Nature’s Recipe Cat Food Review

Jeffrey Bennett started Nature’s Recipe in 1981 after cooking vegetarian meals for his sick and allergic dog.

The brand was originally marketed by Bennett’s California-based company, Earth Elements, Inc. Natural and holistic labeling resonated with the market, and by 1996, Nature’s Recipe was the fourth-largest brand in the specialty pet food category.

In 1996, Nature’s Recipe was sold to the H.J. Heinz company for a reported $90 – $100 million. The company is currently part of Big Heart Pet Brands, the pet product giant owned by the J.M. Smucker Company.

What types of cat food does Nature’s Recipe offer?

Nature’s Recipe has a large selection of wet and dry formulas for cats.

The company spends a lot of time talking about their use of purposeful ingredients – every meat, fish, and vegetable ingredient serves a nutritional purpose.

Every cat food recipe on the planet uses purposeful ingredients that are included “for a reason”, so that’s not a particularly impressive claim. However, Nature’s Recipe makes a few more substantial promises about their food.

No Nature’s Recipe foods contain corn or wheat. They’re always free from artificial flavors and preservatives. They don’t contain poultry by-product meal.

The dry food formulas are manufactured in company-owned US facilities. While most of their wet formulas are also made in the US, the grain-free recipes are manufactured in Thailand.

To help you navigate its large selection, the Nature’s Recipe site features a pet food selection tool. This tool prompts you to answer six questions about your pet and will recommend a formula that aligns with the information you shared.

Nature’s Variety Dry Cat Food

• Culinary Favorites™ Grilled Recipe with Real Salmon & A Touch of Garden Vegetables
• Culinary Favorites™ Rotisserie Recipe with Real Chicken & A Touch of Garden Vegetables
• Grain Free Indoor Chicken and Potato Recipe
• Grain Free Salmon and Potato Recipe

Nature’s Variety Culinary Favorites™  Wet Cat Food

• Culinary Favorites™ Slow Roasted Recipe with Real Beef & Garden Vegetables Pate
• Culinary Favorites™ Slow Roasted Recipe with Real White Meat Chicken & Garden Vegetables Pate
• Culinary Favorites™ Grilled Recipe with Real White Meat Chicken & Garden Vegetables in Savory Sauce
• Culinary Favorites™ Grilled Recipe with Real Salmon & Garden Vegetables in Savory Sauce
• Culinary Favorites™ Grilled Recipe with Real Tuna & Garden Vegetables in Savory Sauce
• Culinary Favorites™ Pate with Real Chicken Recipe in Gravy
• Culinary Favorites™ Pate with Real Chicken & Tuna Recipe in Gravy
• Culinary Favorites™ Slow Roasted Recipe with Turkey & Garden Vegetables
• Culinary Favorites™ Stew Recipe with Real Beef & Garden Vegetables in Gravy
• Culinary Favorites™ Stew Recipe with Real White Meat Chicken & Garden Vegetables in Gravy
• Culinary Favorites™ Stew Recipe with Real Seafood & Garden Vegetables in Gravy

Nature’s Variety Grain Free Wet Cat Food

• Grain Free Chicken & Chicken Liver Recipe in Broth
• Grain Free Salmon Recipe in Broth
• Grain Free Tuna Recipe in Broth
• Grain Free Chicken Recipe in Broth
• Grain Free Indoor Recipe in Broth
• Grain Free Chicken & Salmon Recipe in Broth
• Grain Free Chicken & Turkey Recipe in Broth

Has Nature’s Recipe cat food ever been recalled?

Although Nature’s Recipe cat food has never been recalled, their dog treats were recalled in 2012 due to concerns about potential salmonella contamination.

Nature’s Recipe Cat Food Coupons 2023

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Where can you buy Nature’s Recipe cat food?

Nature’s Recipe cat food is available across the United States. It’s easy to find in major chains such as Walmart and Petco. You can also purchase Nature’s Recipe cat food online through various sites including Chewy and Amazon.

Click here to find a retailer near you.

What do customers think of Nature’s Recipe cat food?

To understand what customers think about Nature’s Recipe cat food, let’s see how they react to a popular formula.

