Crack for cats - cat will be going cold turkey after dangerous "Temptations" addiction

About 7 months ago, I bought some Whiskas Temptations cat treats for my cat. He really liked them.. I mean he *REALLY* liked them. At first I thought it was funny and cute, and I can make him stand up on his hind legs to grab the treats. But as time went by, he started to act funny. He became obsessed. I can see it in his eyes. From the moment he woke up to the moment he went to sleep, I can tell that, that is all he thought about. He would sit in front of me for hours meowing and do nothing else. I can see the desperation on his face. He was in agony. When I break out the treats he would spin in circles, and almost take off my fingers when I try to hand them to him.

It came to the point that he was acting psychotic.

I thought to myself, 'this can't be normal'. Food and food flavoring alone cannot cause these type of reactions.

I decided to do some investigation. I googled "cat addicted temptations"

I was astonished at what I found !

It turns out cats all over are having the same problem with this addiction with 237 complaints posted on the Consumer Affairs website with many reporting serious health issues such as renal failure.

Consumer Affairs complaints on Whiskas Temptations cat treats








Here is a post from The Cat Site.com titled: Cat Acts Like It's Crack

.. cat becomes addicted, bugs you all day for them, sometimes affects their appetite for real food. I thought it was great when my cat devoured these little treats. But, there is something in these treats that makes them behave as if they are drug addicted. My cat will really beg for them and ignore her food tray. Even for just one. She paces back and forth near where I keep them and cries for them constantly..

Yes, I have wondered what's in these too. I've tried many other kinds of treats, .. and while most were received with appreciation, Bob especially will leap up in the air to rip the Temptations bag out of my hand.

I just shake the bag and the cat comes running from across the street literally to get to the treats. They would meow and meow until I gave it to them. .. I also wonder what it is they put in these threats to make the cats go all crazy?

Here is a post on Reddit titled: Detoxing your cat from Temptation addiction- suggestions on kitty methadone options needed

I have a cat that WAS really good about eating her cat food, dry or canned. Then I gave her some of these treats and now she won't eat ANYTHING else. She goes nuts anytime I go near the place where I keep them, like she is starving. I have several cats and there is always dry food available and canned food at night. She won't touch it. …It really is crack to her. Last week in the grocery store, I saw a guy buying several packs of them. I told him about my cats addiction and he said his had the same problem. He said his will lick a couple times at the canned food, then start crying for treats. Hmmmmm…? Laura Davis 9/25/15 at 12:03pm

My cat's world begins and ends with Whiska's Temptation treats. He eats his main meals and dinners fine but we enjoy being about to give him treats from time to time. Unfortunately after $100s of dollars over the years .. he won't touch anything but Temptations. .. The issue is our cat is allergic to (or reacting to) something in Temptations. Every time he has ever consumed them, he then spends the next few days liking his paws incessantly and even swelling/throwing up.

“Hi blosomthyme! My cat is insanely obsessed with this treat too! I was so happy to find a treat that she likes but she'd rather eat this instead of her regular food too. So glad that I'm not the only one having this “problem”.. I created a kitty-monster!” - leopardchick 9/15/12 at 5:45pm

From the Consumer Affairs website:

Consumer Affairs complaints on Whiskas Temptations cat treats

My cat was healthy and normal until a friend suggested I try these treats for her. She loved them. Now about 6 months later I'm in tears because I'm very sure she has kidney problems. I find out the blood test results tomorrow but she shows all the symptoms of kidneys failing. She stopped drinking. She's peeing a lot. Not eating. She's lethargic. I wondered why she started drinking so much water over the past while...now I know. These "treats" dehydrate cats. Sure enough when I started googling the symptoms she has I came across this page I was absolutely horrified.

At seven months old and within three days little Munchkin suddenly went from being a typically active, healthy kitten to lethargic, respiratory problems, and death. What was different a couple days before this? Giving him and my other cats Whiskas Temptations Treats! Now I am watching the others very closely because digging a grave for a sweet little furbaby sucks beyond belief! There is *NO* excuse for the company to be remaining silent about this when each day is bringing more and more new reports of illnesses and deaths. Ken of Pensacola, FL on April 27, 2016

