Our cat food test 2023

Food test for mama cats

Since finding the right cat food for our little darlings is not always easy and the large selection leads to quickly reach for a suboptimal food, we have made it our task to regularly test the well-known cat food brands and publish the results here.

The test winners

For all those who do not want to read long, but immediately come to the best cat food, here immediately our test winners in the cat food test.

Our pick
Winner - cat mama food for Weight & Hairball Control

Iams

Proactive Health Adult Indoor Weight & Hairball Control Dry Cat Food

  • Helps burn fat and maintain healthy metabolism with L-carnitine
  • Helps reduce hairballs
  • Provides your cat with a high quality protein meal
  • No Artificial Preservatives
Second place in best mama cat food rating - Hill's Science

Hill’s Science

Diet Dry Cat Food, Adult, Chicken Recipe

  • Balanced minerals for kidney and bladder health
  • With taurine for heart health
  • Packed with vitamin E plus omega 3s and 6s to give your adult cat healthy skin and fur
  • No:1 Veterinarian Recommended
Third place in food rating

Royal Canin

Feline Health Nutrition Adult Instinctive Loaf in Sauce Canned Food

  • For healthy cats 1-7 years old
  • Ideal ratio of proteins, fat, and carbohydrates for low-activity cats
  • Balanced blend of vitamins and minerals
  • Item Form: Wet

How we test

Before we start a test, we make a pre-selection of feeds that are suitable for us and we then compare these with other feeds within the same group. The shortlist is then looked at again in more detail. We check the ingredients and look for a proper description of the composition as well as portioning instructions.

The most important results at a glance

Test winner: Six wet foods were able to achieve the grade “very good” – these also include inexpensive products such as “Fancy Feast Grilled Feast in Gravy Canned Wet Cat Food” from Purina and “Wet Cat Food, 2.8 Ounce Cups, Grain Free” from Rachael Ray Nutrish. Among the branded products, “Wet Cat Food, Adult, Urinary & Hairball Control, Savory Chicken Recipe” from Hill’s Science Diet and “Tiki Cat Grill Grain-Free, Low-Carbohydrate Wet Food with Whole Seafood in Broth for Adult Cats & Kittens” from Tiki Pets were convincing.

Test loser: Cat owners should not let themselves be blinded, according to consumer protectors. “Whether a food is balanced cannot be concluded from the list of ingredients, but can only be analyzed at great expense.” Equally six products fall through with these analyses with unsatisfactory. Among them several expensive and a bio product. For some producers the nutrient content is too low, but the phosphorus content is too high – this can cause kidney disease in cats in the long term. On the other hand, others is too fatty and too high in phosphorus. Here besides the feeding recommendations are too highly indicated.

Phosphorus content: Too high a concentration of phosphorus can lead to kidney problems in cats. In particular, pets that already have a pre-existing health condition should not be fed with such products.

Organic products: The two organic products tested did not receive heady ratings from the testers. It just managed an “adequate”. Reasons: Too much phosphorus, too much sodium, too little vitamin B1, can promote urinary stones and the recommended feed quantity is too high. “The cat food from the organic farmer chicken “sensitive” even failed with “poor”. The reasons: It is supposed to be gluten-free, but had a lot of gluten in the test and the zinc, vitamin E and iodine requirements are not sufficiently covered.

Feeding cats correctly

We have put together another page on this topic with a lot of important information, which you can find how to feeding mama cats correctly.