Little Buddy, I’m happy to announce, has been weaned off the kitty crack.
And no, I’m not talking about catnip, which he enjoys once a week or two without yowling mournfully for more. I’m talking about Temptations, those crunchy cat treats that turn our furry little friends into fiends with one-track minds.
This is the second time I’ve stopped giving him those treats. One is never enough. Two, three, six? Not enough. More. More! More Temptations!!!
It got to the point where Buddy would meow insistently in front of the treat cabinet first thing in the morning, then get up to follow me every time I went in the general direction of the kitchen, trilling in anticipation.
If I made the mistake of leaving the bag out, he’d paw at it and meow insistently.
And one time I got an economy size tub of the stuff from Costco, fed him one or two pieces, then got distracted by a phone call. I was only away for a minute at most, but during that time Buddy swiped the tub off the coffee table, causing the lid to pop as it hit the hardwood floor and spilling hundreds of the kittycrack biscuits everywhere.
When I returned I found Bud gorging himself, vacuuming up his precious Temps like a high end Hoover. I shooed him away and carefully swept up every remaining piece, but it was too late — the little guy started throwing up everything he’d just eaten.
Astonishingly, when he’d gotten the last of it up and I was on hands and knees cleaning the mess, he began to meow for more Temptations.
That is hard core, epic crack fiend behavior.
It’s “Houston, we have a serious problem” level.
Temptations are cat junk food. They’re packed with filler, animal by-products, things cats can’t properly digest (corn, rice, corn gluten meal), and the added nutrients cited by Whiskas are of dubious nutritional value at best.
Cats aren’t drawn to them for any natural reason: Whatever chemicals they’re coated with are designed to manipulate the feline brain, and in the human world we’d call them drugs. The behavioral changes alone are enough to warrant a change.
I was doing a disservice to my little guy by feeding him that crap, so now we’re going to find something better. If you’d care to offer any suggestions, we’re all ears. Please leave them in the comments.
Pain In The Bud 
Hi ya Steve! I use Greenies catnip dental treats. Has the actual catnip oil in them and cause I get fury ball of teeth an claws if I even think about brushing her teeth, it has kept then healthy and white so far.
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My cats are exactly the same and wanted a Temptations fix whenever I headed in the direction of the kitchen. When I read how horrible they are I tried lots of substitutes but got NO votes on everything but Blue Buffalo Kitty Yums and, oddly enough, Buddy’s Biscuits (grain free, rather expensive – as befits a product named after a big-name celebrity). Good luck with your addict!
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Thanks, Rachel. I got those Buddy Biscuits once (of course I had to buy them), but they don’t sell them around here. As for the Blue treats, are those the moist treats or the ones that look like Temptations? I tried the latter a while ago and IIRC Bud liked them. Gotta try them again.
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POOR BUDDY! YET ANOTHER ” TEMPTIPON ADDICT ” HAS ” GONE TO THE DOGS” SO TO SPEAK. HOW ABOUT GIVING HIM SOME RAW CHICKEN LIVERS AND SOME OTHER NICE RAW ORGAN MEATS MIXED UP WITH SOME CAT GRASS , FLAXSEED AND CUT IT ALL UP INTO. BUDDY-SIZE CHUNKS (ALL ORGANIC IF POSSIBLE.) AFTER ALL, IS THAT NOT WHAT CAATS IN THE WILD EAT FIRST?
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I used to feed temptations to my cat and he threw up all the time. I have switched to Blue Buffalo crunchy chicken cat treats, which he loves. No more problems!!
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Blue Buffalo is great and their crunchy treats have the same look and texture as the Temps so they’re a very good replacement to wean kitties off the crack. 🙂
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I don’t feed our kitties any commercial treats, so they do not expect any. You are right, they are junk food.
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Just home made stuff?
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They get homemade wet wood, and a little commercial dry food except for Abby who only has 2 teeth left.
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Awe, poor little Buddy! He can’t get a pass during pandemic? Tuxie has Hill’s Dental Care which are treats to him. However he has never had Cracktations .Just say no, he advises little Buddy!
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I was sorry to read that you had given Buddy these treats again, after weaning him. Temptations are dangerous to a cat’s health, and I’ve read many stories from cat guardians about the sad consequences of giving this poison to their beloved pets. As soon as I read about this, I dumped the packages I had, without offering them to friends, because, as a CAT Advocate, I care about all cats. I began my search into healthy, though more expensive treats. You may know from my Quora posts, that Mitzy’s favorite treat was coconut oil, which I discovered by accident. I would put a teaspoon on the container lid that I kept hers in. When I said “coco” she would come running. Not every cat would like it, but she did. During the warm season, I kept her container in the frig and took it out just before I offered it to her. She would have licked it melted, but it would have been messier for me.
I tried other cat treats, but nothing suited her very well, other than Lean Treats, which I ordered online. But her
I recently looked up “the best (aka healthiest) cat treats, and found this list on kittycatter.com:
PureBites Chicken Breast Freeze-Dried Cat Treats (Mitzy didn’t like these)
Orijen Original Poultry & Monkfish Freeze-Dried Cat Treats
Cat-Man-Doo Extra Large Dried Bonito Flakes Cat & Dog Treats
Blue Buffalo Wilderness Chicken Formula Crunchy Grain-Free Cat Treats
Buddy Biscuits Grain-Free with Tender Chicken Cat Treats
This is just a beginning. I had thought about making my own with a dehydrator but never did. Since Buddy was o.k. with the crunchiness of Temptations, he might like other crunchy treats. (Lean Treats isn’t so crunchy.) Since cats are individuals just like people, you may have to experiment. Expect to pay more for healthier treats, just as you would for yourself. He’s worth it!
