Published Mar 12, 2020
Purina Cat Chow—good or bad? Learn all about this brand in our unbiased Purina Cat Chow review.
The Cats.com Standard—Rating Purina Cat Chow on What Matters
We’ve analyzed Purina Cat Chow and graded it according to the Cats.com standard, evaluating the brand on species-appropriateness, ingredient quality, product variety, price, customer experience, and recall history. Here’s how it rates in each of these six key areas.
Ratings
- Species-Appropriateness – 3/10
- Ingredient Quality – 3/10
- Product Variety – 4/10
- Price – 10/10
- Customer Experience – 6/10
- Recall History – 4/10
Overall Score: 5/10
We give Purina Cat Chow cat food a 30 out of 60 rating or a D grade.
About Purina Cat Chow
Purina Cat Chow is one of the oldest brands in the business, dating back to the early 1960s. It was Purina’s first cat food and, after decades on the pet food aisle, is still one of the most widely-available and popular brands you can buy.
Cat Chow kibble is everything convenient in cat food—it’s easy to store and serve, affordable, and available almost anywhere you shop.
But is it a safe and healthy choice for your cat? That’s what we’re exploring in this review. I’ve spent hours researching Purina Cat Chow, reading customer reviews, analyzing labels, and digging into the brand’s history.
Let’s start at the beginning—ingredient sourcing and manufacturing.
Sourcing and Manufacturing
Purina Cat Chow foods are manufactured in company-owned facilities located around the United States and Canada. According to the company, most of their ingredients are sourced from North America along with a variety of ingredients from other regions. For example, the company sources lamb from New Zealand and synthetic vitamins and amino acids from China.
Has Purina Cat Chow Been Recalled?
Along with a couple of varieties of Friskies kibble, Purina Cat Chow Naturals dry cat food was recalled in 2011 due to potential salmonella contamination.
Other Purina brands have been recalled several times over the years, but the 2011 recall appears to be the only one involving Purina Cat Chow in the last decade. To learn more about other Purina pet food recalls, click here.
What Kinds of Cat Food Does Purina Cat Chow Offer?
The Purina Cat Chow lineup includes a slim variety of dry foods.
In addition to standard formulas for adult cats, the selection includes recipes for indoor cats, kittens, and cats with sensitive stomachs. Purina Cat Chow Naturals recipes are almost identical to the standard Cat Chow recipes but are free of artificial colors.
Purina Cat Chow Cat Food – Top 3 Recipes Reviewed
| Product Name | Food Type | Price | Our Grade |
| Purina Cat Chow Hairball & Healthy Weight Indoor Dry Cat Food | Dry | $1.53 per lb | C- |
| Purina Cat Chow Complete Dry Cat Food | Dry | $1.52 per lb | C- |
| Purina Cat Chow Naturals Original Dry Cat Food | Dry | $1.77 per lb | C- |
#1 Purina Cat Chow Hairball & Healthy Weight Indoor Dry Cat Food Review
Chicken by-product meal appears to be the primary protein source in this dry cat food.
This food promises to address two issues common among indoor cats—hairballs and weight gain. It’s a dry food featuring chicken by-product meal as its first ingredient, followed by a mix of grain-derived ingredients.
With whole grain corn, soy flour, wheat, corn gluten meal, and rice taking up so much space on the ingredient list, plants appear to take precedence over meat in this recipe. After this array of kibble-binding grains, the food contains beef fat as its main fat source.
Two additives, “natural flavor” and “liver flavor”, increase the food’s palatability. Though their origins aren’t explicit, these ingredients appear to be safe for cats and are generally an acceptable inclusion in pet food.
The food contains powdered cellulose as a source of fiber, which may help it fulfill its promises of relieving hairballs and promoting a healthy weight. After a mix of synthetic vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, the food contains three types of food dyes. The food is colored with Red 40, Blue 2, and Yellow 5. All of these dyes may cause or contribute to health issues.
Overall, this food has moderate protein content, low fat, and high carbohydrate content.
Whether you focus on macronutrient distribution or ingredient quality, there’s nothing about this food that looks like an ideal choice for your cat’s bowl. It’s neither species-appropriate nor made from top-quality ingredients.
Its protein sources are either plants or derived from potentially-low value animal by-products. It’s high in carbohydrates, which may increase your cat’s chances of developing diabetes later in life.
With 358 calories per cup, this food is low in calories compared to other kibble products.
