Purina is one of the biggest pet food companies globally, producing hundreds of affordably-priced recipes for canines and felines. Pro Plan is Purina's largest pet food range, with various formulas for specific breeds, age groups, and health needs to help keep your tiny tiger in tiptop shape.

But is Purina Pro Plan good for cats? Keep scrolling for our unbiased Purina Pro Plan cat food review, where we analyze nutrition labels, break down the brand's history, and examine past recalls to help you decide if it's right for your furry friend. 

Purina Pro Plan has over 100 different cat food options spanning many different sub-ranges. Let's go over these offerings.

All Purina Pro Plan non-prescription cat foods meet the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) nutrient profile guidelines for all life stages, adult maintenance, or growth. 

The Complete Essentials line is Purina Pro Plan's signature line for adult cats, with 4 dry foods and 24 different wet food options.

The dry food line has two flavors, Chicken and Rice and Salmon and Rice, and both come in an original and dried shredded version. The Shredded Blends combine traditional crunchy kibble with tender, shredded pieces to add flavor and support oral health. 

We're happy to see that real meat is the leading ingredient in these recipes. The first few ingredients in these recipes are a named meat, followed by corn and rice products and meat by-products. Unfortunately, this means the food is pretty high in fillers and may even indicate ingredient splitting. These recipes have identical protein and fat content, coming in at 40% protein and 18.2% fat on a dry matter basis.

The wet food line has significantly more variety than the dry food line, with 24 different recipes with three different textures like classic style patés and entreés in gravy and sauce. This line also has 5 grain-free recipes for kitties who can't tolerate grains. Flavors include Beef & Carrots, Turkey & Giblets, and Tuna, Shrimp, and Rice. 

The recipe formulas differ quite a bit but are typically a blend of meat or fish, water, wheat gluten, veggies, and natural and artificial flavoring. Overall, Purina Pro Plan Complete Essentials wet cat food is around average quality — real meat is the primary protein source in each recipe, but they include low-quality secondary ingredients like meat by-products and soy flour. 

There are 8 different offerings for kitties who struggle with hairballs including 4 wet and 4 dry foods. These recipes contain natural fiber and live probiotics to help hairballs pass through the digestive tract more easily. This line has a high-protein adult recipe and indoor recipes for kitties who aren't as active and need a lower calorie count.

The standard of these wet and dry recipes is similar to Complete Essentials. Several wet recipes feature artificial flavors, which might put off some pet parents. Each dry recipe lists real cuts of meat as the top ingredient, followed by less nutritious ingredients like corn, gluten, rice, and soybean meal. 

If your kitty is over 7 years old, you may want to check out Purina Pro Plan's Prime Plus range, which is specially formulated to meet the unique needs of older felines. These foods contain extra protein and omega fatty acids to help protect them from muscle loss and support joint health and brain function.

Prime Plus recipes are higher in protein and fat than their Complete Essentials equivalent to support muscle mass and healthy weight in older cats. For example, Prime Plus Adult 7+ Chicken & Rice dry food contains 43.1% protein and 19.3% fat as dry matter. 

Purina Pro Plan's Vital Systems line claims to offer 4-in-1 full-body nutritional support. Besides being high in protein, these recipes feature ingredients like vitamin E and essential fatty acids like linoleic acid to help boost the immune system and add shine to the coat. Likewise, it features added choline to support neural function and vitamin A to promote eye health. 

The ingredient quality is similar to other Purina Pro Plan ranges, with real meat as the main protein source, followed fillers or low-quality components like meat by-products and wheat gluten. 

Purina Pro Plan Focus is designed to address the unique health needs of cats throughout various life stages. Whether your cat requires support for urinary tract health, weight management, or food sensitivities, Focus offers over a dozen wet and dry recipes to help combat these individual concerns at the nutritional level.

Aside from the addition of specific nutrients and antioxidants to tackle certain health concerns, the overall quality of these formulas is on par with the rest of the Pro Plan range. 

Purina Pro Plan Kitten is specially formulated to encourage healthy growth throughout kittenhood. These recipes are protein-rich to support muscle growth and have added DHA for brain and eye development. We love that it features real meat as the first ingredient and has added antioxidants to boost your kitten's immune system.

These recipes are loaded with protein (51%+ protein as dry matter in each wet recipe) to support growth and development. 

Purina Pro Plan's most unique range is LiveClear, a patented one-of-a-kind recipe line to help humans combat cat dander allergies. 

What gives this food its unique property is the kibble's egg coating. These eggs are derived from chickens that've been exposed to cats and contain a unique protein that binds to and neutralizes the main allergen in a cat's saliva (Fel D1.) 

Studies show that this food can reduce the allergenic properties of cats by up to 70% in just 21 days. The line comes in 7 different recipes, including kitten, senior, sensitive stomach, and weight management recipes, and of those, I have personally tried 4.

I have been feeding my pets LiveClear for nearly 3 years now due to my severe cat allergy and it 100% works. I no longer have to take allergy medicine after spending time with my kitties. I've noticed it can be hard on my cat's stomachs due to the high egg content; however, since switching to LiveClear's Sensitive Stomach recipe, all their digestive issues have cleared up. 

One downside I have found with this line is that they do not currently offer any wet food recipes, which means I typically have to mix in toppers and wet food to entice my cats, who aren't big fans of kibble. 

Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets is Purina's prescription-only line of wet and dry foods that aim to address specific health conditions like severe food allergies or stomach problems, obesity, dental issues, and kidney and urinary problems — to name a few. 

For instance, the Hydrolyzed Feline Formula is comprised of highly processed meat, which breaks down into molecules so small that the cat's immune system doesn't recognize it as a potential allergen. Meanwhile, the Urinary St/Ox wet recipe are high in moisture, encouraging urine output and changing the PH of the urine to help combat urinary crystal formations.

If you read our reviews often, you may hear us say that real meat should be the first ingredient in recipes. While that is usually the case, veterinary diets are often centered around starches like rice or corn to reduce food sensitivity or combat other conditions, as is true for Purina Pro Veterinary Diets.

As for Veterinary Diet wet foods, these recipes come in two different variations, including a paté and savory selects, which are essentially chunks in gravy. Some recipes are also available in a natural version, with a higher meat and fish content than the regular recipe.

 

Purina Pro Plan has a massive following of pet parents who trust their recipes with their pets. Let's look into some of the pros of choosing Purina Pro Plan.

One of the first things we look for when judging a pet food is the first ingredient. The first ingredient should always be a whole animal meat source like chicken, lamb, or beef. Purina Pro Plan recipes prioritize real meats as the first ingredient in their recipes. 

Purina Pro Plan's Liveclear line is the first of its kind, geared toward the cats of pet parents with cat allergies. This patented recipe contains ingredients that bind to the glycoprotein in cat saliva that humans are allergic to. After eating this food for a few weeks cats significantly less allergenic. This revolutionary formula took over a decade of research to create, and no other pet food brand has yet to replicate. It's a huge step for families with cat allergy sufferers, allowing humans to live comfortably with their pets. 

These revolutionary recipes are one of the main the reasons we've given Purina Pro Plan cat food an additional half-star in our rating!

Most Purina Pro Plan products are offered at an affordable price point. For instance, most complete essentials products are around $45 for a 16 lb bag, making it on par with brands like Iams. However, the Liveclear and veterinary lines are considerably more expensive, around double the price of their classic recipes. 

Purina Pro Plan's use of real meat as the main protein source coupled with its affordability makes it a good budget-friendly option for cats.

The truth of the matter is that no brand is perfect. Let's go over some of our concerns about Purina Pro Plan recipes.

One thing we noticed about Purina Pro Plan recipes is they often contain a substantial amount of fillers, like corn, soybean meal, and wheat gluten. These products offer little nutritional value to cats besides fiber. We would prefer to see nutritionally rich ingredients near the top of each formula's list. 

Purina Pro Plan has recently undergone formula modifications to some of its popular recipes. One such recipe was the Purina Pro Plan Adult Indoor Hairball Management Salmon & Rice Formula, which underwent several ingredient swaps that resulted in a pretty drastic change in the protein content. This is concerning since frequent recipe reformulations can cause GI upset in pets and may also introduce known allergens that weren't present in the previous recipe.

We noticed that several of the recipes feature unspecified animal products like animal fat, animal liver flavor, and ambiguous meat byproducts. Besides the apparent transparency issue, many pets have protein allergies, and having undisclosed animal products can expose consumers to known allergens.

"Okay, so after my go-to dry food stopped being sold in the US, I've been on the hunt for another food that all of my cats and fosters would eat. I'd already tried the Pro Plan kitten food with 200% acceptance, so it was a no-brainer to at least try a bag of this Chicken & Rice Essentials for adult cats. The verdict? They love it. And actually, the ingredients are even a bit healthier than my old food. Although it's more expensive, it's still not insanely priced for a decent food with lower phosphorus, and I'm happy every single one of the cats love to eat it."

"I've been buying Purina Probiotic for quite a while already. The Chicken and the Salmon. My cats love both. The probiotics work well. My cats have a healthier looking stool. My 13 year old cat had problems going and now does not."

"Allergy symptoms have completely gone away, they eat it BEFORE they eat any treats, I can visibly see the positive difference in their health and demeanor!"

Read more reviews on Chewy.

Purina has been a leading pet food brand for over a century, making it one of the oldest and most famous pet food manufacturers. In 1894, William Danforth founded Robinson-Danforth and partnered with nutritionist Dr. Ralston to create Ralston-Purina, which initially set out to create breakfast cereal in addition to animal feed. 

As time passed, William Danforth began the process of passing on the family torch to his son Donald Danforth, who began researching animal nutrition to help improve Purina products. In later years, Donald would become the executive vice president of Ralston Purina Company.

Purina opened its first pet care center in 1926 and formulated Purina Dog Chow. It wasn't until 1963 that Purina released its first cat food recipe to the public. Purina expanded its offerings outside the American border into Latin America throughout the following two decades. 

In 1980, Purina Pro Plan was born and claimed to be the first "super-premium" dog food on the market. In 2001, Swiss conglomerate Nestlé purchased Purina and has since released many new pet foods and supplements.

Purina pet foods have been recalled at least 8 times in the last 15 years as of March 2025. 

These recalls were issued for various reasons, including improper labeling, foreign matter in the recipes, and possible Salmonella contamination (on multiple occasions).

While we could not find any documented recalls of Purina Pro Plan cat food products in particular, we found a dog food recall from Purina Pro Plan line in March 2023 due to excess vitamin levels.