I have no idea why I am doing a food review for Fluffy and Frappe. Apart from being a food extraordinaire at eating, I know not much about cat's food.

After all, I am only but a dog.

What do I know about cats other than I live with two?

Anywoof, as I have never really written about the cats, so please forgive this long-winded post as I do an introduction of their diet.


A Dry Matter

Fluffy and Frappe have pretty much been on Wellness Cat Food for all their eight years of lives. Don't fall over your chair but they are actual siblings, born on 7th July 2009 and they were adopted into the Choo household at the tender age of eight weeks.

Mama always says, "Dogs... cats... same. Dry kibbles and they must eat it up in five minutes. No exception. No free-feeding. No picky eating."

So erm yeah. The same rules apply for Fluffy and Frappe. They have eating habits like ours - Frodo, Pebbles and me. Mummy is strict with all our eating habits. The cats do eat slower than us, the dogs, but they do finish up all their kibbles in one serving which makes mummy one very happy woman.

Mummy carries her feeding philosophy across us all. She may not spoil us with frivolous material belongings and she does not treat us to wet food very often too. BUT she is willing to spend a little more on our staple food to ensure we get quality and well-balanced diet. As mentioned in my 'Pursuit of Wellness' post, the once-considered Mercedes-Benz price point Wellness Complete Health and Wellness Core Pet Food has now become Toyota price point.

And I am very happy to say that Fluffy and Frappe are *touchwood* doing very well, health-wise. Economical and reliable Toyota is good, no?

Mummy decided I should do a little chart to calculate how much it costs to feed kitties. I hear her laments about how one of me (or Frodo) can feed six cats. Meh! So let's see how much it costs to feed both Fluffy and Frappe on Wellness Dry Food for Cats.

Oh golly me! That's it? *gasp* Frodo and I eat approximately 2x24lbs bag of Wellness Core Original per month which means.... it is RRP of SGD332.00 a month! Ooooo.M.G.!

At this point, I do have to make one thing clear. Only Frodo and I are sponsored on Wellness Core with many thanks to Silversky Pets. Needless to say, all of us - the dogs and cats - are #1 fans of Wellness Pet Food.

Fluffy and Frappe, alike to Frodo and me, are happy to chomp down any flavour of Wellness dry cat food mummy purchases for them. She does not switch the flavours up very often. It's not like the cats have a wide variety of flavours to choose from as compared to us. They are down to either Chicken, Turkey or Salmon. *guffaw*

Apparently... and I quote, "Some cats do not eat meat from animals that typically are not their prey, which may rule out beef, lamb, venison, and the like."

Interesting.

Domestic cats evolved from desert dwelling ancestors. Last time I checked, the world’s deserts were not exactly teeming with fish. The African wildcat, the most likely ancestor of today’s house cats, eats primarily mice, rats, and rabbits with the occasional bird or reptile thrown in for good measure.

And you know how in the cartoons, cats are always portrayed to be some fish-eating fanatic?

Well, apparently not so much so. We have been misled. In recent months, mummy has a growing gripe against fish and seafood for cats just because she has had some pretty vile experiences with some other cats and her disdain kept growing each day. She thought perhaps she was the only nutcase who made such observations and suspected she could be bias in preference. Despite her fervent protest, she was given the rolled-eyes as she ranted.

Then she chanced upon this article by Dr Karen Becker who spoke and wrote about 'Feeding Fish to Dogs and Cats is NOT Advisable'. Mummy finally felt sane again that she was not dreaming up her scenarios. Phew for mummy! She calls Dr Karen Becker the 'uber holistic vet' so it is contradicting using her as a reference especially when I am reviewing commercial food. She does speak against it. *guffaw* She does, however, release interesting articles on holistic feeding which mummy does take mental notes but neh, she does not religiously follow.

After all, we, the dogs and cats, are still on commercial food and so far, no complains. They are ridiculous pee and poo machines which never fail to amuse us daily as mummy cleans their litter tray. At least one thing we know, they are not *touchwood again* having constipation or urinary tract issues. And for what it is worth, mummy says she will take up the responsibility should something not be okay. Period.

Some may be wondering why mummy made the Complete Health food as the staple diet rather than the Grain Free Core food? It's always interesting to see how different cats and dogs dietary requirement can be. Once again, it is again debatable whether cats do need to be Grain Free/Gluten Free diets.

Here are two links for your reading pleasure but of course, all you need to do is find Dr Google and there are a gazillion more articles  -

• Why Grain Free Cat Food May Not Always Be the Best Choice by Dr Lorie Huston, DVM
  
• Natural vs Grain Free Cat Food by Lyn Thomson, BVSc DipHom
  

So... does this mean that kitties don't ever get Grain Free diet? No. Mummy does still put it in the occasional mix. Most importantly is, read the labels and do your own fair share of research. As mentioned, mummy's choices for us are boiled back down to awareness... and moderation.


