This Wet Food Really Saved the Day - My Cat's Recovery from Illness Was a Breeze!

Hello fellow cat parents, I'm excited to share my thoughts on the Award Urinary Chunks in Gravy with Chicken, a complete wet food designed for adult cats to help prevent kidney stones.

Meet my two furry friends, British cat Barsik at 15 years old and the mixed breed Begemot at 13 years old.I've been feeding my cats dry food for a while now, and I've learned their tastes and preferences. However, when it comes to wet food, we're still learning the ropes.

This handsome fella was born with some not-so-great teeth.Recently, one of my cats developed gum disease, which made it painful for him to eat. The vet recommended switching him to wet food, prescribing some meds, and getting his teeth sorted out. We've since treated the issue, and he's back to his normal self. But we're due for an operation, and he'll need to stick to wet food for a while.

To avoid the hassle of choosing the right food and not wanting to starve my cat, I decided to introduce him to new food now. Not knowing which one would suit him best, I bought a few different types to try out.

I'm writing this review to share my thoughts and keep a record of my experience.

Product details.

Brand: Award.

Award is a premium brand offering high-quality, natural ingredient-based food for dogs and cats. This means their products provide the necessary nutrients, energy, vitamins, and minerals for our furry friends.

Product line:

Award Urinary Chunks in Gravy with Chicken is a complete wet food designed for adult cats to help prevent kidney stones.

Country of origin: Russia.

My cat's food starts with 463.Manufacturing address:

I've seen some of these fields in the Moscow region, near Dmitrov. My mother-in-law used to have a dacha around there, so I'm familiar with the area, even though I haven't been back in ages. Back in the day (late 90s and early 00s), it was all abandoned fields and factories. Now, it's starting to develop.

Manufacturer:

Valta Pet Products LLC is the owner of the AWARD trademark.

Net weight: 85g.

The ingredient quality is top-notch.

Shelf life: 24 months from the date of manufacture.

After opening, store in the fridge for no more than two days.

Where to buy: You can find this food in most pet stores, veterinary clinics, and online marketplaces.

I bought it at Zooptrorg (but I didn't like the chain, so I wouldn't recommend it) and at Beethoven's.

Price: A standard pack costs 79 rubles.

On online marketplaces, individual packs are a bit pricier, but you can buy a bulk pack and save some money.

Packaging design.

I was impressed with the packaging quality - it's well-made. Of course, my cats don't care.

All of this manufacturer's products come in standard foil packs with a similar design. The different flavors are easy to tell apart, so you won't get them mixed up.

The design is sleek, the information is detailed, and the text is easy to read thanks to the contrast with the background.

The packs open easily with the notches and tear along the line. I bought around ten packs, and I didn't have any issues with opening them.

Appearance of Award food.

The food pieces look appetizing, but a bit unnatural.

I was surprised by how uniform the little meatballs were - all the same shape and size.

The two different flavors are pretty much the same, except for the color.From what I can tell, the other flavor from the same brand looks identical, so I'm guessing it's the equipment that's the difference. I prefer the chunks that imitate meat pieces. And it's easier for the cats to eat them too. I noticed that these little round things keep falling out of my cat's mouth.

As for the texture, it's somewhere in between ground meat and pâté. You don't need to coax the cat to eat it - they'll just swallow it whole. In our case, that's a plus, but usually I don't like that.

The chunks are juicy and look like they're not dry at all. They're pretty soft too. My cat was even able to eat them when he had a toothache.

The sauce is a nice golden color, like a meat gravy. There's just the right amount - not too much, not too little. Of course, the cats would like more.

The sauce has a medium consistency - not too runny, not too thick. Not too gelatinous.

I was surprised that after it cools down, the sauce doesn't change consistency and doesn't thicken up. Usually, I take the package out of the fridge for a bit before feeding and the sauce thickens up, becoming similar to aspic.

However, the Avard sauce doesn't have that property and remains liquid even when cooled. I think it's because there's no cornstarch in the food. On the one hand, that's good, but on the other hand, it's really hard to scoop out and divide the food. I had to divide the package into two portions. To avoid hurting anyone's feelings, I had to put the food in and scoop it out with a spoon.

