Ad it Up: Snacks for Cats!
I have heard a theory from my pet owner friends that everyone who owns a cat or dog has a specific voice that they use when talking to their pet and another distinct voice for when they are impersonating their pet. I was thinking about this theory Wednesday night as I was watching TV with fellow bloguteers, Chris and Brigitte. A commercial came on for a new cat food product from Fancy Feast (you know, that company that tries to make it seem like your kitten is high society). Why do people need to project human-like qualities onto their pets? We have this inexplicable need to know when our cats are happy/sad/upset/pissed-off/etc., but do we even know if they feel those emotions? Anyway, what made me think of all of this was the new commercial we saw for a product called "Fancy Feast Appetizers." I would have never in a million years thought to make an appetizer for cats but here is an awfully inspiring ad that really makes me rethink whether or not my/my cat's day is special enough to give him/her a starter course at dinner:
I would like to celebrate all of my special moments with food!! But let me ask you...what moments are "special" in a cat's day? Do they land the "big account" while we're at work? Or perhaps they ace a test that we don't know about? Or basically, we Americans only know how to express those bursts of love we feel during special moments through food. As we were watching this commercial Wednesday evening, the very thought of an appetizer for cats appalled Chris who quickly pointed out that cat's don't eat different foods, much less separate courses for meals. Pretty much dinner is lunch is breakfast is dessert is midnight snack, etc. Brigitte, on the other hand, defended the new product, saying that perhaps the campaign was meant as "these dinners are really appetizing." If you watch the commercial closely though, I'm sorry to say, Fancy Feast does explicitly say, "Serve as a compliment to regular meals." So I guess not only is Chris correct, but just like the American diet, we are trying to get our cats to eat bigger portions -- perhaps so we don't feel as disgusting ourselves. Here is how cats are responding.
Kitty Appetizers: A Review
I love how this YouTube video of a lady feeding her cat counts as a "review," but that is beside the point. Perhaps this cat has a future as a kitty food critic. This review does prove one thing, though - Chris is dead wrong. Cats LOVE appetizers! This cat clearly has a full bowl of untouched cat food (you can see it in the background of the latter half of the video), yet he is meowing like crazy for the appetizer. You can't have dinner before a proper warm-up. If you are not convinced just yet, perhaps this additional YouTube review will help:
It's like giving them real food??!! If by "real food," you mean "people food," that's bad. Cat's don't eat people food! That's bad for them. They need cat food with all of its nutrients designed just for felines! But good strategy, mixing the cat's appetizers with its dinner. I imagine the people equivalent is having mozzarella sticks on top of your pizza. Yum! But I have to say that in reality I'm a little skeptical of kitty appetizers, especially when they are nothing more than the regular stuff you feed cats but in a small portion. I don't care how many crazy YouTube personalities are complete product whores. Cats love food -- probably because they are hunters and we humans completely control their portions, so they come running every time we will let them eat because to them it might be the last time.
Maybe cats will someday take over the country and punish us for making them eat nothing but the same dull, boring dry food for every meal. They will demand that we become their personal servants and bring them 7 courses every meal (one for every life they have). Until then, I will crazify anyone I know who serves cat appetizers. Pretending to talk for your pets is one thing, but making sure they have all of the comforts of human life...that's just crazy!
I would like to celebrate all of my special moments with food!! But let me ask you...what moments are "special" in a cat's day? Do they land the "big account" while we're at work? Or perhaps they ace a test that we don't know about? Or basically, we Americans only know how to express those bursts of love we feel during special moments through food. As we were watching this commercial Wednesday evening, the very thought of an appetizer for cats appalled Chris who quickly pointed out that cat's don't eat different foods, much less separate courses for meals. Pretty much dinner is lunch is breakfast is dessert is midnight snack, etc. Brigitte, on the other hand, defended the new product, saying that perhaps the campaign was meant as "these dinners are really appetizing." If you watch the commercial closely though, I'm sorry to say, Fancy Feast does explicitly say, "Serve as a compliment to regular meals." So I guess not only is Chris correct, but just like the American diet, we are trying to get our cats to eat bigger portions -- perhaps so we don't feel as disgusting ourselves. Here is how cats are responding.
Kitty Appetizers: A Review
I love how this YouTube video of a lady feeding her cat counts as a "review," but that is beside the point. Perhaps this cat has a future as a kitty food critic. This review does prove one thing, though - Chris is dead wrong. Cats LOVE appetizers! This cat clearly has a full bowl of untouched cat food (you can see it in the background of the latter half of the video), yet he is meowing like crazy for the appetizer. You can't have dinner before a proper warm-up. If you are not convinced just yet, perhaps this additional YouTube review will help:
It's like giving them real food??!! If by "real food," you mean "people food," that's bad. Cat's don't eat people food! That's bad for them. They need cat food with all of its nutrients designed just for felines! But good strategy, mixing the cat's appetizers with its dinner. I imagine the people equivalent is having mozzarella sticks on top of your pizza. Yum! But I have to say that in reality I'm a little skeptical of kitty appetizers, especially when they are nothing more than the regular stuff you feed cats but in a small portion. I don't care how many crazy YouTube personalities are complete product whores. Cats love food -- probably because they are hunters and we humans completely control their portions, so they come running every time we will let them eat because to them it might be the last time.
Maybe cats will someday take over the country and punish us for making them eat nothing but the same dull, boring dry food for every meal. They will demand that we become their personal servants and bring them 7 courses every meal (one for every life they have). Until then, I will crazify anyone I know who serves cat appetizers. Pretending to talk for your pets is one thing, but making sure they have all of the comforts of human life...that's just crazy!
Labels: Ad it Up, Lady Amy, TV
This entry was posted by Lady Amy, on
Thursday, July 22, 2010.
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So apparently I'm as bad as these YouTube people. I mix wet cat food in with my cats' dry food every day. However, a) I don't call this giving my cats an appetizer (it's just the feline equivalent of a stir fry!) and b) I started doing this because one of the cats gets kitty acne (it exists!) if she eats too much dry food. So we originally tried to feed dry food to one cat and wet to the other, but they ended up eating out of each other's dishes anyway because they wanted both. Why we don't just feed wet food to both of them I've never been totally sure on...but they like stir fry, and say "thank you!" in my head when I feed them the combo platter, so I'm not about to change anything.
I want to be somebody's pet! I am tired of making my own oatmeal for breakfast!
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