 44 comments… read them below or add one }
Aww, I love the packaging too!! That last pic is so cute!
Thanks! Maybe the most adorable cat food packaging ever, right? Perhaps it will start a trend…
The packaging caught my eye, so I bought a can for my boys to try.
I rolled the dice & got the Tuna & Shrimp variety
Like Pixie…my cats licked the dish clean and obviously loved it.
They’ve had Wellness, Newman’s own, Natural Balance, Before Grain.
I like the Newman’s because it’s ‘organic’, but I’ll be getting more of the BFF too.
I’m eager to try Newman’s Own, I’ve heard a lot of great things about it. Sadly, I haven’t been able to find it anywhere locally yet.
Not sure where you live, but in So. Cal. you can find Newman’s at Von’s markets & ‘For Pets Only’
Oh I’m a looong way from So. Cal. – Toronto, Canada
According to the Newman’s website they stock it at the Pet Valu up here that I go to all the time, but I’ve never seen it. I’m going to have to ask the staff what gives!
my cat loves the tuna chicken and i love the picture
My cat adores the tuna and pumpkin…….I mean cleans the plate \………but always leaves a smidgen to come back to 5 minutes later and than looks hopefully for more.
My cat developed severe grain allergies over the past year. Some of the other brands tout an allergy-friendly mix, but then kitty just ends up scratching or puking. This brand, BFF, went over real well with the putty. She liked it (it’s definitely not pretty to look at) and her allergies were kept in check with absolutely no symptoms and no stomach upset. I thought the price was way more reasonable in comparison. I can’t wait to try the other flavors…mmmm.
It’s amazing how a simple change in diet can get rid of so many problems, isn’t it? Yeah, the price is one of my favorite things about BFF.
Much more reasonable than some… actually MOST.
Hi there,
Where do you find BFF here in TO? I feed my little ones Weruva regularly and a few other brands (wellness, BG, etc) but one of my kittens has had enough with pureed foods and prefer texture ones. I also feed them raw meals once in a while and hope to have it make at least 50% of their diet. Would love to experiment with BFF as well…
I’ve bought it at a few locations of Global Pet Foods, and also at Small Wonders on the Danforth (http://www.smallwonderspets.ca). I know they don’t carry it at PetValu, and I sure wish they did.
Wow, 50% raw sounds amazing! I’d love to take our cats in that direction, but one of them just won’t do it. It would be hunger strike city over here!
Oh, mine would eat 100% raw and maybe I’d go that way once they are older and not eating quite as much (they are only 5 months old). But they didn’t take it right away. I found that one way to get them to eat raw meat was to crush some kibble and sprinkle it on top. When I want them to eat a chicken wing, for example, I “bread” it in it… I’ve found that the younger the kitten, the more readily they take to it. I foster for Annex Cat rescue and the little ones always eat the meat right away.
I read in another thread that you give your cats dental kibble from the vet. If it’s Hill’s, be careful with that stuff. It’s pure marketing; it won’t clean your cats’ teeth. It gave my dog a tumour in her liver…
We give them the Medi-cal dental formula, but not much of it at all – a kibble placebo, pretty much. And yeah, ingredient wise, it’s not really any better than Hill’s.
Patches loves this too but i think she is having a reaction to it all of her paws look like baseball mits now. what should i do?
Well, that could be any number of things, and I think you should probably take Patches to the vet, asap!
We took her to the vet,the only thing new is BFF, she will be going back to the vet soon
I just bought this a few days ago! I haven’t gotten around to feeding him this yet (we’re finishing the old food first) so I hope he’ll like it! I fell for the packaging too!
Cool, I hope it’s a hit! And really, who could resist that packaging? Who?!?
Thanks for the review of BFF! My two boys, Jasper and Nemo, love this food. The Tuna and Pumpkin flavor was an especially big hit. What a wonderful blog this is–keep up the great work.
Thank you so much! Our girls like the Tuna and Pumpkin flavor, too.
“Skinny” Simon (confirmed pate feline), took to BFF with relish. I’m very skeptical though feeding a fish diet more than once a week as it’s been said that humans should avoid eating fish more than once a week due to high mercury content. The fish ingredient is what makes some felines addicted to specific foods. I will feed this food as a special treat – once a week.
Yeah, I’ve also heard that, from a nutritional standpoint, you shouldn’t feed a cat an *entirely* fish based diet. I think a big variety of proteins is the way to go. Thanks for stopping by, all the best to “Skinny” Simon!
The cat’s digestive system is very different from human’s. Food goes so fast through them that they don’t absolve heavy metals the same way we do… It’s fine to feed them fish…
Thanks. Picked up different varieties of Weruva with meat and pumpkin and fed it to Simon. Wow, he finished half the can and didn’t bother eating the kibble California Natural. There’s something about this food that the kitties find enticing, well, 5 out of 6 ate it. Jules will not make the switch and prefers his Wellness Chicken and Herring. I would love to stop feeding Wellness completely. oy
I’m curious – why stop feeding Wellness?
After the acquisition by Proctor and Gamble, I notice inconsistencies in the odor and texture of the food and a couple of my felines starting vomiting 2-3 hours after eating it. At other times, they would take one sniff and walk away! Mind you, I’ve been feeding this brand for many years (my Vet originally recommended it). I feed 3 cases of 12.5oz cans every 2.5 weeks for 8 cats, plus I give 15-20 kibbles each of California Natural. I’m not happy about switching but I feel the quality is now compromised. You can read more here. http://blog.timesunion.com/petsandvets/384/proctor-gamble-buys-natura-pet-foods/
Suffice it to say, even if P&G were not involved, I have to base my decision on the kitties reaction to the food and my nose.
