Best Cat Food Brands

Best Overall

The best overall cat food brand is Purina. Purina has a large range of cat foods, both wet and dry.

They also have a lot of diet specific formulas. For example, they have a high-protein formula food that is specialized for urinary tract health. They also have grain free formulas which are great for cats that have digestion issues, or cats that have irritation on their skin/fur. You can also choose from standard or gourmet formulas depending on your financial situation.

The most popular line, the Complete Essentials, is made with real seafood that gives it a rich flavor your cat will probably love. It is reasonably prices, as 24 cans currently cost around $25.

Do Life Stages Matter When You’Re Choosing Cat Food?

Both yes and no. AAFCO nutrition guidelines are important for growth, adult maintenance, and all stages of life.

Food formulated to grow or support all life stages should be fed to kittens, pregnant and lactating cats. Adults–cats over the age of one–should eat meals formulated for all life stages or adult maintenance.

These three types of cat food are not required. Seniors, for example, don’t usually need a senior-specific food. These labeling tricks are often used in conjunction with indoor cat food and hairball food as well as breed-specific formulas.

They’re easy to buy and feel like a little bit of personalization, but they jump straight to the personal details without nailing nutrition basics. How can you address the unique needs of a 7-year-old indoor-outdoor Persian without first acknowledging the fact that she’s a carnivore?

Sheba Perfect Porions Wet Cat Food, Best for Adult Cats

While dry kibbles are priced affordably for daily feline feeding, wet foods tend to offer a more delectable meal option with fewer carbohydrates and more moisture to keep your cat hydrated. We love the Sheba Perfect Portions Grain Free wet cat food. It is low in carbohydrates and high in protein.

The ingredients list on this food is rather short, but it’s made with multiple whole-food ingredients like chicken and poultry liver. This food has a lower protein content than other similar foods, even though it contains good protein sources. Each serving is preportioned so you don’t have to guess what your cat will eat and there are no leftovers. Although this is a more expensive option than other dry food options, it’s still our preferred recommendation. This food will be loved by your cat. It will also provide nutrition that will help you and your pet in many ways.

Our top choice is suitable for all cats, but we believe this food is best for adults cats.

• Made with high-quality whole food ingredients
• Multiple animal-based proteins are contained in this product
• Pre-portioned containers
• Very low in carbohydrates
• Protein levels are lower than those of some other competitors

Royal Canin Feline Health Kitten – Best For Weight Gain

Whilst the vast majority of cats do not need to gain weight, elderly cats or those recovering from illness may benefit from extra calories to regain condition. Even if you give them more of the usual food, it may not be enough. Sometimes their small stomachs are unable to absorb all the nutrients that they require unless your diet is high in calories. To help cats gain weight, kitten food can contain more calories than adult cat food.

Royal Canin kitten food is made to the highest standards and comes from a respected company. At 369 calories per cup, it packs a lot of nutrition into a small portion. It also contains plenty of vitamins and minerals to ensure your cat is getting everything they need, even if their appetite is reduced.

Please note that if your cat is losing weight, it’s a good idea to get them checked out by your veterinarian. This food may not be safe if the reason for their weight loss is an undiagnosed disease.

Blue Buffalo Indoor Adult Dry Cat Food, Meaty Choice

The pros

• Real deboned chicken is first ingredient
• There are no preservatives, by-products, or other additives
• Real fruits and vegetables – even cranberries
• No corn or soy

Cons

• Higher than the other options

• Higher than the other options

Blue Buffalo stands for quality and is committed to excellence in all aspects of life. Blue Buffalo is a brand known for its high quality ingredients. It started as a niche pet food business in 2002. Since then, it has risen to the top of natural pet foods. Blue’s specially formulated Indoor Health dry cat food ticks all our boxes and is our staff choice for best cat food for indoor cats.

