If you seen any of my previous opinions you will know I have two cats of my own as well as a constant stream of feline guests as I foster sick and injured cats for the Cats Protection. As always I will take this opportunity to thank the kind members of the public who donate food to the Cats Protection which we use to feed the cats in our care.

Who makes Whiskas?
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Whiskas is made by pedigree who have developed their food range with the vets from the Waltham.

Whiskas is probably the most famous brand of cat food and most of us know their advertising tagline of 'eight out of ten cats prefers Whiskas'. Well for a long time my own two cats were the dissenters as they were wholly unimpressed with the usual Whiskas tinned variety though that has changed so read on!

Being one of the most famous brand names people often donate cans of Whiskas to the Cats Protection so it has been well tested by my guests and on the whole it’s a thumbs, or should that be paws, up.

What types of food do Whiskas make?
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The question should be what does Whiskas NOT make? I feel Whiskas were the first brand to diversify and take cat food from being a simple tin to a whole aisle of the supermarket with every eventuality covered. Whether you have a kitten, young or old cat, Whiskas has a specialist range ready to tempt you, if not your cat. The whole Whiskas range now carries the tag 'Lifecare' as they are keen to promote the health aspect of their foods.

Because Whiskas have developed such a huge range of products I doubt I can do them all justice here but I will try my best!

400g tins of cat food.
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Whiskas produce three main types of large, tinned cat food:
- Meat/Fish in Jelly
- Meat/Fish in Gravy
- Supermeat

The meat and fish flavours contain well sized chunks of food set in either jelly or gravy. Whiskas Jelly is clear but darker than the Felix range and the Gravy is also a much thicker, richer sauce than the Felix range. All in all I have noticed the colour of Whiskas food to be much darker than that of the Felix range (which is my own cats preferred choice) and the tins do say the food contains EEC permitted colourants. As I said in my Felix opinion I wonder just how much colourant is put in the food and whether it is wholly necessary.

The supermeat range is a minced/pate texture meat food. Of the two varieties the supermeat is the least popular with both my own cats and guests though I have noticed it is more popular with the older cats or those with dental problems. On the whole the supermeat range is much lighter in colour than the meaty chunks.

All three presentations come in a huge range of flavours both meat and fish, I believe there are other 26 flavour variations to choose from so even the fussiest cat should find something in there! The flavours are marked with a large coloured square on the label which is smaller and not as visible as the Felix colour coding.

All the tins come with pull off lids which is easier than messing around with tins openers, especially if you are feeding more than one cat at a sitting.

The best price I have found these tins at are around 50p though many shops do special offers and Whiskas often produce promotional multi-packs. If Whiskas is your cat's favourite it may be worth looking on the internet to see if you can make a saving by buying 24 cans at a time etc but then you have to find somewhere to store them all!

Whiskas Singles.
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It was with the introduction of the singles packs that my cats were won back over to Whiskas. Whiskas ran a promotion where you could write in and receive six free single pouches and so I did with the view of giving them to my guest cats. When they arrived I thought I would try one out on my cats even though they were unimpressed with the Whiskas tinned variety. The plate was licked clean. I tried them on another flavour to see if it was a one off but no, the plate was patternless again.

I am very thankful to those members of the public who donated their free samples to the Cats Protection and my guests certainly enjoyed theirs as much as my cats.

The singles are 100g foil packed sachets which come in a wide range of meat and fish flavours in both jelly and gravy. My cats like both the jelly and gravy ones equally. The meat chunks are a good size and each sachet is said to be one complete meal and I would say this is true, even for a cat with a good appetite, smaller cats or those who don't eat as much at one sitting may find it makes two small meals.

A little tip. The sachets are opened by tearing the top off and squeezing the contents out. This can be a bit messy, especially the gravy ones. If you squeeze out the jelly ones you often find it comes out in one big slab of jelly and needs forking up. Bu this point I am usually in my foster unit and realise I've forgotten to bring a fork with me. The secret is to lightly knead the sachet to break the jelly up before opening!

The best price I have Singles is 25p but you can buy boxes of 12. The boxes of 12 usually sell for £2.99 but my local Costcutter shop have had them in for £1.99! I thought this must be a mistake but seemingly not so I went in and bought as many boxes as I could store as each sachet worked out at 16.5p - a bargain especially when I know there will be no waste. Singles are excellent for fussy cats or cats on their own who may get bored with a large tin.

Whiskas Kitten
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Whiskas produce two main kitten meat meals:
- 190g Whiskas Kitten tins
- 100g Whiskas Kitten Singles

Both provide much the same meal with very small meat chunks in jelly. I sometimes find giving kittens any meat in gravy is a bit rich and may give them diarrohea so its best to stay on bland foods for the first weeks after weaning.

The 190g tins are about 40p each and have a ring pull top and are excellent for the younger kittens (6-8 weeks upwards). The Whiskas kitten singles are excellent for the younger still (4-6weeks) as the morsels are tiny, each sachet is about 25p. The sachets are very large for a single kitten but most people will be weaning a litter and you will find one sachet easily feeds four very young, just weaned kittens.

As I've said before I often feel a lot of kitten food is more marketing than necessity and think people may feel under pressure and frightened by the choice. With the very young kittens sachets such as the kitten singles are invaluable but as they grow older say 6-8 weeks on I find they are just as well catered for with adult food well forked. I'm always very pleased to see when people have donated kitten food as we often have to take in pregnant cats and very young orphaned kittens.