A portion of the Avard food with a lot of sauce. A portion of the Avard food with less sauce.I couldn't tell you about the taste (I couldn't convince myself to try it), but it smells nice even for us humans. The cats like it too. To me, the smell is similar to a low-sodium beef stew without spices. It smells meaty, not too intense, definitely without too many flavor enhancers.

The composition of the Avard food.

I want to warn you that I'm not a vet and I'm analyzing the composition from the point of view of a person trying to eat correctly.

I've gotta say, the protein sources in this food are pretty meat-heavy, but I'm not entirely sure what kind of meat or how much of it is in there. The ingredient list is pretty vague, and it's not like they're giving away any secrets. I mean, what's the deal with the 'meat' - is it beef, pork, or something else entirely? And what about the 'meat by-products' - are we talking organs, blood, or who knows what? It's not exactly clear. And don't even get me started on the 'chicken' - is it breast, thigh, or who knows what? The nutritional breakdown doesn't exactly help clarify things either:

9.6% protein, 4.2% fat, 1.6% ash, 0.1% fiber, 80% moisture; 15,000 IU/kg vitamin A; 1.9g/kg calcium, 1.6g/kg phosphorus.

From what I can tell, the meat content is pretty high, and I'm guessing it's mostly pork, given the protein levels. I mean, there's a lot of protein, some fat, and hardly any carbs. It's a pretty meaty mix.

I have to admit, I was a bit confused when I first looked at the ingredient list. I was trying to add up the percentages, but it just didn't add up. I mean, 43% meat, 3.5% rice, and a few more percent for everything else... it just didn't seem to add up to 100%. I was starting to wonder if the manufacturer had somehow managed to sneak in a bunch of berries and calendula flowers or something. But then I realized that they must have left out the water content - both in the meat and the gravy. That's probably the main component, right there.

I'm not going to nitpick the ingredient list too much, though. I know that some bigger brands are just as vague, and it's probably not regulated or anything. So, I'll just move on.

My experience with feeding and my cats' experience with eating the food.

I've bought this food twice now. The first time, I just grabbed a single pack, but I ended up buying almost the whole selection from the store. The second time, I just picked out the flavors that both me and the cats liked. And let me tell you, that saved me a pretty penny, since some of the flavors just didn't fly with the cats.

As for the Avardos food (two types of spider), it made it onto both of the cats' lists. So far, they've eaten four packs of the chicken flavor and four packs of the turkey flavor.

When I first bought the food, the cat was still sick, and his teeth were clearly bothering him. He was refusing to eat, and even when I put the food in front of him, he wouldn't touch it. I thought it was just the antibiotics messing with his appetite, but I was getting worried. He'd even stop coming to the food bowl when I put it down. I was starting to think he'd lost his taste for food altogether.

The cat came to the smell.But then the Avardos spider food came along, and it was like a whole new cat. He came bounding over to the open pack, sniffed it, and even tried to lick it. It was like he'd suddenly remembered what food was all about.

I have to admit, the first time I served it, I was a bit hesitant, but I ended up devouring the whole sauce with great pleasure. I did it twice - I licked it and was about to leave, but when I saw myself taking a photo, I went back and finished the remaining sauce.

As for the food itself, the first time Beggemosh wasn't interested, but Barzik, our old voracious eater, devoured it all. He's a bit of a food thief and will eat anything, including his own and others' food.

Just to clarify, I didn't starve the second cat. He's a bit of a foodie and gets too fat, so I have to limit his food intake. Plus, I wanted to make sure Beggemosh would eat the food.

The next few packets I bought after the antibiotics course was completed, the gum inflammation had passed, and Beggemosh's appetite started to return. He was still eating very little, about a third of his usual portion.

So, I gave him a small amount of food, about half a packet. The rest I stored in the fridge for the next time. The first two packets he ate over two meals. When I gave him the last one, he first licked half of it and then started asking for more. For the first time in weeks, I gave in.

Gradually, Beggemosh's appetite returned, and now he eats normally, both dry and wet food. I'm not sure if this food helped or it was just a coincidence, but the normalization of his eating started with this food. I'm grateful for that.

I'm not sure how well this food prevents kidney stones, as it's hard to tell after four packets. However, I liked the food - it's nutritious, fills me up, has a normal composition, and looks good. Both cats took to the food positively.

If I ever need to switch Beggemosh to wet food after dental surgery, it'll probably be this Award food.

I recommend buying this food.