Just as when shopping for dog food, there are many things to consider when choosing what you’ll feed your cat. You’ve likely heard it before, but the very first thing to keep in mind is that cats are obligate carnivores. This means that they must eat meat as a biological necessity. It’s part of their evolution and something they share with wild big cats.
When choosing a dry food, something high quality is best. High quality foods tend to limit the number of unnecessary ingredients and fillers so you know your cat is getting what they need. Additionally, if you’re inclined to free feed dry food, it’s more likely that a high quality food will keep them full for longer, which will reduce the urge to keep eating and thus control their weight. You should keep your cat’s activity level in mind when choosing a food.
For the health of your frisky feline, here’s our list of the best dry cat food brands.
Acana is a high-protein, animal-focused cat food. The first six ingredients are animal protein sources, which far outpaces what you see from just about every other brands. Fillers are incredibly limited, which means that your obligate carnivore cat will mostly be eating meat, as their systems are designed to do. This is a serious cat food with a price tag to match. Availability is slightly more limited than some of the other options on this list, but it’s a very good option to consider.
To be fair, this particular dry cat food is extremely expensive. It’s far and away the priciest food on this list, and perhaps the most extreme. Boiling its ingredients down to like items, there are only nine ingredients: animal meat, mussels, lecithin, inulin (from chicory), dried kelp, vitamins, minerals, DL-Methionine (an amino acid supplement), and Taurine.
You would look into something like this if you’d tried everything else with no success. Cats with IBD, food allergies, or prolonged illness or injury can benefit from the stripped-down approach of this food. The animal ingredients are produced on traceable New Zealand farms, and are air-dried raw to achieve a product similar to what they’d eat in the wild.
This 14-ounce bag will feed a 13-pound cat for seven days, according to the Ration Guide on the manufacturer’s website. If accurate, that works out to just under $70 per month. Not cheap by any means, but if your cat needs such a diet, you might be grateful the option exists. Flavor options include beef, lamb, venison, and venison and fish.
Made from about eight key ingredients, Canidae’s Pure Elements line strips out many other irritants like corn, rice, wheat, soy, and others. Just like the Wysong above, Canidae adds probiotics to aid in digestion. Potato is present in this recipe, but again, there are certainly worse fillers and it tends to be gentle on most cats’ stomachs. Minimum protein in this formulation is 35 percent.
Flavors include Fresh Chicken, Fresh Salmon, Fresh Trout, and an Indoor formula. You can get any of them in a 2.5, five, or ten pound bag.
A relatively new product is the Freestyle line from Nulo. This is a grain free dry cat food that combines proper nutrition with sustainability. The two flavors contain a minimum of 40 percent protein, of which 83 percent is animal-based. Thanks to the use of lentils and sweet potatoes in place of white potatoes or tapioca, Nulo is low carb and low glycemic.
The sustainability portion comes from relationships with free range farms in the U.S., Canada, and New Zealand, as well as wild-caught fish from sustainable populations. The resulting ingredients are combined in the U.S. Like a couple of the others, probiotics are added, as well as the required supplemental vitamin A and taurine.
The two flavors of chicken and turkey are available in five or 12-pound bags.
As I mentioned in that best dry dog food brands post, Nature’s Variety is the brand I settled on for my dog who is allergic to potatoes. He tolerates it extremely well and hasn’t grown sick of it after several years of eating it. I find the batches to be very consistent, which is good for peace of mind.
There are no potatoes in the cat formula, either, with tapioca and alfalfa meal standing in. The real key to this food is the appeal of the freeze dried raw coating, which boosts nutrition and keeps pets interested. Cats reluctant to try new foods may find themselves enticed by this addition.
In addition to chicken, flavors available include duck, rabbit, and salmon, in bags from 2.2 to 11 pounds.
First Six Ingredients:
Chicken meal
Chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid)
Tiki Cat makes dry cat food that easily bests anything you’ll find at the supermarket and most things you’ll find at the average pet store. This is a grain free, low carbohydrate food that is very low on fillers, including having no potatoes. These foods average around 44 percente protein, with real meat the first ingredient. It’s also high fat, which will help keep your cat satiated between meals.
This dry cat food, born out of a collaboration between the University of Naples and company’s vet research group, ticks all the boxes you’d expect. It’s grain free, low glycemic, non-GMO and meets all the necessary requirements for AAFCO Cat Food Nutrient Profiles. They achieved this by replacing all the grain food sources with animal protein sources, which makes for a cat food that is 70 percent animal ingredients. In fact, 98 percent of the protein in this food comes from animal sources.
