A guide to grain free cat food: is it good for cats?

Mainstream cat food brands have built their foundations on grains like wheat, corn, and rice. This is bad news for cats. Cats don’t hunt carbs. They’re designed to hunt mice, birds, and rabbits. And eat meat. They need a meat-based diet to survive.

It’s become the norm for many cat food brands to advertise their products as being grain-free. Great. But instead of grains, they just use alternatives like sweet potatoes, pumpkin, or lentils. But when grains make up most of their food? It’s not good for your cat to eat. Even the most high-end grain-free kibble and wet food might not be ideal for your cat’s dietary needs.

Learn more about grain-free cat food. And why you should switch to our fresh recipes.

Grain-free cat food is exactly what it sounds like – cat food made without grains. Many commercial cat foods pad out their food, particularly kibble, with starches and grains like wheat, corn, oats, barley and rice. To make up for the low meat content. 

The bad news? Grains are difficult for cats to digest. Which can result in upset stomachs (and smellier litter trays), itchy skin, and dull fur. Grain-free cat foods remove these ingredients, usually opting for alternatives like potatoes and lentils instead. 

But that’s not enough. Your cat’s food should have a meat content as high as possible to keep them looking and feeling their best. And kibble just doesn’t cut it.

Yes. Because cats are obligate carnivores. Which means they've evolved to get most of their energy from meat. So opting for cat food with no grains, cereals, or other fillers is important for their health. Other animals, like herbivores, break down starch with a special enzyme in their saliva called Amylase. Their digestive systems are designed to carry on processing the grains and fibres. Unlike herbivores, or even omnivores, cats struggle to digest starch and plants. That’s why cats in the wild get less than 2% of their energy from grains.

Also, some cats can be sensitive to grains. Which can cause vomiting and diarrhoea. And we’d all rather spend Sunday mornings having a lie-in than cleaning the rug.

Cats’ digestive systems aren’t designed to digest carbs. They don’t have the right enzymes in their saliva. So opting for grain-free food reduces the stress on their system.

But even with a grain-free kibble, there can still be more carbs than your cat can digest. Which can mean more poops. (And more mess in the litter tray.)

It’s easy to find plenty of options for grain-free food in most pet shops and supermarkets. And it’s easy to feed to your cats.

Unfortunately, it’s difficult to know how long off-the-shelf cat food been sitting around. They're often packed with preservatives. And could have been on the shelf for months before you came along to buy it. Nasty.

For cats with stomach issues and food sensitivities, a grain-free diet can help to soothe their digestion and banish the itchy skin.

Even the highest quality grain-free diet isn’t as good for your cat as 100% real, human-quality meat. Like what you'll find in our seven fresh recipes. With a high-quality meat diet, you’ll find that they’ll have less messy litter trays. Shinier coats. And faster zoomies.

Depends on what you mean by ‘good’ and ‘bad’. It’s better than food with grains in, but still worse than 100% real, human-quality meat. A cat’s liver enzymes are constantly looking for proteins to break down and turn into energy and blood glucose. If they don’t get enough meat protein in their diet, their bodies start breaking down muscles to try and meet their protein and amino acid needs.

Pay attention to the ingredients of your cat’s food if you’re considering going grain-free. Ingredient labels are quantitative, which means the ingredient with the highest amount is listed first. A cheap grain-free food could still have just as many fillers as an expensive food with grains. A better quality grain-free food will have the meat content listed as high up the list as possible (preferably the first and only ingredient) and have minimal fillers.

Make sure you pay attention to the type of protein too. Not all grain-free cat foods have quality meat. The packet might say grain-free or high-protein on the front, but if it’s made with “meat derivatives” (usually in powdered form), it’s still a far cry from the fresh 100% gently-cooked, nutrient-rich meat your cat really needs.

Vets don’t necessarily dislike grain-free cat food. They’re just cautious of food that claims to be grain-free but uses other carb-loaded ingredients to pad it out instead. 

Because cats are obligate carnivores, they need a high level of meat protein in whatever they eat. So claiming that a food is grain-free and simply swapping out the main ingredient for another, like sweet potato, peas, or lentils, doesn’t mean that food is better for your cat as there is still a low amount of meat in there.

Because there's less waste to expel, cats that eat a grain-free or all-meat diet will usually use the litter tray less often than those who have a diet with ingredients they struggle to digest. But it doesn’t mean they’re constipated. If you notice them straining too much, or if they get in and out of the litter tray many times without actually pooping, these can be signs of constipation. And it might be time to visit the vet.

Go against the grain (and grain-free). Feed fresh, real meat cat food – not carbs. Our grain-free cat food is made from 100% human-quality meat. Gently cooked to lock in those all-important nutrients. And frozen to stay fresh with no preservatives. 

Going all-in for your cat’s health is easy with KatKin.