Treats Available In Canada

poppy2507

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I'm looking for suggestions for cat treats easily available in Canada.

Poppy is a picky eater, and she's also fish-sensitive (she gets a running sore on her face when she eats foods containing fish of any kind). So I've become a reader of food labels and we've long since settled on her wet food. I avoid treats containing fish. But I'd like to give her the occasional treat, and Poppy looks for her treats occasionally, too.

She loved Temptations, they're readily available here, but I know they're bad for her, so I offered her Wellness Kittles, and she loved those even more. But the chicken or turkey Kittles, when they are in the stores or online, are becoming rare and expensive. There's lots of tuna and salmon Kittles at my local pet food store, but they quickly sell out of the chicken or turkey. (I wrote to Wellness who replied "it's a supply / demand" issue and left it at that.) Last time I checked at Amazon.ca the turkey weren't available, and chicken Kittles were $14 plus shipping for one little package. A little over the budget!

I've tried various freeze-dried treats. Poppy ignored all of them. I've tried a few different brands of non-freeze-dried, most recently chicken-flavoured Nutrience. Nutrience is easily got in Canada but Poppy ate a few before deciding she didn't like Nutrience, even tho' they look like / crunch like Kittles. She goes back to the Kittles every time, and I'm on my last bag of chicken Kittles.

So. Are Temptations chicken treats really bad? Should I give Poppy no treats at all rather than resort to Temptations treats?
 

Tobermory

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Maybe she’ll say “no,” but have you tried her on Pure Bites freeze-dried treats? It’s actually less expensive to buy the dog treats—and the dog and cat freeze-dried chicken treats are exactly the same. The dog version has larger pieces, but I just snip them into smaller pieces.

I give mine both Pure Bites and Northwest Naturals freeze-dried liver treats (which I also cut into smaller pieces). Since Poppy doesn’t like freeze-dried, though, have you thought about trying freeze-dried raw food? Mine love, love, love Stella & Chewy’s Duck Duck Goose freeze-dried raw. It comes in little nuggets, and I just take a pair of scissors and snip the nugget in half and give one or two as a treat. It’s not necessary, but I keep the opened bag in the refrigerator.
 

Tobermory

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I meant to add (but I have the attention span of a gnat and got distracted), that I also do a partial bake of plain boneless chicken thighs, cut them up into small pieces and freeze. Periodically, I'll take a few out the night before and give as treats the next day.
 
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poppy2507

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Thanks for responding, Tobermorey.

I've tried Pure Bites, both "as is" and moistened a little. Poppy sniffs at them and walks away. Amazon.ca wants over $17 for 5 oz of Stella & Chewy's. I was looking for something a little cheaper. I may have to resort to baking and freezing chicken (I'm vegetarian so I'd be buying chicken just for Poppy), or eliminate treats altogether, I guess. It's a challenge to have such a picky eater, and one limited to fish-free treats!
 

Tobermory

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Stella & Chewy’s is pricey, but I make a bag go a long way! But it’s hard to buy something so pricey and have Poppy turn up her delicate little nose at it.

Regarding Temptations, I know how much cats love those things. They usually have some for the kitties at the sanctuary where I volunteer, and they’re very popular! If you’re giving her only a few a day, I wouldn’t worry too much. Mine get four small treats a day, two after each meal, and they’re about the size of a Temptation.
 

Tobermory

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Here’s another thought. Since you feed her canned food, you might use a high quality dry food as a treat, or as high quality as dry food can get. Full disclosure: I am anti-dry food and would never feed it as a meal to my cats. However, I do use Dr. Elsey’s Clean Protein Chicken dry food as a treat. I’ve also used Rawz dry food for treats (and used to feed Rawz canned before I started making their food).

I buy the smallest available size, freeze it for three days to kill the food mites and keep it in the refrigerator to keep it fresh.

While the highest quality dry might be expensive, if you’re feeding it as a treat only, the unit cost should be much less than a commercial cat treat. And a small bag will last a long time when used as a treat.

If you’re not familiar with CatFoodDB - Cat Food Reviews to help you find the best cat food for your cat, it’s a great place to research cat food, both wet and dry. The really helpful thing is that it lists ingredients of each food, particularly good for you because of Poppy’s fish sensitivities. You can read ingredients at home instead of pulling each can or bag off the shelf at the store. I used to go with my list, then double-check the label just in case ingredients had changed since the last update on the website.
 
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poppy2507

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Thanks again for your suggestions, Tobermorey. I long ago tried Wellness Core dry cat food (the smallest package) as treats, and wasted my money. Poppy didn't go for that at all! But maybe she just didn't like the flavor of Wellness?

I'll try Stella & Chewy "Chick Chick Chicken Dinner." A 3.5 oz bag is available here for $12. If Poppy goes for it, that would be cheaper than the Wellness Kittles I'm no longer able to get, and better for her than Temptations. I'll also check out the link you provide, to find out the best dry food I can try as treats.

Thanks again. Your suggestion to try high quality dry food as treats is appreciated!
 
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