Tonight I was very alarmed when my 5 year old cat started vomiting. She was so sick that she continuously threw up for about an hour -- she had vomited up the entire contents of her stomach and yet was still dry heaving. I tried to recount what she had eaten in hopes of figuring out what had caused this. Everything that she had eaten was typical for her, except her cat treats. Today I had given her a new cat treat, Whiskas Temptations Beef Flavored treats. This was the first time she had eaten these treats and she got sick about an hour after eating them. Liz of Rochester Hills, MI on April 24, 2016

a couple of days ago I noticed there was a packet of Whiskas Temptations in the cupboard which a family member had purchased him for his Christmas. I checked to see if they were in date, which they were and proceeded to give him a few. He seemed to love them, nearly taking my hand off for them! The next day I noticed he was a bit lethargic compared with normal and he started to wrench as if he was going to be sick. This was highly unusual as Cooper had not been sick ever before! The next day however I gave him more Temptations as he seemed a wee bit better. HUGE MISTAKE! Within an hour (about 10pm) he threw up and this time there was a lot of sick! I couldn't quite understand what was causing it! He was sick again at 1am, 4am then multiple times between 6 and 7am. At this point he seemed to be very lethargic and was hardly able to walk. He fell over a couple of times as he was trying to get under the bed to hide. That's when I knew I had to get him to vets ASAP. On way to vets I actually thought we had lost him as he was unresponsive at one point! I was absolutely petrified! Lee of Lanark, Other on April 7, 2016

I used to give these to my cats. I kept them in the bottom drawer in the bathroom. I haven't pulled anything out of that drawer in over a year, but to this day I can't go in the bathroom without Nathan meowing like crazy & clawing/stretching on that drawer.

a reply to: SmurfRider

Yes something is definitely up with these treats.

I think my cat may be an addict

I think my cat may be an addict I was wondering, for all the cat lovers/owners out there, has anyone bought "Temptation" cat treats for their kitty and then noticed any addictive behavours? .. Also, as she will not stoop to the dog's level, there is just no way she begs for anything or in any way dents her dignity and superior position in the household… Well, let me tell you, I bought her a bag of these damn "Temptations" and she has turned into a complete junkie, yelling at the top of her lungs for them when a craving hits, throwing dignity out the window to come running from the other end of the house at the rattle of the Temptations bag.

I am thinking there may be something "special" added to these treats that has completely hooked my cat. Lord only knows what will happen if we ever run out! Anyone?

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Our cats completely freak over the temptations. Some of them like other treats too but NONE of them refuse temptations. They go berserk! - Bacchus

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Hmmmm, kinda makes ya wonder huh? - CHCMD

quotes from video:

Eremika Shipper 4Life My cat has this problem too, but its getting to the point she gets nasty.

anne woodward my cat is so addicted to these that she gos thought 3 big bags a week so that is 6 pfn and at $8 per bag it is a lot of $$ so what can i do to get her off of them plz help

Ker Plunk +anne woodward LOOOL my cat is a junkie too.. im too kind to make her go cold turkey

Mission Failed1 "crackhead kitty"

Lol.... mine's also incredibly addicted to these and refuses to eat any other food... It's like crack for cats.

So this is a world where cat food companies are mixing drugs or something into their products. There's no limits to the sumbitches in the corporate world, apparently.


Thanks for the post.

Where do I get these at? I got wildcats living about my place. I hate them too. I tried everything to get rid of them.

If i gave them bags upon bags of this stuff, maybe then they will know my pain?
And what I mean by pain is the constant mating howling and the incestuous fighting, the tearing up of the underneath of my place.

Yea I am going to get even with these asshole cats.

Thanks "Whiska's"!

a reply to: nOraKat

I notice that my cats greatly prefer Whiskas to other brands of dry cat food. But there is a brand they're even crazier about -- a Thai brand called Me-O. If I mix it with a different brand they'll pick out the Me-O kibbles and eat those, leaving the rest.

I've often woneared what they put in the stuff. No feline health problems though.

By the way, googling pretty much anything scary will bring up results like these nowadays.

Your source is a pay-for ratings site. Snopes also has listed this as a hoax.
To do a decent google search you need to go past just the first page of results and verify things. It's a common mistake.
A quick search of Temptation Treat hoax pulled this right up.

While in the past there has been problems with animal food and treats usually there are more than just someones FB page to go to as a source. This took 3 seconds to backtrack as one source from Facebook and corroborated by no one.

BTW...the ingredients are listed on the bag. I looked at mine.

socialnewsdaily.com...

Despite the post being shared many times, the post was deleted. Probably because it wasn’t true. But, that didn’t stop many Facebook users from sharing their concerns with the Temptations page. After plenty of posts, the company finally addressed the cat lover’s fears and said while they were aware of the claims, they were entirely untrue.

www.flyingpointdigital.com...

As Consumer Affairs directly impacts a brand’s online reputation, and populates the most coveted digital real estate, it’s hard to ignore. Your brand must manage its listing as well as respond to customer reviews as part of your overall digital reputation management strategy. However, are the benefits associated with a paid Consumer Affairs package worth its steep price tag?

a reply to: nOraKat

Sometimes these companies put different things in their products when they're from different countries...

