Now Fresh Cat Food Review

#1 Now Fresh Grain-Free Adult Recipe Dry Cat Food Review

Deboned turkey appears to be the primary protein source in this dry cat food.

In keeping with Now Fresh’s promise of no rendered ingredients, this food contains deboned turkey as the first ingredient with no meat meals or animal by-products. While it’s true that mystery meat and meals and by-product slurries tend to be of uncertain nutritional value, eliminating rendered meals isn’t necessarily a good choice.

Meat meals appear to be just as nutrient-rich and digestible as their fresh counterparts. Because they’re dehydrated, rendered meals are more nutrient-dense and richer in protein. In contrast to turkey meal, deboned turkey will lose a lot of water weight during processing. It’s likely that if the ingredients were weighed after cooking, turkey would drop a few spots down the ingredient list. Perhaps it would be replaced by one or two of the next few ingredients—potato flour, peas, potatoes, and pea fiber.

The food contains whole dried egg as a secondary source of protein. It also contains a small amount of deboned salmon and duck.

Coconut and canola oil are the food’s primary fat sources. The kibble is fortified with synthetic vitamins, minerals, and amino acids that make it nutritionally complete and balanced. It contains a variety of probiotics and prebiotics, which may support digestive health.

Overall, this dry food has moderate protein content with moderate fat and high carbohydrate content.

With its primary meat ingredient so water-heavy, its protein content so low, and its use of plant-sourced oils rather than animal fats, this appears to be a fundamentally plant-based cat food.

The food has 444 calories per cup.

Pros

• Made without animal by-products
• Made from human-edible ingredients
• Free of artificial additives
• Cats love the way this kibble tastes

Cons

• High in carbohydrates
• Primarily made from plant ingredients
• Low protein content
• Contains canola and coconut oil instead of animal fat

#2 Now Fresh Grain-Free Senior Weight Management Recipe Dry Cat Food Review

Deboned turkey appears to be the primary protein source in this dry cat food.

This food is almost identical to the first one we reviewed. The only difference is that it’s geared towards senior cats over the age of 7, particularly those who need to lose weight. It has lower protein content, lower calorie content, and less fat.

It contains deboned turkey as the first ingredient, with eggs, salmon, and a little bit of duck further down the ingredient list. Starchy vegetable ingredients take up a lot of space early on the list, including potato flour, peas, and pea fiber. The food also contains potatoes, tomatoes, flaxseed, and apples.

Its primary fat sources are canola and coconut oil, which don’t deliver the spectrum of fatty acids that cats require.

In addition to a colorful variety of fruits and vegetables, the food contains synthetic vitamins, minerals, and amino acids that make each meal nutritionally complete. Finally, it’s enhanced with prebiotics and probiotics with a guaranteed probiotic content of at least 90,000,000 colony forming units per pound.

Overall, this food is low in protein with moderate fat and high carbohydrate content.

Like the last recipe, this food is a plant-based product. It’s got plenty of peas and potatoes near the top of the ingredient list, relatively low protein content, and relies on oils rather than nutritious animal fat. Though cats seem to love it, this Now Fresh recipe isn’t an ideal choice for most cats.

The food has 393 calories per cup.

Pros

• Made with fresh, high-quality ingredients
• Cats love the way the food tastes
• Can help cats lose weight
• Free of artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives

Cons

• High carbohydrate content
• Low meat content
• Made with plant-derived oils rather than animal fat

#3 Now Fresh Grain-Free Pork Paté Wet Cat Food Review

Pork appears to be the primary protein source in this wet cat food.

This paté-style food features deboned pork as the first ingredient with turkey bone broth its primary source of moisture. It’s great to see bone broth on a cat food ingredient list—this ingredient is intensely nourishing, with plenty of glucosamine, chondroitin, and nutrients. Later on the ingredient list, it contains a small amount of deboned salmon.

Potatoes, peas, tapioca, cranberries, sweet potatoes, and apples add to the food’s carbohydrate content. Like most Now Fresh recipes, it contains canola and coconut oil as sources of fat. While they may have some beneficial fatty acids for both cats and people, these oils are not as biologically available or nourishing as animal fats.

The food is thickened with xanthan gum. Though not harmful for all cats, xanthan gum is not a species-appropriate ingredient.

Overall, this food has low protein content with moderate fat and high carbohydrate content.

Though this food has some interesting qualities—bone broth instead of ordinary meat broth, fresh meat instead of mystery meals or animal by-products, and xanthan gum instead of potentially-carcinogenic carrageenan—it’s not the best paté you could feed your cat. With over 30% calories from carbohydrate, this food is definitely too starchy to qualify as part of a species-appropriate feline diet.

The food has 180 calories in each carton or roughly 28 calories per ounce.

Pros

• Made without animal by-products
• Contains only named meats
• Features nourishing bone broth
• Free of artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives

Cons

• High in carbohydrates compared to other wet foods
• Relies on plant-sourced oils rather than animal fats