13 Best Overall Cat Food Brands - CatFoodDB's Unbiased List

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Updated Spring 2022!

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One question that I am asked over and over again is "What is the best cat food brand?"

The annoying answer, of course, is "it depends".

Every cat is different, and has different needs. The best cat food brand for your cat is the one that meets their individual needs.

If your cat has medical issues or allergies, then its needs may be different than the typical house cat. If this is the case, I encourage you to work with your vet to help determine the best foods for your particular feline.

Medical issues aside however, there are nutritional needs that are common to the average, healthy cat. A good cat food focuses on these.

All cats are obligate carnivores. In its simplest definition, animals that are obligate carnivores must eat meat to survive.

For centuries, felines have fed themselves whole prey from their hunt that included birds, rodents, and insects. Of course, the average house cat no longer needs to hunt to survive. Their nutritional needs have not changed as drastically as their lifestyle when compared to their feral ancestors.

The best cat foods will meet the nutritional needs of most cats with significant amounts of protein from quality meat-based sources.

In ingredient lists, you will see this as named meats or meal (like chicken, chicken meal, turkey, turkey meal, duck, duck meal, etc).

In addition to protein sources, a quality cat food should also contain a minimum of carbohydrate fillers. You will find these fillers listed as corn, rice, wheat or soy products.

These filler carbs are typically the cheaper ingredients in cat food, and tend to be more prevalent in lesser-quality products.

At CatFoodDB, we've reviewed the nutritional breakdowns and ingredients lists of thousands of individual products and scored each according to the quality of both.

Products containing by-products, low-quality fillers and unidentified mystery meats were ranked lower. High protein, low carbohydrate products with plentiful quality ingredients scored best.

To qualify as one of CatFoodDB's Overall Best Cat Food Brands, each brand

• Has at least two wet products and two dry products in their product line. Note that some brands only focus on one or the other, and will be eligible for future lists that focus on their specific cat food types.
• Be primarily focused on "traditional", ready-to-eat cat food; brands that focus on raw, fresh, dehydrated, or frozen diets have been excluded as those formulas are different enough to warrant their own list in the future. Additionally, brands focusing on veterinary or specialty diets have been excluded as their products focus on specific dietary concerns and therefore should be evaluated on different criteria.

The Results: Best Overall Cat Food Brands

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Feline Natural

Feline Natural is our top-scoring brand because their entire product line is very low in carbs, consisting primarily of named protein sources without any added fillers or other undesirable ingredients. Feline Natural offers the usual chicken, beef and salmon varieties, but also has lamb wet and dry cat foods for those looking for a more novel protein. With ingredients sourced from New Zealand, Feline Natural tells us their products are free of grains, gluten, GMO ingredients, dairy, rice, soy, cereals, potato and fillers.

At the time of writing, Feline Natural's products averaged 8.9 / 10 paws using CatFoodDB's scoring system. Products are available for purchase at Chewy.com and many independent pet stores across the USA and Canada.

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ZiwiPeak

ZiwiPeak cat food, made in New Zealand, scores high with us at CatFoodDB because their ingredient list is chock full of high-quality protein sources with no fillers. Dry varieties are made via an air-dry process beginning with raw or fresh meat. Canned recipes consist of 97% meat, organs, seafood and bone sustainably sourced from New Zealand.

At the time of writing, ZiwiPeak's cat food averaged 8.9 / 10 paws using CatFoodDB's scoring system. ZiwiPeak products are available for purchase at Chewy.com, Amazon, PetFlow and many independent pet food retailers.

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Dr Elsey's

Dr Elsey's scores well because their product line has significantly fewer carbs than most, with high levels of protein thanks to quality named meats and seafood.

At the time of writing, Dr Elsey's wide selection of various cat food products averaged 8.6 / 10 paws using CatFoodDB's scoring system. Dr Elsey's products are available for purchase at Chewy.com, Amazon and many independent pet food retailers.

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Tiki Cat

Tiki Cat products, according to their website, are inspired by the carnivore diet cats were meant to eat. True to this claim, their products consist primarily of named proteins with few if any fillers. As a result, they are high in protein, low in carbs, and rate highly here at CatFoodDB.

At the time of writing, Tiki Cat's cat food averaged 8.2 / 10 paws using CatFoodDB's scoring system. Tiki Cat products are available for purchase at Chewy.com, Amazon, PetFlow and many independent pet food retailers.