Yours Truly, Fluffy and Frappe

Shortly after Silversky Pets sent us, Frodo and me, the Wellness Core Chunky Chunks to do a taste test and review, they sent 8 cans of Wellness Core Signature Selects for Fluffy and Frappe to try.

Fluffy and Frappe's turn to be food supermodels with their 8 cans of Wellness Core Signature Selects.

Frodo and I stared at the cans of food. Then we stared at mummy. We knew that kitties would be lucky if they got to eat every single can of it. Mummy ain't exactly santa claus of wet food towards us. She keeps it for 'special occasions' and... need I say more?

Rumour has it, after Fluffy and Frappe did their product test and photo taking, mummy has given 4 cans to a very special kitty that mummy loves a lot. Good things must share, right?

For their taste test, mummy randomly selected the 'Chunky Chicken and Salmon'. Mummy was confident that they would not have a problem with the flavours. Any flavour would work. After all, this is the first time in their 8 years of life indulging in wet food! Surely they be happy regardless what flavour was selected.

As expected, It did not take Fluffy and Frappe very long to start appreciating the delectable taste of the Chunky Chicken and Salmon......


Needless to say, Frodo and I were giving longing looks to mummy as kitties indulged in their food. The smell was heavenly. The minute mummy opened the can, we were at full attention and kept hoping and praying from under the table that kitties would somehow... drop a piece of the chicken cube.

No chance.
At all.
Unfair.
Confession.

I *cough mummy* did not know Signature Selects comes in three forms - Chunky, Flaked and Shredded! When I started doing up my 'famous chart', I asked mummy if she knew of the variations. *smug smile*

"Oh man... does this mean we need to randomly test the other two type as well?", mummy groaned.

I could not be bothered to entertain on that. After all, I DO NOT get to eat or taste kitties food so you are on your own with this mummy.

Sooooo.... kitties recently received delivery of their Wellness Complete Health Salmon and Salmon Meal dry food so for the fun of making yet another Wellness video, mummy decided to mix things up a little by mixing the dry food and one of the Signature Selects flavour for the second taste test.

She selected... Shredded Chicken and Chicken Liver. Frodo and I went nuts when we caught whiff as mummy opened the can.

CHICKEN AND CHICKEN LIVER!
REALLY, MUM?
WE STILL DO NOT GET TO TRY IT??????

The mother said no.

A post shared by Flapper Choo (@flapperchoo) on May 29, 2017 at 2:24am PDT

Fluffy and Frappe LOVED it. Mummy gave them the balance half-can on a different day and boy did they wolf it down.

But Frodo and I still got none of it.
Grrrrr.....


Conclusively

It is clear both Fluffy and Frappe had no complains about the taste. It was noted, though, that they responded better to the shredded as compared to the chunky. The flaky... they might get to eat it on their upcoming birthday? I don't know. Consult Your Royal Motherness on that one.

So now, it is time to have a look at THAT chart.

Giving it thumbs up for the good variation in proteins which has *surprise surprise* beef in the mix.

The ingredients look legit. As per our doggie Wellness Core Chunky Centers, the food is made up of 85% moisture which is ideal for cats who does not like consuming water.  Fluffy and Frappe  is primarily on chicken-as-first-protein diet so even though the main protein in the chunky and shredded is still chicken, but I like the idea of being able to offer beef in their protein mix well.

For SGD4.20 per 5.3oz can, it can be considered as the staple diet for them is still the dry food. So for that occasional treat and beef as an additional protein, it is highly-considerable as the dry food does not offer many choices of protein.

So... just for mathematics sake, based on a 4.5kg cat and for easy calculation....

Wet (per day) = 1/2 can = $2.10 per cat
Dry (per day) = 50g (1/2 cup) - 12.5g (1/8 cup) = 37.5g = approx. $0.25 per cat

Per day feeding per cat = $2.10 + $0.25 = $2.35
Per month feeding for 2 cats = ($2.35 x 2) x 30 = $141.00 (per cat @ $70.50 per month)

That, my friends, is still cheaper than feeding one of me on dry food only.

I doubt mummy will put them daily on dry+wet food mix but I do know that she is considering on 'now and again'.

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Where To Buy

It is available at most pet shops and seems like a trend with Wellness that each time they launch a new product, there's an offer. For the Signature Selects, the current promotion is BUY 3 GET 1 FREE.

But of course, Kohepets online store would carry the Wellness range of food so you can check out buy direct from them.

Okay kitty friends, enjoy your Signature Selects!