This is my personal choice for my cats. I have been thinking of changing to Merrick: Before Grain due to the price but my cats are just so happy and so healthy on this dry food that I can’t bring myself to change. Find out below why I think this is one of the best dry food for cats in the world.
Orijen: Cat and Kitten
Summary
My personal favourite dry food on the market. My cats have been perfectly healthy and full of energy using this for the majority of their lives. Very good quality of ingredients (even for my standards). Highly recommended dry food.
Quality of Ingredients
You only have to look at the ingredient list to see a truly shining example of quality ingredients. Some might argue that the fewer the different types of meat the better but I think it can only add to the taste and the nutrients that our little friends are recieving. As always this dry food follows my guidelines for a good dry food completely.
- NO Grain
- NO Artificial Flavours or Preservatives
- NO Potentially Poisonous Ingredients
- Meat is the First 2 Ingredients
Every dry food must have some sort of binding agent to hold it all together during the cooking process and in this case it appears to be green and red lentils. These are very far down the list which is always a good sign as this means that there is a very low % of lentils to the rest of the quality ingredients. There are 5 different types of meat described as whole in the ingredient list which is fantastic. Whole food is something that has had minimal processing before being used in a food and this is exactly what we want for our cats (ourselves as well!).
Taste
This was the first food I tried where my cats ate this over the wet food I had given them. The only other food I have seen this is Acana Regionals Meadowland. This must really be a tasty food for our little friends. Throughout the entire time I have been using Orijen Cat and Kitten the bowls have always been empty and the cats have always been content. There really isn’t anything negative I can say about the taste.
Health Benefits
This is the food I have given my cats since they were big enough to eat it. Even when they were so small I had to soften it up with kitten milk. I really pride myself on how healthy, active and beautiful my cats are and Orijen Cat and Kitten simply must have something to do with that. Even after 2 years of using it they haven’t got bored and they eat it with as much gusto as they did at the beginning. I have followed the feeding guides throughout all of that time and my cats have never had weight problems. I once left them with a friend for 5 weeks whilst I went on a long holiday and they gained ridiculous amounts of weight so please do ensure you follow the recommednations on the back of the pack.
Value
I would say Orijen is middle in terms of price in the premium dry food market. But you are getting a seriously high quality dry food so the value is outstanding. The best value out of all of the dry foods I have tried is still Merrick Before Grain however I really do believe you get what you are paying for with Orijen Cat and Kitten.
Availability
Now this is not a negative in terms of the Orijen I have been using however I have read a lot of reviews about a change of recipe in the U.S.A. A lot of owners have been complaining about their cats suddenly not being able to eat or stomach Orijen Cat and KittenOrijen Cat and Kitten. You only have to look at recent reviews for the product to see what I mean. However as you can see, I have included a link to the U.K. Orijen Cat and Kitten which does not have the same issue. I have read that Orijen still made in Canada has not been affected by the recipe change. Any of my links will take you to the shop closest to your location so feel free to see where your Orijen is being made to avoid the U.S.A. batch.
Summary
Probably my favorite dry food on the market. It has helped completely solve my cats stomach issues and has done wonders for thier health and happiness throughout their lives. I might be a little bias because of this but I would definetely never give my cats something permanently that I didn’t 100% think was the good for them. I highly recommend Orijen Cat and Kitten.