The Hypothosis
Well. Since someone said it, I decided to try it. Potted Meat looks like cat food, so I thought I could try to fool the cats.
The Experiment
I was at the store picking up some other things and I went looking for the potted meat. I knew it was by the Spam because I saw it there the other day and was laughing at it. It's also apparently by the Chicken Vienna Sausages.
T was very excited about the potted meat.
"And we're buying this why?"
So we took our potted meat ($.40, on sale 3/$1) home with the rest of our other purchase. I put away the most important things that needed to be refridgerated, and then selected one of the three feline residents as the first victim.
Victim #1: Motley
I set up the dining facilities for the selected feline (after cleaning off the remains of this morning's feast, which for some reason seems to be all over the place) and presented the meal.
She came running because, not surprisingly, the potted meat comes in a can with a pop top lid exactly like the cat food I feed her. Can was noted to be suspiciously the same size. I decided to look at what was in the can.
Do you know what was worse that the picture above. The smell. Holy crap the smell. I would rather sniff cat food all night than this stuff. Deciding it was time to see how Victim... cat #1 like it, I quickly forked out a small portion of the meaty delight.
She sniffed it, but that was about it. She just wasn't really digging it. I think she was as grossed by the smell as I was.
So after torturing the poor cat, I decided to do a side by side comparison of the potted meat product and the cat food that she likes.
And so, I popped this and she was nuzzling me instantly. I put some on the plate after getting rid of the potted meat and wiping it down. She seemed hesitant at first, because frankly, it looked like the potted meat.
But after a sniff or two she decided that it was OK to chow down on the non-potted kitty chow.
Victim #2: Henri
To be fair, it was necessary to subject the other two feline residents to this
That was as close as #2 got. If I'd had another hand, you would have hilarious video of him trying desperate to get away from both me and the potted meat. It bordered on fear.
Now we wait on #3. And wait. And wait, and wait.
Forgive the slightly garbled audio.
Victim #3: Sarabi
In the interest of getting this damn potted meat contained, I brought the dish out to #3 and tried to interest her. Since she is the most expressive of the three feline residents, I was hoping to get her reaction on video. However, after one sniff it was clear that wasn't going to happen. At all.
The Conclusion
1. Cats are not fooled by a look-a-like to their normal food
2. Cats do not like potted meat
3. I do not like potted meat
4. The stuff smells like
Remember: always clean up after you're done with your experiments!
