# Waitrose cat food?



## morgmonster (Jun 8, 2010)

Just wondering whether anyone has any knowledge (beyond what's on the pack) about Waitrose Special Recipe cat food? Bought a few pouches today to try it out, it looks like bozita (which also looks like Whiskas... so doesn't say much). Usual "4%" info on the back (see here) although one thing i noticed was that cereals were not the first ingredient. I know I'm probably clutching at straws here...

Basically I'm looking for high meat content wet food I can buy on the high street, as I'm fed up of having to take days off work for zooplus deliveries (and it's a bit hit and miss as to which day it'll actually come) (they have been having smilla & animonda carny; bozita made them stinky). Unfortunately the cats have gone off the Pets at home Purely food they loved when we first got them which is a pain.

I would love something we can buy from Sainsbury's or Waitrose or pets at home as that's what's nearby. I know the encore stuff is good from sainsbury's and we buy the biscuits from there, but the wet stuff is so pricey. I've also bought hi-life pouches from Wilkos relatively cheap, but they only sell them individually and they just seem to go through them so fast! So any tips on sainsburys/waitrose decent quality cat food would be much appreciated by me & the cats! THANKS!


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## hobbs2004 (Mar 12, 2010)

morgmonster said:


> Just wondering whether anyone has any knowledge (beyond what's on the pack) about Waitrose Special Recipe cat food? Bought a few pouches today to try it out, it looks like bozita (which also looks like Whiskas... so doesn't say much). Usual "4%" info on the back (see here) although one thing i noticed was that cereals were not the first ingredient. I know I'm probably clutching at straws here...
> 
> Basically I'm looking for high meat content wet food I can buy on the high street, as I'm fed up of having to take days off work for zooplus deliveries (and it's a bit hit and miss as to which day it'll actually come) (they have been having smilla & animonda carny; bozita made them stinky). Unfortunately the cats have gone off the Pets at home Purely food they loved when we first got them which is a pain.
> 
> I would love something we can buy from Sainsbury's or Waitrose or pets at home as that's what's nearby. I know the encore stuff is good from sainsbury's and we buy the biscuits from there, but the wet stuff is so pricey. I've also bought hi-life pouches from Wilkos relatively cheap, but they only sell them individually and they just seem to go through them so fast! So any tips on sainsburys/waitrose decent quality cat food would be much appreciated by me & the cats! THANKS!


Cannot help you with the Waitrose query MM. I emailed them about it a while ago and you have just reminded me that I never got a reply. Might phone them this week and find out.

My guess is that the meaty bits will contain as much meat/derivatives as in Bozita, Whiskas and the like. The key here will be to find out how much jelly is in the pack and how much meat vs derivatives the meaty bits contain 

Have you had a mooch round Tesco? They do some relatively high meat content foods but again a tad pricier than the stuff you could pick up from zooplus. Doh, ignore that. I just reread your post and you want to know about Sainsbury/Waitrose. As long as it is complete food why don't you just buy a selection of stuff from each and see what agrees with your cats?

Sorry not to be of more help


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## morgmonster (Jun 8, 2010)

Thanks Hobbs! I have indeed just been looking at the natures menu and luxury Tesco stuff which does look good. We sometimes do an online food shop there so that would work, at least they deliver when they say they will.

Why is it cats can tell which food is most expensive?! They loved the purely biscuits until we tried them on encore biscuits for a treat and now they won't touch the purely...

(I might have spoken too soon on the Waitrose stuff, so far they have just licked the jelly off. Will have to see if the chunks disappear later...)


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## CarrieBradshaw (Dec 19, 2010)

morgmonster said:


> I might have spoken too soon on the Waitrose stuff, so far they have just licked the jelly off. Will have to see if the chunks disappear later...


My two were the same!! The pouches of Waitrose kitten food got the worst reaction from my two. They disliked it on sight and I certainly felt it looked markedly less tasty and full-of-good-stuff than anything else I'd bought. I've kept the pouches in the cat cupboard for 'emergencies', but I can't see them having it even if we got completely snowed in for a fortnight! They, the same as yours, loved Purely at first (I'm vegetarian and I thought it smelt great when I opened it!), then suddenly decided it was dreadful...I wish they wouldn't discuss these things and agree to *both* hate them! Supermarket wise, mine really didn't like Sainsburys kitten pouches, but I seem to remember that they enjoyed some Tesco food that came in a tray with a foil lid - I think it only came in beef flavour though.


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## Anna123456 (Oct 23, 2012)

Please don't feed your cats cheap supermarket food. It contains grains/cereals which are not suitable for cats. You think you save money using cheap food but you don't - you will pay vets bills in relation to all kind of illnesses, one of them kidney disease. I use Lilys Kitchen or Natures Menu (sold in my local garden centre) and my 13 year old Chandler is good again despite of walking around hunched and coghing only few months ago before I changed his food. All symptoms went away on their own, no vet bills.