I have three cats... ages 11, 13, and 14... all of which have been eating temptations since they were able to... basically since they were adopted...

All my cats are very healthy... I mean they love their treats, but i've never had any issues with them... and they eat the damn things a lot...

But

I am in Canada...

i've had a few scares with Cat foods, and different products that have substances in them that aren't good for cats... though it seems every time these issued pop up... its not in Canada, only the states

a reply to: Caver78

Well my eyes don't lie seeing the effects on my own cat.. and these are apparently posts from regular people.

The people I live with feed them to their cats. The cats do go crazy for them! Literally taking fingers off for them. I'm going to let them know about this, first thing in the morning. I'd hate to see something bad happen to their cats.

originally posted by: Naturallywired
Where do I get these at? I got wildcats living about my place. I hate them too. I tried everything to get rid of them.

If i gave them bags upon bags of this stuff, maybe then they will know my pain?
And what I mean by pain is the constant mating howling and the incestuous fighting, the tearing up of the underneath of my place.

Yea I am going to get even with these asshole cats.

Thanks "Whiska's"!

You might get more than you bargained for, maybe like attracting even MORE cats. Or the cats could go crazier and really meow it up and have a pussy party with temptations. I'm thinking, NOT a good idea.

my cat loves them. he's 13 and has been eating them many years. he can be insistent on getting some.
but, he's never aggressive in the way that he might scratch or bite me. he also seems to not eat a lot of his regular food... which is whiskas. seemed to like them the best.

have tried another cat treat... friskies party mix. my cat got sick each time i got them for him. tried 3 times. first time it could have been anything. got another bag months later...... got sick again. ok.. im thinking maybe coincidence. so months later tried a third time. he did fine for a while... but about the time i got the salmon flavor he got sick again. so it maybe just that flavor but he doesn't get them anymore

he did get sick in a similar way recently. don't know what caused it that time.

he lost some weight... funny thing is he's doing stuff he hasn't done for 4 years.. jumping up on a freezer and the counter.
he's lost weight before but never acted... "refreshed"

i don't know if its bad for him or not. he throws up every now and then. sometimes not for weeks. so have no idea what causes that.

for canned foods, he will go through spells where he'll actually eat some of the food. mostly though, he just cleans up the gravy.

the only other thing he likes as much as the treats, is deli/lunch meat. yes he's spoiled.

Pets get weird addictions all the time.

Our dog when I was growing up could smell when my dad walked through the door with a bag of red licorice and she went nuts for it.

We had two cats, bothers, one went bonkers over olives. Treated them like cat nip. The other could smell ham like the dog used to be able to smell red licorice and would literally come running from anywhere in the house when you opened the fridge and there was ham inside. He even said, "Hammm, Hammm!"

Currently, I have a cat who behaved like those cats for the dried Blue Buffalo treats. We only ever got her the one can because she was so scary over them.

originally posted by: PorteurDeMort
The people I live with feed them to their cats. The cats do go crazy for them! Literally taking fingers off for them. I'm going to let them know about this, first thing in the morning. I'd hate to see something bad happen to their cats.

Pics... or fingers were NOT literally taken off!!! J/K, I have seen animals do some weird stuff for weird reasons, our cat will "figuratively" scare the crap out of people by jumping on their shoulder if their back is turned and she wants food or to be petted. Never malicious or aggressive though and she's small so it's funny but starling when you unexpectedly have a parrot cat perched on ye shoulder matey.

a reply to: Naturallywired

Dear god no, whatever you don't give these to wild cats. They will literally never leave your property if you do.

a reply to: ketsuko
Wow really, your dad would feed the dog licorice? I can't understand why people insist on giving their pets processed human food. It's idiotic.

This is horrible.When i started reading i thought it was a bit amusing but no-nothing is funny about this.I've never given these to my cats,i have 8 cats so they just get food+sometimes leftover meat/fish bits from the last nights dinner.But i noticed my cats don't like Whiskas regular dry catfood.I occasionaly have to buy some when their regular catfood is not available-and they do really not like it at all.

My cat gets Temptation treats and sometimes Greanie treats. He has come to expect them after a meal most of the time. He is okay when we don't have them. In some of the flavors of Temptations, there are preservatives called BHT/BHA. We avoid them in our foods and so we don't give the Temptations flavors with them to our cat.
Here are some studies on BHT/BHT and more info Here.

a reply to: ishum
Maybe you should try stopping those super market brand cat foods and go to the pet shop. For not much more, can get healthier brands. Max cat is pretty good

Good, glad to hear about it being a hoax as shared about. Though, still please be aware of commercial foods. Especially since many have(as also shared-bumping it for additional info shared) the chemicals in the foods that make them appealing to pets so you buy more of the product.