Pawalla July 2013 Box

It's been a while since I've gotten a Pawalla box so when they contacted me regarding a slight glitch, I was more than happy to accept the box rather than a refund. Now I will completely admit that upon opening the box, I wasn't all that thrilled about the contents. I'll explain as I go through the listings of the box and my first impressions but I'll also remark now that the box was well received by the kittens so take what I say in my initial observations with a grain of salt.

The contents of the box included the following:

• 2 Cans of Against the Grain - Big Kahuna with Crab & Tilapia
• 2 Cans of Against the Grain - Shrimp Daddy with Tuna & Salmon
• Greenies
• Whole Life - Tail Mix Cat Treats
• Petchup - Catchup
• PushClean - Pet Towelettes
• I Love Catz - Sisal Rattle Football Cat Toy
• Doggles - Sushi Catnip Crab

So the reason why I was slightly disappointed (which had nothing to do with the box) was the cat food selected was something that the kittens have rejected before which was a bit of a bummer. I thought they'd love it but they seemed to have hate it. That was a few months ago and I'll likely try it again with them. The toys I figured that there was no way that they'd play with them because they've been all about their collection of mylar balls. The treats... well, I kind of wish they wouldn't send so many treats because we have a surplus of them so I could do without 2 more bags. Then there was the towelettes which just seemed odd. I was really unsure of the Petchup because we actually still have the Meowstard from January and none of the cats seem to like it anymore. 

I was glad that I was so wrong because an hour or so after opening the box and mulling over what to do with everything, I found a small lump on Hiro. Rather than grab the usual baby wipes (we use Huggies Natural Baby Wipes), I figured I'd give the new PushClean bamboo towelettes a shot. They worked great with the small clump of hair and blood and we were able to see what was happening without hurting him. Shortly after that, I come in to check on Shiva who is happily playing with both new toys.

I'm still on the fence about the food, treats, and additional supplement but we know a lot of cat owners out there who will happily take it off our hands. If not, then there's always the chance to donate them to the shelter that we adopted our kittens from.

Pawalla March 2013 Box

So when the box arrived, it was by the front door and I had the hardest time getting Shiva to stay indoors while I retrieve it and he's normally really well behaved. Anyhow... February's box was a hit with the minions so I (and the kittens, apparently) were looking forward to their next box.

Shiva was already attacking the catnip toy. Each time we open up this box, we have to hide it so we could take pictures before they come up and drag the toy out. 

So first up is the food -- I was surprised to see two large cans instead of the regular 4 small cans. The cans are from Canine Caviar and it's the Green Venison Tripe. At first I was a bit wary since this looked like it was just for dogs, but with previous Pawalla picks, cats can eat it as well. Since the kittens eat periodically throughout the day, I split it up into three servings. As I write this now, they are on their second helping gulping it down. It's been a hit! 

In this section, there's the Bench & Field Holistic Natural Feline Treats, Pet Greens Crunchy Cat Treats, and Natural Balance Perfect Bites Salmon Treats. I haven't opened them yet since they are still getting through the treats they got last month. I am familiar with the Pet Greens from living with cats previously so I was quite happy with what I got.

Finally we got a can of catnip which I was really happy to get because we actually don't have any catnip right now. I especially like that it comes in a tin which means we can easily reuse it. 

Pawalla February 2013 Box

Sometime in between getting the first Pawalla box, I ended up screwing up an order of food for the kittens from Petco. Hilarity did not ensue when four giant bags of food showed up at our door, so we ended up cancelling the next Pawalla box in order to figure out the food situation. As it turns out though,the kittens got through most of their first box (and a giant bag of food) so we figured that a second Pawalla box would be worth it since... well, between 3 cats, we'd likely get through everything.

Anyhow, this post is just to show you what we got in the box. As it happens, just before I got home, I stopped off at the pet store and picked up some wet food based on the Canned Cat Food Spreadsheet (basically it shows you what some of the canned foods look like). I ended up grabbed three cans of Merrick cat food (Ocean Breeze, California Roll, and New England Boil) and one can of Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance L.I.D. Duck & Green Pea Canned Formula. This came about when we realized how quickly they were getting through their cans of Wellness Kitten food. I'll probably have a follow-up later to tell you how the kittens received this particular box since they haven't tried the food yet. (And if you're wondering, the first box [January 2013] was a hit).

I'll apologize in advance for the photograph quality; my camera is on it's last leg so I've ordered a new one, but I really wanted to share the contents today. Inside this month's box was the following items:

• 4 Cans of "By nature 95% Protein Food For Cats
• 95% Chicken and Chicken Liver
• 95% Oceanfish
• 95% Turkey and Turkey Liver
• 95% Salmon, Mackerel, and Sardines
• Grizzly Salmon NuTreats for Cats
• Primal Jerky Chicken Nibs
• The Honest Kitchen Grace
• Grizzly Salmon Oil for Cats
• Spot Cute Critters Catnip Toys

While opening of the box; Shiva couldn't stay away from the catnip toys and when I finally "set them free" and allowed the cats to play with them, the older cat came running over and ran off with one. The toys were clearly a hit with them.