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Hi Sandy: I think you’re right, we’re likely to have the most success with the crunchy ones, although he did like Buddy Biscuits (of course!) when he tried them. I’ll have to see about ordering them from Chewy if possible. As far as coconut oil, do you mean the sludgy orange stuff? I use it for popcorn but never thought about giving it to Buddy.
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Oh no, not that. I’m not sure about the sludgy orange stuff. I have tried butter flavored coconut oil, but not for Mitzy. It’s just organic coconut oil in jars you find in any grocery store. I like the real coconut flavored one, but Mitzy preferred the refined unflavored one. I used to take out some and put into a small jar that was just for her, then stored in the frig in the warm season so it didn’t melt.
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Then I shall abstain from trying to slip him some sludgy orange coconut oil lol. Glad I asked you first.
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My cats go wild for Temptations, too, but we have some other treats we got at the vet that they like: PureBites (freeze-dried fish, poultry, or red meat), and Greenies (makers of pill-pockets).
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Hearing lots of good things about Greenies. Haven’t tried them since Bud was a kitten, but that’ll definitely be on the list. PureBites look good too from what I see by Googling them, and they have turkey, which Bud loves.
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All 3 of our cats hate Greenies. We’ve also tried Blue Buffalo’s treats and other “designer” treats. They turned their little noses up to all of them. I wish we could find something better than Temptations. I’ll be eagerly waiting to hear what you find that works.
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Hey Carmen: Which Blue Buffalo treats did you try? They have moist treats and now they have crunchy treats that look like Temptations, but have better ingredients. I remember buying a bag a while ago, but I can’t remember if Bud liked them.
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We tried Blue Buffalo Kitty Cravings in Tuna and Salmon (our cats only like fishy stuff) and also the Bursts. They didn’t like any of them. We have to get the crunchy kind because 2 of the 3 won’t eat the soft treats. We’ve also tried the jerky type treats and some of the freeze dried treats (can’t remember the brand names of either. Sorry. Got them at Petco.) and they wouldn’t eat those. I think they just hate anything that’s natural and good for them. They won’t even eat Blue Buffalo wet food.
Now, they do like the stuff in the squeeze tubes. We give them Tiki Cat Stix and get those at Petco. Sometimes we’ll split the the tube between 2 cats because it’s a fairly good amount and we’d rather have it as a treat than more like a meal. I do add warm water to it. They like it thinned out.
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My kitty likes Catit, which is a lickable cat treat. It’s sold in 0.5oz tubes that are 20 calories per serving. My Vet suggested it as a reward for good behavior. Karma won’t touch human food and turns her nose up at most commercially available treats. This works brilliantly when I have to convince her that the yucky pill the Vet and I are pushing really must end up in her tummy, not used as a miniature hockey puck.
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I took a look at Catit’s website. They’ve got some pretty cool cat furniture items as well. Thanks for recommending them.
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My kitty, Donovan, can’t start his day with having treat put in his bowl!! He will wake me up by sticking his cold nose in my ear. He is an addict and I will have to find something else to treat with!!
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I’m sure some cats don’t turn into addicts, but yeah, the ingredients are not good anyway.
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Frank wanted to send Buddy some words of encouragement:
“I’ve been clean for almost 18 months now. I just take it one [miserable] day at a time. At first, the cravings were terrible, and I even had a couple of relapses [oh, those heavenly days, when her roommate snuck me a treat behind her back!]. But believe it or not, I can almost forget about them [while I’m awake – I still twitch in my sleep, dreaming about crunching into a delicious, mouth-watering Temptation].
So stay strong, Buddy! You’re a cat, and we’re survivors [and maybe one of your connections can smuggle some in]!”
PS from Anna: Have you tried cutting cooked chicken (or turkey) breasts into treat-sized pieces and keeping them in the freezer?
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Hey, Frank, good for you for beating those evil Temptation demons! At our house, our kitties are evil little seeds and won’t let us give them anything else (Sneaky is laughing with his paw over his mouth and Meow Meow and Miss Jingles are nodding their agreement!). You stay strong Frank. Fight the good fight and you’ll win, I know it!
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Part of the problem is I’ve been a vegetarian since 2015, so I don’t have meat at home except for Buddy’s food. A few people had recommended freeze-dried snacks, which I’m going to try. He does like cheese, especially Gouda, but that’s probably not a good idea as a regular snack.
Was it the behavior or concerns over ingredients that prompted you to wean Frank off the Cracktations? Please give him a head scratch for me.
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It was his girth. He was starting to look like a bowling ball.
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lol. Good enough reason then 🙂
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I love, love, love all the help. Of course, like many of you I am just one old lady vs. the will of a 15 yr. old, fixed tom by the name of KC. Some one once told me that “dogs have owner and cats have staff”, a truism that persists. I cannot believe that I’m dumb enough to let him make my buying choices!! I appreciate your suggestions and will head out to the pet store this afternoon. Thank you
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Good luck, Donna! There are lots of good suggestions for alternatives in this comment thread, and I’ve had success with Blue Buffalo Kitty Cravings and Bursts, which are both very similar to Temptations in texture without the harmful ingredients.
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