A Sainsburys' Felix Famine?

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Lilith
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A Sainsburys' Felix Famine?

Post by Lilith »

I get my groceries online from Sainsburys and although I always over-engineer with catfood and have boxes of Encore, Gourmet and Thrive sitting on the stairs, their staple is Felix Agail Senior, those large packs of 40, good value if unwieldy, keeps fresh for two-cat portions and easy to open when sleepwalking during the days of hyperthyroid and ckd sufferers screaming for meals at all hours.

Right. Great. Until a couple of weeks back when I'd let stocks get low and thought I'd better get a few boxes in before the dreaded Christmas, delivery slots booked up and all that ... no Felix. Oh well, they often sell out when it's on offer (which it was.) Order next week. Still no Felix. Well. Shucks. And drat it too. (I've censored those words before admin does.) This was getting SERIOUS. Perhaps they'd discontinued the large size?

My mate, my ex, Adrian, offered to get me some smaller boxes (I don't go out - long story.) He couldn't find a single Felix product in one of the two large branches of Sainsburys in Wakefield. But a friend said her local Asda was selling Felix, no problem.

The thick plottened.

Feeling slightly foolish, I rang Sainsburys' customer service. Now I've generally found their staff ok, very helpful, but these guys sounded well ... nervous? Offputting? The woman I spoke to at the Wakefield branch said that the large boxes were in stock. I put it down to Christmas (I too have worked with the public - not much fun!)

Adrian said he'd fetch me some from Asda so we waited with great relief today ... but he'd forgotten! Men! 'But I looked in Sainsburys when I went today and there wasn't any.'

Never mind, there's all that Encore, Gourmet, Thrive waiting to be eaten, to say nothing of a whole shoal of tuna cans ... I'd cook them some real meat but the awkward little gits don't care for it much. Molly loved raw beef until I bought her some specially ... she batted it round like a mouse but wouldn't eat the thing ... cats! And they do get dry food too.

I have a massive order booked for next Thursday but I'm not terribly hopeful.

I mean, it's like pootling down to your local store for stock cubes and finding there's no Oxo. This stuff is a household word.

This is surreal, man.

And 'tis the night before Christmas and we're down to the last two pouches :o :shock: :(

But the cats don't a give a ... I mean errm, don't care a ... :o ... don't give a hoot :D

They won't starve.

But ... it's a bit odd, isn't it?

Has anyone else had difficulties in buying Felix from Sainsbury's?
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Ruth B
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Re: A Sainsburys' Felix Famine?

Post by Ruth B »

Don't know about Sainsbury's, but Asda in Wolves had plenty of Felix in Saturday, normal, AGAIL, Senior, Kitten, whatever you wanted.

Like you AGAIL is my mainstay, but with Asda you do have to be careful price wise, sometimes the 40 packs are good value, other times the boxes of 12 are cheaper if they are on multibuy. It can be a case of standing in the isle trying to do mental arithmetic to work out which is cheaper as the labels never give the information in simple form.

My three aren't going to starve, I've a 40 box of fish, 30 left from a 40 pack of meat ones, a box of the new Tiger fish and a box of Tiger meat (we decided to try it and they seem to be liking Tiger at the moment) as well as most of of a box of Gourmet Gold, not to mention a part used and an unopened bag of Purina One dried food.

If the apocalypse came tomorrow I think the cats would have more food available than the humans would in our house.
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Re: A Sainsburys' Felix Famine?

Post by booktigger »

Am slightly ashamed to say the girls have more than that! I did say I was going to stop buying food until they needed some, but then came home on Fri with 2 boxes of gourmet perle, 3 different kinds of Felix (all 5 are 12 pouch boxes), 6 tins of mousse and 4 trays of pate! Think they have 12 kinds of wet (maybe more, I can see 9 without moving) and 3 kinds of biscuits. Dread to think about the treats!
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Re: A Sainsburys' Felix Famine?

Post by Lilith »

Ohh dear I see that I have been a foolish ... well, no, not at my age (shurrup, Lil!) :oops:

Tell you something else that's strange - although I don't do Christmas food I do like that fruit and marzipan loaf thing called stollen; I'd bought one but thought I'd get another to freeze. It was a few days before Christmas. Nope. No stollen. Out of curiosity I typed in 'mince pies' - and all I got was 'Fray Bentos' and 'Pukka'.

The great Sainsburys, not cashing in on Christmas bakery, during the last run up to the holiday?

