Friday, May 18, 2012

An Average Cat Treat For Those Who Want To Care For Their Cat’s Teeth, Tempations Creamy Dairy Flavor Tartar Control Treats!


The Good: Relatively inexpensive, My cat enjoys them, It has helped to maintain my cat's dental health
The Bad: Small package, Not the most robust flavor (according to Gollum)
The Basics: Creamy Dairy flavored Whiskas All Natural Temptations are marginally approved by my cat Gollum, who tends to go for other treats before these.


Gollum is a surprisingly unfinicky cat. Last night, as my wife and I watched movies and our Siberian Husky sat begging for snacks, Gollum hopped up an grabbed potato chips and popcorn from me. He might not have much of a health sense, but he knows what he likes, I suppose. Given that, I was actually surprised by how ambivalent Gollum is to the Whiskas All Natural Temptations Creamy Dairy flavor cat treats.

Don’t get me wrong, Gollum eats the Creamy Dairy flavored Whiskas All Natural Temptations. But given virtually any other flavor, or even his regular cat food, Gollum will choose that over the Dairy Flavor. Still, when he is eating only these treats, he is enthusiastic enough with them.

Whiskas All Natural Temptations come in a variety of flavors and we picked up the Creamy Dairy flavor because Gollum enjoys ice cream and milk and we figured if this lived up on the flavor front, he would be agog for these. As it was, they did not make him go wild, not even once. 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 boys get are ones that have the health benefit of being tartar control. While Whiskas All Natural Temptations Creamy Dairy cat treats make the claim to be tartar control and they are very hard 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 $1.00, 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 Creamy Dairy. The Creamy Dairy flavored treats are shaped 1/2" squares that are 1/4” thick and slightly rounded like little pillows. These cat treats are very light brown and firm and when they are broken open, there is a thin layer of Creamy Dairy flavored paste 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 purple-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 him treats every day like Whiskas insist they deserve. What I've begun to do is mix the treats in with the catfood, so Gollum gets the treats like Lucky Charms marshmallows in his dinner. The package makes no recommendations for how many treats a cat gets each day, though it does warn that Tasty Tidbits are intended as supplemental food, as opposed to actual meals for cats. They have two calories per treat, so these are not bad to give to Gollum, who is eight years old. Regardless, my mixing them into the regular cat food seems like a good idea and my boy gets five to ten treats that way each day.

Mixing the treats into the food makes a package last about two weeks with my cat. I tend to keep one pouch for use as treats (they get treat time an average of once every other day) and I mix the rest into their 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 early-May has a May 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 likes them and keeps coming back for them when there are no other options. When I put out three piles of Whiskas treats recently, Gollum left the Creamy Dairy flavor treats until there were no other options.

The Creamy Dairy flavored Whiskas All Natural Temptations are made up primarily of chicken by-product meal, ground corn and animal fat before the ingredient list turns into odd things like skim milk powder, 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 Creamy Dairy 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 Creamy Dairy flavored cat treats from Whiskas All Natural Temptations are good, but Gollum only endorses them as a back-up flavor. While that might seem harsh, the truth is there are other treats he more excitedly keeps his teeth clean with.

For other Whiskas or other brand cat treats, please check out my reviews of:
Whiskas All Natural Temptations Wild Alaskan Salmon flavor
Whiskas All Natural Temptations Yellow Fin Tuna Cat Treats
Pounce Salmon Tartar Control

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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