Nature’s Recipe Grain-Free Indoor Chicken & Potato Recipe dry cat food has 168 reviews on Chewy, earning it a 4.6 out of 5 star rating. 93% of these reviewers say they’d recommend the product.

Here are positive and negative reviews from four real customers:

Positive Reviews

“I free feed my cat dry food all day and give 3 oz of wet each day as well. My cat seems to enjoy this food and I am happy with the ingredients, especially how much protein there is. The price is very fair for the quality. I bought the big bag and wish it came with a zipper seal. I will reorder this product.” – MichelleJ

“Cats love this food. I see them nibbling it all the time and I have to frequently fill up the bowls. I love the great nutrition and quality. The size of the food is easier for the cats to eat some foods are too big in size they are not large breed cats. I would recommend this to cat parents who are possibly like me rotating different types seeing what they like and to mix it up for the cats. This is defiantly part of our food rotation from now on. Thanks to Natures Recipe for making such a great food my fur babies love.” – Jen2019

Negative Reviews

“5 year old cat only eats dry food when wet isn’t available to her. She didn’t seem excited by this (first time trying it). She usually like chicken but I guess this food just isn’t tasty enough. I don’t plan on reordering.” – Sully

“All the kitties liked this food, but it gave one of them really, REALLY terrible constipation (the kind that had her running around the house hissing and yowling). Another one showed signs that he was starting to have problems with it too. My cat didn’t have any problems with it – and I feel is probably because it has more meat in it than the dry foods they’re used to… so I guess it depends on the cat. Flavor must have been good though as all the cats we offered it to were more than happy to eat it.” – Quin

Read more customer reviews on Chewy.

Nature’s Recipe Grain-Free Indoor Chicken & Potato Recipe Dry Cat Food Review

First 5 Ingredients: Chicken, Chicken Meal, Potatoes, Turkey Meal, Fish Meal

This is an indoor cat formula. Like other formulas of this type, the food reflects indoor cats’ relatively low activity levels and tendency to develop hairballs by combining moderate calorie content with increased fiber, which some believe can help reduce hairballs and increase satiety.

The ingredient list begins with chicken, followed by chicken meal. These are both nourishing sources of animal protein and a good inclusion in your cat’s food. The third ingredient is potatoes – the binding carbohydrate source of choice for grain-free foods. Although potatoes look more wholesome on the ingredient list than corn does, they’re starchy and essentially non-nutritive to your carnivorous cat.

After potatoes, the ingredient list includes three more animal ingredients. The recipe includes turkey meal, a concentrated source of animal protein, followed by fish meal, which is a nutritious protein source that’s also rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Note that the type of fish is not specified, so it may come from a variety of species. Poultry fat provides nourishing fatty acids and is a biologically appropriate energy source. Again, the source of the poultry fat is not specified and may originate from any type of poultry.

Next on the list are peas. Like potatoes, peas are a common sight on grain-free ingredient lists.

Following the peas is cellulose, which is a natural wood pulp used to add fiber. As we near the end of the ingredient list and a long list of synthetic vitamins and minerals, you’ll notice an additive labeled “natural flavor”. This ingredient is made from hydrolyzed animal tissue and can increase the palatability of the food. Again, we don’t know exactly what types of animals contributed to the flavor spray.

In addition to the standard vitamins and minerals, the recipe includes yucca schidigera extract. This is an interesting ingredient. Studies have shown that the extract “improved the character and reduced the intensity of faecal aroma” in cats and dogs.

According to the guaranteed analysis, this food contains 37% minimum crude protein, 15% minimum crude fat, and approximately 22.68% carbohydrate.

Regardless of the quality of its ingredients, dry food is always flawed. Cats have naturally low thirst drives and should get most of their hydration from their food. No dry food can provide the hydration your cat needs and cats who live off of kibble are often chronically dehydrated.

The food is available in three bag sizes. You can buy it in a 2-lb bag, a 5-lb bag, or an 11-lb bag. Based on Nature’s Recipe feeding guidelines for a 10-lb cat, the food costs between $.50  and $1 daily.

This cost estimate is based on Chewy prices and excludes shipping costs.