Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK

Cat General => General Cat Chat => Topic started by: Kay and Penny on October 31, 2009, 15:35:36 PM

Title: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Kay and Penny on October 31, 2009, 15:35:36 PM
I am surprised by how often a partiicular flavour of Whiskas or Felix is rejected totally by all three of my cats

the only Whiskas they will all eat is Tuna in jelly and Chicken in jelly - and these are the two most commonly found sold separately, which suggests the manufacturers know they are popular

so why can't we buy a discounted box of 12 of only these flavours? do they deliberately include varieties they know are unpopular with cats so we have to buy more?

or do I have the only cats who all dislike the same foods?
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Desley (booktigger) on October 31, 2009, 15:38:10 PM
I always wondered why they put Beef flavours in so many boxes, as that tends to be the one that is hated most.
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Mark on October 31, 2009, 15:40:42 PM
Poultry flavour is another that gets ignored. Weirdly mine went off Felic AND Whiskas senior recently so I started buying adult and there was still waste. I have been buying chicken soingle for Clapton for ages. I also wish I could get packs or even singles of Gourmet perle Game and Sheba game as they are the only flavour she likes  :tired:
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Christine (Blip) on October 31, 2009, 15:46:37 PM
do they deliberately include varieties they know are unpopular with cats so we have to buy more?

The short answer?  Yes.  It's why manufacturers (of anything) invented variety packs.
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Gill (sneakiefeline) on October 31, 2009, 15:47:33 PM
Mine love the poultry ....well the big cats but they hate the beef and the birmans also dont like the beef in the gourmet pate either so boxes are a waste of time.

Yes I think they cheat us because it would be much better to have boxes of one flavour.

I cant by the big boxes of felix because of the beef ones and think there is also another dodgey flavour in there.

Looking at how much I have spent on cat food recently is far far more than on anything for me and the prices are still going up.
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Desley (booktigger) on October 31, 2009, 15:48:56 PM
Ironic, actually, as it is one of the things I hated about Asda Senior and certain HiLife, that you only got one flavour in a box!!
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Kay and Penny on October 31, 2009, 16:16:55 PM
the most hated of all by mine is Whiskas Prawns in Jelly - it smells absolutely foul to me too :sick: :sick:
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Gill (sneakiefeline) on October 31, 2009, 16:19:47 PM
Its said that what food smells terrible to us smells lovely to them  :rofl: :rofl:

I hate the smell of AD but most cats love it.

The birmans have both decided they were hungry and have been meowing for food, they are not eating the pate now but both eating the expensive chicken in white sauce  >:(
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Kay and Penny on October 31, 2009, 16:24:36 PM
Trigger gets a very upset tum with those Gourmets that have dairy in their sauces
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Gill (sneakiefeline) on October 31, 2009, 16:25:57 PM
frantas tum is really good on them and not using lacto b any more  ;D
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Bazsmum on October 31, 2009, 16:48:30 PM
You all need more cats and the problem will be solved!  :naughty: :evillaugh: :rofl: :hug:

Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Den on October 31, 2009, 17:14:26 PM
Beef lover here  :wow: he had beef, duck and peas this morning and virtually devoured the lot in one go, which is rare for him. He has the same for din dins.
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Kay and Penny on October 31, 2009, 17:20:09 PM
I need to live nearer other Purrs people, I think, so we can start a swap shop

yesterday I bought 23 Tuna in Jelly pouches, which cleared out my local Tesco's - and then had to put them one by one through the self-service till >:(
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Gill (sneakiefeline) on October 31, 2009, 17:26:32 PM
Serves you right for trying to avoid the queues LOL.......I am sure on those tills you can type in for multiples you should ask someone to show you  ;D
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Kay and Penny on October 31, 2009, 17:32:49 PM
I did and you can't :(

even worse is having a ton of separate tins or pouches delivered, if you have opted not to have carrier bags, as I have to pick each one up out of the crates :tired:
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Gill (sneakiefeline) on October 31, 2009, 18:10:18 PM
hmmmmmmmmm i only use these tills after midnight and thought you could  >:(
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: AliCat on October 31, 2009, 18:25:43 PM
Trigger, I think you are onto something there!

Tachi LOVES the tuna pouches. I wish they did sell them in single flavour boxes.

