Refreshing change of pace!
Written: May 25 '01
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: cats love it, great packaging
Cons: not only Freshwater Trout...
The Bottom Line: Yummy morsels, delicious sauce... my cats can attest to it! Try it on your cats slowly... don't go out and buy mass quantities the first round!
|
|
|
| manky's Full Review: Whiskas Homestyle Favorites with Freshwater Trout ... |
It is clear that Whiska's Homestyle Favorites is an essential to the spoiling process of my two "babies"! Teenie, the elder of the two (at merely a year in a couple of weeks) is harder to please when it comes to actual cat foods. Murray, on the other hand (a young guy, born to us on Ground Hog's day,) is gung-ho on anything consumable... give him any sort of cat food, a chance at the open bag of Flamin' Hot Cheetos or even a lick of your lemon popsicle and he's in heaven! Either way, they both agree that Whiska's Homestyle Favorites are "the bomb!" They are sure to share their joy with equally eager meows, waving tails, and soft purrs.
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, resulted in a much more impressed human... featuring things only we could note in appreciation!
The Packaging:
As do all Whiska's Homestyle Favorites, the with Freshwater Trout 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 Freshwater Trout 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. However, I only tend to give this a once in a while treat-of-a-meal, favoring dry food for it's price, longevity in the bowl, and litter box outcome. Lucky for them, last night they got a surprise serving of the with Freshwater Trout in Sauce specifically, for the purposes of this review. They love it when I've become somewhat inspired to write lately... looking at them for input!
Surprise, surprise! This time, instead of the usual blah brown, somewhat pinky chucks you get from all bags of Whiska's Homestyle Favorites, we were greeted by beautiful grayish, mostly white chunks. Representing Freshwater Trout, this was impressive! I also noted excess sauce, which for me and my cuties is another definite plus. You see, the sauce is eagerly lapped up first, unless I'm sly enough to serve it over their dry food... sauce and dry food equals more yummy consumption of the cheaper dry food! I actually took the time, a semi-gross action, to feel the chunks. I wanted to see how supple they actually are! I was not disappointed in the least. These were well shaped, yet soft morsels cats of all ages could eat without feeling like they were eating puree.
This particular branch [with Freshwater Trout in Sauce] of Whiska's Homestyle Favorites impressed me so much, that it may very well be the most consistent one I buy once we've exhausted our sampling pile!
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 Freshwater Trout in Sauce worked out for us, doesn't mean it will or won't for you. I've had various experiences, and have found that each flavor and cat combination can be entirely different. I've experienced both ends of the spectrum and trial and error was our only ally!
Epinions Note:
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:
Yes
|
|
|
|
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!
|
|
|