Fancy Feast Canned Cat Food Shortage

I mentioned it before, that it was becoming hard to find on the shelves. I still can’t find any sort of official press release, or even news article on it. However after finding the Purina Fancy Feast FB page I found the following posts (screenshots so that folks without FB can see them).

And many many more comments like this.

I was able to order in a selection of mixed cases via Chewy, but the selection even of those was limited. If you have a cat who only eats these products you’re going to want to be prepared to order in bulk cases, or even have to find something else they’ll eat.

17 thoughts on “Fancy Feast Canned Cat Food Shortage”

    • I Believe it. Purina is certainly one of the larger brands, but if they’re having trouble sourcing ingredients so are the others. The shortages are going to be spreading.

  1. I live in Ellsworth, Maine and there is definitely a cat food shortage here (perhaps dog food too, but I don’t have dogs, so haven’t checked). The store managers tell me that it’s the CANS that are in short supply. Factories closed down due to the virus, and can’t make the cans fast enough. I can’t find this *excuse* online, so am most puzzled.

    • Purina is saying ingredient shortage. However I’d be shocked if the factories didn’t have to at least slow down during the big shut down, and likely did have to close at least some, and so yes, that is likely a factor too if not the big one. I was kinda surprised that there wasn’t a shortage of foods sooner, but then people have always had to buy their pet food and that didn’t change with the shut down, so what we’re seeing now is the warehouse back up supplies finally having been bought out.

      I work for a national, and international, retailer, and I’ve had the chance to talk with vendor reps from a variety of our vendors, and yes, they have not recovered from the shutdown, so if the pet food companies had to shut down, or even just slow down, at all it is very likely that they are still feeling that as part of the problem. But what alot of people don’t realize is that alot of hte vitamin and nutrient supplements added to foods, pet and human, come from overseas, and with the shipping having gotten screwed all to hell with Covid, never mind the shut downs of the factories overseas that make those nutrient/vitamins, yup, there’s shortages! Plus yes, there was a big fuss several months ago about how aluminium cans were in short supply, so that may well be another factor too. Its all connected, the whole world wide supply chain for EVERYTHING got fucked all to hell in 2020. We’re going to be feeling it for a while.

      I don’t feed my dogs much premade foods, so I’ve not noticed it with the dog foods, but yes, I’d be surprised if it wasn’t affecting them too.

  2. It has been frustrating to find any information concerning Fancy Feast shortages. I have tried other brands and my cat won’t touch them. My cat will only eat four specific flavors. The hardest one is the chopped grill classic. She won’t eat any of them with gravy or anything other than the pate. I did find the chopped grill classic on amazon, but when I tried to order it, the order failed because it was not available. Since my cat will eat hard treats, I don’t believe she has any problems with her teeth. The lack of information about shortages is bad for customer relations.

  3. My two Siamese little pigs have suddenly refused to eat any of the Fancy Feast with liver in it. Have never had a problem with them and Fancy Feast before. To be honest, I don’t blame them. The food in the cans has a terrible odor Not the normal cat food smell- just stinky. Have to try to find something else to give them now. Am nervous with the smell and their refusing to eat it.

  4. They changed the formula and cut more than 50% ingredients in -Fancy Feast with Tuna, shrimp& whitefish in a decadent silky broth, turning it into pure OIL. They do realize that their customers meaning cats CANNOT be fooled.
    It has be turned into unusable product. Do you guys even test your product before such a huge mass production. Now I have hundred of dollars worth of horrible product and a sick kitty that depends on fluid intake for kidney disease.
    Come in Nestle, you are better than this.

  5. I have an 18-year-old-cat that has always been very picky. There was only 2 types of cat food he would eat. Both Fancy Feast pate. Now he won’t eat either one. I asked Purina and they said they did not change their formula. Bull. They are lying. You can’t fool a cat. I put both cat food down, the old one and the new one, and he will wolf down the old one and not touch the new one. I can tell which one is which by the date on the can. That is not the problem with Shadow. He can’t read. I don’t know what to do. I am going to the store and buying one can of everything I can find to see if there is anything he will eat. I can understand if they are having problems but I really hate that they are lying. Any ideas will be appreciated.

  6. I have 5 cats, ages 1, 4, 11, 12 and 13. All rescues that are very picky eaters. Used to eat several FF pate varieties, but over the past few months they ALL refuse to eat most varieties. For awhile they continued to eat the chicken, but the new case is now being rejected by them. I agree that their must be a change – maybe the ingredients are the same but perhaps they are sourced from someplace new? I also notice the cans in the last case are very flimsy – I can actually squeeze the can with my bare hand. So maybe the can is new and there is a residue? Now I am forced to buy all kinds of wet food to see if I can feed them some wet food. So far I only have had luck with Blu Heathy Gourmet chicken pate. Thankfully they also eat kibble so no one is starving, and my cats drink water from a Drinkwell fountain so I don’t have to be concerned about water intake. If anything good comes out of this pandemic I think forcing all companies to be transparent about where they source every single ingredient would be a great new requirement – for pets and people!

    • Try the Fancy Feast Fish and Shrimp Flaked food. It’s the only thing my 18 year old cat will eat lately. What I really hate is that they will not admit that there is a change and work with us to find a solution. If you find anything else they’ll eat, let us know.

  7. I call BS on the excuse that there’s a shortage because pandemic people adopted pets and are buying more food…so No one was feeding said pets before Covid?

    • no, the shortage is because 2020 fucked the hell out of the supply chain for everything and its still not un-fucked, never mind not even close to being caught up. I fully expect things to still not be unfucked through at least the end of 2021.

      we didn’t notice the shortage right away because unlike most other things pet food purchasing levels didn’t really change much other than people stocking up when the shutdown first hit. So the warehouses had enough to carry us till late 2020 when the shortages started becoming obvious.

  8. I don’t care what the excuse is I just wish Purina was more honest. If we knew exactly what is happening to which cat food it would make it easier to make decisions on what to try next.

  9. I can’t believe that I am having such a hard time getting the senior canned cat food. You start producing a great product and get my 18 year old Pixiebob cat hooked on this and poof its gone !!!! What am I supposed to do ???? Purina was the go to feed company for animal feed Some stores are price gouging and it costs 2.00 a can and I can’t afford this. I have even changed my horses feed as I don’t trust you any more !!!

    • This is my personal blog dear, and I’m in no way affiliated with Purina. You’re yelling at the wrong person.

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