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Instinct

Instinct is another brand that scores well here at CatFoodDB. However, it does so with a combination of both ready-to-eat and freeze-dried raw diet products. Given that brands that focus on raw diets will be evaluated separately, I debated whether or not to include Instinct in this list. In the end its inclusion was based on the fact that they also produce highly rated kibble and canned varieties and have for years; the "raw" varieties are in response to the raw diet's popularity of late.

At the time of writing, Instinct's cat food averaged 8.1 / 10 paws using CatFoodDB's scoring system. Instinct products are available for purchase at Chewy.com, PetFlow, Amazon and many independent pet food retailers.

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Stella & Chewys

Stella & Chewys is known in cat food circles for primarily selling raw-inspired pet food products, so including them in this list of “traditional” brands was another “should I or shouldn’t I” question. In the end, I included them here because a significant part of their product line also includes traditional canned and dry food varieties that also score well at here at CatFoodDB.

At the time of writing, Stella & Chewys's cat food averaged 8 / 10 paws using CatFoodDB's scoring system. Stella & Chewys products are available for purchase at Chewy.com, Amazon, PetFlow and many independent pet food retailers.

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Essence

Essence is another great brand whose products are full of named proteins, and uses only coconut flour as a filler in their dry food products.

At the time of writing, Essence's cat food averaged 8 / 10 paws using CatFoodDB's scoring system. Essence products are available for purchase at Chewy.com, PetFlow and many independent pet food retailers.

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Hound & Gatos

Hound & Gatos cat food products are brought to you by a family owned company that is consistently rated highly among many pet food reviewers, CatFoodDB included.

At the time of writing, Hound & Gatos's cat food averaged 7.8 / 10 paws using CatFoodDB's scoring system. Hound & Gatos products are available for purchase at Chewy.com, PetFlow and many independent pet food retailers.

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Life's Abundance

Life's Abundance makes products for people and pets. Their goal is to improve the overall wellness of family members, including our beloved dogs and cats.

At the time of writing, Life's Abundance's cat food averaged 7.8 / 10 paws using CatFoodDB's scoring system. Life's Abundance products are available for purchase online at lifesabundance.com.

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Nulo

Nulo has a large lineup of cat food products, with many different flavors for your picky feline to try! However, be aware that some products do contain guar gum, which is considered by some as a controversial ingredient. However, even with scores adjusted to reflect this, Nulo's cat food averaged 7.7 / 10 paws using CatFoodDB's scoring system at the time of writing. Nulo MedalSeries is exclusively sold at Petsmart. Nulo Freestyle and other products are available for purchase at Chewy.com, PetFlow, and other independent retailers.

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The Honest Kitchen

The Honest Kitchen prides itself on the human-grade ingredients that make up their cat food products.

At the time of writing, The Honest Kitchen's cat food averaged 7.6 / 10 paws using CatFoodDB's scoring system. The Honest Kitchen products are available for purchase at Chewy.com, PetFlow, Amazon and other independent pet food retailers.

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Fromm

Fromm is a family-owned and operated artisan pet food company based in Wisconsin They claim to have some of the highest inclusion levels of fresh meats, fish, fruit and vegetables in their products - which is reflected in their good scores here at CatFoodDB.

At the time of writing, Fromm's cat food averaged 7.4 / 10 paws using CatFoodDB's scoring system. Fromm products are available for purchase online at PetFlow, at gofromm.com/, and at many independent pet food retailers

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Farmina

Farmina claims that in their kitchen, they mix and cook only the finest raw ingredients following strict guidelines set by nutritional experts.

At the time of writing, Farmina's cat food averaged 7.3 / 10 paws using CatFoodDB's scoring system. Farmina products are available for purchase at Amazon, PetFlow and other independent pet food retailers

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Wrapping Up

It's worth repeating that the best cat food, and therefore the best cat food brand, depends on your cat's individual needs.

Health concerns can often dictate a specific diet, or specific ingredients, that work best for your cat. You should always consult a veterinarian if your cat is exhibiting any symptoms that cause you concern.

For the typical house cat however, a high protein, low carbohydrate food made with high-quality ingredients is always a good choice. CatFoodDB's purpose is to help you determine which cat foods, and cat food brands, provide these qualities by deconstructing and analyzing the data provided to us by the cat food manufacturers in an unbiased, consistent way.

At CatFoodDB, we decode nutrition labels so you don't have to!

Please feel free to reach out to us via email or facebook with feedback, questions or comments!