WHW’s Best 5 Cat Food Brands

We have tried several cat food brands, and here’s our take on the Best 5. These are the brands our cats stayed on the longest before transitioning to another. Transitioning was due to either low supply at stores, high cost, or found something better.

We used this simple matrix to rank these brands. Availability differs in every store, and we go through atleast 5 different stores in our area when buying cat food. Affordability is generally how they’re priced per ounce; for example, Deck Hand at 5.5 oz costs $1.50 and Tiki Cat at 2.8 oz costs $1.99. Deck Hand scores higher than Tiki Cat. Flavor Selection is how diverse the flavors are. We see chicken as a flavor in just about every brand on the shelves, however, our cats are sick of chicken. We try to find them flavors they do love which are mainly salmon, deer, rabbit and beef. Ingredients are what’s in the can - we avoid wheat, starch and fillers for our cats as much as possible, but it’s not always possible. We are only ranking the brands here that has the least of those ingredients.

Availability and Affordability are based on stores in San Francisco and Colma, California.

These brands are also available on Amazon.

The product links in this article are affiliate links. We get a commission from purchases through these links.                                                  

Deck Hand

Sold only through Whole Foods store, Deck Hand has been the most wholesome food for our cats. This was also the most affordable we have seen of all food at any store. The flavors are only seafood - shrimp, salmon and tuna.  ALERT: Nothing!

Buy Deck Hand

Canidae

Canidae offers food free of grains. We love the selection of flavors and so did our cats. It is mostly seafood, and chicken as the only meat. We have not seen beef or lamb in any Canidae products. ALERT: Some Canidae flavors include fillers like potatoes and carrots.

Buy Canidae

Nulo

This has been the most favorite of our cats. Nulo offers flavors they love such as beef and mackerel, turkey, duck and halibut. Good mix of red meat and seafood. ALERT: Not much! There are some carrots in the turkey or duck flavors.

Buy Nulo

Tiki Cat

Tiki Cat has by far been the priciest of the brands we love. They offer so many flavors, such as various grilled fish, quail eggs, chicken, lamb, deer, sardines and more! ALERT: There is even pumpkin, which, unfortunately, gave our cats diarreah.

Buy Tiki Cat

Orijen

We love the Orijen brand for dry food. When we are away for hours at a time, we make sure to leave dry food for the day. Orijen contains nature foods for cats. This is a bit pricey, but well worth the ingredients. ALERT: Nothing!

Buy Orijen

Our advice: When buying cat food, buy what makes sense to you and your cat. Stick with the flavors they love, and only change brands when you absolutely must for financial purposes.

Our cat needed to be dewormed

Our cat needed to be dewormed, and we had a very challenging time getting him to take his meds. We are not sure how and where he got his worms from as he is an indoor cat, but we do suspect it might have come from a fly he hunted down and ate. We took him to the vet as soon as possible, and he was given dewormer tablets. For the first dose, we crushed the tablets into his food. It took 4 days for him to eat it at all! We tried all the ways to get him to eat, using treats, fresh food servings over, more treats and hunger.

For the second dose 3 weeks later, we bought the

Greenies pill pockets for cats

. We should have just done this the first time. He loved the treat, and took his meds right away. 

Our pets do have insurance, and the approved costs are going towards our deductibles. We do not want to have to use the insurance, but if we do, our deductible has shrunk and the insurance will kick in.

Lemonade pet insurance

explained this pretty clearly, but thank goodness, our cats have not had to be subject to more serious incidents. 

We learned a little lesson here (or a lot):

- Don’t let the cats eat their insect prizes

- Use the pill pockets for meds

- Insurance is useful for peace of mind, though, not one we ever want to have to use

Our family avoided having a pet for years, knowing and suspecting costly maintenance, and that no one would be committed to taking care of one. The kids asked for a pet, any pet, but were declined each time. We made them wait, and show us they were ready by applying conditions such as maintaining their rooms (if you can't take care of your room, you can't take care of a living thing). We tried goldfish, but unfortunately, they did not last very long. When I was a teen, I had plenty goldfish which I took care of and maintained the tank. I couldn't see my kids do that at an earlier age.

