Um, Murray has gas!
Written: Apr 24 '01 (Updated May 31 '01)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: cats love it, great packaging
Cons: created a bit of a smell in the aftermath!
The Bottom Line: Something you'll have to try cautiously... only your nose is at risk!
|
|
|
| manky's Full Review: Whiskas Homestyle Favorites with Cod & Shrimp in S... |
Now that I have two cats to spoil, I'm always looking for something special for them. I first used Whiska's Homestyle Favorites back on Thanksgiving and Christmas of last year. I'd serve up similar [to those I was celebrating with] meals for my "baby" I was leaving at home. They went over well, and I've continued to pick them up here and there.
We've tried practically all the Whiska's Homestyle Favorites. All have gotten wagging tails from the felines, some more than others. Yet some, as you will see, were definitely on the more questionable side according to the human who serves them.
The Packaging:
As do all Whiska's Homestyle Favorites, the with Cod & Shrimp in sauce comes in a handy little foil pouch. Sealed air tight, you know you are getting the ultimate freshness when you open it up. The only problem with the packages seems to be storage. Since I only have a few on hand at a time (these are simply special meals for my kittens,) I don't usually have a problem. I've found that simply squishing the majority of the contents towards the bottom of the pouch makes them stand up nicely due to the fold in the design at the bottom. If you do store them in more mass quantities, I've found that a small (low-cut) box or Tupperware makes a great holder!
Serving:
I've actually come up with two different ways that I like to serve these meals up. Between my two cats, one package is enough. Both eat eagerly, Teenie leaves, and Murray continues until most of it is gone... only to return later to finish it all off!
For the most part, I like to simply add this to their feeder with dry food. This encourages the eating of the dry food, as well as being a special treat. Unfortunately, my cat's feeder is so big and semi-permanently placed, that this makes my job a bit more difficult. I have to try and serve this as quickly and error free as possible, as my cats are already eating before I can finish. If I'm not fast enough, or even careful, my furry friends can end up with sauce on their heads and necks.
I've learned, over time, that the cleanest way to go is to serve this up on the counter (continuously reminding the cats that they are not allowed on the counter,) then placing it down for the cats to eat. I've found that two separate smaller bowls works best (I use empty margarine or cream cheese plastics.) Plus, here I can add rice to the meal (their vet recommended rice in their diet to avoid loose bowel movements.) The morsels, sauce, and rice mix together perfectly, encouraging them to actually eat the rice, rather than spread it all over my floor.
Now that I've explained the two ways I serve up this Whiska's Homestyle Favorites with Cod & Shrimp in sauce, I'd like to get into some of the specific mechanics of the serving. Each pouch is made with two grooves, one on each side, at the top of the pouch for easy tear opening. These provide for easy, fool-proof, clean openings. If you run into any problems in opening, simply start over from the other side. I've found that this usually fixes any scraggly problems.
Once you've got the packet open, you better be ready to work quickly from here on out. Cats are bound to be on the prowl from one direction or the other. Here I've found it best to use two fingers (extended out straight, held close together) to slide the package through lengthwise. Simply repeat form the other side (if you have short fingers like I do) and you'll be sure to have every morsel and drop of sauce out of that small pouch.
The packaging now is a small, thin little piece of plasticy foil that can be thrown into the garbage without creating a huge dent on the landfills in your surrounding areas. Unlike cans (and the sliver-like cuts they can ensue) these turn into a very small amount of garbage.
Results
As you can tell, my cats go bonkers for these meals. If they had anything to do with it, they'd live off of Whiska's Homestyle Favorites only. Unfortunately for them, yesterday I gave them the with Cod & Shrimp in sauce specifically, for the purposes of this review. I even took a great snapshot of them gobbling it up. They were purring and enjoying it completely. AS the night wore on... we had some horrid backfire. To put it bluntly, Murray had the worst gas ever. Sure, he's a boy, he stinks pretty bad on a somewhat regular basis... but this was extreme. I seriously went looking all over the house for an accident, I even checked the litter box only to come up empty! I had to resort to candle lighting and window opening the stench was so bad!
Obviously this particular branch [with Cod & Shrimp in sauce] of Whiska's Homestyle Favorites is not going to be repeated in this household.
Recommendation:
I'd strongly urge you to go out and buy the packages of Whiska's Homestyle Favorites that you can or are interested in (one of each.) Test them out on your animals. Just because the with Cod & Shrimp in sauce didn't work out for us, doesn't mean it can't for you. But do be cautious, I'd hate for anyone to go through what we did!
Epinions Note:
Since photos are not allowed into the reviews themselves, I've included the mentioned snapshot, of the food in action, on my member page.
Whiska's Homestyle Favorites in general are all very similar. Therefore, some text and information in this review has also been covered in other epinions I've written. I have made every attempt to included ample information distinguishing this particular flavor from the others in this writing!
Recommended:
No
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
manky
|
 - Top 1000 |
|
Member: Amancay Maahs
Location: Hood River, OR
Reviews written: 85
Trusted by: 45 members
About Me:
Young woman from Oregon... spent time in Argentina learning the language, and to love life!
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.