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## Mo1959 (Mar 31, 2012)

Anna123456 said:


> Please don't feed your cats cheap supermarket food. It contains grains/cereals which are not suitable for cats. You think you save money using cheap food but you don't - you will pay vets bills in relation to all kind of illnesses, one of them kidney disease. I use Lilys Kitchen or Natures Menu (sold in my local garden centre) and my 13 year old Chandler is good again despite of walking around hunched and coghing only few months ago before I changed his food. All symptoms went away on their own, no vet bills.


Bit of a sweeping statement. Some of us can't afford to continually waste money experimenting with "good" foods that our cats then won't eat.

As I have stated before, my last cat lived to the ripe old age of nearly 21 on supermarket foods and was never at the vets.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

Actually Lily's Kitchen works out as expensive compared to the good quality wet foods from zooplus, but if it's all your cat will eat then one has to bite the bullet
of course

Speaking of cheap supermarket foods, some are better than others e.g. Asda Toplife is high in meat content, and basically the same thing as Bozita. Also, at my local Shelter the cats do well and seem satisfied on Felix As Good As It Looks pouches, and even on Felix MeatyLoaf.


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## Prince33Sp4rkle (May 25, 2012)

can you buy the bulk packs of hi life from pets at home? my local branch sell the chicken 12 pack, ocean 12 pack and gravy 12 pack 

can you have your zooplus delivered to work? i have all my bits and bobs delivered to work and as long as i shove my coppers in the charity box each time they sign for something, reception dont mind-worth asking?


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## hobbs2004 (Mar 12, 2010)

Just like to point out that this thread is nearly 2 years old


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

hobbs2004 said:


> Just like to point out that this thread is nearly 2 years old


Oh.... oops!!


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## Mo1959 (Mar 31, 2012)

chillminx said:


> Oh.... oops!!


Ha, ha.......never even noticed either :smilewinkgrin:


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## dougal22 (Jun 18, 2010)

Mo1959 said:


> Ha, ha.......never even noticed either :smilewinkgrin:


And why would you Mo, it was the 'newbie' that re-opened it


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## Sussexplumber (Oct 5, 2011)

Anna123456 said:


> Please don't feed your cats cheap supermarket food. It contains grains/cereals which are not suitable for cats. You think you save money using cheap food but you don't - you will pay vets bills in relation to all kind of illnesses, one of them kidney disease. I use Lilys Kitchen or Natures Menu (sold in my local garden centre) and my 13 year old Chandler is good again despite of walking around hunched and coghing only few months ago before I changed his food. All symptoms went away on their own, no vet bills.


Thats interesting. So what were u feeding before? Did you also make other changes? I think Butchers Choice is grain free and I feed that sometimes.


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## Sussexplumber (Oct 5, 2011)

chillminx said:


> Actually Lily's Kitchen works out as expensive compared to the good quality wet foods from zooplus, but if it's all your cat will eat then one has to bite the bullet
> of course
> 
> Speaking of cheap supermarket foods, some are better than others e.g. Asda Toplife is high in meat content, and basically the same thing as Bozita. Also, at my local Shelter the cats do well and seem satisfied on Felix As Good As It Looks pouches, and even on Felix MeatyLoaf.


CM surely you arent promoting the F word? :O Im shocked! 

Toplife I believe is 90% meat and very high moisture. I thought it was really good and when they roll-back the price I will stock up on it. At the local shelter, hopefully it (the F word), isn`t a long term diet. They may feed it only because they get a good deal on bulk buying, who knows? It may also be combined with other stuff too.

I wonder if the cat/dog shelters make use of surplus farm stock? It seems a really good use of fresh carcasses. I know farmers have to shoot animals sometimes. Better than putting them in a landfill.

If I ran a shelter I think I`d be breeding mice for food (for the cats) and buying in hawked rabbits. Nothing like a healthy natural diet!


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

SP -- I wouldn't go so far as to say I am "*promoting*" a Felix diet:lol::lol:
Just that, as cheap supermarket food goes it is probably better than some!

All the cat food is donated to the Shelter, either by local pet stores, or by supporters.. So of course some of the food is not very good quality, just cheap and cheerful stuff. The Felix AGAIL & the Meatyloaf, would probably qualify as being better quality than some of the foods donated, which is probably why it seems to keep the cats quite well nourished, as well as helping them gain weight.

But as you say, they eat other foods too, (depending on what's been donated). And it is only a temporary situation, as most of the cats get re-homed within a couple of months.

As for feeding them raw food, it's a nice idea, but the meat would have to be donated by local friendly farmers, and processed free of charge by a local friendly butcher, as the Shelter does not have the money for such things. Plus we would need some kindly person(s) to donate several very large freezers to the Shelter, so the meat could be stored. Not saying this would all be impossible to set up in the future, but it's a bit of a pipe dream atm!


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