Quick Opinion - Cool Claws

We always bought our dogs Frosty Paws frozen treats as a birthday treat. I keep my kitties on a pretty strict diet, but my sister's two male cats are having their first birthday today (they are littermates), and she's talking about buying them the feline version, which are called Cool Claws.

I'm iffy about all the additives and preservatives in the ingredients though. The sis is all excited to be celebrating a birthday for pets of her own (pet birthdays in our family are a big deal!) for the first time, so I don't want to rain on her parade if it's not totally necessary (esp since she can't afford to buy this stuff all the time). Does anyone know anything about these? Are they really awful nutrition-wise? Basically, should I break her heart and tell her not to dare, or should it be okay for a one-time treat?

http://www.coolclaws.com/nutritionalcontent.aspx

Guaranteed analysis:

* Crude protein min. 5.5%
* Crude fat min. 5.0%
* Crude fiber max 0.5%
* Moisture max 75.0 %

Ingredients:

Water, dried whey, whole egg, chicken fat preserved with BHA, natural and artificial flavors, calcium carbonate, guar gum, mono and diglycerides, cellulose gum, polysorbate 80, calcium sulfate, carrageenan, vitamin E, B12, D3, A supplements, niacin, zinc oxide, manganese sulfate, thiamine hydrochloride (vitamin B1), potassium iodide, taurine.

You could show her the ingredients list and ask her what she thinks. Purrsonally, I wouldn't feed that to my kitties even as a one time treat. Maybe someone on the site has a homemade recipe that is healthy.

For a small, one time treat, it wouldn't be harmful provided that the cats weren't allergic to any of the ingredients used. The ingredients, and you already suspect, aren't that great and neither is the BHA preservative in there.

Aside from that, I'm not sure how well cold treats are accepted by cats. Some may be ok with it, some get upset stomachs if food is too cold.

If your sister really wants to give them a treat why not suggest to her to cook up some lean meat for them? If they can eat chicken, a treat of boiled chicken breast would be a simple healthy treat. If she wants to get fancy she could boil it up, shred it, add some of the water (broth) from cooking, and sprinkle some diced cat grass on top.

Water, dried wheymilk derivitave , whole egg, chicken fat preserved with BHA, natural and artificial flavors, calcium carbonate, guar gum, mono and diglycerides, cellulose gum, polysorbate 80, calcium sulfate, carrageenan, vitamin E, B12, D3, A supplements, niacin, zinc oxide, manganese sulfate, thiamine hydrochloride (vitamin B1), potassium iodide, taurine.

Man, when I say "quick," you guys give me quick!

I'm telling her to forget about it. Apparently I'm getting good @ this nutritional info stuff, too, because sharky highlighted every ingredient that looked bad to me.

Thanks for the confirmation - I still get a bit overwhelmed by the nutritional information - and for the ammunition to send to her. By default, as an older sister, my word means little, of course.

ETA: She agreed when I explained the preservatives/additives - since they are completely broke, I'm going to take them some chicken to boil up, along with a few cans of better-quality wet food as a gift from their "auntie" (I've got a whole stash of Merrick and Wellness "rejects" that Jack and Soph won't eat now that their palate has been ruined by the Fancy Feast I gave them to cover up the yucky taste of medicine when they had URIs).

I've fed Cool Claws to my cats with no problems. My Selene loves it and it's a nice alternative to ice cream. Granted, I have Egyptian Mau cats and they are notorious for their extensive pallets. . . they will taste anything at least once!

I met the founder and inventor of Cool Claws at a cat show event last November. Very nice guy and the company puts a lot into supporting cat shows to promote rare breeds of cats and the adoption of rescued cats and kittens.