Lickable cat treats: why we put ours in a resealable pouch

Every cat owner knows the sound. The faint crinkle of a treat pack from three rooms away, and the cat who was fast asleep a second ago is now standing on your foot, making eye contact.

Here's how the daily treat habit usually goes. You tear open a tube. Your cat has three licks, looks out of the window, and leaves. The rest goes in the bin. Tomorrow, same again. And if you've ever turned the pack over, the ingredient list is longer than the treat.

Cats love lickable treats. We just think they deserve a better one.

What lickable cat treats are.

A lickable cat treat is a smooth, meaty puree your cat licks rather than chews. Straight from the pack, off a spoon, on top of dinner or spread on a lick mat. In a lot of homes it's become part of the day, like the morning coffee. Only with more yelling.

What we believe.

A treat your cat has every day should be food. Real meat or fish, real vegetables, and nothing standing in for either. When something becomes a daily habit, and for most cats this one has, the ingredient list matters more than the flavor name on the front.

Meet the tube.

Most lickable treats come in a single-use tube holding about half an ounce. Tear it open and it's all or nothing. Cats, famously, do not do all or nothing on your schedule.

Then there's the back of the pack. Here's what you'll find on a typical chicken tube, after the water and the chicken:

• Powdered cellulose. A plant fiber, usually made from wood pulp or cotton, used to bulk things out. Your cat is not a beaver.
• Guar gum. A thickener from the guar bean, so the puree holds its shape.
• Natural flavors. A catch-all on the label for flavor that's been added back in.
• Natural scallop flavor. In the chicken one. Naturally.

Ten lines, for a treat that's gone in ten seconds. None of it is there for your cat. It's there to make a puree cheap, smooth and shelf stable at half an ounce a go.

What we do instead.

We left all of that out. Here's Turkey & Liver, in full:

That is the whole recipe

Water, organic turkey, organic turkey liver, organic butternut squash, organic tapioca starch. 53 calories a pouch.

Organ meat makes it the hardest one to turn down. Every recipe in Rigby Essential for Cats has five ingredients or fewer, printed in full. No grains, no gums, no preservatives, no added flavors. Certified organic where the recipe allows, wild-caught where it does not. Made in the USA.

You can read the whole label in about four seconds. That's the point.

Squeeze. Reseal. Repeat.

Then we fixed the format. Rigby comes in a 2.5 oz pouch with a twist cap. That's five tubes' worth of treat in one pouch, and one cap instead of five wrappers.

• Squeeze as much as you see fit. A little or a lot. Your cat will let you know.
• Save the rest. Cap back on. Nothing in the bin.
• Keep it fresh. Shelf stable until opened, then five days in the fridge.

Some days they want the lot. Some days they want three licks and a long look out of the window. Either way, nothing gets wasted.

Why cats lose their minds for them.

Cats are hunters, built for small, frequent rewards, and even indoor cats want to hunt. A lickable treat is the tiny, civilized version: a little effort, a little reward, no mouse required.

It's also one of the few things that brings a cat to you on your terms rather than theirs. Enjoy it. It won't happen often.

Five ways to use one.

1. A moment together. A few minutes with your cat, through the day. This is why the habit exists.
2. A treat. Straight from the pouch, when you want the easy yes. Or at pill time, pressed around the pill.
3. A topper. Squeezed over dinner, for the cat who has stopped finishing it and would like you to know.
4. A lick mat. Fills a mat or puzzle toy in seconds, and it lasts.
5. Moisture. An easy way to add water for the cat who treats the water bowl as decor.

How often can a cat have one?

Every single day. At 50 to 53 calories a pouch, with a label you can read in four seconds, there's nothing to weigh up. Squeeze as much as you see fit, and the cap takes care of the rest.

Cats go mad for it. You'll feel good handing it over.

Squeeze. Reseal. Repeat. Every single day.