Hello! It’s a bit challenging to find single-protein cat food. I know Trovet offers single protein without any additives, but it’s not available where I live.
A few petshops sell this brand, which offers single-protein wet food. Have you ever heard of this brand? If so, any feedback in terms of quality?
marpet.it
Thank you in advance!
Hi Rachel,
We have not heard of Marpet, it looks like they offer specialized cat food tailored for different medical conditions, the overall ingredient composition seems good enough and they publish the mineral content of their cat foods, which is good move for transparency. So overall if your cat likes the food it seems like it could be a good choice, Is your cat usually healthy, or are you seeking food to address a specific medical condition?
This helps a lot! Thank you very much!
@rachelzelcerhotmail-com Hey Rachel! I spent some time looking over the single-protein recipes from Marpet to give you some insights. Like the previous commenter said, it looks good overall. I like that the formulas contain a limited number of ingredients (aside from the supplements) and that there are novel protein options like rabbit and duck. Most of them appear to have a dry matter protein content of at least 45%, which is well above the recommended minimum.
There are a few ingredients I find a little odd or just unfamiliar, but not necessarily concerning. The whole line appears to be centered around this combination of melissa (lemon balm) and valerian. Both of these ingredients appear to be safe for cats and may have anxiety-reducing properties, I'm just not entirely sure why a product line designed for dietary intolerances focuses so heavily on them. All the recipes also appear to contain XOS and MOS which are probiotics, so that makes sense for digestive issues.
The other somewhat odd ingredient is xylose. It's a type of sugar often used as a sweetener (which would be odd since cats don't have taste receptors for sweetness), but it also appears to have uses as a laxative which may help with certain digestive issues. The research I found said xylose can be used to "induce rapid laxation." Depending how much of it is in the food, it could possibly contribute to loose stools. I'd recommend introducing the food slowly to see how your cat reacts, just to avoid potential issues with diarrhea.
So, overall, the food appears to be nutritionally balanced for cats and has the benefit of being made with single protein sources. It's worth noting that Marpet recommends feeding it for 3-8 weeks and consulting your vet before using it for any longer period of time. This leads me to think the food is really intended for use as an elimination diet to confirm a dietary intolerance, but if your cat tolerates it well and it meets their nutritional needs, there may be no problem with long-term feeding.
Hope that helps!
- Kate