Nutro Cat Food Review 2024

Nutro is a US pet food company with a history dating back to the first half of the 20th century. With a commitment to creating high-quality pet food that provides essential nutrients for your pet, Nutro offers a wide variety of cat and dog food products.

But is Nutro the best choice for your cat? To help you decide, we've put together this review of Nutro's product lines, pros and cons, recall history, and more.

Nutro’s cat food range can be split up into 2 categories. The first is the Wholesome Essentials dry food range, and the second is Nutro’s range of wet food options. Let’s take a closer look at what each Nutro recipe has to offer.

Wholesome Essentials Dry Food

Nutro’s range of Wholesome Essentials dry food.

• Kitten Chicken & Brown Rice. Available in 3 lb and 5 lb bags, this kitten recipe features chicken, chicken meal, pea protein, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), and brewers rice as its first 5 ingredients.
• Adult Chicken & Brown Rice. Designed for cats aged 1 year or older, this recipe features chicken, chicken meal, split peas, whole grain sorghum, and whole grain brown rice as its first 5 ingredients.
• Adult Salmon & Brown Rice. Available in 3 lb, 5lb, and 14 lb bags, this formula features salmon, chicken meal, brewers rice, pea protein, and whole grain brown rice as its first 5 ingredients.
• Adult Hairball Control Chicken & Brown Rice. This formula features a natural fiber blend to help promote healthy digestion and prevent the formation of hairballs. Its first 5 ingredients are chicken, chicken meal, pea protein, whole grain brown rice, and dried potatoes.
• Adult Indoor Chicken & Brown Rice. Available in 3 lb, 5lb, and 14 lb bags, this formula for indoor cats includes chicken, chicken meal, brewers rice, pea protein, and whole grain brown rice as its first 5 ingredients.
• Adult Sensitive Formula with Chicken & Brown Rice. If your cat has a sensitive stomach, this formula features easily digestible ingredients. Its first 5 ingredients are chicken, chicken meal, brewers rice, split peas, and pea protein.
• Senior Chicken & Brown Rice. Designed for cats aged 7+, this recipe includes chicken, chicken meal, pea protein, whole grain brown rice, and chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols) as its first 5 ingredients.

Wet Foods

There are 2 types of wet food in the Nutro cat food range: pates and meat cuts in gravy.

• Chicken Pate. This recipe features chicken, chicken broth, chicken liver, water, and dried pork broth as its first 5 ingredients.
• Chicken & Liver Pate. Chicken, chicken liver, chicken broth, water, and dried pork broth are the main ingredients in this pate.
• Chicken & Shrimp Pate. Chicken, chicken broth, chicken liver, shrimp, and water top the ingredients list for this recipe.
• Salmon & Chicken Pate. Salmon, chicken, chicken broth, chicken liver, and water are the first 5 ingredients in this pate.
• Salmon & Tuna Pate. This pate’s first 5 ingredients are salmon, chicken, chicken broth, chicken liver, and tuna.
• Turkey Pate. This Nutro Turkey Recipe Pate lists turkey, turkey broth, chicken liver, chicken, and water as its top 5 ingredients.
• Beef Cuts in Gravy. This grain-free recipe features chicken broth, water, beef, chicken, and chicken liver as its first 5 ingredients.
• Chicken Cuts in Gravy. The first 5 ingredients in this chicken recipe are chicken broth, chicken, chicken liver, pork plasma, and tapioca starch.
• Chicken & Salmon Cuts in Gravy. Chicken broth, chicken, chicken liver, salmon, and pork plasma are the top 5 ingredients in this recipe.
• Salmon Cuts in Gravy. Chicken broth, water, salmon, chicken liver, and chicken are the top 5 ingredients listed.

Why should you consider feeding Nutro to your cat? There are several good reasons:

Natural ingredients

Nutro uses natural ingredients to provide high-quality nutrition for your fur-baby. It offers products to suit all life stages along with a variety of flavors and textures to suit all taste preferences.

Affordable

Nutro is a reasonably affordable pet food brand. For example, a 14 lb bag of Nutro Wholesome Essentials Indoor Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe retails for around $45 (or $3.22 per lb) from online retailers. This means it’s an option worth considering if you’re on a tight budget.

Related: Best budget-friendly cat food

Nutro Satisfaction Guarantee

If you’re not 100% satisfied with any Nutro product, Nutro’s Satisfaction Guarantee means you can contact the manufacturer for a complete refund or replacement.

Established brand

Nutro was founded all the way back in the 1920s or 1930s. So unlike some pet food brands that have only been established in the past few years, Nutro has a proven track record of providing quality nutrition for cats and dogs.

Recall history

Nutro has been the subject of a few recalls in the past, which may concern same pet parents. Check out the recalls section further down the page for more information.

Plant-based protein

Some products in the Nutro dry food range feature plant-based protein sources, such as pea protein and potato protein. These can increase the carbohydrate content of foods, while plant proteins also don't contain the same essential amino acids as animal proteins. 

Some controversial ingredients

There are some other ingredients used in Nutro products that may be controversial in the eyes of some pet parents. For example, wet recipes commonly contain guar gum, which can potentially contribute to digestive issues such as IBD.

“This is all I feed my six kitties. Not just because of the quality and the ingredients but because they ALL love it! It’s good on their tummies too.”

“I tried several different dry foods for my cats after they no longer needed kitten food. One of my cats is pretty picky so he didn't like most of the foods I presented. This is one that he will eat consistently and I feel good about feeding it to them — it's non-gmo, high in protein, and the ingredients are pretty straightforward. They have not had any digestive issues after eating it so overall it's win-win. I recommend trying this food if your cats are picky.”

“My cat is picky with food and even treats. But he took to this right away and really likes it. I love how healthy it is, but not how expensive it is!”

Read more reviews on Chewy.

While there's some conjecture around when exactly Nutro was founded, the Nutro name was first trademarked in 1936. The company was founded as a fox food business by a family of fox farmers, but soon began also manufacturing dog food. Nutro's dog food was sold through a company known as Kal Kan, which would later go on to become Whiskas.

Nutro was acquired by Mars, Incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee.

Nutro issued a withdrawal notice (not a recall) for its chewy apple dog treats in December 2015 due to potential mold contamination.

In October 2009, some varieties of its dry dog food were recalled due to the presence of plastic in the production line. In May of the same year, several varieties of Nutro dry cat foods were recalled because they contained incorrect levels of zinc and potassium.

Finally, Nutro was also caught up in the widespread melamine recalls of 2007 that affected several pet food brands.