Marmite scented pillows (M&C Defurr-UM Treats for Cats and Kittens)

Member Name: Tracy_1127

Product:	M&C Defurr-UM Treats for Cats and Kittens
Date:	02/08/09 (60 review reads)
Rating:

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For a few years now I've used the Mark and Chappell Defurr-Um paste for furballs and the odd bout of constipation in my boys (cats) with good effect so when I saw on www.vetuk.co.uk that they had these Defurr-Um treats I thought they sounded like a really good idea. What could be better than giving medication type products in the form of a treat? So at £1.94 for a 50g bag I purchased some.

The bag arrived and it has a cat on the front and a picture of one of the treats looking like a crunchy exterior with lots of paste oozing from the centre. It tells us they are "tasty treats that pets adore" and they have been formulated by animal nutritionists. On the back it gives doses which is 1 treat every other day for kittens over 6 months and 2 treats every other day for adult cats to prevent hairballs and 3 treats a day for 4 days for kittens over 6 months and 6 treats a day for 4 days for adult cats to remove hairballs. That didn't sound like many treats to coax cats into eating so I was still pleased.

The bag is foil lined so not see through and has a resealable top in the style of one of those plastic strips you press together so you can keep the product fresh.

When I opened the pack it immediately smelt of malt, not like Horlicks though but more on the verge of a Marmite smell which I found a bit odd so that must be the crunchy exterior smell. I peered into the bag and did a double take, were these treats for cats or dogs?

The reason for my confusion was the size of the treats. They are ridiculously huge! Bear in mind that cat biscuits are about 1 cm wide at their largest and consider the size of a cats mouth before I give you the dimensions. These treats are about an inch long, a cm wide and half a centimetre deep! That's huge in the world of cats and I had to check the front of the pack again, even though I knew there was a cat on the front, to check these weren't intended for dogs.

No, seems not. These huge treats are intended for cats and I had no idea how I would get my two to eat something this large. They really resemble those Quaker Oats pillows we used to eat for breakfast years ago.

Undeterred I decided to break one open and check how much paste was contained within. I can confirm they have a good blob of paste in there but it's stickier than the actual paste. This also made me doubt they would be suitable for my two, they hate sticky pastes and like them runny and oily. These also resemble mini fig rolls if that gives you more idea of what they look like!

So with a doubtful heart I offered a treat to one of my lads. He looked at it, looked at me like I was crazy and then walked away. Onto my second boy and a brief sniff before turning his back on the "treat" and ignoring it completely. I have to say I don't blame them, these don't smell nice and are way, way too big for cats to even attempt to eat. I tried breaking them up and offering them like that but the scent of these just didn't do it for my boys, they obviously fall into the hate it camp of Marmite! They wouldn't even lick the centre because the smell of the crunchy bit put them off.

I know some people will think this review would have been better if I knew if they worked but I honestly can't see many cats even trying these. The outside is too flaky and cereal like to interest cats, the centre is too sticky and the smell is too much like Marmite. These were a complete waste of money and I'm sat with the full bag at the side of me wafting the Marmite scent around the room as I type this review with the intention of binning it immediately afterwards.

Overall a waste of money, too large for cats, they smell all wrong for cats and the paste in the centre is sticky. Much better to buy the Defurr-Um paste and just offer that on your finger because cats do actually like it. Not recommended by me and my boys!

Summary: My boys don't recommend them!