Cat addicted to Dreamies - wish I'd never given them to her! Worried they're not good for her

[Ozzie9523]

So I have a 3 1/2 year old cat. She's thoroughly spoilt and I got into the habit in the early days of keeping a pack of Dreamies in the kitchen drawer. 3 years on, she meows constantly at the drawer and gets under our feet as we walk into the kitchen as she's running towards it. She's getting a small helping around 3 times a day, I scatter a few on the floor for her. She doesn't seem to be eating much wet food of which she and our other cat have a generous supply. I worry they're not good for her and know I need to cut down! I recently switched to Tesco Pocket Pillows which are similar but cheaper, she doesn't seem to know the difference. I tried to stop completely a month or so ago but the meowing wore me down. I'm now thinking I should just start reducing them. She is truly addicted and I wish I'd never given them to her! We recently lost her brother so I feel rotten not giving her her normal treats. But I'm not sure I can bear another 15 years or so of constant meowing every time one of us walks into the kitchen!! She's half Siamese so quite vocal anyway.

Blimey. 3 times a day?! Mine get them as an occasional treat maybe once a week or fortnight. I use them to lure them into their box for the vet etc but otherwise they don’t really know where they live so can’t ‘ask’ for them as such. Maybe try moving the packets around. Have some in each room and when you give them to her make sure they’re not associated with that drawer anymore. And try to associate them with some particular behaviour (I give them to my shy cat when she lets me pick her up as a reward) rather than just as a snack.

Our American equivalent (the same exact thing, both made by Mars) is Temptations.

We gave them to our cats as treats and jokingly called them 'cat crack'.

A few years ago the vet told us one of our cats had an aggressive mouth cancer and wound he dead in two weeks. So we started giving him as much Temptations as he liked. Fast forward to the fucking biopsy and it was gum disease.

Now the bastard cat is still hooked and starves himself for them until he's almost dead and will deign to eat cat food to stay alive.

They're a slippery slope.

It's kind of a joke over here, these Dreamies/ Temptations adverts may give you a giggle.

_ _ And my favourite, makes me and ds cry with laughter and crease every time and is one of my favorite songs it's possibly one of the best ads ever.

My cats the same but with the Felix ones- she never makes a noise unless you are near the tin !

Hmm could you swap to a healthier snack like Thrive (dried fish bits)? I give my cat quite a lot of those and she seems to like them just as much as dreamies. They are not cheap though but could be good as a transition/weaning off mechanism...

Mine get them occasionally and Cheddar is a master at the pitiful mewing. And once she starts, Snorg Also starts. Be hard hearted!

We tried the dried meat tears. The result was an emergency trip to the vet for a bath and a haircut!

We call treats yum yums. Haribo only gets 2 Dreamies before we go to bed. Mainly to move him to the kitchen where he's locked up for the night. It never fails.

Just get the Thrive ones or if you use Zooplus Cosmo snackies which are the same but cheaper. I couldnt just stop. Especially as its how I get them to come indoors.

sunny Those ads are hilarious! Thanks for linking.

Oh dear. That does sound like rather a lot (feline equivalent to me living on a diet of pringles and haribo).

Most siamese cats are noisy. They sulk too, but do love attention.

Can you just give her a stroke/play with a toy instead (or whatever else she might imagine to be a treat)? Or pull something out of that drawer that isn't for cats?

The old Madcats could hear me open a plastic takeaway container from anywhere in the house. They would always come running because we use them to store leftover roast etc, and we'd often give them a bit of chicken or pork. We also batch cook chillis/spag bol so 90% of the time they would be unlucky. it didn't stop them trying though.

Our kittens are getting a bit fussy about some of their wet food (it does smell awful, TBF). I grind a dusting of their treat over it and find that they scoff it down again. Could you do that with a couple of Dreamies?