Friskies is a cat food brand that produces wet and dry cat food. Its parent company is Nestlé. The coronation company initially introduced this company as a dog food brand in the 1930s. After this, the cat food segment of this company was released in 1950. This was the first time a particular brand was introduced targeting only cats. Later, many variations of this product were launched into the market. This increased the brand’s popularity, and the brand was able to grab a good market reputation in 1973. Five significant companies controlled 2/3 of the pet food market. Friskies was one of them. Sometime back, there was news that production of Friskies had been discontinued for some time.
Many people assumed that the brand would no longer be manufacturing cat food. A lot of pet owners were disturbed upon hearing this news. All pets, especially cats, are very selective in what they eat. Once you start feeding them a particular cat food regularly, they become habitual. If you try to introduce something else, then they will consume it. The unavailability of Friskies in the market made other cat owners nervous as their cats refused to eat other cat foods.
Reasons behind the shortage of Friskies
The representatives of Friskies have assured the public that the product has not been discontinued. Like many other products in the market, Friskies are also facing a problem of supply chain issues. This problem has been observed by most manufacturing companies around the globe and has eventually affected Friskies.
Also Read – Is Friskies bad for cats?
Friskies are manufactured in the United States of America, but the raw ingredients are imported from other parts of the world. There has been a shortage of natural ingredients such as Vitamin Packs, Duck, Lamb, etc., which has delayed the production of cat food. This problem is being dealt with on a global level right now.
Not even big companies with high revenues are new to this problem. Other than this year, has also been significant transportation issues. The weather in the United States of America is quite unpredictable. It becomes difficult to commute from one place to another if it’s raining or snowing heavily. This is why a lot of time taken in delivery causes low stocks in your nearby supermarkets. Heavy rains and snow also affect vegetation. As we know, cat food also uses vegetarian ingredients like greens. If vegetation and crop production has been insufficient in particular years, then the supply of these vegetarian ingredients remains low.
Why is Friskies cat food not available?
There are many other reasons why Friskies is not available in the market. The United States of America is facing a vast labor shortage issue. People leave their jobs in bundles, leaving factories with nobody to work. Manufacturing units and factories are actively looking for laborers to continue with their regular production. Another reason is packaging issues.
Companies are now actively taking up marketing tactics to stand out among others. Good marketing and labeling require good packaging as well. Machines do packaging, and when devices are down, there is nothing that humans can do. Technical faults in machines are something that keeps on happening.
Also Read – Is Friskies Cat Food Going Out of Business?
So this might be another cause of shortage in the production of Friskies. The company doesn’t want to lower its market reputation. They want to live up to the customer’s expectations, which is why they can wait for some time for things to get normal. They would instead stop their production for some time and then manufacture products that are not up to the mark.
Why has the price of Friskies doubled?
If you are a regular buyer of cat food, you must be aware that cat food prices have increased insanely in the last few months. The price of Friskies has doubled from what it was a year ago. The cost of naturally harvested ingredients has shot up due to unforeseen weather circumstances. The price of soya beans and corn has hit an all-time high. It has become costly for production units and manufacturers to purchase these ingredients to produce cat food.
As the cost of production has increased, the manufacturers have no choice but to improve the product’s price. This is why all cat food has become more expensive this year. The prices are likely to increase even more if the same situation goes on for some time.
Another reason is that okay for the production of corn and Soybean; biofuels are used these days. Biofuels are harmless to the environment, but at the same time, they are costly. This is where the cost of corn and soybean production becomes a lot for the farmers. As a result, they sell them for higher prices. This is also one of the reasons why cat food has become expensive.
Also Read – Friskies Cat Food Recall
Nutritional value of Friskies
Nutritional value in cat food is the most crucial aspect in deciding if cat food is worth it or not. Frisky focuses more on plant-based ingredients like corn, Soybean, and gluten. This makes it a meal that is low in protein and high in fat and carbohydrates. Here are the ingredients used in Friskies-
Dried Cheese Powder, Parsley Flakes, Taurine, Ground Yellow Corn, Corn Gluten Meal, Chicken By-Product Meal, Meat, And Bone Meal, Soybean Meal, Beef Tallow Preserved With Mixed-Tocopherols, Powdered Cellulose, Animal Liver Flavor, Soybean Hulls, Phosphoric Acid, Salmon Meal, Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Natural Flavor, Choline Chloride, Potassium Chloride, MINERALS [Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite], VITAMINS [Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin (Vitamin B-3), Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate (Vitamin B-5), Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B-1), Riboflavin Supplement (Vitamin B-2), Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B-6), Folic Acid (Vitamin B-9), Vitamin D-3.