Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Another Winner From Whiskas: Gollum Loves The Wild Alaskan Salmon Cat Treats! (My 100th Pet Product Review!)


The Good: Relatively inexpensive, My cat loves these, They have helped to maintain my cat's dental health, Gollum shows a clear preference
The Bad: Small package
The Basics: Wild Alaskan Salmon flavored Whiskas All Natural Temptations keep Gollum energized and playful!


Gollum appears to have fully recovered from the shock of getting an older sister in the form of Myah, our still relatively new Siberian Husky. As a result, for my one hundredth pet product review, I figured it was good to look in on little Gollum and see what treats he has been enjoying lately. Now that he is confident enough that Myah is not going to maul him, he comes when I call “treat time” and the treat he is most eager for these days are the Whiskas All Natural Temptations Wild Alaskan Salmon flavor cat treats.

Whiskas All Natural Temptations come in a variety of flavors and we picked up the Wild Alaskan Salmon flavor because Gollum loves all things fish, we had good experiences with the Temptations line and we had a coupon. The environmentally protective person within me acknowledges that the small plastic bag is not the best for the environment, but it does keep these treats fresh.

Gollum started young on tartar control treats and as a result, he never developed bad breath and the only treats my boy gets are ones that have the health benefit of being tartar control. While Whiskas All Natural Temptations Wild Alaskan Salmon cat treats do not make the claim to be tartar control, they are very hard with their whole grain outside and, at the very least, physically scrape tartar and plaque from Gollum’s teeth when he eats them. His breath has gotten no worse since he started having these treats. So, for $1.75, being able to avoid a teeth cleaning for my cat that would cost hundreds of dollars seemed like a good idea to me!

After a pouch of Whiskas All Natural Temptations, I can say with some authority that the Whiskas All Natural Temptations treats seem to be working well as a preventative measure by effectively keeping tartar from building up on my cats' teeth. Whiskas All Natural Temptations cat treats are crunchy little treats that come in various flavors, including chicken, salmon and tuna. The Wild Alaskan Salmon flavored treats are shaped 1/2" squares that are 1/4” thick and slightly rounded like little pillows. These cat treats are brown and firm and when they are broken open, there is a thin layer of meaty salmon inside.

Whiskas All Natural Temptations treats are available only in the stiff-plastic pouches which make it easy to tell if they have been tampered with. Each plastic pouch is vacuum sealed and has a salmon pink-colored bag which is very recognizable and protects the treats inside well. The stiff plastic creates a loud, recognizable crinkling sound that brings cats to it right away (I still call out to my cat with the question "Who wants treats?" whenever dispensing this as a treat). Sadly, there are other food products (like vacuum-sealed dinners) that come in similar pouches and when opening them, one's cats are likely to descend, eager for a treat. Whiskas took a lesson from the makers of Pounce when making the All Natural Temptations.

The truth is, though, I'm a somewhat lazy cat owner. My cat keeps me moving around to play fetch and keep the litter box immaculately cleaned, I'm often too busy (or forgetful) to give them treats every day like they insist they deserve. What I've begun to do is mix the treats in with the catfood, so the cats get the treats like Lucky Charms marshmallows in their dinner. The package makes no recommendations for how many treats a cat gets each day, though it does warn that Temptations are intended as supplemental food, as opposed to actual meals for cats. So, my mixing them into the regular cat food seems like a good idea and my boy get five to ten treats that way each day.

Mixing the treats into the food makes a package last about three weeks with my cat. I tend to keep one pouch for use as treats (he gets treat time an average of once every other day) and I mix the rest into his food when I jar it up. I jar all of my cat food up to keep the potential mouse population at bay (mice like Whiskas All Natural Temptations treats as well). These treats have a decent shelf life in comparison to other cat treats. The package which I picked up in mid-January has a March 2013 expiration date!

I refuse to taste sample this treat myself to determine whether or not they taste like what they are supposed to. Gollum like them and keeps coming back for them. In fact, when did a little taste test for Gollum where I put out three piles of treats – including one other flavor of Temptations - , Gollum showed a strong preference for the Wild Alaskan Salmon flavor treats over the other cat treats.

The Wild Alaskan Salmon flavored Whiskas All Natural Temptations are made up primarily of chicken meal, ground corn and animal fat before the ingredient list turns into odd things like dried meat by-products, rice and wheat flower. Gollum enjoys these as a treat and his health has not changed since we started using the Whiskas All Natural Temptations. The Wild Alaskan Salmon flavored treats contain at least 30% crude protein, 17% crude fat and less than 4.5% crude fiber and 12% moisture. These are not a bad food for my cat.

All in all, the Wild Alaskan Salmon flavored cat treats from Whiskas All Natural Temptations are good and worth picking up, but still make me wish they were explicitly tartar control. Gollum, however, has shown a clear preference for these when they are around and as a result, has made it a very easy decision for me to continue buying them for him!

For other cat treats, please check out my reviews of:
Whiskas Yellow Fin Tuna All Natural Temptations Cat Treats
Purina Friskies Turkey & Cheese Savory Shreds
Cosmic Catnip Fish Flavored Cat Treats

8.5/10

For other animal product reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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