Last updated Apr 14, 2023
We’ve rated Felix on ingredient quality, species-appropriateness, recalls, and more. Read our Felix cat food review to learn how this brand stacks up.
The Cats.com Standard—Rating Felix on What Matters
We’ve rated the brand on six key criteria for quality. Here’s how it rates in each of these six crucial areas.
Ratings
- Species-Appropriateness – 6/10
- Ingredient Quality – 4/10
- Product Variety – 6/10
- Price – 7/10
- Customer Experience – 5/10
- Recall History – 9/10
Overall Score: 6.17/10
In total, we give Felix cat food a 37 out of 60 rating or a C+ grade.
About Felix
If you’re a cat owner in the UK, you’ve heard of Felix. A European cat food brand owned by Nestle Purina PetCare, Felix is part of the diet of more than one-third of all cats in the UK (according to Purina’s website). Though originally a dry cat food brand, Felix now exclusively offers wet cat food varieties.
While Felix may be one of the most popular cat food brands in the UK now, that wasn’t always the case. In fact, it was almost delisted by major retailers for poor sales in the 1980s. Felix was relaunched in 1989 with a new mascot – a black and white cat named Felix. By 1996, Felix had overtaken the prior brand leader in the UK (Whiskas) and remains one of the biggest brands in the UK.
Sourcing and Manufacturing
Originally produced in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, the Felix cat food company has changed manufacturers several times over the years. Most recently, the brand was sold to Nestle in 1997. We weren’t able to determine exactly where Felix products are made, but most Purina products seem to be manufactured in the US and Canada.
Purina states that the quality and safety of their products is their number-one priority. They carry out 300 tests on their raw materials and packaging materials every day along with 1,100 checks per day across the production process and on finished products. They’ve also employed a third-party lab to analyze samples of Felix products for heavy metals, mycotoxins, and other contaminants with no issues.
Recall History
While the Purina company is no stranger to product recalls, we weren’t able to find any information to suggest the Felix brand has ever been recalled.
There have been customer concerns over the past year about cats refusing Felix products or becoming sick after eating them, but no recall has been issued.
In fact, Purina has published a statement titled, “Keeping Pets Safe – The Facts About Felix Cat Food,” which addresses these concerns. In it, Purina comments, “There is no evidence to support a link to our foods and no quality or food safety issues have been found with our Felix products. Any claims to the contrary are not based on fact.”
What Kinds Of Cat Food Does Felix Offer?
Felix is a wet food-only brand in the UK. As of 2018, all wet foods made for the UK market are sold in pouches rather than tins. Most of their wet foods are packaged in jelly or gravy, featuring flavors like chicken, beef, lamb, and fish. Felix offers a variety of recipes for all life stages and several kitten foods.
What Do Customers Think Of Felix Cat Food?
Customer reviews for Felix cat food have taken a dive over the past year or so. While Purina admits to changing their formula recently, they claim that the only change they made was to the product’s appearance. They removed the colorants, but otherwise made no changes to the recipe.
Whether this is true or not is difficult to discern, though it’s clear that many customers are dissatisfied with the brand right now.
Purina’s rating on TrustPilot in the UK has tanked to 1.1 out of 5 with just under 350 reviews – over 90% of reviewers have given the brand a 1-star or “bad” rating.
That being said, some customers are perfectly happy with the brand and have been feeding it to their cat for years with no issues.
Let’s take a look at a few reviews from TrustPilot for Felix.