Vader will pretty much eat anything, so he's ok!
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Millys Mum on October 31, 2009, 19:34:33 PM
When Milly was poorly she would only eat the chicken and tuna singles of felix or whiskas, to me they look and smell different to their multipack cousins
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Mark on October 31, 2009, 23:38:09 PM
Hill's cheat us  >:(

They have changed their senior active longevity from 2kg to 1.5kg  >:( - On VetUK site, they say they are rebranding and changing the pack size so you may get either. The one I got last week in the garden centre was 1.5kg  >:(
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: MooCat on November 01, 2009, 00:46:37 AM
 And why dont the multipacks come with 14 pouches i.e enough for one cat for a week instead of the 12 that leaves you 2 short so you have to go buy singles to get to the next weekly shop day?.
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Bazsmum on November 01, 2009, 05:33:55 AM
And why dont the multipacks come with 14 pouches i.e enough for one cat for a week instead of the 12 that leaves you 2 short so you have to go buy singles to get to the next weekly shop day?.

Now that's a good point and obviously yet another ploy!  :sneaky:
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Desley (booktigger) on November 01, 2009, 09:21:57 AM
Yes, that does annoy me!! Whoever thought up 12 was odd!!
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Mark on November 01, 2009, 09:26:00 AM
I just think it is a historic thing where a lot of things were sold by the dozen?
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Desley (booktigger) on November 01, 2009, 09:30:40 AM
Mark, Morrisons are doing buy 4 get 4 free on their gourmet trays (so £1.80 for 8), and one flavour is chicken and game - they are pate style foods.
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: bastet on November 01, 2009, 09:53:57 AM
Has anyone else noticed that if the supermarkets do a really good cheap special offer on the food their cats usually eat, that suddenly the cats (all 5 of them in my case) can't stand the food any more? I remember quite some time ago there being an offer on Whiskas, I bought about 48 cans only to find that they refused to eat it. The same thing happened recently, I noticed Tesco had an offer on tins of Felix, 24 cans for a really good price. Mine usually eat that or Whiskas and there's never any waste, but this time they refused to touch it. After wasting 3 tins, different flavours, I found my receipt and took the whole lot back AND got my money back for the whole 24 can pack. I'm sure that when they put on a special cheap offer the food is a different mix, either more filler or just really nasty meat.
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Mark on November 01, 2009, 10:16:15 AM
Mark, Morrisons are doing buy 4 get 4 free on their gourmet trays (so £1.80 for 8), and one flavour is chicken and game - they are pate style foods.

Thanks Des but she doesn't do pate  :tired:

She had been eating gourmet perle tins so I stocked up when they were £3 in Tesco - luckily I didn't go overboard as she has gone off them  :tired:

She is still quite keen on Purina one pouches so I will get some more while it is £3,99 in sainsbury's. Her favourite is the one they stopped selling in the UK (I forget the name) - you can still get it from Zooplus but I can't justify £1 a pouch - paying 60p a pouch for renal is bad enough  :Crazy:
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Gill (sneakiefeline) on November 01, 2009, 12:14:50 PM
Has anyone else noticed that if the supermarkets do a really good cheap special offer on the food their cats usually eat, that suddenly the cats (all 5 of them in my case) can't stand the food any more? I remember quite some time ago there being an offer on Whiskas, I bought about 48 cans only to find that they refused to eat it. The same thing happened recently, I noticed Tesco had an offer on tins of Felix, 24 cans for a really good price. Mine usually eat that or Whiskas and there's never any waste, but this time they refused to touch it. After wasting 3 tins, different flavours, I found my receipt and took the whole lot back AND got my money back for the whole 24 can pack. I'm sure that when they put on a special cheap offer the food is a different mix, either more filler or just really nasty meat.

I agree that I think they change something inside cos mine all used to eat Felix pouches and the jelly seemed to change and now two wont touch them at all.