My apologies for the error in my previous post. Berwind Industries purchased Wellness from Old Mother Hubbard. They previously purchased Eaglepack and formed Wellpet, LLC.
Good to hear. You are right to question what you feed, of course.
I have two kittens of my own and one foster. They eat a variety of foods: some raw (Tollden Farms) and a few canned food (Wellness grain free and core, Weruva, Nature’s Variety, Felidae, and Now ). I use kibble from Acana as treats.
I recently picked up a sample bag of Acana kibble. It’s gaining in popularity but cannot replace California Natural just yet. The Cal Natural contains some mystery ingredient that cats cannot seem to resist! It’s become their McDonalds, I’m afraid.
Orijen and Acana are favourites here. When I was trying to get them to eat raw food, all I had to do was sprinkle some Acana or Orijen on the chicken wing and they would devour it.
My cat Sassy went a good straight week of not eating, being a typically small siamese runt of 6 lbs her whole life she can’t miss a meal, so I took her in to the vet. Turned out she had a UTI and the vet said that could have very well made her not want to eat. So after treatment I kept trying the same canned food (she also had dry california natural she wasn’t touching) still wouldn’t eat and I started getting concerned. I went to my local holistic animal store and the lady HIGHLY recommended BFF. I brought her Tuna & Tilapia and she licked the plate clean! I also added Solid Gold Seameal in here diet and now she’s the healthiest I’ve ever seen her. I feel like I owe a lot of my gratitude to BFF.
Thank you for commenting. A week without eating is so scary to watch. I’m so glad to hear Sassy is doing well again!
Alexandra, I would love to read where you read that cats don’t absorb heavy metals!! I know cats have a shorter more acidic digestive tract and as such ecoli and and other food born pathogens don’t stand a chance. They are unable to replicate and cause serious problems (unless a cat is immunocompromised to start with)
I also really wanted to like this food. It is really cute and it is grain free which is a plus for me, but I prefer not to feed fish. It is an allergen and can cause problems if a cat develops an allergy. I also prefer to reserve fish foods for the “oh my goodness my cat isn’t eating it needs to eat” food. If a food is fed regularly then it doesn’t have that treat feeling. Not to mention that fish smell that seems to hang around the cat (and the litter box) after they eat it.
My cats eat mostly raw (they get canned when we forget to thaw enough out) but I’m always on the look out for foods for emergency situations. If BFF would make a few non fish foods, I would be all over them!!
Hi Connie,
I’ll try to dig up that reference again.
Do you prepare your own raw food or do you buy it ready? How much do you thaw at a time? I’m slowly feeding them more raw but it’s a little tricky in the morning since one of my cats is quite impatient to get his food then and waiting for it to read room temperature (I put it in a bag and dip it in lukewarm water) can be difficult.
BFF doesn’t seem to have non fish foods but the same folks who make BFF also make Weruva, which has a few non-fish options (particularly chicken and duck).
I was initially impressed with BFF because I was told it was made by a local company & was grain free. It seemed like a high quality product at a reasonable price & I am all for supporting local companies. I then discovered it is made in Thailand (read the can)!!! I absolutely refuse to feed my little girl anything that is not made in the USA!
As I understand it, BFF is an American company that produces the food at a family facilty in Thailand. The facility also produces human grade food.
I have started feeding Weruva to my skinny boy Simon and while he prefers the BFF, I abstain feeding fish because of the mercury content and, the addiction that cats develop to it.
Update to feeding fish food on a regular basis. This article reinforces what i’ve been told by my Vet.
http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/01/03/fish-as-a-protein-source.aspx
Part of the reason Weruva is made in Thailand and not in the US is because the producers have much more control of the entire process in Thailand than they could have had in the US, where they would have had to send their food to be packaged by central packaging facilities that also process many other brands, which exposes the whole thing to cross-contamination. It’s part of the reason the makers of Acana here in Canada (which has similar rules) does not get into the canned petfood business.
I have read detailed reviews of third parties that visited the facility in Thailand and I’m confident that the quality far surpasses any canned food available in Canada or the USA. I notice that even on the cans themselves – the cans here are all lined with BPA. Not so with Weruva.
Someone asked where to find BFF in Canada. The Pet Value in Richmond Hill (10850 Yonge St) carries it which is where I first bought it. However they only have the small cans (3 oz) does it come in a larger size? My cats also like to have beef and do you know how hard that is to find in cat food??? However, I found the Performatrin Ultra brand (I think this is Pet Value’s own brand) has a Beef Stew and Turkey Stew my cats love as a treat. Normally they are addicted to Weruva and now BFF as well.
Yeah, there’s a 5.5 oz size, which they have at Global Pet Foods. There’s also a 10 oz size, apparently, but I’ve never actually seen one!
Yeah, beef is harder to find. Wellness does both a Beef and Chicken and a Beef and Salmon, which my cats like quite a lot. But, you know what you never, ever see? Pork.
All of my cats love this cat food! For many years I have tried all kinds of natural and grain free canned cat food and my cats would like it for a while and then just stop eating it all together. This food is a different story Ive been buying this food for about a year now and they still are in love with the food like it was the first can!
Well i was looking for a grain free, poultry free food for my cats with IBD. I have tried so many foods. Well i got 2 cans to try and OMG my one cat as soon as she smelled the can was going crazy. They all inhaled it and then just looked at me like, that is it. So it is safe to say if i want to go home i need to buy more cans first
Haha, yeah, they’ve got you where they want you now!