Best Grain-Free Cat Food Review 2024

This Grain-Free Indoor Adult Recipe from Blue Buffalo offers wholesome, grain-free goodness for your cat. 

Featuring whitefish as its first ingredient, this recipe features Blue’s LifeSource Bits that provide a host of important antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals for your furry friend. It’s a good source of omega fatty acids too, ensuring that your cat’s skin and coat are at their best.

Best of all, Dr. Georgia Jeremiah, pet nutrition expert and one of Wag!’s veterinary consultants, recommends Blue Buffalo cat food to her clients. “Blue Buffalo provides wet and dry recipes tailored to various life stages, including high-protein and grain-free choices,” she says.

“Catering to special dietary needs, they offer limited ingredient varieties such as Blue Basics without common allergens such as chicken, beef, corn, wheat, soy, dairy and eggs. With real meat, omega fatty acids and plenty of antioxidants, Blue Buffalo recipes are a good option for felines with delicate digestive tracts. Be mindful of the higher carbohydrate and low moisture content with some formulas if your cat has specific medical conditions.”

So, if you’re looking for the best grain-free cat food, it’s hard to go past this recipe from Blue Buffalo.

This scrumptious chicken and fish recipe is sure to have your cat licking their lips. The Honest Kitchen specializes in human-grade food for pets, and this dry formula has been created in collaboration with a veterinary nutritionist. Cage-free chicken and wild-caught fish are the animal protein sources, flaxseeds promote coat health, and cranberries help maintain urinary tract health.

“The Honest Kitchen offers high-protein, human-grade cat food that's grain-free and devoid of artificial preservatives, GMOs, corn, wheat, and soy,” says Dr. Georgia Jeremiah, who recommends The Honest Kitchen cat food to her clients. “Prioritizing meat as the first ingredient, their range includes both wet and dry varieties in multiple flavors to satisfy picky eaters - all with a money-back guarantee.”

Why not let your cat give this grain-free recipe a try the next time you need to stock up on cat food?

If you’re looking for a nutritious, grain-free cat food that’s also friendly to your wallet, this American Journey Grain-Free Salmon Recipe fits the bill. Designed for cats at all life stages, this high-protein recipe features real salmon as its first ingredient. It also contains fruit and veg like pumpkins and carrots to provide important antioxidants, and taurine to ensure eye and heart health.

“American Journey cat food features high-quality, real meat as the primary ingredient, ensuring balanced nutrition with essential vitamins and minerals,” explains Dr. Georgia Jeremiah. “It offers grain-free options, free from artificial additives or preservatives, in various flavors to suit individual preferences. Additionally, it includes added probiotics for digestive health and is known for its affordability.”

Check it out if you’re searching for grain-free cat food that won’t break the bank.

If your cat prefers wet food instead of dry, this limited-ingredient diet from Merrick is well worth checking out. It features real deboned chicken as the first ingredient, this recipe doesn’t contain any grains or potatoes. 

This Chicken Pate Recipe is also a good source of antioxidants to support a strong immune system, features omega fatty acids to help your cat’s skin and coat stay healthy, and is made in the USA.

“Merrick offers high-protein diets with meat as the primary ingredient,” says Dr. Georgia Jeremiah, pet nutrition expert and one of Wag!’s veterinary consultants. “Recipes are free from corn, wheat, soy, artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives and rich in omega fatty acids and include probiotics for overall feline well-being.”

And because this recipe is made with minimal ingredients, it’s a good choice for cats that are prone to food sensitivities and intolerances.

Orijen Original Cat is a high-protein, grain-free diet that’s loaded with nutritional goodness. This recipe is made from 90% animal ingredients and its first 5 ingredients are chicken, turkey, whole herring, turkey giblets (liver, heart, gizzard), and salmon. It’s a good source of taurine to maintain heart health, and it features fiber along with prebiotics and probiotics to promote gut health.

Orijen cat food is also another brand that Dr. Georgia Jeremiah recommends to her clients. “Orijen is known for its high protein content, incorporating meat, organs, and bones from multiple animal sources,” she says.

“Recipes are made with fresh ingredients and avoids fillers, artificial additives, and grains. Additionally, they include a probiotic blend for digestive health. One potential drawback is that these diets are expensive; however, overall this is a high-quality, convenient diet option.”

Taste of the Wild’s nutritional philosophy is based on feeding your cat the sort of diet their ancestors would have eaten in the wild. This Rocky Mountain Feline Recipe is a high-protein, grain-free food that features chicken meal, roasted venison, smoke-flavored salmon, and ocean fish as its animal protein sources. It also includes Taste of the Wild’s proprietary Viables Probiotics, which are designed to support your pet’s digestion and immune system.

Even better, Dr. Georgia Jeremiah recommends Taste of the Wild to her clients. “Taste of the Wild cat food features grain-free options with novel proteins such as venison, and added probiotics for your cat's gut health,” she says. “While it is affordable, their formulas are high in pea and potato plant-proteins, and the presence of guar gum in the ingredients may contribute to digestive issues in sensitive cats.”

But if you’re searching for a cost-effective grain-free diet, Taste of the Wild Rocky Mountain Feline Recipe is well worth a look.

Last but not least on our list of the best grain-free cat food is this Instinct Original Grain-Free Pate Real Rabbit Recipe. This recipe doesn’t feature any grains, potatoes, corn, wheat, or soy, but it includes farm-raised rabbit as the first ingredient. This is a novel protein source for cats with food sensitivities, while the pate texture of this formula will make it highly palatable to your fur-baby.

“Instinct cat food offers a species-appropriate diet with high protein content and real meat as the primary ingredient,” Dr. Georgia Jeremiah says. “With grain-free recipes and those free from artificial preservatives, colors, and flavors, Instinct provides options that are suitable for cats with digestive sensitivities. However, some recipes may have higher fat or carbohydrate levels and are relatively more expensive than comparable brands.”

But if you don’t mind paying a little extra for quality, this Instinct Original Grain-Free Pate Real Rabbit Recipe could be the “pawfect” choice for your cat.