That Time I Ate Cat Food

I wasn’t dared, it wasn’t for money, and I certainly wasn’t on television. At least I hope I wasn’t. No, this was a case of mistaken identity. I saw the yellow and red package on my kitchen counter after coming inside from mowing the lawn. Remembering I had a few handfuls of Raisinets that morning, I thought I’d grab a few more while I cooled off from the heat of a mid-July day. I never noticed anything amiss as I reached into the plastic bag, my hands too tired, sweaty and covered in dust to care. I threw a few morsels into my mouth and only realized what had happened after I started to chew.
 
Instead of nice, squishy raisins dipped in chocolate, I was tasting a little bit of salmon and unfamiliar preservatives. Regardless, I still swallowed. Then I turned the pouch around and saw the Friskies logo. Without realizing it, I had accidentally eaten a handful of cat treats.
 
I can’t be blamed, can I? The Raisinets and Friskies packages both look alike at a glance, and I didn’t realize I had put the candy away earlier and that the cat treats had taken their place on the counter. Maybe I was dehydrated, and was in some sort of a fugue state when I happily consumed the fish flavoured kitty snacks instead of chocolate? It happens. I’m not ashamed to admit it.
 
While others may have recoiled after realizing their mistake, I found the Friskies to have a bold, somewhat salty flavour that reminded me of the sort of grocery store seafood you’d find at an inland city like Saskatoon. You’re craving seafood but all that’s available is a frozen slab of haddock that has been on a cross country journey, but at the end of the day when dinnertime comes, it’s still haddock and that’s what matters.
 
Texture wise, the cat treats reminded me of a warm Starburst candy that one could find in a hot car in that they clung to my teeth and palate in a gooey mess, and required an excessive amount of chewing to fully break down. Even then, I still found bits of them in my molars, between my teeth and around the roof of my mouth which gave them a prolonged taste that took about an hour to dissipate alongside the last of the leftover granules.
 
In the end, I give the Friskies cat treats a solid 7/10, a rating fit for human consumption, and I would gladly eat them again.