QUESTIONS ON OUR IMPROVED COOKING PROCESS

Our team of nutritionists, vets and fresh food experts are always researching and trialling new ways to make an even tastier and healthier food for cats.  Through our extensive work, we’ve determined that gently-cooking our food inside trays – as opposed to in small batches, which are then filled into trays – results in a food that is tastier and healthier for cats.

Our improved cooking process allows our food to be heated up (which some cats enjoy), offers a more versatile, meatier texture and locks in more meaty aromas and flavours. All of which make our fresh recipes even tastier. Our improved process also preserves even more nutrients and moisture in the food, for better cat health.

A large number of customers have been trialling this improved food over the last months, comparing it against the existing tray and pouch food. 98% of these customers are happier with the improved food, saying that it met or exceeded all their expectations of fresh food. And 90% of their cats ate the improved food straight away, with the rest adjusting after just a couple of days.

Customers also told us that they’re much more likely to continue buying fresh food for their cat if we offer this food, with its better taste and quality: 

• “This food had a lovely consistency and smelled really nice. I was tempted to eat it. Fudge loved it and couldn’t eat it quickly enough” - Bernadette + Fudge 

• “Lovely texture, smelled good, and Lily + Lola loved it.” - Helen, Lily + Lola

• “Womble couldn’t eat it fast enough this morning. He loved it.” - Lauren + Womble

No. The ingredients and the recipe composition of our fresh food are exactly the same. We’ve continued to use 100% human-quality meat, just as we always have. (And it’s still so good we can eat it ourselves.) And we still gently steam-cook at the low temperatures we always have, to preserve the nutrients in our fresh ingredients.

The improved food has a slightly meatier texture. This is because we have moved from cooking our fresh food in small batches, to cooking in individual meal portions in new flexible trays. So the meat is no longer stirred during cooking — retaining more of its natural texture.

If your cat prefers the smoother texture of the existing tray food, this can easily be achieved. Just add water to the improved food and mix with a fork to get their preferred consistency. Or knead the new, flexible tray a little before serving to smoosh up the food.

Fat has always been visible in our food. This is because we don’t add artificial emulsifiers to break down natural fats to make the food more visually appealing to humans. We prefer to keep the food natural, without emulsifiers, as they have no nutritional or health benefits for your cat. We know it can seem unusual compared to supermarket food, especially in the naturally fattier recipes like Mooo, Oink, and Baaa.

So rest assured: any fat you can see is nutritious for cats. All seven of our fresh recipes have been formulated by our Board-Certified Vet Nutritionist to be complete and balanced. Including the fat content.

In our previous cooking method, we cooked while mixing the meat. So the fat pieces would clump together into small white balls. But in our improved cooking method, the fat pieces solidify in a layer while freezing. This visual change will be most noticeable in our red meat recipes. If you prefer, simply mix the fat into the food using a fork, or heat up the food in the microwave or with hot water to melt it.  Or leave it as is. Your cat won’t mind either way.

To make the taste and health benefits of the food even better, our main packaging is changing from a rigid tray to a flexible tray. The new trays are the same shape, size and colour, but are made from a slightly more flexible and robust material that we can cook in. 

The only change is that you’ll need to use scissors to open the flexible trays going forward, similar to how some customers open the current pouch packaging. This is because our improved cooking process requires the flexible tray packaging to have a hard seal, rather than the ‘easy seal’ of our current trays. 

Just like the current trays, each half of the new flexible tray is split into convenient morning and evening portions, making up your cat’s daily calories needs. If you feed more than twice a day, we recommend using a clip or tupperware to keep the remaining food fresh in the fridge.  

Yes. You can still serve the improved food straight from the fridge, but if your cat prefers, you can now warm up the food by adding a few tablespoons of hot water, or plate it up in a microwave safe bowl and warm it for 10-15 seconds. The new flexible trays can also be placed in hot water for a few minutes to defrost the food straight from the freezer.

From 11 April, our improved fresh food will arrive in all deliveries. The food you receive will depend on what your cat is currently eating and which recipes you have in your box. 

If your cat currently eats only trays, you’ll receive a mix of current and improved food.

You’ll receive up to seven days of the current food in rigid trays, depending on which recipes you have in your box. The rest of the food will be the improved food in flexible trays. 

If your cat currently eats only pouches, you’ll receive only the improved food. 

The recipe and texture of our improved food is exactly the same as the pouch food, so we expect your cat to tuck right in. So your box will only have the improved food. 

If your cat currently eats trays + pouches, you’ll receive a mix of the current and improved food.

You’ll receive up to seven days of the current food in rigid trays, depending on which recipes you have in your box. The rest of the food will be the improved food in flexible trays. 

Unless your cat has a chicken allergy, we’ll include free Chicken Sprinkles in every box. In case you’d like to add these to the food. 

With 90% of cats eating the improved food straight away and the rest adjusting after a couple of days, we’re confident that your cat will enjoy the food. But if your cat is a little unsure after a few days, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our dedicated team of Cat Experts. They’re available 9-6pm, seven days a week, so drop them a message at meow@katkin.com.

There’s no packaging currently on the market – neither rigid or flexible trays, nor pouches – that is both curbside recyclable and able to withstand the cooking process.  We’re working closely with packaging suppliers to enable this innovation in the future. 

You can, however, recycle the new flexible trays at existing soft plastic schemes in some supermarkets, like Co-op and Tesco (alongside crisp packets, bread bags, wet pet food pouches and dry food bags) or with 23% of local councils. Check with yours to find out how.

Everything else that comes with your KatKin delivery (box, insulation, ice pack) is fully recyclable or reusable.

90% of cats devour the improved food in flexible trays right away. But if your cat does need a bit of encouragement, there are a few tricks you can try. Put the food into a bowl and heat for 15 seconds in the microwave, or add a few tablespoons of hot water. Top with Chicken Sprinkles or Nibbles. Or use a fork to break it up in the bowl. 

Watch the video below for more top tips.