10 Best Soft, Canned, and Wet Cat Foods in 2019
Is your cat fussy when it comes to wet food? We’ve prepared a review of 10 of the best wet cat food options, including canned, pouches, and soft.
Felines require a balanced diet to be healthy and happy. If you’re aware of the wet vs. dry cat food debate, you know that the best approach is to alternate the two options.
Cats need wet food as much as they need kibble. Wet cat food provides hydration and lowers the chances of your kitty developing urinary tract problems. Not to mention cats are much more interested in tasty, gravy cat food than dry kibble.
Without further ado, here are 10 of the best wet cat food options I could find online. They all boast high ratings or come recommended from people who own kitties – myself included.
- Purina Fancy Feast Pate Adult Canned Wet Cat Food
- IAMS Perfect PORTIONS Grain Free Wet Cat Food Pate
- Purina Friskies Wet Cat Food Variety Pack
- Fussie Cat Premium Tuna with Chicken Formula in Aspic
- Soulistic Moist & Tender Mystic Menu Variety Pack Wet Cat Food
- Sheba Pouch Chunks in Gravy Fresh Choice Poultry Selection
- Ziwi Peak Grain-Free Canned Cat Food Recipe
- Blue Buffalo Wilderness Wild Delights High Protein Grain Free, Natural Adult Meaty Morsels Wet Cat Food
- Hill's Science Diet Wet Cat Food
- Instinct Original Grain Free Recipe Natural Wet Canned Cat Food
10. Instinct Original Grain Free Recipe
- Gluten-free
- High-protein
- Easily digestible
- Full of nutrients
- Can be difficult to find
- Not that many calories, so you might have to feed your cat more often
- The vegetables are an unnecessary addition – cats don’t need vegetables for a healthy life
If you’re in the market for grain free cat food, one of the best choices is the Instinct line from Nature’s Variety. I selected the chicken variety for this review, which contains 95% duck and turkey liver, as well as 5% vegetables and fruit.
You can also find this canned food in the duck, rabbit, lamb, beef, venison, and salmon variety. This food is formulated to replicate food that your baby would eat in the wild, containing all the healthy nutrients it would need.
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9. Hill’s Science Diet
- Helps provide healthy skin and coat
- Contains chunks of real meat
- Contains high-quality protein
- Might make your buddy’s breath smelly
- The gravy seems to be more appealing to some cats than the chunks
Cats of a certain age tend to gain a little weight, especially after they’ve been neutered. But don’t fret, you can help them maintain muscle and avoid gaining weight by feeding them diet wet cat food. One of the best brands of diet cat food is Hill’s Science.
This particular variety contains delicious tuna and all the essential nutrients for an adult feline. The ingredients are natural and easy to digest, and the brand is vet-recommended. You can also find this food in the turkey, ocean fish, and liver & chicken variety.
8. Blue Buffalo Wilderness Wild Delights
- No poultry by-products
- No artificial flavors, colors or preservatives
- Contains real chicken
- Protein-rich
- The pieces of chicken can be too big
- The meat to gravy ratio is not ideal (it could use more gravy)
Another grain-free wet food option, the Blue Buffalo Wilderness Wild Delights cans provide the necessary amino acids and protein an adult cat needs. You can find them in chicken and turkey, chicken and salmon, and chicken and trout.
There’s no gluten in this food, which means you don’t have to worry about it triggering an allergic reaction in your cat. As opposed to other cat food brands, Blue Buffalo doesn’t use wheat to thicken the food.
7. Ziwi Peak
- High protein level
- Contains 92% meat, bones, organs, and green mussels
- Grain-free
- BPA-free
- Pricey
The Ziwi Peak canned food is perfect for environmentally-conscious cat owners. It contains beef that has been single-sourced and grass-fed on sustainable farms in New Zealand. Thus, it has no added hormones, growth promotants, or antibiotics.
The flavor range is also varied: beef, chicken, lamb, hoki, mackerel, venison, rabbit and lamb, and mackerel and lamb. 3% of the food’s composition is green mussels, which support healthy joints due to their concentration of glucosamine and chondroitin.
6. Sheba Pouch Chunks in Gravy
- Affordable
- Single servings
- Ideal meat to gravy ratio
- Harder to refrigerate and keep fresh if you don’t feed the whole pouch at once
If you’re looking for a cheaper alternative to canned food, pouches are your friend. My cat, Sherlock, loves the Sheba pouches, especially the poultry selection.
The ingredients are high-quality, the pieces of meat are small enough to be easy to chew, and the gravy is delicious (trust me, it’s the first thing to disappear from the food bowl.) In the pack, you get six pouches of duck, chicken, and turkey.
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5. Soulistic Moist & Tender Mystic Menu Variety Pack
- Delicious gravy
- Gluten and grain-free
- Contains no artificial colors or flavors
- It will last you for a while
- A bit pricey
I don’t know about you, but I’m a fan of variety packs when it comes to wet cat food. I don’t want my cat getting bored with the same flavor every day, so I alternate between them. To this purpose, the Soulistic Mystic Menu pack is a great option.
It features 3 of the following flavors: duck dinner, chicken dinner, turkey dinner, and salmon dinner. They’re made with cage-free chicken and responsibly sourced fish. The ducks contain no antibiotics or hormones.
4. Fussie Cat Premium
- High-calorie
- Low carbohydrates
- No artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives
- Quality ingredients
- Small cans
- Quite pricey
- Not all cans contain entirely high-quality meat
Are you the owner of a fussy feline? You know where I’m going with this. The Fussie Cat canned cat food is carefully made to appeal to even the fussiest of felines. Tuna is the main ingredient, so if your cat goes nuts when you open a can of tuna, she’ll love you for buying this.
The can comes with chicken formula in aspic, and it contains about 78% water, which is similar to how a kitty’s diet looks in the wild. You can also find this variety in smoked tuna, anchovies, clam, mussels, ocean fish, prawns, salmon, shrimp, chicken liver, and threadfin bream.
3. Purina Friskies Variety Pack
- Convenient
- Nice texture
- Made with real meat
- Provides a complete and balanced nutrition
- Not all-natural ingredients
- Cats can become addicted to it and refuse to eat other types of wet food
Another great wet cat food variety pack, the Purina Friskies one includes two packs of 12 cans for a total of 132 ounces of food. As opposed to other options on this list, this does not come in chunks and gravy, but as a pate. However, its texture is smooth enough for your furry friend to dig into it without a problem since it’s finely ground.
You can feed this to both kittens to help them develop and adult cats to maintain their health. The variety I chose for this review comes in mixed grill, salmon dinner, and turkey and giblets dinner flavor.
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2. IAMS Perfect PORTIONS Grain Free Pate
- No artificial preservatives
- Contains vitamin E
- High-quality proteins
- Great taste
- Slightly expensive for the small portions
- The texture is a bit runny
Another wet cat food that comes as a pate, the IAMS Perfect Portions are, as the name suggests, the perfect size to feed your cat once. You can buy them in the following flavors: chicken, salmon, tuna, and turkey.
They also have varieties targeted to adult cats, kittens, indoor cats, and optimal metabolism. Their recipe is grain-free and wholesome, and it provides a complete and balanced nutrition and a healthy immune system.
1. Purina Fancy Feast Pate
- All-natural ingredients
- Added minerals, vitamins, and nutrients
- Smooth texture
- Great taste
- Made with real beef
- Some cats didn’t seem to agree with the new formula
- Would be better if it were a bit less dry
Another option from Purina, this wins the title of best wet cat food due to a combination of quality, price, and great reviews. Made with beef as the number one ingredients, you can find it in chicken, liver, chopped grill, cod, sole & shrimp, salmon & shrimp, salmon, seafood, trout, and turkey & giblets.
It is designed to provide your adult companion with a complete and balanced nutrition, and it contains no corn, grain, soy, or wheat.
Conclusion
So, there you have it, the ten best wet cat food options to ensure your feline gets the proper nutrition. Don’t forget that for best results, you should alternate between wet food and dry kibble. I want to know all about your favorite wet cat food, be it canned, pouches, pate, etc. Let me know in the comments!
Hi, I’m Andrea and I’m a writer, editor, geek, couch potato, and most importantly, animal lover. I have been proudly owned by my two cats, Sherlock and Smokey, for 2 years, and I am by no means ashamed to admit I am a crazy-cat-lady-to-be. How did my love for animals start, you ask?
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