Cat Food Reviews

The reviews below are assigned ratings by ConsumerSearch. These ratings are based on credibility in testing, evaluating and identifying the best Cat Food. See our ratings criteria

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Cat Food Reviews Reviewed
Review Ratings	Citation	CS Credibility Rating	Cat Food Ratings Comments on Reviews
1. About.com	Focus on Cat Food Franny Syufy As of May 2008		This is by far the best all-around cat information site we found. In terms of food, the site features listings of the top dry and canned cat foods, written by site guide Franny Syufy, along with choices among kitten foods (canned and dry), weight-control foods, foods for cats with allergies, raw commercial cat foods and more. The site also addresses almost every imaginable question about cat food, and the background information articles are helpful and cover a large range of topics from "human grade" meat requirements to Mad Cow Disease concerns. Syufy notes that all of the foods named on her site are free of meat by-products, chemical preservatives and animal fat. Many of the listed foods have been tested by Syufy with her own cats. (Note that About.com and ConsumerSearch are owned by the same parent company, but are not affiliated editorially.)
2. CatInfo.org	Quality Commercial Foods Lisa A. Pierson, DVM As of May 2008		Although Dr. Pierson is a proponent of feeding cats a raw meat diet, her site includes a list of what are called high-quality commercial canned cat foods. The foods listed contain meat as the primary ingredient, minimize or eliminate the use of grains and don't contain preservatives. This list is based on nutritional information provided by the manufacturer rather than testing, but the accompanying discussion explains the rationale for their inclusion in extensive detail. The list is broken down by foods without grains and those with grains, but without corn, wheat or soy. A commercial raw food recommendation is also made.

Cat Food Reviews above this line are significantly better than reviews below.

Review Ratings	Citation	CS Credibility Rating	Cat Food Ratings Comments on Reviews

3. Ask Susan Peters	Pet Food Ratings Susan Peters As of May 2008		This website rates cat foods on a point scale based on the absence of undesirable ingredients, such as wheat gluten, and the presence of desirable ingredients, such as meat instead of meat by-products. Site owner Susan Peters occasionally adds some additional comments, and readers can comment or ask questions. There's lot of information here on cat food safety, recalls, lawsuits, etc., but it can be hard to find as site navigation isn't great. Ratings reflect the importance of reading labels, as different varieties of the same brand can have widely different scores. Top-scoring cat foods include certain varieties of well-known brands as well as some lesser-known brands. However, no consideration is given to the relative amounts of undesirable ingredients, and foods that list, for example, meat by-products as the first ingredient are penalized equally with those where it appears considerably further down the ingredient list.
4. Tipped Ear Clan	Hey, what's that in my food dish?? "Calsifer" As of May 2008		This cat-centric blog includes a fun-to-read page on cat nutrition and cat food. Among the information presented are some pointers on what to look for on cat food labels and specific brands to avoid. Specific cat food recommendations are made among economical, mid-range, high-end and premium cat foods. The author admits that she hasn't tried all of the recommended brands -- several are included solely based on their ingredients list -- but does say which ones have been tried, and which provided the best results overall. Though the main article was last updated in Aug. 2007, much more recent comments from the author are posted here as well.
5. Catster.com	Food & Nutrition Forum Contributors to Catster.com As of May 2008		This active community of cat owners includes a forum dedicated to food and nutrition. Lot's of discussion can be found here about general feeding topics, as well as specific cat food recommendations and information. Other forums on the site are dedicated to owners feeding a raw food diet as well as home-prepared food and recipes. This is also a good resource for general cat information, including

Cat Food Reviews above this line are significantly better than reviews below.

Review Ratings	Citation	CS Credibility Rating	Cat Food Ratings Comments on Reviews

6. Max's House	Feline Nutrition Editors of Max's House Not Dated		Although no specific recommendations are made, there's an enormous amount of information here on cat nutrition, including detailed information on exact amounts of the nutrients, water, vitamins and minerals cats need, along with caloric intake. There's an especially excellent discussion on wet food versus dry food.
7. CatNutrition.org	Cat Nutrition - Meow! Anne Not Dated		This site has an excellent overview on raw food diets for pets. The author has really done her homework in terms of understanding the natural feeding habits of dogs and cats, developing recipes and recommendations for feeding according to natural guidelines. A nutritional breakdown of the recommended raw recipe is provided. If you are looking for an alternative to commercial cat foods, this is an excellent place to start your research.
8. Only Natural Pet Store	Cat Food Contributors to Only Natural Pet Store As of May 2008		This online pet food and supplies retailer gives readers the opportunity to provided feedback and reviews on the cat foods they have tried. Ratings are provided right on the main page, but that would be more useful if the number of ratings were provided there as well. Some brands and foods get lots of feedback -- more than at some similar review sites -- while others get a handful of reports, or none at all. Reviews list pros and cons and a bottom-line opinion of whether or not the reviewer would recommend a product to a friend, along with a brief write-up. Reviewer identities are verified prior to their reviews being posted.
9. Petco.com	Food Center Contributors to Petco.com As of May 2008		This is the website of the giant pet store chain. It has a couple of advantages as a destination for reviews compared with Only Natural Pet Store above, but also some limitations that place it a notch behind. On the plus side, navigation is easier since the number of reviews a product has received is listed right on the main page. In addition, several more popular "supermarket" brands are listed. On the down side, many products get no more than one or two reviews, and the reviews themselves are less structured. Petco.com has just begun an incentive program to get customers to write product reviews. While that should increase the quantity of reviews here before too long, what it will do to quality is an open question.