I spoke to the felix help line and they said nothing had changed...........dont believe them!
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Kay and Penny on November 01, 2009, 12:52:03 PM
it's our fault really - all these flavours are to keep us happy rather than our cats -  a feral cat would be quite content with a diet of nothing but mice and birds

I am going to restrict mine to the Whiskas Tuna and Chicken in jelly for now, and a variety of good quality biscuits, which are rarely wasted and do not cost so much anyway

and just pray Whiskas do not discontinue them, or change the formula
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Kirst on November 01, 2009, 15:23:03 PM
I now buy a box of gourmet tins , box of gourmet perle , box of felix in gray and a box of agail and vary the lot! If I feed them the same thing day after day they get bored and don't eat it - this way it all gets scoffed!
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Mark on November 01, 2009, 16:17:46 PM
I have just got back from PAH - normally when Felix senior is 2 for £5, I would have cleared the shelves but they just aren't eating it so like kirst, I just bought a mix & match, including PAH own supermeat
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Fire Fox on November 01, 2009, 19:29:25 PM
I think most cat food is a con once you look at the price per kilogram, much of what you can buy in the supermarket is low in real meat so why does it retail between £3 and £8 per kilo??  :sneaky: Value sausages are £1 per kilo and 32% meat, chicken wings £1.70 per kilo, Morrisons fresh sprats are £2.50 a kilo, Value beef mince is £2 per kilo, chicken livers £1.60 a kilo, Value tinned tuna £2.40 per kilo. Not suggesting that all of these are healthy for cats, but it's possible to sell processed meat at a reasonable price so why not cat food?  >:(
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Mark on November 01, 2009, 23:20:40 PM
I think there must be an element of sods law  :tired:

For the longest time, Clapton & Alice have been going mad for the tins of Whiskas Salmon in Jelly. I decided to get 7 tins (for the price of  6  :evillaugh: ) in PAH today and neither of they would go near it  :tired: (they must know when we bulk buy  :evillaugh: )
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Mark on November 01, 2009, 23:21:49 PM
I think most cat food is a con once you look at the price per kilogram, much of what you can buy in the supermarket is low in real meat so why does it retail between £3 and £8 per kilo??  :sneaky: Value sausages are £1 per kilo and 32% meat, chicken wings £1.70 per kilo, Morrisons fresh sprats are £2.50 a kilo, Value beef mince is £2 per kilo, chicken livers £1.60 a kilo, Value tinned tuna £2.40 per kilo. Not suggesting that all of these are healthy for cats, but it's possible to sell processed meat at a reasonable price so why not cat food?  >:(

Especially when you factor in that most wet food is 80% water - they would never get away with that in meat for humans.
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Kay and Penny on November 01, 2009, 23:26:32 PM
I suspect they are programmed in the womb, Mark

it works with dry food samples too - they crunch every last crumb with the greatest enthusiasm, and then sit back and wait for you to struggle home with a 10 kilo sack, just for the evil pleasure of refusing to eat a single kibble of the stuff
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Gill (sneakiefeline) on November 01, 2009, 23:37:25 PM
I suspect they are programmed in the womb, Mark

it works with dry food samples too - they crunch every last crumb with the greatest enthusiasm, and then sit back and wait for you to struggle home with a 10 kilo sack, just for the evil pleasure of refusing to eat a single kibble of the stuff

 :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: so true
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Mark on November 02, 2009, 08:07:36 AM
And in reverse, I bought one box of Felix supermeat pouches yesterday and they are eating them as if they are the best thing they have ever tasted  :Crazy: - Had I bought 20 boxes................
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Gill (sneakiefeline) on November 02, 2009, 10:46:05 AM
well i wish i could find something that the birmans will eat  grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: harlequin on November 02, 2009, 12:21:51 PM
well i wish i could find something that the birmans will eat  grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
My two puds are Birmans and the little monsters have very expensive tastes. I poach a fillet of coley for them once a week and they go mad for that. It's only about £3 for a box of six in Sainsbury's and I just defrost one at a time. With regards to poaches of cat food, they like the Royal Canin Instinctive pouches, but at £7 a box they only get that when it's on offer! :innocent: They also like Tesco Finest* pouches and the odd tin of Applaws. As well as selling variety packs, Applaws also sell boxes of just one flavour so there's no waste if you manage to find one they like. You can buy them from The Cat Gallery: http://www.thecatgallery.co.uk/acatalog/For_Your_Cat_Feeding.html (http://www.thecatgallery.co.uk/acatalog/For_Your_Cat_Feeding.html). :)

