Food ahoy
Yesterday, after work, I went to the PetSmart as this is the weekend of cleaning 3 litter boxes of their stinky messes. I also needed to pick up some food for the kitties, as well. PetSmart carries both of these at a lowr price and in bigger bundles, it's just a pain in the ass to get into. (I hate Short Pump.)
One thing that has irritated me for a while has been that IAMS Active Maturity is only available in 4 and 8 pound bags. All the other versions go up to the massive 20 pound bag, but PetSmart doesn't carry the 20 pound Active Maturity formula. Since the ancient Mookie is the reason for this food, I started checking the labels to see what the difference was in the formula. (I knew there was a difference -- the vet noticed Mookie's liver reacting better to it.) While reviewing the formulas, the Nutro rep came up and started talking to me about formula differences and how old my cat was. He didn't try to sell me on the Nutro, but advised against various formula names (like Multi-Cat) because they don't really mean anything -- Nutro or otherwise, it's just marketing fluff.
He was nice enough and then wandered off to talk with others. Since he didn't try to sell me on it, I went to go look at the Nutro brand. Mook hated Science Diet -- refused to eat it at all -- so I knew that was out. If Nutro had an elderly cat formula that was carried in a large bag... well, maybe I could try that one. (Yeah, I know. I wouldn't have looked if this guy hadn't talked to me and put the name in my head.) Just the same, some of the numbers looked a little better. While I was reading the formula labels, he know finds me in that aisle and offers help. I asked him a few questions, based on the health concerns: Shedding, hairballs, liver functions, urinary problems... We also chatted about cats and dogs, various behaviors. It was probably 30m of talk on animals in general.
During this, he gives me 2 $3 coupons to go with the 1 $2 coupon that's on the bag. He says that he's sure that my cats will love the Nutro food. They do on-going testing to see if the pets still prefer their food over any other, so he'd be surprised if the fussy cats don't like it. He wants to hear back in the next month for how they handle it.
All this leads into how they handled it last night. I gave them a small amount of the new food with the IAMS food that they've had for a while now. Immediately, Mookie and Louis went for the new food. Thelma sniffed the two sides of her bowl and went for the new food. Now, over 12 hours later, there's still half of the IAMS left in their bowls. They don't want it. They want the new food again. (Mind you, this new food smells damned good. It's kibbles, not wet food, but it smells like people-food.)
It's about $1 more expensive at the 8-pound level, but evens out at the larger bag... and I can get even cheaper off of Amazon. If they continue to like it, maybe I'll set that up for auto-delivery.
The kitties also got a new water bowl last night. Spoiled kitties now have a water fountain to drink from. Louis is the one that eyes the new bowl the most. The running water interests him.
One thing that has irritated me for a while has been that IAMS Active Maturity is only available in 4 and 8 pound bags. All the other versions go up to the massive 20 pound bag, but PetSmart doesn't carry the 20 pound Active Maturity formula. Since the ancient Mookie is the reason for this food, I started checking the labels to see what the difference was in the formula. (I knew there was a difference -- the vet noticed Mookie's liver reacting better to it.) While reviewing the formulas, the Nutro rep came up and started talking to me about formula differences and how old my cat was. He didn't try to sell me on the Nutro, but advised against various formula names (like Multi-Cat) because they don't really mean anything -- Nutro or otherwise, it's just marketing fluff.
He was nice enough and then wandered off to talk with others. Since he didn't try to sell me on it, I went to go look at the Nutro brand. Mook hated Science Diet -- refused to eat it at all -- so I knew that was out. If Nutro had an elderly cat formula that was carried in a large bag... well, maybe I could try that one. (Yeah, I know. I wouldn't have looked if this guy hadn't talked to me and put the name in my head.) Just the same, some of the numbers looked a little better. While I was reading the formula labels, he know finds me in that aisle and offers help. I asked him a few questions, based on the health concerns: Shedding, hairballs, liver functions, urinary problems... We also chatted about cats and dogs, various behaviors. It was probably 30m of talk on animals in general.
During this, he gives me 2 $3 coupons to go with the 1 $2 coupon that's on the bag. He says that he's sure that my cats will love the Nutro food. They do on-going testing to see if the pets still prefer their food over any other, so he'd be surprised if the fussy cats don't like it. He wants to hear back in the next month for how they handle it.
All this leads into how they handled it last night. I gave them a small amount of the new food with the IAMS food that they've had for a while now. Immediately, Mookie and Louis went for the new food. Thelma sniffed the two sides of her bowl and went for the new food. Now, over 12 hours later, there's still half of the IAMS left in their bowls. They don't want it. They want the new food again. (Mind you, this new food smells damned good. It's kibbles, not wet food, but it smells like people-food.)
It's about $1 more expensive at the 8-pound level, but evens out at the larger bag... and I can get even cheaper off of Amazon. If they continue to like it, maybe I'll set that up for auto-delivery.
The kitties also got a new water bowl last night. Spoiled kitties now have a water fountain to drink from. Louis is the one that eyes the new bowl the most. The running water interests him.