Cat Food Makers' Cynical Deceit
When cat food pouches first came on to the market - maybe in the 90s? - I always bought my cats a selection of brands, usually Whiskas, Felix, or one of the supermarkets' own brands. The pouches were always a standard 100g.
Then some while back, perhaps about 10 years, having bought a box of Whiskas, I noticed that the pouches seemed a bit lighter - and my senses were confirmed by looking at the weight on the back of the pouch, which had suddenly, quietly gone down to 85g. No warning, no explanation, no price drop - and no change in quality, as far as I could tell (...tasting it was not an option for me!...)
But Felix remained - and still remains - 100g. And whereas Whiskas has always all looked the same - anonymous brown lumps which, whatever the pack says, could be anything, whether meat, game or fish - Felix, 'As Good As It Looks' actually looks like real food, albeit that it all looks like tuna - and the cats lap it up (unintended pun!) Whiskas got picked at, and often had to be half wasted and thrown down the loo.
As time went on, I found other cat food manufacturers following suit - Gourmet, Sheba, 9 Lives, Kit-e-Kat, Friskies, Iams - started reducing their pouch or foil dish weights to the same as Whiskas, or even lower. I've even seen one as low as 40g, which, although they claimed it was intended as a snack rather than a meal, is just absurd. Surely if a cat is meant to have 100g of food at each meal, which is the general guideline, then these manufacturers are simply profiteering, and basically taking the p***, banking on the chance that most cat owners won't look too much at the weight, and assume that each pouch is a proper meal.
For many years since I realised what had happened, I've boycotted Whiskas, except if I find it on special offer. The cats seem to thrive quite happily on a circulating selection of Felix, Lidl's excellent own-brand Coshida, Aldi's own-brand, and the occasional good offer of one of the above-named brands in Poundland.
Any comments on this?