Whiskas Senior.
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Whiskas have produced a range of food especially aimed at the older (8+ years) cat. This range is lower in calories as cats become less active and you have to be careful they don't become overweight (just like us then!)

Whiskas produce a 190g Senior tin which is a supermeat, and therefore easier for the older cat who may have some teeth problems to eat.

Whiskas Milk.
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Whiskas produce a 180ml milk carton. I wrote in my Felix opinion the pros and cons of giving cat milks and just to reiterate it is fine for pregnant and lactating queens but on the whole adult cats shouldn't over drink milk and if they like it they certainly shouldn't have cows milk. Cats need low lactose milk and the Whiskas milk is specially formulated as such, but it isn't to be used as a mother's milk substitute for kittens. For kittens be sure to consult your vet who will guide you on their needs and provide you with a suitable milk substitute such as CimiCat.

Whilst the milk seems a hit with the guests I've had I would prefer to see a different container than the carton which is fiddly when I have lots of cats to see to, I much prefer the Felix milk bottle design.

The cartons of milk are about 49p each.

Whiskas Dry Food.
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Whiskas produces three main types of dry food for different age groups:

- Whiskas Complete for regular adult cats
- Whiskas Senior Complete for older cats
- Whiskas Kitten Complete for kittens

All three variations have been popular with my guests and I find the kitten variation is excellent for the younger kittens as you don't want them trying to eat large dried food. My own cats will eat Whiskas dried though it is not their first choice. Neither of my own cats was impressed when Whiskas produced a dry food with a filling.

Whiskas Crunch
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It was great to have a 100g carton of Whiskas Crunch donated to my guests as it seemed a real treat. The Crunches are like very thin, small dried food variations which you can add to other meals for a change in texture. All my guests loved them and I found them especially useful as many of the cats that come to my unit are strays and may have been used to scavenging etc and are not used to being fed properly. The crunches help win them round and when I've had cats who will only eat dried it helps introduce them to meat. A carton, which has a handy opening on the top, costs about 79p each.

Whiskas Dentabites
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Dentabites are larger than normal dry food pieces, shaped to get between the teeth and remove tartar. Cats teeth are hard to look after many cats not taking to having their teeth cleaned with the finger tip brushes available so such things as dentabites can prove very useful. Unfortunately I have found the pieces to be too large for my smaller cat and they must only be given to cats over 6 months old. A 100g carton of dentabites costs about 99p.

Whiskas Kitamins
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These small vitamin biscuits contain six vitamins. I tend to think if a cat is getting a good balanced diet they should be getting all the nutrients they need but in cases such as pregnant queens, injured/sick cats and older cats a supplement may be necessary and if you think this is the case I would advise you speak to your vet.

Is Whiskas good quality?
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I have no reason not to believe that Whiskas is good quality and deserving of their place as market leader. I have always been able to recognize the chunks of meat and the balance of meat to jelly/gravy is generous. My only query is that some of the Whiskas range seem to be very heavily coloured.

Have you had a problem with Whiskas?
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No, I can't begin to estimate how many hundreds if not thousands Whiskas products I have used and I have yet to find anything I believe to be below par.

What else do Whiskas make?
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Whiskas have a huge range of act related products including collars, toys and litter trays etc. I have bought many items in this range which seems to be a higher priced than other makes and certainly rides on the back of the successful Whiskas brand name. The products I have bought are good quality though I believe you could get just as good at a more reasonable price in many cases.

What else should I know about Whiskas?
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As I said above Whiskas have recently run promotions where you can send for free samples of the Singles range. When I first saw this promotion I thought it must cost them a fortune and wondered if they were doing the right thing. For the adult singles promotion pack you received 6 free sachets (full size) as well as an information booklet, questionnaire and competition to win a years supply of Whiskas. Well as you read, it won round my cat and having spoken to other cat owners it did the same with them so whilst it seems an extravagant promotion in the long run I suspect it has brought them a lot of new customers.

The kitten singles promotion pack, which is still running as far as I know (Aug 2001) contained two full size sachets and a lovely kitten booklet full of information on raising kittens and spaces to include your own photos and progress.

Do Whiskas have a website?
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I have visited www.whiskas.com and was disappointed. The main site opens in a popup window and there's very little there. There is a chance to register for the free kitten pack I mentioned above (one per household) and some information on the lifecare range but very little else which makes me wonder if this is their only site. I would like to have seen a more structured site with a lot more information on their products.

How can I contact Whiskas?
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You can write to Whiskas at:

Pedigree Masterfoods
FREEPOST
Melton Mowbary
Leicestershire
LE13 0BR

This address is given on the product and reads as if it should be used to return unsatisfactory products.

For help and advice there is a freephone number which you can ring Monday to Friday, 8.30am till 5.30pm on 0800 738 800

So what do you think of Whiskas overall?
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Overall I cannot fault Whiskas on their quality. My own two cats remain indifferent to their large tinned range but have been won over by the new Singles. Whiskas did seem to be the first manufacturer to drastically expand their range and sometimes I wonder how necessary some of these products are and whether they are more marketing led.

All the best to the Ciao cats out there!