Positive Reviews
My cat won’t eat anything else!!!! My cat loves it! Tried her on other products before and she would just turn her nose up. Considering she was a stray I would have thought she would have ate anything! No! It has to be anything Purina! Sge loves as good as it looks. Felix GoodyBag. Purina One Bifensis. Doubly Delicious. Her coat is so soft and she now looks wonderful! I would not give her anything else! Well she wouldn’t eat it anyway!”- Joy Childs, January 2021
“Seems to be some scaremongering going on here. Both my cats are zooming around the house at the speed of light on Felix as good as it looks? Not one that follows scary things on Facebook, rather the facts.”- Sarah, August 2021
Negative Reviews
“Two cats was vomiting daily, scratching daily and had diarrhoea after eating Felix cat food. Switched to another brand (after carefully looking at the ingredients) and this has stopped. I understand there was an ingredient change that caused this, ie. sugar. I fail to understand why you would add an ingredient that is ok for humans but to add to feline food that has caused a catastrophic and possibly fatal consequences.”- Choy Lai Cheung, October 2021
“I’ve been feeding my cat Felix Doubly Delicious for the past four years with no problems, suddenly once she had started on the ‘new recipe’ which claims only colourants have been taken out she started to leave most of the food and was being sick most days. I just thought she unwell, took her to the vets who did blood work and could find nothing wrong with her. They suggested a bland food so for a few days I fed her home cooked and she was fine within a day. I then started to feed her the Felix again and within 2 days she became sickly again.”- Angela, October 2021
Felix Cat Food – Top 3 Recipes Reviewed
| Product Name | Food Type | Main Protein Source | Calories | Price | Our Grade |
| Felix Doubly Delicious Ocean Recipes in Jelly | Wet | Meat and Animal Derivatives | N/A | £0.50 per oz | C- |
| Felix As Good As It Looks Meaty Selection in Jelly | Wet | Meat and Animal Derivatives | N/A | £0.50 per oz | C- |
| Felix Tasty Shreds Farm Selection Wet Cat Food | Wet | Meat and Animal Derivatives | N/A | £0.50 per oz | C- |
#1 Felix Doubly Delicious Ocean Recipes In Jelly
The Doubly Delicious line of products from Felix promises “mouth-watering tastes and textures” that taste as good as they look. The trouble is all that supposed taste appears to come from some pretty questionable ingredients.
Sold in a four-pack of flavors, these ocean recipes are named for fresh fish like saithe, salmon, herring, trout, cod, and mackerel. Unfortunately, none of those ingredients appear anywhere on the ingredients list. The primary ingredients are meat, fish, and animal derivatives – in other words, the leftovers of the human food industry. These ingredients may still be fit for human consumption, but they’re the parts of the animal humans don’t want to eat.
Overall, this recipe is very by-product heavy, packed with vaguely named animal ingredients and vegetable proteins.
Ingredients
Meat and Animal Derivatives, Vegetable Protein Extract, Fish and Fish Derivatives, Minerals, Various Sugars.
| Ingredients We Liked | Ingredients We Didn’t Like | Common Allergens |
| None | Meat and Animal Derivatives Vegetable Protein Extract Fish and Fish Derivatives Various Sugars |
Fish |
Guaranteed Analysis
Dry Matter Basis
Caloric Weight Basis
Pros
- Contains negligible carbohydrate
- Rich in moisture to support hydration
- Affordably priced
Cons
- No high-quality or named ingredients
- High inclusions of by-products
- Includes significant plant protein content
- Contains added sugar
#2 Felix As Good As It Looks Meaty Selection In Jelly
Though this variety pack contains flavors like chicken, duck, pork, and ham, the ingredients and guaranteed analysis are identical to the previous product. All we see are meat, animal, and fish derivatives along with vegetable protein extract.
If you take a look at the product label for each flavor, you’ll see that 4% of those meat and animal derivatives in each recipe come from the animal named in the flavor. For example, the Chicken in Jelly recipe lists meat and animal derivatives as the first ingredient but notes (of which chicken 4%).
Again, we can’t say for sure that these vaguely named ingredients are of poor quality, but we have reason to assume they’re not. As a general rule, we don’t recommend any pet food product that doesn’t contain a high-quality source of named animal protein as the first ingredient.
Overall, this recipe is very by-product heavy, packed with vaguely named animal ingredients and vegetable proteins.
