Harringtons Fish In Jelly Wet Cat Food - 12x85g

The Harringtons Fish In Jelly Wet Cat Food is the all-fish multipack: twelve 85g pouches made up of four recipes, three of each. For a cat that will only eat fish, this is the box to buy.

Key Features

• What Is In The Box: Three pouches each of cod, mackerel, salmon and tuna
• All Fish: No poultry or red meat in any of the four recipes
• In Jelly: Which most cats prefer to gravy, though it is genuinely individual
• Grain-Free: No cereal in the wet cat range
• All Protein From Animal Sources: Harringtons' claim for these pouches -- see our note below on what that does and does not mean
• Complete And Balanced: A full diet on its own, or alongside dry food
• No Artificial Colours Or Flavours: And no dairy, soya or added wheat
• Made In Yorkshire: Produced in the UK by Inspired Pet Nutrition

Cats Are Not Small Dogs

A cat is an obligate carnivore. It cannot make taurine, arachidonic acid, vitamin A or niacin from plant sources the way a dog can, which is why cat food and dog food are not interchangeable and why a cat fed on dog food goes blind and develops heart failure over months. Cats also drink poorly, having descended from a desert animal that took most of its water from prey, so wet food does real work for urinary and kidney health. And a cat that stops eating needs attention within a day or two, not a week -- unlike a dog, a fasting cat can develop liver problems quickly.

About One Hundred Per Cent Animal Protein

Harringtons state that all of the protein in these pouches comes from animal sources. That is a meaningful claim and more than a lot of supermarket pouches can make. What it does not mean is that the pouch is all meat: water is most of any wet food, with jelly or gravy and added vitamins and minerals making up much of the rest. It also does not tell you how much of the named species is in there, which is usually a modest percentage with other animal protein making up the balance. Read the panel if the specific meat matters to you.

Cats And Water

This is the thing most worth acting on if you feed dry food. A cat on kibble alone takes in a fraction of the water a cat on wet food does, and it rarely makes the difference up at the bowl. Over years that matters for the urinary tract and the kidneys, which is where a great many cats eventually have trouble. You do not have to switch to wet food -- but add a wet meal a day, or a fountain, or simply more bowls in more places away from the food. Cats dislike drinking next to where they eat, which is why so many of them prefer a tap.

What Is Not In It

Harringtons build the range around exclusions, and these are the ones they list: no artificial colours, no artificial flavours, no dairy, no soya, no added wheat. Read the word added carefully. A food can be free from added wheat and still contain other cereals, which the Complete recipes do in the form of rice and maize. If you need a genuinely cereal-free food, that is the Just 6, Superfoods and Salmon & Potato recipes rather than Complete.

How Much To Feed

Treat the chart on the bag as a starting point, not an instruction -- the figures assume an average activity level and most pets are not average. The honest check is body condition rather than the number on the scales: you should be able to feel the ribs easily under a thin covering, see a waist from above and a tuck from the side. Weigh the food rather than scooping it, and count treats, because that is where the extra calories almost always come from. Fresh water with every meal.

Changing Food Gradually

Switch over a week to ten days rather than overnight. Start at roughly a quarter new food to three quarters old, move to half and half, then three quarters, holding each stage for two or three days. Loose stools during a change are normal. Loose stools still there a week after you finish mean the food does not suit. Cats are less forgiving than dogs about this and may simply refuse a sudden change.

Wet, Dry Or Both

Either can be a complete diet and mixing them is fine. Dry is cheaper per day, keeps once opened and is easy to measure. Wet is roughly eighty per cent water, which matters far more for cats than dogs. If you mix, split the daily allowance between the two rather than feeding a full portion of each -- that is the commonest way a pet quietly puts on weight.

Storing It In This Climate

• Keep dry food in its own bag inside an airtight container rather than tipping it loose into a bin. The bag has a fat barrier, and the batch code and best-before are printed on it.
• Heat and humidity turn the fat in kibble rancid faster than anything else does. Somewhere cool and dark, never a hot garage, balcony or car.
• Use a large bag within about six weeks of opening. A 15kg bag is only good value if your dog gets through it while it is still fresh.
• Opened wet food goes in the fridge covered and gets used within two days. In summer, anything left down for more than twenty minutes should go in the bin rather than back in the bowl.

When A Food Change Is Not The Answer

Diarrhoea lasting more than a couple of days, blood or black tarry stools, repeated vomiting, scratching to the point of broken skin, recurring ear infections, or any unexplained weight loss all need a vet rather than another bag of food. Switching foods repeatedly is one of the commonest ways an underlying problem goes undiagnosed for months, and it also makes a proper elimination diet harder to run later.

The Carbon Claim

Harringtons describe themselves as the UK's first carbon-negative pet food company and say more than 98 per cent of their packaging is recyclable. That is their claim rather than our measurement, and carbon negative in practice generally means emissions are offset rather than never produced. It is worth knowing because very few pet food brands publish anything on this at all -- and worth reading as marketing rather than as an audit.

Who Makes It

Harringtons is made by Inspired Pet Nutrition in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, which also makes Wagg and Butcher's. One thing worth untangling: the 1923 date you see attached to the brand belongs to the company, not to this range. It refers to the year the Harrington family started an animal feed mill in Tadcaster. The Harringtons pet food range itself launched in 2008.

Good To Know

• Serve it at room temperature rather than straight from the fridge. Cats judge food by smell, and cold food smells of almost nothing -- this is the single commonest reason a cat turns its nose up at a pouch it ate happily yesterday.
• In summer, lift what is not eaten within twenty minutes. Wet food spoils quickly in the heat and a cat will not go back to it anyway.
• A cat that goes off its food suddenly is telling you something. Dental pain is the usual culprit, and a cat that still wants food but turns away from the bowl is worth having its mouth looked at.
• Four fish species in one box is also a way to find out which your cat actually likes before committing to a case of one.
• Fish is a common sensitivity in cats as well as a favourite flavour. If your cat is itchy or has loose stools, an all-fish diet is worth questioning.