Mysteriouser and mysteriouser! :o :shock: :?
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Re: A Sainsburys' Felix Famine?

Post by alanc »

My problem with getting Felix from Sainsbury's is a lack of Sainsbury's in the local towns!
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Re: A Sainsburys' Felix Famine?

Post by Lilith »

Really? And it's a London/south based firm. Would have thought Oxfordshire would have been well and truly Sainsburyed.

My favourite, ever, was Netto. In my outgoing days. Ohh and you could browse through marvellous bric a brac and miscellanea and pick up some real bargains, to say nothing of their wonderful cheap tinned goods and the fresh meat, cheese and veg ... Got a bit cheesed off one day when chased down the aisles by some woman who thought I ought to know why there were no tomatoes ... but there's always one, as they say ...

I only shop with Sainsburys because dear Molly likes their litter ... if the Felix famine persists I'll be using Morrisons/Asda and doing a bulk buy of the Sainsbury clumping clay litter every six months ... ohhh dear, storage problems ...
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Re: A Sainsburys' Felix Famine?

Post by alanc »

Hi Lilith, you may be conflating us with those great urban centers of Banbury and Oxford - we are quite benighted out in these rural parts of West Oxfordshire.
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Re: A Sainsburys' Felix Famine?

Post by Lilith »

Ah, call me insular (after a lifetime in Wakefield who wouldn't be?) but I didn't realise the southern counties could be so isolated. Parts of East Anglia, and the Welsh and Scottish mountains, yes. But nice, though, in some ways, as long as you can drive, and have a reliable car ... ohhh yes, and a good reliable vet surgery reasonably nearby ... and a doctor and dentist too of course.

Well, hoping for better things from Sainsburys tomorrow ... they still have Felix on offer on their website, but no stollen :( :cry: disaster! They've stolen my stollen! :cry:

But it hasn't been too bad a holiday - yesterday I offered my royal python, Shahi, a rat (humanely killed, frozen, thawed) and a Nose poked out of the hide, but didn't strike ... well, this is their fasting season ... I left it in with him but this morning, lo and behold, the rat was not in the vivarium! The rat must be in the python! :D

Despite the rat in the python, always one fly in the ointment ... my dratted email's gone down ... always summat, isn't there ...

ps the little horrors are scarfing down their Gourmet and Encore and Thrive ...
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Re: A Sainsburys' Felix Famine?

Post by Lilith »

And are Sainsbury's going to deliver the goods today?

They are, they are! Or so their email tells me they are.

Well, up to a point they are; some quantities have been reduced, but I'd ordered various sorts/boxes so as to have a sporting chance of getting a pouch or two, and there must be a lot more anxious cats ordering (or commanding their staff to order) their Felix fix out there, so that's fair enough. My world-weary little darlings are getting a little tired of the posh stuff.

Never mind, guys, it's Felix back on the menu tonight! :D
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Re: A Sainsburys' Felix Famine?

Post by Lilith »

A postscript to this thread ...

Adrian was visiting a cousin over the holiday and sent me a photo of her cat. My email had returned and I posted back - has she got kidney disease? She just had that look.

He replied, yes. She's eating her special diet though. I never would have been so aware had it not been for this forum, learning all the time, and hyperthyroidism too, but that's curable; my Mouse is marvellous now, but it's odd, it's been this Christmas, I've missed Emily (avatar cat, died 6/8/18, ckd) more than ever ... still keep her place beside me on the bed and can't alter profile, 3 cats in household to 2, not just yet.

Please excuse moments of sentimentality.
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Re: A Sainsburys' Felix Famine?

Post by Ruth B »

The most important thing you can learn is that you never stop learning.

As for changing the profile, you might have noticed that mine only went back down to three cats in the household a few days ago, even though Stroppy left us months ago and was really only mine for a few months.

They live in our hearts and memories long after they have headed over the bridge.
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Re: A Sainsburys' Felix Famine?

Post by alanc »

The most important thing you can learn is that you never stop learning.

As for changing the profile, you might have noticed that mine only went back down to three cats in the household a few days ago, even though Stroppy left us months ago and was really only mine for a few months.

They live in our hearts and memories long after they have headed over the bridge.
Agree absolutely.
When I joined this forum, I initially put 2 cats in household and only realized just before hitting send, even though Badger had been dead for over 2 months by then.
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Re: A Sainsburys' Felix Famine?

Post by Lilith »

... And that's another thing about this forum, like-minded people ... :)
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