Cat Food With High Protein

Smalls Human Grade Freeze Dried Raw Cat Food Best Overall

Our choice for the overall best high-protein cat food is Smalls Human Grade Freeze Dried Raw: Other Bird formulation. The protein source of this diet is primarily human-grade turkey thighs, with real vegetables and all the essential vitamins and minerals included. Picture your cat sharing your Thanksgiving turkey if you willits the same quality meat! This diet is also grain-free and preservative-free.

The food is only available online via a subscription plan and is, as you might expect based on the quality of the ingredients, higher priced than others on our list. Based on the many rave reviews we found, however, plenty of cat owners dont mind paying a little more to keep their cats happy and healthy, and the cats on our team that tried it absolutely loved it too! This food is highly digestible, making it a good choice for their cats with tummy trouble.

All in all, we think this is the best high protein cat food of 2021.

• Its more expensive than kibble
• Too rich for some cats

Best Cat Food For Outdoor Cats

Our top choice for the best cat food for outdoor cats in the dry food category is Taste of the Wilds Rocky Mountain grain-free recipe.

It has all the qualities we want for your outdoor kitty, including a very generous 42% minimum protein load as well as 18% minimum fats.

Made with outstanding ingredients led by chicken meal, this kibble also features other novel animal proteins like roasted venison, smoked salmon, and ocean fish meal that adult cats adore.

Aside from the aforementioned , other protein sources include pea protein & potato protein.

The Rocky Mountain Feline Recipe also contains peas, sweet potatoes, chicken fat, dried chicory root, tomatoes, yucca schidigera extract, blueberries, and raspberries, which provide vitamins and minerals to your kittys diet.

To top things off, it also has probiotics that aid in keeping your pets digestive tract running smoothly and healthy. Amino acids, like taurine, are also present which keeps eyes and heart, healthy.

Pros

Cons

• A few long-time consumers noted that some bags of this recipe smelled funny and their furry friend won’t eat it.

Pdp: Accordion: Detail: Block414 Ingredients

Chicken, Chicken By-Product Meal, Ground Whole Grain Corn, Corn Grits, Brewers Rice, Plain Dried Beet Pulp, Sodium Bisulfate, Natural Flavor, Potassium Chloride, Dried Egg Product, Brewers Dried Yeast, Choline Chloride, Fish oil , Minerals , DL-Methionine, Fructooligosaccharides, Vitamins , Pyridoxine Hydrochloride , Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement , Inositol, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid), Taurine, L-Carnitine, Rosemary Extract

* Certified Organic

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Dr Elsey’s Cleanprotein Turkey Formula

First 5 ingredients: Turkey, Turkey Broth, Turkey Liver, Dried Egg Product, Natural Flavor

This list wouldnt be complete without adding a wet food option to add variation to your cats high-protein diet. And when it comes to grain-free canned foods, our top pick would be Dr. Elseys cleanprotein Turkey Formula Grain-Free Canned Cat Food.

Made using turkey as its first ingredient, this pate satisfies a cats ancestral hunting diet with its high-protein content. And with animal-based protein as its primary ingredient, your cat can eat less and still feel full longer.

Whats more, this grain-free and gluten-free recipe is loaded with essential vitamins, and minerals, like taurine, and magnesium. Its certainly a tasty wet food that cats with or without sensitivities and weight issues will love and look forward to every mealtime.

Also, this formula contains no-to-low oxalate to help prevent bladder stones and calcium oxalate crystals, which are common problems among felines regardless of their age. And this top-ranking food has a lower glycemic formula that delivers only 4% energy from carbohydrates.

Overall, this wet food provides complete and balanced nutrition for adult cats and kittens. And the formula optimizes your felines body mass and appetite to help sustain a healthy and active lifestyle, which is vital, especially for cats that live exclusively indoors.

What About Cats On A Raw Diet

Some vets and specialists argue that a raw diet for cats allows for better protein digestibility. Before offering your feline raw chicken, you should keep in mind that:

• Raw diet doesnt work for every cat
• Cat who switches to a raw diet in adulthood can experience severe allergies
• Raw cat diet increases the risk of contamination with salmonella and Escherichia coli, which requires you to prepare and serve the food in a sterile environment

If you want to introduce a raw diet to your cat, you should consult your vet beforehand. The vet will run some tests to see whether this type of diet is suitable for your cat and, if so, provide advice on meal preparation and storage.

Also Check: How Much Protein In Mushrooms

Taste Of The Wild Rocky Mountain Dry Cat Food

Made with premium animal proteins, this kibble features roasted venison and smoked salmon in a recipe designed to provide balanced nutrition in the way nature intended. One of the healthiest options on our list, this cat food comes in 5-pound or 14-pound bags.

Taste of the Wild Rocky Mountain Dry Cat Food

Premium but still affordable, this venison and salmon recipe provides both great taste and great nutrition.

This protein-rich pâté from Wellness has chicken as the first ingredient in a nutrient-dense, grain-free recipe that includes antioxidants, taurine, vitamins, and minerals. It comes in 3-, 5.5-, and 12.5-ounce cans.