Ingredients
Chicken By-Product Meal, Whole Grain Corn, Soy Flour, Whole Grain Wheat, Corn Gluten Meal, Rice, Beef Fat Naturally Preserved With Mixed-Tocopherols, Liver Flavor, Chicken, Powdered Cellulose, Soybean Hulls, Calcium Carbonate, Phosphoric Acid, Salt, Natural Flavor, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Parsley Flakes, Taurine, Vitamin E Supplement, Minerals [Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite], Vitamins [Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin (Vitamin B-3), Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate (Vitamin B-5), Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B-1), Riboflavin Supplement (Vitamin B-2), Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B-6), Folic Acid (Vitamin B-9), Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Biotin (Vitamin B-7), Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Vitamin K)], L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (Vitamin C), Red 40, Blue 2, Yellow 5.
Guaranteed Analysis
Dry Matter Basis
Caloric Weight Basis
Ingredients We Liked: Beef Fat, Chicken
Ingredients We Didn’t Like: Chicken By-Product Meal, Whole Grain Corn, Soy Flour, Whole Grain Wheat, Corn Gluten Meal, Rice, Soybean Hulls, Red 40, Blue 2, Yellow 5
Common Allergens: Chicken
Pros
- Uses beef fat rather than plant-derived oils
Cons
- Extremely high carbohydrate content
- Low fat content isn’t right for every cat
- Dry food doesn’t provide the moisture cats need
- Contains artificial colors
- Contains chicken by-products, which may be less digestible than other cuts of chicken
#2 Purina Cat Chow Complete Dry Cat Food Review
Chicken by-product meal appears to be the primary protein source in this dry cat food.
Purina’s Cat Chow Complete recipe is the brand’s maintenance food, formulated to meet the nutritional needs of most adult cats.
Though an animal-derived ingredient, chicken by-product meal, is the food’s first ingredient, it doesn’t appear to be a meat-based food. With ground yellow corn, corn gluten meal, whole grain wheat, rice, and soy flour the next few items on the ingredient list, this is a plant-based food.
In general, plant-derived nutrients appear to be less bioavailable for cats than those derived from animals. In addition to being less nutritionally efficient, a plant-based food like this one is carbohydrate-heavy and may contribute to your cat’s chances of developing and continuing to have diabetes.
After the long list of grains, the food contains beef fat, chicken, and fish meal. While we don’t know all the details about the quality of these ingredients, they are animal-derived inclusions that honor your cat’s needs as a carnivore.
The food contains an array of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids that make each meal nutritionally complete and balanced for adult cats. Near the end of the ingredient list, the food contains a mix of dyes, including Red 40, Blue 2, and Yellow 5.
Overall, this food has moderate protein content with low fat and high carbohydrate content.
This is a plant-based food that emphasizes potentially low-value protein sources over intensely-nourishing or high-quality ingredients. While it’s fortified and formulated to provide the nutrition your cat needs, it’s not an optimal choice.
The food is 405 calories per cup.
Ingredients
Chicken By-Product Meal, Ground Yellow Corn, Corn Gluten Meal, Whole Grain Wheat, Rice, Soy Flour, Beef Fat Preserved With Mixed-Tocopherols, Chicken, Fish Meal, Liver Flavor, Phosphoric Acid, Calcium Carbonate, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Minerals [Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite], Taurine, Vitamins [Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin (Vitamin B-3), Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate (Vitamin B-5), Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B-1), Riboflavin Supplement (Vitamin B-2), Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B-6), Folic Acid (Vitamin B-9), Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Biotin (Vitamin B-7), Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Vitamin K)], Dl-Methionine, Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 2.
Guaranteed Analysis
Dry Matter Basis
Caloric Weight Basis
Ingredients We Liked: Beef Fat, Chicken
Ingredients We Didn’t Like: Chicken By-Product Meal, Ground Yellow Corn, Corn Gluten Meal, Whole Grain Wheat, Rice, Soy Flour, Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 2
Common Allergens: Chicken, Fish
Pros
- Uses beef fat instead of plant-derived oils
Cons
- Very high in carbohydrate matter
- Primarily made from plant ingredients
- Contains potentially-harmful artificial colors
- Doesn’t have enough moisture to keep your cat well-hydrated
#3 Purina Cat Chow Naturals Original Dry Cat Food Review
Chicken and corn gluten meal appear to be the primary protein sources in this dry cat food.