When I started to entertain the idea of having pets, I had to apply more conditions. We wouldn't get certain pets such as a snake or a rat. Or a hamster. If they wanted them, it would have to be when they have their own place.

Enter 2020, and we considered cats. We weren't looking for a mouser, but we definitely wanted cat scent to deter rodents from coming in or staying. It took us a few weeks to finally get connected to an adoption site. We tried different ones but there were so many conditions too! And there were others that were too far from us and the adoption costs were a factor on just how far we wanted to go. We tried the local rescue, and did a video meet with one cutie. We also met a cat that needed to be re-homed. Both times we were too slow in deciding.

One day I got a text from another rescue center, but it was out in Fremont. It was a bit too far for me, but at that point, we were first in line to meet a litter of 4 siblings. We accepted the invitation and met with the fosters and the cats. We fell in love!!! Before leaving, we decided on not one, but two cats. We only just wanted one. But after hearing about how the 4 were bonding, we couldn't snatch just one of them.

It took a few more weeks before we could take Frodo and Pippin home. They were still baby kitties that needed their shots and spay first. We were so excited for their forever homecoming and got them the toys, and the food, and the litter box and litter.

It took them about 2 hours before they exited from their cat carrier (which they barely fit into both at the same time now). Frodo, the social one, settled in quite fast. Pippin took his time. We intended them to be indoor cats so we let them have free range in the house. It took a span of a week before they were really exploring. They found rooms, they found boxes, and dark and soft areas. Nowadays, they run and climb everything.

Having the cats were a real joy to our household. But other matters came up. We didn't insure them right away, thinking that they are indoor cats and we were taking care of them just fine.

That didn't last so long. One day, Pippin started to vomit. We didn't think much of it, but it was becoming frequent. This worried us so much, and regretted not getting insurance. We had to take him to the vet, and the bill came out to almost $800. The tests came out to be nothing serious, but he was dehydrated. Thank goodness it was not much more serious than that... but $800 to know was quite costly.



Never did we think that spending $800 on a cat was something we would do in a heartbeat. Of course we would, Pippin's family. But it was a lesson to be had. Pet insurance is worth it. We recommend it to any new pet owners. This is why pets are expensive, but once they are in the family, they can't be left without care.

Our cats are insured with Lemonade. At $18/mo each cat, we feel this is quite worth it. The coverage is great, and we hope we never have to use it. But if we do, it's there.

Really though, how can we NOT love this furball?!

Hey world, meet our newest babies, Frodo and Pippin.

We adopted these brothers from their litter of 5 in November 2020, and our home has been filled with so much kitty love! As they are now part of our family, we will be posting a lot about them. They are now almost 9 months, and going to be adults pretty soon! When we brought them home, they were still so tiny. They fight and play and sleep together. 

We have been learning so much about cats, and they are such interesting creatures! They show love, they ask for love, and they are an absolute joy to have. When it comes to feeding, we have gone through several types of food and still going at it.

When they were at their fosters, they were being fed Royal Canin. When we took the cats home, we planned to phase it out and transition to food that had no grain or fillers. Royal Canin was okay, but it still had starch. We found Canidae to be a great option, and the cats loved it! They are spoiled with morsels and finely cut meats, not so much pate. But Canidae was being phased out at our local pet store, and they weren't being restocked. 

We then found Tiki Cat. These are a little more pricey, but had the perfect ingredients for our spoiled cats. 

While Tiki Cat is great, it's expensive. We still buy it, but we are looking for other options to balance our great food that won't break bank. 

Deck Hand is found only at Whole Foods, and at .89 a can of 5.5 oz, it is a great option. The cats do love it, thank goodness, but there are only ever 3 flavors available. All are fish-based, which is fine, but we love to feed our cats chicken, duck, turkey, beef and lamb as well. 

Our latest find is Orijen for Cats. This is quite pricey but for dry food, it had the best ingredients I have found so far. When we leave for a long period of time, we need to leave food for the cats. We did a test run, and they looooove it! We plan to have Orijen on hand for those days we are gone for hours. 

The cats are loving it! We are sharing two ways to order:

Get Orijen from Amazon with free shipping! 

   

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