pouches and cans

karebearcasey

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Nov 5, 2007
Messages
165
Purraise
1
Location
new jersey
ok, so seriously, what is the difference?

my girls will pretty much eat whatever i put in front of them. max, on the other hand greatly prefers the pouches. he will even get upset if the canned stuff is the same kind of chunks as is in the pouches. it's amazing that at 6 months old how picky he is (but nothing like my 8 year old). i mean, he will eventually eat it, but i can tell when he's not happy when i first put it down. this morning i split a can of merrick for the girls and max got a can of nutro, his second favorite to wellness. well, once he got a sniff of what i was carrying for the girls he turned his nose up at the nutro at first and scratched at the door where the girls were eating.

max went to the vet today to get a shot and in 2 months he has about doubled his weight. at 4 months he weighed 4.5 pounds and now at 6 months he weighs 8 pounds! he is going to be a big kitty!
 

sharky

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
27,231
Purraise
38
pouches often are gravey based which means less meat is in them per oz over canned
 

shad

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Oct 31, 2007
Messages
64
Purraise
2
Location
Shenyang, China
One should note that pounches are better for the environment, unless you're recycling those cans - which I doubt. (who does?)

Now that's probably not the type of difference you had in mind when you asked, but it IS a difference some people care about!
 

kittee

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Nov 28, 2007
Messages
215
Purraise
1
Location
Chapel Hill NC
My babies will vomit up pouch food. I think it's all the gravy. I have to stick to the mini-tins w/o gravy for no "accidents" to happen.

Thats the difference in my household.
 

icklemiss21

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Aug 14, 2005
Messages
16,465
Purraise
20
Location
in the land of poutine and ice
I put all my cans in the recycling


Like sharky said, usually pouch food tends to have more gravy but I have seen cans with more too. I think it is all preference and convenience on the part of the manufacturers.
 

whuckleberry

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Jan 17, 2007
Messages
1,090
Purraise
1
Location
Massachusetts USA
Originally Posted by Shad

One should note that pounches are better for the environment, unless you're recycling those cans - which I doubt. (who does?)

Now that's probably not the type of difference you had in mind when you asked, but it IS a difference some people care about!
Hmm...I recycle all my cans. In fact, everyone I know recycles cans, bottles, etc. It's very common around here.

As for the pouches, most of them aren't ideal for us because Wally only licks the gravy and leaves the meat. The only exception is Meow Mix.
 

alleygirl

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Dec 2, 2006
Messages
11,814
Purraise
24
Location
hiding in the bathtub
Riley has trouble with the pouches that have the large chunks. He ends up chasing the chunks all over the plate and the floor to eat them
 

gingersmom

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 11, 2006
Messages
8,028
Purraise
22
Originally Posted by Shad

One should note that pounches are better for the environment, unless you're recycling those cans - which I doubt. (who does?)

Now that's probably not the type of difference you had in mind when you asked, but it IS a difference some people care about!
Actually, the cans are recyclable, but the pouches are NOT. So how does that make pouches better for the environment?


I recycle nearly everything that would normally be thrown away. My household of two humans and 4 cats puts out less than a full bag of "garbage" every week, and most of that is cat poop!
 

sharky

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
27,231
Purraise
38
Originally Posted by GingersMom

Actually, the cans are recyclable, but the pouches are NOT. So how does that make pouches better for the environment?


I recycle nearly everything that would normally be thrown away. My household of two humans and 4 cats puts out less than a full bag of "garbage" every week, and most of that is cat poop!
it is pouches take less energy and packageing than cans..
 

gingersmom

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 11, 2006
Messages
8,028
Purraise
22
Originally Posted by sharky

it is pouches take less energy and packageing than cans..
I buy the pouches because they have the same volume but cost less than the cans - so that makes sense. It's all about the packaging. But I think the environmental savings is negligable: less energy to produce, but they take up space in landfills and will never disintegrate.

I do wish that they would make recyclable pouches.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #11

karebearcasey

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Nov 5, 2007
Messages
165
Purraise
1
Location
new jersey
oh we recycle everything around here. i did notice there was more gravy in the pouches which they love and lick up first, eat the meat second. there are never any left overs from a pouch, but normally a little left over from the same size, 3 oz., can. what silly little kittens i have!
 

shad

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Oct 31, 2007
Messages
64
Purraise
2
Location
Shenyang, China
Ok, here's the environmental impact breakdown:

Cans...
-use far more natural resources to produce the packaging
-weigh more empty, thereby increasing resource use for delivery
-pack less efficiently, thereby increasing resource use for delivery
-take up more space in a landfill if disposed of
-cannot be burned
-can be recycled, but are not always, and this uses additional resources (recycling is a net loss, not a net gain)

Pouches...
-use very few raw materials to be made
-weigh less empty
-pack with less wasted space
-take up negligible space in a landfill if disposed of
-can be easily burned

If you recycle the cans, then cans *almost* but not quite draw even in terms of environmental impact. All you folks who recycle - good on you - but you must remember that the vast majority of the world does NOT recycle, whether by choice or by absence of recycling programs. And...

If you don't recycle the cans the pouches win in a landslide.

So, in a perfect world, there'd be mandatory recycling for all... ar in an almost perfect world there'd be no cans.
 

roofus

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Mar 29, 2007
Messages
21
Purraise
0
Location
Philadelphia
But aren't pouches smaller than cans? The pouches I've seen are 3 ounces, while the cans I use are 5.5 ounces, so I'd have to use almost 2 pouches to equal one can, negating the cost savings and leveling the environmental impact somewhat, right?
 

gingersmom

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 11, 2006
Messages
8,028
Purraise
22
Originally Posted by Roofus

But aren't pouches smaller than cans? The pouches I've seen are 3 ounces, while the cans I use are 5.5 ounces, so I'd have to use almost 2 pouches to equal one can, negating the cost savings and leveling the environmental impact somewhat, right?
Not all cans are created equal. It depends on the brand and their choice of packaging.

I was referring to Meow Mix, which has 2.75 ounces of food in pouches OR cans.
 

epona

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 24, 2006
Messages
4,663
Purraise
949
Location
London, England
And here's me in the UK having had great trouble trying to find pouches with gravy! I do have good access to food of all qualities in either cans or pouches, so pouches being lower quality food is not the case here at all, in fact many premium foods are single serving pouches.

The main difference is that pouches are convenient if you have just one or two cats to feed, if you have several then splitting a big tin between them is no problem and is economical, whereas if I get a can it has to go in the fridge once opened and it means they get the same meal twice in a row.

In terms of environmental impact, the food packaging is really just the tip of the iceberg, it's their carnivorous nature (more land and resources required per pound of protein when comparing meat to vegetable proteins) and source and disposal of litter that are the main culprits in making felines one of the most environmentally unfriendly domesticated pets. Sure, the food packaging doesn't help, but I'd rather have a discussion and environmental comparison between types of the huge amount of litter we all get through every year! A lot of the food I buy is the size of a can but in a tetrapak instead, which can be easily flattened and there are now facilities to recycle tetrapaks in the UK thank goodness.
 
Top