The food is interesting; I don't know how the kittens will like it but earlier today when I was at the pet store earlier and I was trying to find the specific brands that I picked according to the spreadsheet, I saw this brand that they were unpacking. I didn't want to grab too many new brands for the kittens so I made a mental note to try it the next one. I was quite happy to see it in their box when I got home.

Honest Kitchen already exists in this house (though my roommate uses Prowl) and the kittens love to steal a bit of the Prowl. I was definitely glad to see this in the box so that they could have their own version of it.

Primal Jerky... well, up until a few hours ago, I hadn't ever heard of this before. When I saw it in the box, I figured that they would like it since they seem to like these variety of things. My roommate came over shortly thereafter and gave a bag of Primal Treats Freeze Dried Turkey Liver Munchies Treats for Cats and Dogs (which she got in the PetFlow's Spoiled Rotten Box for this month). They loved the liver version so I imagine that the Jerky Chicken Nibs will be well received by them.

The last two items were both from Grizzly that I am unfamiliar with. The concept I am no stranger to, but just the brand (which really isn't a problem for me. The NuTreats and the Salmon Oil are things that we're going to have to wait to see if they take to or not.

H&S Meets Pawalla

On Wednesday I got my first monthly subscription box ever and of course, it was not for me, but for my little minions. (The only other subscription box I subscribed to was for my boyfriend and that was the Loot Crate*, which maybe I'll review later). I've always kind of been on the fence about getting one for myself (even though I am around a monthly subscription all the time) and the closest I'd ever gotten was narrowing it down to the Conscious Box. But when the kittens arrived, I decided that now was the time (partially because I wanted something that could keep them occupied).

While there is a few different pet subscription boxes, there are very few intended for cats. Which strike me as odd since I'm trying to find a way of getting my kittens new toys every month or so to keep them entertained. There is Pawalla*, Best Friend Box, and Spoiled Rotten though. After I decided to try out  Pawalla and my roommate decided to give Spoiled Rotten a shot (I only mention this because when I was deciding, I didn't even know about Spoiled Rotten).

What swayed me to try Pawalla over Best Friend Box was because I don't really want treats in the box. I would definitely prefer to have a box with some foods (not a lot, but a mix of wet food and dry) but I specifically want more toys. The bright side though is that if I ended up getting things that none of the three cats liked, then we could likely donate them to the shelter. So what really made the decision a bit easier? FloppyCats. Seriously. Here's the reviews for Best Friend Box, Pawalla, and Spoiled Rotten that all feature the adorable Trig and Charlie.

As for myself, I loved the presentation on the Pawalla box -- everything is nicely packaged and it's such a great experience just opening the box. The kittens were all over the box... well, because it's a box. Upon opening it though, they were entranced. 

Now as they are still young and still unfamiliar with a lot of sounds, I was actually able to check everything that arrived before they got wind of it actually being their belongings. In the January 2013 box we received:

• Loopies Stripes Stick
• 4 Lotus Natural Foods Canned Pâté
• Cat-Man-Doo Life Essentials Freeze Dried Chicken
• Stella & Chewy's Carnivore Crunch
• Petchup Meowstard
• JMK Litter Bags

Impression? I love it. The kittens took hold of the Loopies Stripes Stick immediately which allowed me time to review the content of the box.

As for the food, my boyfriend and I are trying to balance the kittens diet with wet food and we are specifically looking to keep them on a grain free diet. When they got sick the closest stores that carried kitten wet food only had Iams Kitten Premium Pate Canned Cat Food which while we didn't want to give them, kind of had too. Shortly after we made a haul of canned food and ended up getting a bunch from Lotus (and a few cans of Science Diet Kitten Tender Chicken Dinner).

The Freeze Dried Chicken was an absolute hit. We've been trying to figure out how to give them treats (especially since they are so young) without allowing them to overindulge. This fits the bill perfectly.

I'm still on the fence about the Carnivore Crunch and the Meowstard. The Carnivore Crunch explicitly states that it's for dogs but I read from various places online that it's good for both cats and dogs. I'm probably going to double check with Pawalla just to be on the safe side. The Meowstard is an interesting concept that I'm kind of excited to try out but I don't know how they will react (since they seem to love their Halo dry food quite a bit). I'm not ready to try it out just yet since the kittens are still taking L-Lysine supplements and since they are just getting better from their ailments, I'd rather not introduce entirely new things just yet.

Pawalla costs $26 a month, Best Friend Box costs $30 a month, and Spoiled Rotten (by PetFlow) costs $25 a month. If you know of any more out there, let me know because I'd love to explore more options for the kittens.

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* Because I'm terrible at conversions, those links are specifically referral links. But let's be real, you aren't going to click them anyway.