Tender & True Cat Food Review 2024

Tender & True is an independently owned pet food brand known for offering organic, humanely raised, and antibiotic-free dog and cat food. To cater to pet parents who are environmentally conscious and want the best ingredients for their furbabies, Tender & True became the first USDA certified organic pet food on the market in 2014. This was soon followed with the first GAP humanely raised and MSC sustainably fished certifications, and Tender & True is still the only full line of GAP certified pet food available.

Tender & True takes pride in being “certifiably better” for pets, pet parents, and the environment. But is it the right food for your cat? Let’s take a closer look at this Midwestern brand to find out!

Tender & True offers a range of grain-free and grain-inclusive wet and dry foods for cats. It also has treats and a full line of organic certified foods. Let’s check them out!

Tender & True with grains

Tender & True offers grain-inclusive recipes for cats of all life stages in dry and wet formats. Each recipe starts with antibiotic-free chicken or turkey as the first ingredient, followed by other natural ingredients. For the dry recipes, these include chicken meal, brown rice, whitefish meal, tapioca starch, flaxseed meal, chicken liver, and menhaden fish oil. The wet recipes contain chicken or turkey broth, chicken liver, pea protein, brown rice flour, and salmon oil.

All recipes provide 100% balanced nutrition, with added vitamins, minerals, and other trace nutrients such as taurine, calcium, zinc, thiamine, riboflavin, vitamin A, vitamin D, and vitamin E.

Tender & True’s grain-inclusive cat food is available in the following flavors:

Dry food

• Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe
• Turkey & Brown Rice Recipe

Wet food

• Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe
• Turkey & Brown Rice Recipe

Tender & True grain-free

For cats who follow a grain-free diet, Tender & True has wet and dry recipes without grains. Suitable for all life stages, these recipes list wild-caught Alaskan salmon or ocean-caught whitefish as the first ingredient. The dry recipes also contain whitefish meal, dried sweet potato, dried potato, flaxseed meal, dried beet pulp, dried peas, and fish oil, while the wet recipes include fish broth, pea protein, dried sweet potato, dried potato, and fish oil. 

Vitamins, minerals, and other trace nutrients like niacin, vitamin B12, copper, iron, potassium, and DL-methionine are added for optimal nutrition. These grain-free recipes are poultry-free as well, making them suitable for felines with a chicken allergy or turkey allergy. 

Tender & True’s grain-free cat food is available in the following flavors:

Dry food

• Salmon & Sweet Potato Recipe
• Ocean Whitefish & Potato Recipe

Wet food

• Salmon & Sweet Potato Recipe
• Ocean Fish & Potato Recipe

Tender & True organic

For the discerning feline, there are organic recipes for cats of all life stages. These wet and dry foods start with USDA Organic chicken or turkey as the number one ingredient. The wet recipes also include organic chicken broth, organic chicken liver, organic pea protein, organic pea flour, and organic sunflower oil. The dry recipes contain organic chicken meal, organic tapioca starch, organic pea flour, organic dried pea, organic chickpea, and organic chicken liver.

And like all Tender & True recipes, the organic line is fortified with vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients such as choline, ascorbic acid, manganese, pyridoxine, and folic acid for complete and balanced nutrition.

Tender & True’s organic cat food is available in the following flavors:

Dry food

• Organic Chicken & Liver Recipe
• Organic Turkey & Liver Recipe

Wet food

• Organic Chicken & Liver Recipe
• Organic Turkey & Liver Recipe

Tender & True treats

Currently, there’s only one variant of cat treats offered by Tender & True. Called the Surf & Turf Recipe, these soft and chewy treats feature sustainably sourced and wild-caught salmon as the number one ingredient. Other ingredients include beef lung, beef liver, coconut glycerin, brewers dried yeast, and potato flour. The Surf & Turf Recipe cat treats are also grain-free, so felines with a grain allergy can consume them without any worries.

Here are some of the reasons why we think Tender & True is a “pawtastic” cat food!

Made with high-quality ingredients

Tender & True was the first pet food with a full line of organic certified products. Its USDA Organic cat foods are made with 95% organic ingredients, including humanely raised chicken and turkey, and must follow the same standards and requirements as those set for organic human foods. In addition, all Tender & True recipes are made without corn, soy, wheat, or artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives.

Committed to animal welfare

Tender & True is a partner of the Global Animal Partnership (GAP), which ensures the welfare of animals raised for food. All Tender & True recipes containing chicken or turkey are GAP Certified, which means that these animals were raised in reduced stress environments with outdoor access and without added hormones or antibiotics.

Committed to the environment

Tender & True’s fish recipes all bear the blue Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) ecolabel. This means that the salmon and whitefish used in these products were responsibly caught by a certified sustainable fishery. MSC’s strict sustainability standards require fisheries to minimize environmental impact and operate at a level that allows fish populations and ecosystems to remain healthy for the future.

Reasonably priced

For a pet food that’s made with certified, premium ingredients, Tender & True is affordable. This is all thanks to the company’s unique close relationships with fisheries and growers, which allows it to offer high-quality cat food at a reasonable price. For example, a 7-pound bag of  Turkey & Brown Rice Recipe dry food costs $25.99, which works out to $3.72 per pound. 

Made in the USA

Tender & True is an independently owned company based in the Midwest, and all of its products are produced in the United States.

Here are some things to consider before buying Tender & True cat food.

Some cats won’t eat it

Some pet parents have reported that their cats won’t eat certain flavors, so you may have to try different products to see which ones your cat likes. 

Narrow range of products

Tender & True offers a relatively small number of products compared to some other brands.

No recipes for seniors or kittens

While all Tender & True recipes are suitable for all life stages, there are no recipes specifically formulated for kittens or older cats. Though some cats do just fine on this type of food, others may need something that’s especially created for their particular life stage.

“Our cats love this food. From a fresh new bag to the last morsel. They are very hard to please. I am so happy to have found this healthy food that they love.”

“I have been on the ‘quest of a lifetime’ trying the best food for my extremely finicky babies. Made in USA or Canada only. I thought they were going to die. They went on an eating strike, last month 4lbs of the one of [the] best food and they didn't finish the bag… I'm so sad I didn't discover this food before my fault but now that I found you PLEASE don't change. They are [happy] I'm happy.”

“I have been searching for a quality pet food made from less abused animals raised for food. For this Chicken and Liver product Tender and True has a level 3 G.A.P. (Global Animal Partnerships) rating which so far is the best I have found in pet foods. The cats love it and my sensitive stomach kitties have no problem digesting it. The size of the kibble is very small which is a plus for my older or toothless felines. The price is reasonable though I would happily pay more for a level 4 G.A.P. rating.”

Read more reviews on Chewy.

In October 2014, Tender & True changed the pet food industry by pioneering the first USDA certified organic pet food. The same year, Tender & True became the first Global Animal Partnership (GAP) certified humanely raised pet food and remains the only full line of GAP certified pet food available on the market. In 2015, the company partnered with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) as part of its commitment to sustainability. 

In 2020, Tender & True redesigned its packaging to help pet parents see the benefits of choosing the brand. Updates included an enlarged banner that tells who the recipe is intended for, a premium zipper on the smaller bags to keep food fresh, a bigger recipe title, and colorful badges that indicate if the product is certified organic, humanely raised, responsibly sourced, grain-free, etc. 

Tender & True is based in Omaha, Nebraska and owned by Omaha Industries, Inc. Founded in 1979, Omaha Industries specializes in supplying premium and novel proteins to the pet food industry.

Tender & True has never been recalled.

Product images sourced from Chewy. Copyright Tender & True Pet.