Wellness Complete Health Canned Cat Food

Designed for adult cats, this chicken pâté is high in protein and includes vitamins, minerals, and taurine.

What Nutrition Cats Need

Cats are obligate carnivores, animals that have evolved to eat mostly meat and to derive necessary nutrition from meat diets rather than plant material. In contrast, humans and dogs are both omnivores, able to get the nutrition they need from a wider range of foods, including both meat and plants.

Because of their need for a carnivorous diet, cats have unique metabolic processes and require greater amounts of protein than many pet owners realize. Cats lack a variety of amino acids and enzymes that they can only get from meat â plant-based proteins found in vegetables do not provide the same nutrition. The proteins cats need are essential for healthy internal organs, luxurious fur, strong muscles, keen eyesight, and adequate energy.

Therefore, a high-protein diet is essential for every domestic cat. It is particularly critical for kittens and young cats that need even more abundant protein for healthy growth, as well as for pregnant and nursing cats that must nourish their young. Senior cats that have less efficient digestive systems also need higher protein in their diet in order to absorb adequate protein as they age.

Also Check: Isopure Protein Powder Zero Carb

Calculating The Protein Fat Carbohydrate Percentages

You will see conflicting carbohydrate values listed for the same food depending on how the value is calculated. There are three basic methods used to calculate the value of an individual nutrient:

When determining the carbohydrate content of a food, method 2 and 3 will yield roughly the same number.

Even though it is preferable to discuss nutrition in terms of the percentage of calories that a nutrient provides, most pet food manufacturers list their products nutrients in the form of percentage of weight.

Nutrient information may be listed in two different formats on the manufacturers websites. One is the guaranteed analysis figures . However, as discussed above, GA values are only minimums and maximums and can be very misleading.

The other format is the actual measurement of the ingredients in one sample of the food. These values more accurately reflect what is in the product.

Even though the GA values are not terribly accurate, they can provide a roughguesstimation of the contained nutrients.

To calculate the approximate weight of the carbohydrate in a food, add up the values for moisture, protein, fat, fiber, and ash and subtract this value from 100%. Here is an example from the PetGuard website for their Organic Chicken and Vegetable Entree:

GUARANTEED ANALYSIS:Moisture 78.0% MaxAsh 2.3% Max

GUARANTEED ANALYSIS:Moisture 78.0% MaxAsh 2.3% Max

Protein: 31.5 divided by 101.5 = 31%

Benefits Of A High Protein Low Carbohydrate Cat Food Diet

Other than giving your cat exactly what his body wants and needs to thrive, a lot of good can come from this sort of diet, for both diabetic cats and non-diabetic cats alike.

• Reduced gastrointestinal distress
• Healthier overall
• Lower chance of diabetes and reduced cats blood sugar levels
• Less risk of inflammatory bowel disease, chronic kidney disease, FLUTD, and a variety of other illnesses
• Cats cant digest carbs as well as protein, and the carbohydrates take room out of the diet that otherwise could be protein
• Potentially longer life

Now, many of these things might also be attributed to a diet that does NOT include dry food.

Because most dry foods require carbs to bind into a kibble form, theyre typically quite high in carbohydrates, and dry food is often the cause of many of the issues mentioned above.

Youll find that almost all of our top picks below are wet foods .

You May Like: High Protein Zero Carb Foods

What Happens If A Cat Doesnt Get Enough Protein

If cats don’t have enough protein in their diet, sooner or later, they will start to break down protein from their muscles.

Almost all proteins including animal proteins as well as plants have different amino acids. Some are easier for cats to break down, while some are more or less usable for their body. Scientists refer to how proteins break up based on their biological availability to be used by the body as bioavailability.

The egg is at the top of the list with a bioavailability of 100. Milk and fish meal contain lower levels of bioavailability value at 92. Beef is estimated at 78.

All of these foods can be rich in protein, but it doesn’t mean that they can be the best protein source for your cat. You always need to consider other factors such as your cat’s sensitivities, as well as any underlying medical condition.

Top 5 High Protein Low Carb Cat Foods For 2022

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Contents

However, it can be difficult to find the best one if you’re not sure what you have to look for as you start to shop, and this is where our buyer’s guide and reviews come in. We’ve picked our top five picks for this category of cat food, and our buyer’s guide will outline exactly what you need in your cat’s food.

Also Check: What Is The Most Protein Dense Food

Caring For A Colony Of Feral Cats

Your cat may soon join other cats in the neighborhood or she may bring other feral cats home during mealtime. Pretty soon, youll have to feed an entire colony thats likely to grow if there are several strays in your area.

But the true cat lover in you somehow urges you to feed outdoor cats that made friends with your tabby. Bless your heart.

To feed feral cats, schedule a fixed mealtime that they can follow. It’s more manageable this way and you can better determine the amount of food to serve daily as well. Again, we recommend a twice-a-day feeding.

With a regular feeding schedule, you can see if new cats have joined, or if some cats are missing. You can also see each cats health condition if they have certain illnesses or injuries. This will help you protect your own cat and see what possible situations she may get into.

If youre feeling generous, you can have the other cats checked by the vet or even vaccinated. Your own cats will benefit if their friends are jabbed.

