As caring pet parents, we all want the best for our cats. This means providing them with healthy, premium dry food that keeps them purring with delight. Nutrition plays a fundamental part in caring for their health. Inadequate and low-quality food is often the cause of many diseases: diabetes, obesity, kidney impairment, digestive problems, etc. But what is the best dry food for cats? And how do you choose the right dry food for your cat?
The choice can feel overwhelming, and few brands are short on appealing claims (and some misleading ones - but that’s another story). At the end of the day, it’s really not easy to make the right choice for your cat.
This guide is not about ranking or comparing brands side by side, but identifying what makes a good dry food, what it should contain, and most importantly, the benefits it should provide to keep your cat healthy and happy.
You may also want to read our article: what's the best wet food for your cat?
Do you have a kitten? We also share tips to help you choose the right dry food for your kitten.
By the way, there's also an article about dry food for cats you'll want to avoid.
Choosing the best dry food for your cat: 4 essential criteria
1/ Premium quality protein-rich dry food
The first thing to consider when choosing dry food for your cat is the protein content.
Remember, our furry friends are strict carnivores. They cannot live and stay healthy without animal proteins in their diet. These provide the 11 essential amino acids they cannot do without such as taurine, arginine, or phenylalanine.
This means that your cat needs a dry food rich in protein. The main ingredient must be animal protein, whether that's chicken, beef or salmon!
But keep in mind that quantity does not always mean quality! If a dry food for cats claims to have 48% or 50% protein, and it then turns out that these proteins come from carcass scraps and bone residues, these proteins will offer no nutritional value to your cat.
These “bad proteins” are not absorbed by their bodies. They're passed as waste in their urine. And the more your cat eats this type of dry food, the harder his kidneys are going to have to work. Which can ultimately lead to chronic kidney impairment.
How do you know if the proteins used in the dry food are premium?
The quality of the protein depends on its ability to provide the cat with essential amino acids. Several indicators on the back of a dry food packet can help you, such as the phosphorus level, crude ash content, or the Protein to Phosphorus Ratio (PPR). The latter indicates the proportion of protein to phosphorus: if the ratio is below 25, it means that it most likely contains carcass scraps. Read all about it in our article on protein in your cat’s diet.
At Ziggy, all our dry foods for cats are rich in premium proteins. Our dry foods for neutered adult cats contain 44% protein and a PPR of 57 and 58, while those for our kittens contain 45% good protein with a PPR of 50. These ratios prove our dry food contains excellent quality protein!
2/ Low-carb dry food
That's for proteins. Now let's take a look at carbs.
Excessive NFE (starch and sugars) relative to the cat's energy needs, results in glucose being stored as glycogen or being converted by insulin into fat. A diet too high in carbs, besides not being easily digestible by all cats, could harm their health: becoming overweight, obesity, and diabetes in cats.
Unfortunately, carb-free dry food doesn't exist because starch is an essential part of the manufacturing process. And starch is another form of carb. Starch helps produce airy and crispy dry food. So far, no alternative has been found to replace starch.
Watch out for the carb level in your furry friend's food.
At Ziggy, thanks to the expertise of our veterinary nutritionist Dr Géraldine Blanchard, we did our best to offer dry food that has the lowest level of carbs. Our salmon and chicken dry foods contain 23% and 24% carbs, respectively. As for our dry food for kittens, it contains only 18% carbs.
Calculating the carb level of dry food
If your cat's dry food doesn’t list its carb level, you can do the easy math yourself.
Just add up all the analytical constituents percentages (crude protein level, crude ash level, etc.).
Then, do 100 minus the total. And you'll have the dry food's carb percentage.
For example, our salmon dry food for neutered adult cats lists 44% crude protein, 13.5% crude fat, 7% crude ash, 5.8% crude fiber, and 6% moisture.
100 - (44 + 13.5 + 7 + 5.8 + 6) = 23.7% carbohydrates
3/ Dry food low in phosphorus
What is phosphorus? It's a macroelement essential to your cat's health, helping with the synthesis of amino acids and proteins. It also allows your furry friend’s body to absorb calcium.
Phosphorus is therefore essential, but can harm your cat’s little kidneys if consumed in excessive amounts. Several studies, including those by Böswald (2018) and Dobenecker (2018), have shown that foods too rich in digestible phosphorus can have harmful effects on kidney function in cats.
The dry food that's best for your cat is rich in quality animal protein, and low in carbs as well as in phosphorus.
A small indicator to look for: the Ca/P ratio. If your neutered cat does not suffer from kidney problems, this should be between 1 and 2. It doesn’t appear on the pack? No worries. Do this simple math: calcium level/phosphorus level.
Our Ziggy dry food for neutered adult cats is low in phosphorus and has a Ca/P ratio of 1.2 (salmon and chicken). For kittens, our dry food has a Ca/P ratio of 1.1.
4/ Dry food that doesn't contain too much fat
Fats are also essential for your cat as they provide fuel. Lipids (fats) are major components of cell membranes. They also play a role in thermal and mechanical protection of vital organs or cells (protecting the skin and coat).
Even though they're essential, fats should not be present in too large a quantity. If the dry food is too rich in fats, your cat might start gaining weight. Overweight or obese cats may develop diabetes, respiratory problems, or even kidney disease like kidney impairment.
At Ziggy, our dry foods for neutered adult cats with chicken and salmon contain 13.5% fat, while those for our little kittens contain 18%.
Ziggy's dry food for neutered adult cats
Ziggy's dry food for neutered adult cats ranks among the best dry food for cats according to the French website Gang des Moustaches.
