Great if you're a cat. A bit pricey if you live with one (or two) (Whiskas Pouches)

Member Name: miriamb

Product:	Whiskas Pouches
Date:	03/08/02 (218 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cats like them

Disadvantages: People who live with cats have to buy them

I now have two cats, and after much taste testing of various types of cat food, they have eventually settled on their favourite… And my little girls don’t like tinned food (too tinny, obviously), and being fussy little madams they just sniff at the Kitekats and own brand pouches (although they don’t mind Waitrose’s). Their favourite breakfast/dinner is Whiskas pouches, hence posting here.

Basically, what you get is a single-meal-sized pouch weighing in at 100g, filled with little bite-sized bits of meat, and jelly or gravy to keep it moist. My ladies tend to lap up all the jelly/gravy first but unlike some other brands I’ve tried this doesn’t mean that the meaty bits dry up instantly, which is always a good thing.

The pouches come in various flavours and jelly/gravy combinations. The girls are currently half-way through a 24 Jelly selection pack that contains 6 each of Chicken, Trout & Salmon, Beef, and Rabbit & Chicken, and seem to be quite happy. Selection packs are also available in 12 pack combos and are themed, for example, Favourites, Poulty, Meat, Fish etc… This is the first time I’ve splashed out on a 24 pack because the 12 pack ones are quite often on a 3 for 2 offer in various supermarkets so I just buy them.

The meaty bits are smaller than you usually get in tins of the same product, which my girls seem to prefer. Not sure what the science behind this is, but whatever makes them happy! Similarly, the food appears to be moister than you get in a tin and this may be due to a higher jelly/gravy composite, I don’t know, but the cats prefer it and I guess that’s all that matters. Each flavour is primarily composed of ‘Meat and animal derivatives’ which sounds a bit ambiguous and scary, but I’m reassured somewhat as the ingredients listing for each flavour guarantees that at least 4% comes from the animal/bird that it’s supposed to be. Fo
r example, Chicken has a minimum of 4% chicken, and Trout & Salmon has minimum 4% trout and minimum 4% salmon.

I can’t tell you what they taste like (sorry but my investigative drive doesn’t go that far) but they smell ok, richer and more full-bodied than the tinned version and the alternatives available. If you don’t like that cat-food aroma, these will probably be your nemesis. A quick tip – the cooler they are the less they seem to smell. But, the flip side is that the more they smell, the quicker the cats eat them. Your call really!

The packaging is good, there are little red arrows near the top to guide you so that you tear easily and in a straight line. The packs also have a reinforced component between two said arrows to make it easier not to accidentally tear down and lose everything. Very thoughtful, but it isn’t foolproof, so don’t rush it and rip the thing with your teeth or you might be getting to sample Whiska's finest yourself. (If this happens please let me know what it tasted like so I can update).

The box tells me that the recommended quantity of food for an adult cat is 400g a day (ie a tin, or 4 pouches), but that seems a lot. For my two adult cats, I serve up 2 pouches in the morning, topped up with another one early evening, between them. They do also have their specially-formulated-for-their-lifestyle-and-type dried food available at all times, but they actually get 150g each of wet food a day, and this seems to satisfy them. Well it must do, because you can always tell when a cat’s hungry can’t you?!

My only reservation about the multi-packs is that a vet once told me that you shouldn’t mix up flavours too often. The example I was given was that you should feed them one flavour for 3 days before switching it, because the different components in different flavours can give cats a tummy upset if they’re given too much variety in t
oo short a period of time. For this reason, I try to keep my girls on the same flavour for as long as possible, and if multi-packs were available purely containing Chicken, for example, I’d be the first in the queue. But that aside, I haven’t had any problems so I can’t really comment. For the record, my girls prefer white meat, although they don’t mind a bit of duck, or occasionally rabbit.

So Mymy and Lily’s verdict: 9/10 (because they’re not too keen on Beef)


The individual pouches retail for between 25p and 45p depending on outlet and offers available. My local independent pet shop sometimes has a 5 for a quid offer and that works out pretty good so it’s worth checking for offers. The pre-selected 12 packs retail for around £2.70, and it is worth taking advantage of the numerous 3 for 2s that the supermarkets throw up. And finally, I bought the 24 pack for £5.24. I think this is the only size that I’ve never seen attached to a multi-buy, which is a shame because it would work out really good value it they did.

My verdict: 9/10 – losing one point because late night cat food hunts can lead to paying ridiculous amounts for one meal.

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