And if you don’t want the colony to quadruple in months, consider having the other cats spayed or neutered too. Regular feeding time is a great opportunity to gather and trap them for neutering.

Regular feeding time will also likely minimize leftovers that could attract other animals, insects, and common pests. Youll be able to estimate the right amount of food to serve.

Finally, leave a few buckets of clean water for them to drink.

Aafco Crude Protein Requirements

AAFCO sets standards for pet foods in the United States. While compliance with AAFCO standards is not required for commercial pet foods, most veterinary nutritionists recommend feeding only diets that are AAFCO compliant.

These products will have a nutritional adequacy statement that states that the diet conforms to one of the AAFCO Dog or Cat Food Nutrient Profiles or Feeding Protocols.

An example of the importance of AAFCO compliance is further illustrated by a discussion of protein analysis. The Guaranteed Analysis section of the pet food label contains the percentages of each of the following:

Crude Protein is determined based on chemical analysis of all nitrogen-containing sources in the food. Therefore, some non-protein-containing sources, such as urea, can be included in the crude protein content.

AAFCO states that not more than 9% of the crude protein in a diet should be pepsin indigestible, meaning that at least 91% of the protein content of AAFCO-approved foods should be digestible protein. Therefore, diets that do not follow AAFCO recommendations may appear to contain adequate protein based on the percentage of Crude Protein however, this protein may be largely indigestible.

Pet foods that are AAFCO-compliant adhere to more in-depth nutrient profiles that also include recommended amounts of amino acids such as taurine and arginine.

Read Also: Premier Protein Shakes During Pregnancy

Best High Protein Cat Food: Our Top Picks

This is our review of the best high protein cat food in 2022.

As a pet owner, its imperative to find the right food for your animal companion. You need to find sources that match their needs for nutrition and growth without breaking the bank, and that means looking for high-quality foods.

Cats require a high-protein diet, which can mean that some food options arent giving them what they need to grow and stay healthy. By looking for a specifically high-protein blend, you can ensure that your cat has the right kind of energy they need to stay active.

Here are the best cat foods with high protein and how to select the one thats right for your fuzzy friend.

Crave Chicken Grain Free Adult High Protein Natural Dry Cat Food

Cat Food, with Protein from Chicken, Adult, 1+ Years

Premium natural cat food plus vitamins, minerals & other nutrients. No artificial flavors or colors. Grain Free. Satisfy their nature. 40% High protein. No corn, wheat, soy. No chicken by-product meal. Protein-rich. Cats want the taste and nutrition of a diet that’s rich in animal proteins – not soy or grains such as corn or wheat. And the reason is simple. Protein-rich diets provide the nutrients for a lean, healthy body and the energy to play. Like the diets of their wildcat ancestors, Crave recipes are always crafted with real, high-quality animal protein, the flavor cats love and no grains. Wildcats and modern cats thrive on a diet of high quality animal protein. 40% High Protein – To support a strong, lean body. Grain Free – With quality carbohydrate sources for energy. Contains no chicken by-product meal, corn, wheat or soy, artificial flavors or colors, artificial preservatives. Not valid for sale in Quebec. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed: If for any reason you are dissatisfied with this product, return the unused portion along with the information contained within the dotted panel on this bag to your Crave products retailer for replacement or refund. Should you wish to contact our Consumer Care Department, please call 1-800-255-4738 or visit us at www.cravepetfoods.com. www.cravepetfoods.com. Mars Canada Inc. Consumer Service: 1-800-667-2424.

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Pdp: Accordion: Detail: Block364 Product Description

Keep your cats at their best with IAMS High Protein Adult with Chicken & Salmon Dry Cat Food, a chicken-first recipe designed to give your active cats the protein-rich, flavorful dry food they naturally require. For outdoor or indoor cats, this healthy cat kibble is made from high quality proteins like chicken and salmon for healthy vitality and healthy energy. Plus, its tailored fiber blend includes prebiotics and beet pulp to support your cats digestive health. If youre looking for a high protein cat food with chicken or salmon, get your paws on this… and feed your cats carnivorous nature, keeping them ready to pounce, with IAMS High Protein Dry Cat Food.

Best Organic: Castor & Pollux Organix Grain Free Organic Cat Food

Amazon

Weight: 10 pounds| Form: Dry | Flavor: Chicken & Sweet Potato | Life Stage: All

• Some cats refuse to eat it

If you’re looking for an organic option, pick up a bag of Castor & Pollux Organix. This grain-free dry cat food is cooked in a certified organic kitchen. The number-one ingredient is free-range chicken, which is combined with a nutritional superfood blend of cranberries, coconut oil, and flaxseed. It doesn’t have any added growth hormones, antibiotics, or artificial preservatives.

Recommended Reading: How To Mix Protein Powder Into Coffee

Reduced Risk Of Diabetes

Usually, a high protein diet comes in the form of wet or canned food and are definitely favoured over dry foods as they provide a sufficient amount of water intake, lower carbohydrate content and easier portion control.

This can help control your cats sugar level and therefore reduces the risk of feline diabetes.