Ingredients
Meat and Animal Derivatives, Vegetable Protein Extract, Fish and Fish Derivatives, Minerals, Various Sugars.
| Ingredients We Liked | Ingredients We Didn’t Like | Common Allergens |
| None | Meat and Animal Derivatives Vegetable Protein Extract Fish and Fish Derivatives Various Sugars |
Fish |
Guaranteed Analysis
Dry Matter Basis
Caloric Weight Basis
Pros
- Contains negligible carbohydrate
- Rich in moisture to support hydration
- Affordably priced
Cons
- No high-quality or named ingredients
- High inclusions of by-products
- Includes significant plant protein content
- Contains added sugar
#3 Felix Tasty Shreds Farm Selection Wet Cat Food
The Tasty Shreds line from Felix includes wet cat food pouches filled with “tender shredded pieces in a tasty gravy.” The Farm Selection variety pack includes beef, chicken, duck, and turkey flavor.
What sets the Tasty Shreds line of products apart from the other product lines is that it is marketed for being free from added color, flavor, and preservatives. Unfortunately, the actual quality of these products doesn’t appear to be any higher. They’re still filled with meat and animal derivatives, fish and fish derivatives, and now derivatives of vegetable origin.
Compared to 12% meat and animal derivatives from the first recipe, and 14% from the second, the Tasty Shreds line of products contains 18% meat and animal derivates. About 4% of that comes from the animal named in the flavor (i.e., beef, chicken, duck, or turkey).
Though more of the product appears to come from animal ingredients, the carbohydrate content is actually a little bit higher. We also don’t love the vaguely named “oils and fats” added in this recipe.
Overall, this recipe is very by-product heavy, packed with vaguely named animal ingredients and vegetable proteins.
Ingredients
Meat and Animal Derivatives, Vegetable Protein Extracts, Fish and Fish Derivatives, Various Sugars, Minerals, Oils and Fats, Derivatives of Vegetable Origin.
| Ingredients We Liked | Ingredients We Didn’t Like | Common Allergens |
| None | Meat and Animal Derivatives
Vegetable Protein Extract Fish and Fish Derivatives Various Sugars |
Fish |
Guaranteed Analysis
Dry Matter Basis
Caloric Weight Basis
Pros
- Contains negligible carbohydrate
- Rich in moisture to support hydration
- Affordably priced
Cons
- No high-quality or named ingredients
- High inclusions of by-products
- Includes significant plant protein content
- Contains added sugar
How Much Does Felix Cat Food Cost?
Felix is an affordable cat food brand similar to discount and grocery store brands like Whiskas and Meow Mix. For a 20-pack of 100g pouches, you’ll pay about £10, or about £0.50 per pouch.
Overall, Is Felix Cat Food a Good Choice?
Though Felix appears to offer a modest variety of product choices, they are all nearly identical when you break them down to the list of ingredients.
They do offer several different textures and some products come in gravy versus jelly, but they are all made with the same vaguely named meat and fish ingredients with a smattering of vegetable protein extract, fats and oils, and added sugars.
Felix may be an affordable brand of cat food that some cats seem to like, but recent customer concerns cause us to question whether the low price tag is worth the risk. The only good things we have to say about the brand are related to the low carb content and high moisture content of their recipes. Overall, you can do a lot better than Felix cat food and probably for a similar price point.
Where Is Felix Cat Food Sold?
Because Felix is a UK brand, the best place to buy it is in local pet stores in the UK or from UK-based online retailers. You can shop for Felix online at The Pet Express, PetShop.co.uk, or VetShop.co.uk.
Absolutely disgusted that purina can still sell their felix cat food when it is making so many cats ill. My two cats will not touch it and I don’t blame them it stinks so bad. What have they done to their formula for good tasty nutrition for our cats? I find it disgraceful that they are bot listening to their customers and continue to deny that there is anything wrong.