Solid Gold was one of the first brands to introduce alternatives to the mainstream brands, way back in the mid-70s. What that means for you now is that they offer grain free dry cat food at something of a discount to the smaller, newer boutique makers. This is a 42 percent protein food – not the very highest, but several percentage points above standard faire.
Flavors available include Alaskan Pollack and Chicken, though you could also opt for their Let’s Stay In line, which also helps with hairball control.
Orijen foods are very similar to the Acana cat food we also included on this list. So similar, in fact, that they’re made by the same company – Chamption Petfoods. Orijen takes the features of other foods on this list to the next level. First, 90 percent of the ingredients are meat, fish, or eggs, which results in a protein level of 40 percent. Two thirds of those meats are prepared fresh, not meat meals or by-products. This is the main offering, which combines meat from several animals to create the perfect recipe.
They also offer Six Fish, Regional Red, Tundra, and Fit & Trim. The last of these is great if you’re looking for alternatives to our best diet cat food post.
In addition to the Wellness Core on this list, I sometimes fed my last cat this food. I also recommended it to a friend whose cat had started losing her fur when eating a cheaper, supermarket style of cat food. After a few months of eating it, her fur stopped falling out and she happily continued eating it. As the name suggests, this is a grain free cat food, with a meat content of about 60 percent. The protein level is fairly standard at no less than 36 percent. Potato and sweet potato are the primary fillers here, though most cats will have no problem with either.
Merrick offers two varieties of B.G.: chicken and salmon.
If the recalls highlighted by the Reviews.com research do trouble you, it could be worth considering Fromm as an option. Their foods are relatively expensive despite the fact that they aren’t grain free and use a rice as a filler. Despite that, their ingredients are sourced from extensively tested and sampled products from traceable suppliers.
Each package comes printed with a batch code that allows you to follow the process that brought it to your hands. The food itself is made in one of three facilities in Wisconsin under strict supervision. All of that ensures that recalls will be infrequent and that food safety is at the forefront. Aside from this, the food is 32 percent minimum protein, and reviewers note that their cat’s coat looked markedly better after switching to it.
While not grain free, this Wysong option is wheat and gluten free, and is certainly on the cheaper side compared to the last option. This Vitality formula would be considered to be the entry point into the Wysong line, offering a more-conventional mix of ingredients guaranteed to be at least 36 percent protein and 16 percent fat. Their special process includes a step where they add a proprietary probiotic and enzyme solution after cooking to restore some of what is lost during processing.
The next step up would be the Optimal Vitality, while the top of the range is their Epigen 90 formula, which boosts the protein content up to a minimum of 63 percent. Choose the formulation that works best for your particular cat. All are made in the U.S.A.
Another solid grain free option, Earthborn Holistic produces a full range of pet foods aimed at providing a solid foundation of nutrition. The protein level in this one is a guaranteed minimum of 44 percent with only 17.5 percent carbohydrates. That’s pretty good considering the fifth ingredient is potatoes, which is generally used as perfectly viable filler in grain free foods, but can tend to increase the amount of carbs. They balance it well in their offerings, making this an affordable grain free feed for your cat.
Flavors include this one, Wild Sea Catch, and the turkey-based Primitive Feline. Size options include five and 14 pound bags.
With my last cat, this was the dry food I had the most success with. Cats are notoriously finicky, so when she took to this one, I was pleased. It’s about middle of the pack on price for higher end foods and is widely available. I noticed that she tended to eat less of it, as well, and trimmed down a few pesky pounds she’d been holding onto. Wellness claims that this CORE has 80 percent more meat than traditional cat foods.
It is a grain free food, so consider this one if your cat has developed a sensitivity to filler grain products. Made in the U.S. of all natural ingredients and includes no grains, corn, soy, by-products, or artificial ingredients.
You can choose a two, 5.9, or a 12 pound bag of either this recipe, the Original Turkey and Chicken or Indoor Chicken & Turkey.
First Six Ingredients (Original Turkey & Chicken):
Most of the foods on this list are grain free, simply because grains are a common allergen for cats. Grains are also used as a filler, though this isn’t always a bad thing. One look at the price difference between this and that Acana above and it’s easy to understand why having options is a good thing. This all-natural food still begins with an animal protein, includes no wheat, corn, by-products, or artificial flavors or colors. This one is also vitamin fortified to ensure that your cat is getting everything they need. Made and sourced in the U.S.
You can opt for the indoor formula, as well, which raises the price somewhat. This version is higher in fiber to promote digestion and reduce calories. You’d choose this one if your cat prefers to only move when its time to find a new sunbeam to lay in.
