Wendyl wants to know: Dine with Ocean Fish

Dine with Ocean Fish.

Cat food passes taste test, but why does something full of meat and fish need flavouring and colouring added?

I've had such a lot of feedback about my recent column analysing dog biscuits that I thought I'd take a look at some premium cat food. This food is found in pouches or tiny tins, or in this case a little foil tray ready to be put down in front of your cat.

I notice many of these little packets are placed on the supermarket checkout counter by people who obviously really adore their cats. You can probably guess the type of person I mean.

But I wouldn't mind asking some of these cat fanciers why they are feeding their precious fur babies artificial additives.

Dine with Ocean Fish $1.29 for 85g

Fish including sardine and salmon

This shows that there is more fish in here than meat, but it is unclear how much sardine or salmon as percentages aren't given.

Meat including chicken, beef, lamb and pork

I was a little surprised to see meat in here as I thought this was called "ocean fish", but when I went back to look at the labelling it is cleverly called "with ocean fish." So meat is used to pad out this cat food.

I wasn't about to taste test this but a sniff test revealed a more meaty offering than fish.

Gelling agents

These are not mentioned as specific additives, but will be in here to make the food jelly-like.

Flavours

These will be artificial as no mention of natural flavours are made here. Nor can we work out which flavours are used as their food codes aren't given.

Colours

These will be artificial and we are unable to work out which ones as their food codes are not listed.

Taurine

This is a standard ingredient for cat food as cats cannot produce it themselves and need it in their food.

Minerals

Unclear what these are.

Vitamins

Unclear what these are.

My recommendations

I've never seen a cat reject food because it is the wrong colour so that means the colourings used in this pet food must be for the human's enjoyment. I'm also puzzled why a food full of meat and fish would need flavouring added.

I think it's just as important to know what you are feeding your pets as it is to know what you are feeding yourself. The labelling on this product tells you very little, such as how much salt is in the product or what minerals and vitamins have been added.

My recommendation would be to go for a good old tin of sardines in oil. It will cost you 88c per 100g instead of $1.52 per 100g for this food, and you'll get the benefit of fish oil, bones for calcium, plenty of natural taurine and a food cats were much more likely to eat as part of their diet before supermarkets came along.

Even if your cat is a fussy eater, I've never seen a cat reject the strong smell of sardines. You can also buy a Homebrand budget sardine cat food for just 27c per 100g.

Having said all this, my old 16-year-old cat took one sniff of this food and followed me around the house yowling until I gave it to her. Once on the floor she lapped the whole lot up in under two minutes, the most enthusiastic showing for dinner time in some years.

Highlights
• Uses colouring and flavouring.
• Includes chicken, beef, lamb and pork.
• Unclear what minerals or vitamins are added.

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