For the perfect balance, we recommend providing your cat with a mix of dry and wet food so that your furry friend stays perfectly hydrated.
A strictly dry food diet barely meets his hydration needs. Read all about it in our article: why you shouldn't only give your cat dry food.
By including wet food in his diet, your furry friend gets water without even realizing it. Of course, it should also be quality wet food 😺
Is grain-free dry food better for my cat?
This is a question many parents ask. And maybe you are too. The answer is…it depends!
Grain-free dry foods are better because, as their name suggests, they do not contain grain. In the wild, cats don't eat wheat or barley. You'd never see a cat chowing down on a cob of corn. Since they digest grain poorly, they naturally select foods that are good for them. They may ingest a little when they eat a field mouse, as their prey consumes it, but we're talking about really tiny quantities here.
On the other hand, grain-free dry food is no better if it's loaded with carbs.
As explained above, starch is required to make dry food. It's notably found in grain. Instead, to make grain-free dry food, manufacturers use other sources of starch such as tapioca, sweet potato, or chickpea flour. And unfortunately, these substitutes can contribute significant amounts of carbs. So, some grain-free dry food can end up being more harmful to your cat’s health than those containing wheat, barley, or corn.
While Ziggy dry food is grain-free, it’s also a low-carb dry food. 23% carbs for our dry food with salmon, 24% for our dry food with chicken, and 18% for our dry food for kittens.
Round-shaped dry food for your cat
Watch out not only for the nutritional composition but also the shape!
Prefer dry food that's round rather than triangular or any other pointed shape. These could hurt your little cat's gums.
All our dry food for cats is round 😺
The (ultimate) guide to choosing the right dry food for your cat
In this article, we have 4 essential criteria for choosing the best dry food for your cat and other valuable tips.
Download our guide to find out more. Learn how to decipher dry food packaging, avoid common pitfalls and provide the best possible diet for your cat.
Bonjour Brigitte,
Merci beaucoup pour votre commentaire. 💛
Notre pâtée Senior est la plus adaptée aux besoins de votre moustachu âgé. En vieillissant, nos chats ont besoin d’une alimentation encore plus adaptée : moins de phosphore pour préserver leurs reins, une excellente qualité protéique et des acides gras pour soulager leurs articulations. Vous pouvez offrir à votre chat notre pâtée pour chats seniors en majorité, mais aussi alterner avec nos autres recettes pour varier les goûts et les plaisirs. C’est tout à fait recommandé. 😺
N’hésitez à nous contacter par email à hello@ziggyfamily.com si vous souhaitez un accompagnement personnalisé.
Prenez soin de votre chat et de vous. 🌈
À très bientôt,
L’équipe Ziggy
Je donne à mon chat âgé de 14 ans vos croquettes et vos pâtées depuis le début de votre site mais il y a très peu de choix pour les vieux chats stérilisés et je me demande si il n’y a pas quelques carences
En tout cas cette alimentation est très appréciée.
Merci pour votre commentaire. 🐾
Nous proposons plusieurs offres découvertes sur notre site internet, afin que votre moustachu puisse tester nos recettes.
Vous pouvez également composer votre propre coffret dans la rubrique “Coffret Découverte”.
Ces packs vous permettront de réaliser une transition alimentaire tout en douceur avec votre chat.
À l’inverse, nous ne proposons pas d’échantillons car ils ne permettent pas une transition sur plusieurs jours et sont ainsi que peu révélateurs de l’appétence d’un produit ainsi que de ses bénéfices santé.
Nous restons disponibles si vous avez des questions ou besoin de conseils 😺
N’hésitez pas à nous écrire à hello@ziggyfamily.com
L’équipe Ziggy 💛
Serait il possible d’avoir des échantillons en croquettes et nourriture humide pour tester,?mon chaton a 9 mois mais est stérilisé.
Bonjour,
Merci pour votre intérêt pour nos délicieuses croquettes et pâtées. 💛
Si vous souhaitez tester nos recettes, nous proposons un coffret découverte chaton sur notre site Internet, contenant un paquet de croquettes et huit pâtées au bœuf.
Ce pack vous permettra de réaliser une transition alimentaire tout en douceur avec votre chaton.
À l’inverse, nous ne proposons pas d’échantillons car ils ne permettent pas une transition sur plusieurs jours et sont ainsi que peu révélateurs de l’appétence d’un produit ainsi que de ses bénéfices santé.
N’hésitez pas à nous contacter à hello@ziggyfamily.com si vous avez des questions ou besoin de conseils. 😺
L’équipe Ziggy
Bonjour,
Je viens d’adopter un chaton de 2 mois.
Serait il possible d’avoir des échantillons en croquettes et nourriture humide pour tester
Bonjour Marian,
Nous vous remercions pour votre retour et de l’intérêt que vous portez pour nos croquettes. 😻
En effet, nous ne proposons pas la livraison vers la Suisse pour le moment.
En revanche, si vous vous trouvez non loin de la frontière française, nous pouvons tout à fait envisager une livraison en point relais français le plus proche de chez vous.
Nous adorerions pouvoir vous faire découvrir nos recettes ! 🐾
Auriez-vous des recommendations pour d’autres croquettes d’aussi bonne qualité que les votre car je vis au Suisse et vous ne livrer pas ici ? merci d’avance
Bonjour Elisabeth,
Si vos petits chats n’ont aucune pathologie, nos croquettes au poulet ou au saumon conviendront parfaitement. N’hésitez à nous contacter à hello@ziggyfamily.com si besoin 😺
Plein de caresses à vos moustachus.
Avez-vous des croquettes spécifiques pour mes chats de 14 ans stérilisé
Merci
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