Nutrition & Ingredients

It’s always good to see real meat as the top ingredient and this dry cat food doesn’t disappoint; deboned chicken is the first listed ingredient providing the bulk of the kibble’s 32% protein. This special formula is tailored to suit the needs of an indoor cat with L-carnitine to help manage weight as well as notable vitamin-filled natural antioxidants and fiber sources like cranberries, blueberries, spinach and kelp. Blue’s indoor cat dry food also contains Lifesource Bits, which promote healthy immunity and other benefits. Blue Buffalo Indoor Health Adult dry cat food is all-natural, and provides 400kcals per serving. This allows parents to feed their adult cats a healthy and balanced diet.

What Are Buyers Saying?

The Bottom Line

Learn more about Blue Buffalo Indoor Health adult dry cat food

Maine Coon Dietary Requirements

Maine Coons are known for being very playful, throughout their lives. The breed’s uniqueness is that they do not grow to their full potential until the age of 3-4 years. Standard cats grow much faster, and reach full size in 2 years.

A healthy, well-balanced diet that keeps their bodies in great condition, is therefore crucial for the healthy physical development of these cats.

The following are the key dietary needs for a Maine Coon cat:

• Vitamins
• Low In Carbohydrates
• Fats and Fatty Acids

These are summarized in more detail by the table below:

How to choose the right food for your cat

The most significant decision you will make regarding your cat’s health is choosing cat food.

The right food can help keep your cat healthy, full of energy, and at a good weight throughout its life. You should make sure your cat enjoys eating it and feel happy about giving it to her.

When you walk down the cat food aisle at the store, it can be very difficult to know which is the best food for your cat. It can seem overwhelming to choose the right food for your cat from all of the different brands and flavors.

These are five essential things you should consider when selecting cat food.

Five important factors to consider when choosing the best cat food for your cat.

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Remember that you’re relying on the cat food company to provide your cat the nutrition they need to stay healthy and vibrant – potentially for the rest of their life.

Trust is essential for a business and brand. Although it does not tell us all about the company, the recall history of a company can provide key insight into the ethics and safety standards of the company as well as the quality of the products.

If a company faces voluntary, or worse–mandatory–recalls every five years, purchasing from that company could subject your cat to three or more potentially harmful slip-ups during their lifetime.

Transparency and communication are key to a transparent business that is open with customers. We gauged the quality of cat food companies by contacting their customer support lines and evaluating their customer service. Companies that respond quickly and are willing to share key information were preferred.

Additionally, we paid attention to what other customers were saying about the brand. Through social media, blogging, reviews on retail platforms, and sites like Consumer Reports, consumers can easily share their complaints or praises with the world.

These reviews were used to evaluate the customer experience.

The Best Smalls Fresh, Human-Grade Cat Food.

Our pick for the best cat food is Smalls Human Grade Fresh Cat Food. They are a new brand that prides itself on making its cat food using only human-grade meats. The different flavors all have at least 80% of their content made from animal products and include offal meat such as heart and liver. It is rich in vitamins and minerals, but it does not contain any flavors or preservatives. This ensures that your cat has everything she needs.

Although it’s subscription-based, you might find it expensive at first. However, Smalls calculates each meal cost for you prior to checkout, so that you know it’s an excellent value for the money you pay. It does contain some vegetable oil in some of their recipes, which isn’t as ideal as animal fats, but we still firmly believe that this is the best cat food on the market this year. It was a huge hit with our cats!

• Made with high-quality human grade ingredients
• Very high in protein
• Made in USA
• Very low in carbohydrates
• Multiple cats are more expensive

Purina Pro Plan Focus Adult Urinary Tract Health – Best For Urinary Health

This food is designed by Purina Pro Plan to help protect your cat’s urinary tract. This food is the purina’s best cat food. It has a pH of 3.5, which Purina claims reduces the likelihood of crystals. It’s much less likely your cat will get the most frequent types of bladder stones or crystals. This should decrease the likelihood of your cat getting struvite crystals.

This diet is not meant to replace a prescription diet. However, this diet can be used to treat certain urinary problems. If your vet recommends a prescription diet that your cat won’t eat, you should ask them for alternative suggestions to ensure your cat is still getting the benefits they need. It’s also often best to increase water intake for cats with urinary issues, so a wet diet is preferable to a dry one.