But you cannot fool a cat owner who has fed felix for many years, and if they think they can fool the cats they need to think again.
My two beautiful companions are not eating Aldi own brand and loving it.
It needs to be addressed with truthfulness
Marlene Graham
You’re absolutely right, Marlene, that pet food companies should put the wellness of cats before their own profits. Unfortunately, it’s all too common for companies like Purina to keep selling products that aren’t high in quality or even make cats sick simply because they can. Many cat owners don’t understand enough about cat nutrition to know that Felix isn’t the best choice and the low price tag makes the brand appealing. I’m glad to hear that you found another brand your cats like!
Felix cat food is rubbish even my ferals stopped eating it thank god as people have lost their beloved cats Purina are a disgrace ignoring the problem
It’s definitely a tragedy, Mrs. Hammmond
Same here even the feral cats as well as my indoor cats will not touch any Felix food they just give it a cursory sniff and they are just walking away. I am disgusted as I truly cannot afford to waste my money!
My cats both stopped eating a couple of days ago now I wasn’t sure if it was due to me having the older 1 speyd so thought I would give it a day or so but now my boy is being a bit sick and won’t even sniff his food nevermind eat it. They have been on Felix since the day they were born but they have always been finicky with it, after reading this I am definitely taking them to the vet’s first thing in the morning and no more Felix for them but….I have tried them on iams and many others (it’s late my memory is awful at a normal time of day) what would you suggest feeding them?
Well, Kellie, there are a lot of good options out there! Try reading our guide to the best cat food on the market and the best food in the UK, specifically. Hope this helps!
The meat used to be a lot finer now they come in big chunks which my two cats don’t like. Purina have obviously missed out on a trick because many owners who used to buy the sachets have now stopped. If Whiskers made their sachets in jelly I’d buy those so I have to buy expense tins in Princess.
Hi Laurie, thanks for sharing the news about this texture change!
Love to see you review this one, it has at least 80% real meat content, no sugar, grains, animal derivatives, whilst it is pricey, 8 pouches in the box is just over £10 it’s well worth it looking the ingredients, my cat Peaches loves it.
https://www.petscorner.co.uk/cheshire-cat/the-cheshire-cat-s-garden-multipack-8x85g
My cats have stopped eating Felix cat food in the last few weeks – I’m having to resort to tins of tuna to persuade them to eat. This morning I open a pack of Felix Sensations Sauces which contained a big lump of mould. I’ve sent a report to Purina but I won’t be getting any more Felix food.
That’s horrible. Hope you can find a viable replacement.
At last, an honest review on ‘foul Felix’!
I have long thought that Purina must add some kind of enticing ingredient like catnip, as so many people I have spoken with have all said they have trouble getting their cats off the stuff.
For the past 3 years I have been buying German pet food. It costs far more, but you do get quality cat food.
Thanks for the review.
We used to feed ours felix as good as it looks. Both cats from same litter brother and sister bengalx ragdoll. The brother would be sick after eating Felixstowe within 3 feet of the bowl. His sister was fine for months then refused to eat. Changed the food to iams and only sick we get is the odd fur ball. We now pay a total of 45p per day per cat to feed iams wet and dry food. Admittedly this is bulk purchased every month. But all 7 cats in our house are healthy, happy and no sickness. I won’t go back to Felix.
I wish the cat food companies didnt put sugarin the food. Our cats are suffering teeth problems
Hi Michelle, thanks for the comment. While I agree that added sugar is unnecessary and potentially harmful to cats, it’s not the only reason why cats develop dental issues. Any diet, when combined with a lack of regular brushing and other dental care essentials, will lead to dental health problems. I would recommend a low-carbohydrate, low-residue diet combined with daily brushing and annual cleanings at a vet.
Why are you putting cats on a diet for yet more profit 100 grams to 85 grams now to 80 grams think I will go back to tinned cat food