Cat Food Reviews above this line are significantly better than reviews below.

Review Ratings	Citation	CS Credibility Rating	Cat Food Ratings Comments on Reviews

10. Ragdoll Fanciers Worldwide	About Cat Food Members of Ragdoll Fanciers Worldwide Club As of Dec. 2003		This website, which is maintained by cat breeders, features a 2003 poll of what foods they use, why they use them and if they use different brands. You can also find a comparison of cat food ingredients for about a dozen dry cat foods. The comprehensive ingredient list -- which was compiled in 2002 -- is supplemented by information on the ingredients, such as definitions of terms often used on pet food labels. While the ingredient list is interesting, it is now several years old and companies do change ingredients from time to time, so it's important to also read the label.
11. PandEcats.com >> Details/Subscribe	The Taste Test Lee Harper Feb. 2004		This article deals with an admittedly unscientific taste test conducted for a TV program. Four cats were given a choice between four different dry cat foods, and the amount eaten each day was measured and recorded over a two-week period. In the end, three of the four cats showed an overwhelming preference for Purina Cat Chow (the fourth sampled all four brands equally). However, the author cautions that this test was too short, the sample is too small to draw any real conclusions, and the test does not speak to the nutritional value of any of the brands tested.
12. Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine	Feeding Your Cat Editors at the Cornell Feline Health Center 2002		This is an easy-to-read article about cat feeding in general, with a simple overview of dietary recommendations, food types and common feeding errors. Prepared by a veterinary school, it's impartial in terms of specific products. In fact, it makes no product recommendations at all. Unlike some other resources, Cornell advises against homemade diets in most cases and instead recommends using a commercial and nutritionally balanced commercial food.
13. Progressive Animal Welfare Society	Dog and Cat Food Rating Dr. Michael Lemmon Not Dated		This rating scale, developed by Dr. Michael Lemmon of the Highlands Veterinary Hospital in Renton, Washington, rates foods from ten (most nutritious) to zero (least nutritious). Most commercial pet foods don't score very well, but Lemmon says that "health food" brands, such as AvoDerm, Nature's Recipe and Wysong, are "not a bad compromise."
14. PetLovers.com	Dog and Cat Nutrition – "Some Basics" Laurencia Bourget Mar. 2004		Laurencia Bourget explains the differences between premium brands and lower-priced brands, mostly focusing on manufacturing differences. Her writing style is rambling and difficult to read, but her overview is quite thorough in terms of how pet food is manufactured. The site hasn't been updated in a while, but the information isn't the kind that would require frequent updates. In general, the article suggests that more expensive foods are higher in protein and lower in fat, and therefore more beneficial to pets. Bourget offers a good rule of thumb that the higher the protein, the higher the cost, and the higher the fat, the better the taste. She also states that her article is based on an interview with a representative from a premium cat food company, so the information may be skewed toward premium food. She advises readers to check with their veterinarians and make informed choices based on their own research.
15. National Academy of Sciences	Nutrient Requirements of Cats and Dogs Donald C. Beitz, Ph.D., et al. 2006		This site offers downloadable pamphlets based on a 600-page report on dog and cat nutrition (available to purchase for $265). The pamphlet on cat nutrition provides useful information, such as how many calories cats need based on their weight. There's also a section on vitamins and minerals cats need and their recommended daily allowances, along with information on what happens if they get too little or too much.
16. Fanciers.com	General Cat Care Cindy Tittle Moore Not Dated		On this site dedicated to cat health, an ample amount of space is given to food selection. Fanciers.com is an excellent site for cat care in general, and it offers a lot of useful links and references. No particular testing data is cited, but Iams, Hill's Science Diet, Wysong, Nature's Recipe and Purina ONE are rated as best. The article claims that these foods are healthier because of increased digestibility and lack of man-made dyes. Readers' claims of shinier coats also factor into recommendations. This article, part of the FAQ for the now defunct rec.pets.cats Usenet newsgroup, was originally written by Cindy Tittle Moore, and has been maintained by the Fanciers.com website since 1999. However, the date of the last update could not be found.
17. RateItAll.com	Cat Food Brands Contributors to RateItAll.com As of May 2008		RateItAll.com is a consumer opinion site. Like most such sites, the quality of the reviews varies greatly, and most are not very long. Many well-known and specialty brands receive ratings, and some receive quite a few. However, many of the brands with the highest ratings only receive one or two reports.