The Best Senior Cat Food

Our pick: Purina Pro Plan Prime Plus Adult 7+

Highlights

• Specially designed for cats older than 7 years
• Felines can try different flavors with the Variety Pack
• Nutrients support lean muscle mass and a cat’s immune system
• This food is easier for cats with bad teeth to consume than dry kibble.
• The price is affordable

Things to Consider

• It’s a pate formula, which not all cats will enjoy
• Only 3 oz. cans are included in this pack
• Uneaten food should be refrigerated after opening

Sample buyer review… “As my cat gets older, she seems to have more issues with digestion and was getting pickier on what she would eat. It didn’t work with foods for sensitive stomachs. She is now able to clean her bowl with the Purina Senior Plan.

Read more buyer reviews at Amazon.com

What Treats Can I Safely Feed My Cat?

Everyone loves their pets and I am a veterinarian who calculates a pet’s treat allowance. In order to make sure your pet doesn’t end up overweight, you should definitely consider their calorie allowance when it comes to treats. Experts recommend that treats should not exceed 10% of your pet’s daily calories. Don’t forget about the calories in your daily food allowance calculations!

As for what sort of treats – there are lots of cat treats on the market that are suitable- as a vet I like to opt for dual-purpose treats such as those that help with dental health or hairballs. However, I would avoid ‘human food’ as the flavors and ingredients could be harmful to cats. It can also be difficult to determine how many calories are contained in small amounts of tuna.

Purina One cat Chow Complete dry Cat Food, Best Value

We often find larger brands in pet food like Purina offering lower quality products. This is because they seem to be trying to save money. But Purina ONE Cat Chow Complete manages an affordable price while still offering adequate nutrition for your cat, which is why we think it’s one of the best cat foods for the money. It does contain some ingredients that we can’t live without like corn gluten meal or ground yellow corn. However, for the price, this cat food provides decent nutrition.

With a minimum of 32% crude protein, your feline friend will be getting plenty, derived from a variety of sources including chicken and fish meal. This high-calorie dry food provides more than 400kcal and 25 vitamins. Though cheaper in price than many alternatives, important nutrients like fatty acids and taurine were not skimped on. While it’s probably not our first pick if money is no issue, this cat food is a definite winner when you’re shopping for cat food on a budget.

• Less expensive than other options
• Packed with 25 essential vitamins and minerals
• It’s calorically dense
• It contains plenty of fatty acids
• Many corn-based ingredients are included

Iams Proactive Health Healthy Adult Dry Cat Food

Iams ProActive Health Healthy Adult dry cat food is a middle-of-the-pack blend that offers satisfactory quality at an average price, without managing to do anything spectacular. The minimum amount of protein is 32%, thanks to chicken byproduct meal and chicken chicken by-product meals, which are the two first ingredients. Unfortunately, there aren’t many other animal-based ingredients. There are some lower-quality inclusions though, such as corn gluten meal, corn grits, brewers dried yeast, and more.

This cat food is primarily made from one source of protein. It also contains 15% fat. The texture of this kibble can be used to brush your cat’s teeth as they chew. Even so, it’s not going to make IAMS our top choice, even though it’s far from our least favorite option on the market.

• Contains omega fatty acids for a healthy coat
• The main ingredient is chicken
• Cats eat while their teeth are cleanened by crunchy texture
• Multiple corn-based ingredients used in this recipe
• The majority of protein comes from one source
• Contains few animal-based ingredients

The Best Eco-Friendly Cat Food

Open Farm Homestead Turkey & Chicken, Grain-Free Dry Cat Food

Every bite of the company’s sustainability commitment means that every piece is made from humanely reared chicken and turkey meat, paired with healthy superfoods such as non-GMO carrot, pumpkin, and turmeric. The lot number printed on each bag can be used to trace the origin of every ingredient. Open Farm’s Hopen Farm Homestead pet foods bags are eligible for a nationwide, free recycling program. This is a first in the pet industry!

