While dog treats tend to be used more productively as a training device, cat treats don’t necessarily have that same function. Some cats can certainly be trained, no question, but it’s just not quite as common. Treats for cats are just to spend a few moments connecting with them, or to incentivize play. For example, the PetSafe SlimCat Food Dispenser that we included on our interactive cat toys post would make an excellent way to treat your cat while getting them to play. To give your cat a taste of something indulgent every once in awhile, here’s our list of the best cat treats.
You’ll see a few freeze-dried options on this list because they’re a great way of giving your cat an all-natural treat that doesn’t include a bunch of unnecessary ingredients. The process also ensures that all the nutrients are intact and usable by your cat. I especially think feeding your cat little fish is a fun way to deliver treats.
If you don’t agree, you can also choose ahi tuna, chicken breast, chicken giblets, or salmon instead. All are made in the U.S and have no fillers or grains.
This Blue Buffalo option is a straight-forward moist treat, with an emphasis on using real meat. They’re grain free for cats with sensitivities to wheat and corn, using potatoes instead as the filler. This gives them for a decent amount of carbohydrates, so you’d want to look elsewhere for treats for diabetic cats.
If you want to go the simple route, PureBites treats are made from only one (or sometimes two) dried ingredients. The treats, in this case shrimp, are freeze dried raw which helps to capture much of the aroma that is appealing to cats. Each shrimp only has a single calorie, which means you could use them to motivate an overweight cat to play without adding much to their intake for the day.
Similar to the PureBites above, these treats are freeze dried pieces of meat in toothsome morsels. These are a bit larger than the PureBites pieces that are flaky in texture. They’re on the harder side, so this might give your cat something to chew on for a few minutes, too. In addition to this chicken flavor, you can also get these in salmon.
Orijen makes some of the highest-quality pet food on the market. They feature meat-focused recipes that are all made in the U.S., often employing freeze-dried ingredients. We included something similar to this on our best dog training treats post because this line is well loved by pets and are a good alternative to treats with unnecessary ingredients.
Speaking of diabetic cats, an option you could consider for an animal with that kind of issue is cat grass. Cat grass is low calorie, but gives them something to chew on outside of their daily allowance of food.
I discussed a similar strategy in my post about chinchillas, wherein the same product — oat grass — can be used as a treat without subjecting them to unnecessary ingredients. These are organic oat grass seeds in a container for planting. Simply water once and in a few days, you’ll have a fresh bed of sprouts to give to your cat.
Ingredient:
Organic oat grass (in seed form to be grown at home)
Catnip is a very good treat in that it can induce activity or even relaxation without being a high-calorie treat that could exacerbate weight issues. Kong’s nip is North American grown and is billed as the highest potency available. Even better, unlike a traditional treat, you can give your cat a little of this every single day without negatively impacting their health.
If your cat is on a special diet otherwise, it makes sense for the treats you give them to follow suit. Royal Canin has created this line of Veterinary Diet cat treats which address different conditions your cat may have. If your cat is prone to UTIs, you would opt for the Urinary version. If your cat is on a low-calorie diet, go for the Satiety version. Cats with food allergies and sensitivities could try the Hydrolized Protein variant, while cats with other digestive sensitivities should opt for the Gastrointestinal variation. There’s also an Original formula for general cat health.
These freeze-dried, single-ingredient treats are on the higher end of the scale, using farm-to-table relationships within the U.S. to create grain free morsels. These are small batch treats, which allows them to safety check every bite that goes out. The chicken is human grade, which really just means that there are no by-products or meals used, and the product starts out as something you might recognize from the supermarket case.
In addition to chicken, you can also get salmon and turkey.
If you’re looking for a relatively limited ingredient version of a fairly traditional cat treat, this option from Fruitables might work for you. Each of the recipes has just over a dozen ingredients, just about all of them pronouncable and recognizable. The treats themselves are crunchy on the outside and flaky on the inside, which makes them both palatable and tossable. Flavors available include chicken, tuna, and salmon.
If you want a unique approach to a cat treat, these pureed cat treats from Inaba surely fit the bill. The idea behind pureed treats is that they help promote hydration. As we discussed in our post on the best cat water fountains, cats can’t always be relied upon to hydrate properly, so these treats can help with that. They’re also limited ingredient and make great meal toppers, as well. There are several flavors to choose from: Chicken, Tuna, Tuna with Salmon, Tuna with Scallop, Chicken with Shrimp, Chicken with Scallop, Chicken with Crab, and Chicken with Cheese.
If clean teeth are the priority for you when giving treats to your cat, it’s hard to overlook the Greenies brand. I occasionally give the canine versions to my dogs to clean their teeth and they go crazy for them. To be totally fair to the other items on this list, they’re far from grain free and include plenty of filler ingredients. These would not be a good choice for overweight or diabetic cats, but for the average household feline, are just fine in moderation.
Flavors of these dental chews include catnip, beef, chicken, chicken & salmon, ocean fish, salmon, and tuna in packages of 2.5 ounces, three ounces, 5.5 ounces, or 12 ounces. They also have a hairball control treat and, of course, their Pill Pockets.
As I discussed in my dry cat food post, Wellness was the brand I fed my cat. For awhile, I fed my dog Wellness, too. Their foods focus on all natural ingredients and these treats are no different.
Aside from the first six ingredients listed below, all that’s left in this recipe are cranberries, blueberries, chicken fat, flaxseed, oil, and rosemary and green tea extract. They’re grain free and less than two calories per treat, which are crunchy in texture to aid in teeth cleaning. Flavors for these made-in-the-U.S. treats include salmon, chicken, duck, tuna, turkey, and whitefish.
Technically speaking and a lot like the Greenies above, these treats really don’t fit in with the rest of this list when thinking about the “best” cat treats, so consider this something of an honorable mention. Still, there’s almost a nostalgia factor here. I know Pounce was the first cat treat I ever gave my cats growing up, and even though they aren’t exactly the best for them, cats do tend to love them and the ingredients aren’t so bad when you consider these should be given sparely.
Additionally, they’re cheap. A lot of the other treats on this list get pretty pricey for the size of the container. There are volume pricing options with these so you get pretty good value. Choose from chicken, tuna, and seafood medley. There are definitely some unnecessary ingredients in here, but given infrequently, there should be no problem.
First Six Ingredients (Chicken):
Wheat flour
Animal digest
Corn gluten meal
Beef
Water
Chicken by-product meal
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To give your cat a taste of something indulgent every once in awhile, here's our list of the best cat treats.