I now buy a box of gourmet tins , box of gourmet perle , box of felix in gray and a box of agail and vary the lot! If I feed them the same thing day after day they get bored and don't eat it - this way it all gets scoffed!
I do that! I normally have two or three different boxes open at any one time and so they get a different brand every day. So if they have Whiskas on a Monday, they've forgotton all about it three days later and so look plesantly surprised when it gets served up again on Thursday! :evillaugh:
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Janeyk on November 02, 2009, 12:46:35 PM
I do that! I normally have two or three different boxes open at any one time and so they get a different brand every day. So if they have Whiskas on a Monday, they've forgotton all about it three days later and so look plesantly surprised when it gets served up again on Thursday! :evillaugh:

I do that too, variety is the spice of life  :)
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Gill (sneakiefeline) on November 02, 2009, 13:43:34 PM
What you doing with my Franta under your name Harlequin  :rofl: :rofl:

My two are 16 and neither will eat lumps and wont eat cooked fish or chicken.......sigh


Franta does like trying to eat ,e though lol and right this instance is trying to get on my knee ,,,,,,,,,sigh

Ouch my ear....he is shoutiung too!
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: CC & The Pussycat Guys & Dolls on November 02, 2009, 15:22:06 PM
or do I have the only cats who all dislike the same foods?

None of my cats (all 6 of them) will eat beef flavours wether its felix, whiskas or gourmet  :shify:

I also think that by adding extras, praws, real meat etc makes us think we are getting something better, so we pay the higher price.

My cats wont eat much except gourmet these days. I do buy whiskas and felix as good as but it usually gets wasted  :shy:
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: harlequin on November 02, 2009, 15:34:52 PM
What you doing with my Franta under your name Harlequin  :rofl: :rofl:

My two are 16 and neither will eat lumps and wont eat cooked fish or chicken.......sigh


Franta does like trying to eat ,e though lol and right this instance is trying to get on my knee ,,,,,,,,,sigh

Ouch my ear....he is shoutiung too!

Lol, nooooooo, you got it wrong there Gill, that isn't your Franta, that's my Spice! :evillaugh: He and Sugar are both 12 now and I swear they use their 'old age' as an excuse to do whatever the hell they want. At the moment (touch wood) they're happy eating their half-pouch each of wet food in the evening, but are kicking up a stink about their dry food during the day. They used to love James Wellbeloved and I give them a different flavour every day, but at the moment Sugar thinks it's much more amusing to go on hunger strike and just stand at her food bowl staring in disgust at the biscuits within. :tired: I've told her, "It could be worse puss, I could be feeding you that Go Cat rubbish that makes you sick", but she won't have it. As far as she's concerned, she's an old lady and can do whatever she likes now. Spice on the other hand is currently embroiled in some kind of dirty protest and has stopped cleaning his bottom when he has a poo. Instead, he jumps all over my lap until the smell is so bad that I have to wipe it for him else I'll be bringing up me dinner :sick:

And there were all those lovely rescue moggies who would have made lovely house-cats, but no I had to answer the plea of two rescue Birmans instead....... :tired:
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Gill (sneakiefeline) on November 02, 2009, 15:44:00 PM
your birmans sounf like mine  :rofl: :rofl:
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Susanne (urbantigers) on November 07, 2009, 10:43:57 AM
I will send Jaffa along to teach you birmans a lesson!  Just call him Dyson  ;D
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Gill (sneakiefeline) on November 07, 2009, 11:35:27 AM
LOL Susanne I have a dyson here already and he is sooooooo large i cannot permit him to hoover, he is called Misa  ;D

Seems that this sort of birman behaviour is not in their breed profile nor the howling for meowmys to do exactly what any birman wants instantly  :shify: :shify:
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Susanne (urbantigers) on November 07, 2009, 11:44:26 AM
the howling for meowmys to do exactly what any birman wants instantly  :shify: :shify:

I think that's in the general cat job description and not confined to birmans  :innocent:
Title: Re: do the cat food manufacturers cheat us?
Post by: Janeyk on November 07, 2009, 12:18:34 PM
the howling for meowmys to do exactly what any birman wants instantly  :shify: :shify:

I think that's in the general cat job description and not confined to birmans  :innocent:

me too  :evillaugh: