Birdie & Louie Cat Food Review

Kate Barrington / Cats.com

Marketed as premium pet food free from fillers, Birdie & Louie is one of the more recent entrants to the pet food market. The brand has already gained a following on the internet but do the products live up to the hype? Find out in this detailed review of Birdie & Louie cat food.

The Cats.com Standard—Rating Birdie & Louie on What Matters

We’ve analyzed Birdie & Louie and graded it according to the Cats.com standard. Here’s how it rates in each of six key areas:

View on Chewy

View on BirdieandLouie.com

Ratings

Species-Appropriateness – 8/10
Ingredient Quality – 8/10
Product Variety – 7/10
Price – 7/10
Customer Experience – 7/10
Recall History – 10/10

Overall Score: 7.8/10

We give Birdie & Louie a 47 out of 60 rating or a B+ grade.

Why Trust Cats.com

Assisted by my two cats, Munchkin and Biscuit, I’ve been researching, reviewing, and testing cat food for the last five years. But my experience as a cat owner goes ten years beyond that.

All this to say, I’ve spent countless hours poring over cat food labels and reading customer reviews to keep myself up to date with the pet food industry. I bring all of this knowledge and experience to the table when reviewing cat food brands. Once I’ve familiarized myself with the brand, I put the products to the test with my cats’ help.

At Cats.com, our testing process is very extensive. First, we evaluate the brand as a whole, considering metrics like recall history, sourcing and manufacturing practices, and customer satisfaction rates. Then, we purchase a few products (at full retail price) to conduct in-depth analyses and real-world testing. The following review is the product of this process.

About Birdie & Louie

Birdie & Louie was launched in July of 2022 by family-owned and -operated personal care products manufacturer, Worthy Promotional Products. Also known as Worthy Promo or simply Worthy, Worthy Promotional Products was founded in 2006 by Bo Worthy. Matthew Worthy, the Vice President of Worthy, is credited with bringing the Birdie & Louie brand to life.

Worthy Promotional Products is well-known throughout the Southern United States for its household and personal care products, but the launch of Birdie & Louie was its first step into the pet food industry. The name of the brand is an homage to Matthew Worthy’s dog, Birdie, and his father’s cat, Louie.

According to Matthew Worthy, Birdie & Louie is a family business that cares deeply about pets. The company’s stated mission is to “feed the good life” by producing wholesome and nutritious food for the pets who give their loyalty and companionship so freely.

Sourcing and Manufacturing

Most of Worthy Promotional Products’ goods are manufactured and distributed from the company’s headquarters in Wetumpka, Alabama. As much as possible, Worthy products are made using raw materials sourced from the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The company also owns a warehouse in Laredo, Texas for supplemental importing and distribution.

In an interview with Progressive Grocer, Matthew Worthy describes the development of the Birdie & Louie brand as a response to pandemic-related supply chain issues and pet food shortages. By sourcing tuna directly from Ecuador instead of Asia, Worthy was able to produce and distribute wet cat food when other pet food manufacturers couldn’t.

Today, Birdie & Louie wet cat food is still made in Ecuador and most of the recipes feature locally sourced tuna. Birdie & Louie dry cat foods are manufactured in the company’s Alabama facilities, but Worthy doesn’t offer many specifics about ingredient sourcing. There’s a detailed ingredients glossary on the Birdie & Louie website, but it only describes the nutritional merits of the ingredients the brand uses—not where they come from.

Recall History

At the time of this review, Birdie & Louie has been on the market for less than three years. During that time, there have been no product recalls.

What Kind of Cat Food Does Birdie & Louie Offer?

Birdie & Louie offers nutritionally complete meals for both cats and dogs. The cat food product line includes two dry cat foods and seven wet cat food formulas. Most of Birdie & Louie’s wet cat foods are tuna-based while poultry and fish are primary ingredients in the dry food formulas.

Here’s a list of Birdie & Louie’s wet cat food flavors:

Tuna Tuesday
Seafood Sunday
Tuna & Papaya
Tuna & Pineapple
Tuna & Olives
Chicken and Beef
Chicken and Lamb

Birdie & Louie’s wet cat foods come in two textures: pate and flakes in broth. All of the tuna-based products have the “flakes in broth” texture while the chicken-based recipes are pate-style. All of Birdie & Louie’s wet cat foods are grain-free.

Both of Birdie & Louie’s dry cat food formulas feature animal protein as the first ingredient. There’s one grain-free recipe (Duck Meal & Herring Meal Recipe) and one that contains grains (Chicken Meal & Brown Rice Recipe). All Birdie & Louie cat foods are nutritionally complete and balanced according to AAFCO nutrient profiles for cats in all life stages.

What Did Our Test Cats Think?

Kate Barrington / Cats.com

To test Birdie & Louie cat food, I ordered the Kitchen Sink Ultimate Cat Food Variety Sampler. It’s described as a “picky eater’s paradise” and includes one 3-ounce can of each wet food flavor and an 8-ounce sample of both dry foods.

I personally appreciated the convenience of a curated sampler pack and the $9.99 price tag is hard to beat. My order shipped quickly and arrived in packaging that was both minimal and recyclable. I was pleasantly surprised to find that even the dry cat food packages were recyclable and resealable.

Overall, my cats enjoyed Birdie & Louie. The shredded Tuna Tuesday was the most popular of the three recipes reviewed below, perhaps because the texture made it easiest for my cats to lick up without having to take bites.

Birdie & Louie Cat Food—Top 3 Recipes Reviewed

Product Name	Food Type	Main Protein	Calories Per Ounce	Price	Our Grade
Tuna Tuesday Gourmet Cat Food Entrée	Wet	Tuna	23 kcal/oz.	$0.50 per oz	B
Chicken and Beef Gourmet Cat Food Entrée	Wet	Chicken	28 kcal/oz.	$0.50 per oz	B+
Ancient Grains Chicken Meal & Brown Rice Recipe Dry Cat Food	Dry	Chicken	107 kcal/oz.	$0.28 per oz	B-

#1 Birdie & Louie Tuna Tuesday Gourmet Cat Food Entrée

$17.88 At Chewy

Perhaps Birdie & Louie’s most popular recipe, Tuna Tuesday features tuna as the main ingredient and solitary animal ingredient. With its limited list of ingredients, the formula appears to offer good digestibility for cats, though we’d prefer to see an animal-sourced fat like salmon oil over the sunflower oil.

Birdie & Louie Tuna Tuesday Gourmet Cat Food Entrée

Kate Barrington / Cats.com

Measured as dry matter, this wet cat food contains nearly 78% protein. It’s very low in fat and carbohydrates. High protein content is great to see on a cat food label, but it’s worth noting that the low fat content reduces the food’s caloric density. At just 23 calories per ounce, some cats may need larger portions of this food to meet their daily needs.

Like all of Birdie & Louie’s tuna-based wet cat foods, this product has a “flakes in broth” texture. My cats are partial to this type of food and they loved lapping up the liquid.

Ingredients

Tuna, Vegetable Broth, Potato Starch, Sunflower Oil, Tricalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Taurine, Vitamins (Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Niacin Supplement, Pantothenic Acid, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Menadione, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement), Minerals (Magnesium Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Zinc Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite).

Ingredients We Liked: Tuna

Ingredients We Didn’t Like: Potato Starch, Sunflower Oil

Guaranteed Analysis

Crude Protein: 14%

Crude Fat: 1%

Crude Fiber: 2%

Moisture: 82%

Ash: 3%

Dry Matter Basis

Protein: 77.78%

Fat: 5.56%

Fiber: 11.11%

Caloric Weight Basis

Protein: 85.22%

Fat: 14.78%

What We Liked:

Made with a single source of animal protein
Contains nearly 78% dry matter protein
Limited list of ingredients
Good source of hydrating moisture for cats

What We Didn’t Like:

Guar gum may contribute to loose stools in sensitive cats
Low caloric density may mean large portions for some cats

#2 Birdie & Louie Chicken and Beef Gourmet Cat Food Entré

$17.99 At Chewy

This wet cat food is made in Ecuador like the previous recipe, but it’s fish-free. It’s a limited-ingredient formula that appears to be easily digestible and fairly low in carbohydrates. Measured as dry matter, this formula contains nearly 41% protein. It’s clear from the ingredients list that it’s animal-sourced protein as well—chicken muscle meat supplemented with chicken liver and beef muscle meat.

Birdie & Louie Chicken & Beef Flavored Pate Wet Cat Food

Kate Barrington / Cats.com

Animal plasma may provide some protein as well, but it’s more likely included to help improve the texture and palatability of the food. Guar gum is also included as a binder and thickening agent. It’s worth noting that gums can contribute to loose stools in some cats, but many cats tolerate them just fine.

Overall, this appears to be a primarily meat-based formula and it’s moderately calorie-dense at 28 calories per ounce. The only added carbohydrate is starch, the source of which is not named (it may be the same potato starch used in the previous recipe). This food has a soft pate texture and my cats seemed to like the flavor.