Highlights

• Superfoods such as cranberries, dandelion greens and other superfoods are available for UTI prevention.
• Omega-3 fatty acid rich oils from whitefish and haring are available.
• No fillers, byproducts or other unnecessary preservatives
• Commitment to transparency and sustainability
• A pet industry first — free, recyclable packaging

Things to Consider

• It doesn’t have the right amount of moisture for your cat, so make sure you are properly hydrated
• Made in the USA, but made in Canada
• Given the farm-fresh nature of the ingredients, customers should be especially mindful of any “best before” dates before offering it to their cat

Sample buyer review… “Love the quality of this food. It is easy to see where meat came from and it does not contain any harmful or unnecessary fillers. It has a pleasant, clean smell that my cats enjoy.

Read more reviews on OpenFarmPet.com

Nature

The “natural” label is loosely defined and lightly regulated. FDA guidelines dictate that any food bearing the “natural” label must be manufactured without undergoing any chemical alterations.

Dry Cat Food Reviews By Veterinarians – 2022 Favorites

• Long-term feeding can be done
• Reduce plaque and tartar
• Veterinary Oral Health Council approved
• Promote weight loss
• Protein high
• Healthy urinary tract
• Dietary magnesium levels are low
• Produces a low urine pH
• High-calorie formulation
• High levels of vitamins and minerals
• Added prebiotics
• Blend of fibers
• Psyllium husks

How Long Can Wet Food Remain In The Bowl?

If your cat doesn’t eat all of their portion of food, you should discard any remaining wet food after four hours – sooner, if it is a warm day. Wet food is ideal for fungal and bacterial growth. It can also attract flies because of its moisture. It is crucial to keep your cat’s food fresh, as mold and mycotoxins can be harmful.

The Best Cat Food Brands

The best Cat Food Brands are Purina, Meow Mix, Sheba, Blue Buffalo Wilderness, and 9Lives.

• Best Overall: Purina
• Best Dry Cat Food: Meow Mix
• Best Wet Cat Food: Sheba
• Best High Protein Cat Food: Blue Buffalo Wilderness
• 9Lives is the cheapest cat food brand

Cat Food Buyer’S Guide

It can be difficult to choose the right cat food for your pet. With all the varieties and formulations available, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. We asked veterinarian Dr. Sarah Machell, medical director at Vetster, to offer some advice on what to look for and consider when shopping for cat food. This is what Dr. Sarah Machell had to say.

Take into consideration the stages of your cat’s life

One of the first things pet parents should do when choosing a cat food is to pick a food formulated for their pet’s specific life stage. “Life stages in cats can generally be broken down into the segments of baby kitten, adolescent, spayed/neutered adult, senior, and geriatric,” says Machell. There are different needs at each stage of life, including energy, nutrition, digestion, and nutrients.

How Much Should A 20 Pound Maine Coon Cat Eat?

As stated in point 12 above, the amount of food given will be dependent on your cat’s unique levels of exercise, physical build, and age of life.

Activity Level

When picking food, it’s necessary to examine how active your cat is to make sure it is getting enough calories.

An adult formula is the best choice if you have a strong, energetic cat who loves to play outside.

For less active cats who mainly stay home, look for an indoor formula. Indoor formulas are lower in fat and may help to prevent overweight cats.

The Best Dry Cat Food

The best dry cat food brand is Meow Mix original choice dry cat food. You can get a 22lbs bag for around $18. It has a high protein content which is great for younger dogs that are still growing. You can also choose from chicken, turkey or salmon flavors. It is great for picky dogs.

What is the Shelf Life of Wet Cat Food if it’s not opened?

This varies between brands and even by batch. Your cans of cat food will come with a use-by date on them. To ensure that your cat’s food is safe and healthy, you should use it before its expiry date. Depending on how long the food has been on the shelf since its production, you should get a year or more to feed the food to your cat. If you plan to keep them there for long periods of time, it should be stored in cool, dry places.