The biggest difference between Purina Cat Chow Naturals and Purina’s standard Cat Chow foods is the former’s lack of artificial dyes. The second significant difference is its first ingredient. Instead of chicken by-product meal, Purina Cat Chow Naturals Original dry cat food features chicken as its first ingredient.
Compared to chicken by-products, this ingredient is likely a more bioavailable and digestible protein source. That said, chicken is a moisture-rich ingredient that earns its place at the top of the ingredient list based on its pre-cooking weight. After the food is cooked, chicken likely takes up significantly less space in the recipe.
Instead of making a meaningful difference in the food’s nutritional makeup, the use of chicken as the first ingredient does little more than allowing the company to claim “real chicken” as the number one ingredient. And the food isn’t free of by-products, either. Though it’s not the first ingredient, chicken by-product meal appears later on the ingredient list.
Like other Purina Cat Chow recipes, the food contains a mix of corn gluten meal, rice, soybean meal, ground yellow corn, and ground whole wheat. These ingredients increase the food’s carbohydrate content and are sources of protein.
While these grain-based ingredients appear to take up most of the room on the ingredient list, the food also contains a few additional animal ingredients. For example, the food relies on beef tallow as its main fat source. Liver flavor, natural flavor, and a small amount of salmon appear to round out the food’s flavor profile.
Overall, this food has moderate protein content with low fat and high carbohydrate content.
Though this food earns some points with its lack of artificial colors, it’s not much better than anything else you can buy from Purina Cat Chow. It’s a plant-based, high-carbohydrate food that fails to deliver the moisture your cat needs.
The food has 398 calories per cup.
Ingredients
Chicken, Corn Gluten Meal, Chicken By-Product Meal, Rice, Soybean Meal, Ground Yellow Corn, Ground Whole Wheat, Beef Tallow Naturally Preserved With Mixed-Tocopherols, Natural Liver Flavor, Salmon, Phosphoric Acid, Calcium Carbonate, Natural Flavor, Salt, Choline Chloride, Dried Spinach, Taurine, Potassium Chloride, Vitamins [Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin (Vitamin B-3), Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate (Vitamin B-5), Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B-1), Riboflavin Supplement (Vitamin B-2), Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B-6), Folic Acid (Vitamin B-9), Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Biotin (Vitamin B-7), Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Vitamin K)], Minerals [Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite].
Guaranteed Analysis
Dry Matter Basis
Caloric Weight Basis
Ingredients We Liked: Chicken, Beef Tallow, Salmon
Ingredients We Didn’t Like: Corn Gluten Meal, Rice, Soybean Meal, Ground Yellow Corn, Ground Whole Wheat
Common Allergens: Chicken, Fish
Pros
- Doesn’t contain any artificial colors
- Relies on animal-derived fat
Cons
- Primarily made with plants
- Very high in carbohydrate matter
- Low fat content isn’t ideal for every cat
What Do Customers Think of Purina Cat Chow Cat Food?
Purina Cat Chow is one of the most popular brands in the business. It’s earned multiple generations of customers and the vast majority of them love it.
Even Consumer Affairs reviewers are relatively kind to Purina. With 838 ratings submitted in the last year, Purina Pet Foods earns an overall satisfaction rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Let’s take a closer look at what customers are saying about Purina Cat Chow on Chewy.
Positive Reviews
“I used to feed IAMS cat food, until they jacked prices up so high & the cats LITERALLY started covering up the IAMS like it was poo. Tried Blue Buffalo, that was hit & miss plus $$. After getting 5 cats dumped here that are now “family” I switchedto lesser expensive dry cat food – Purina Naturals. I have one fellow who has GI problems – vomits/diahrea etc – and this is the ONLY food he will eat without puking or pooping like crazy. My local stores are inconsistent with having this in stock – you know how cats don’t handle change in food easily. So I’m going with chewy so I can have a consistent supply of the only food that works for my “kids!” – MeToosMom, reviewing Purina Cat Chow Naturals Original Dry Cat Food
“After only a few days no more coughing up hair balls. I only feed about a cup to three adult cats in the morning. I feed their regular wet food in the evenings. Seems to be doing the job of getting rid of hair balls. I highly recommend it for your indoor cats.” – ArmandHammer, reviewing Purina Cat Chow Hairball & Healthy Weight Indoor Dry Cat Food
Negative Reviews
“The first thing I must state is that I have sent Purina a rather terse review. I let them know clearly my opinion regarding the recent change, of their packaging. I want you, to know, of my thoughts, regarding the fact there is no longer the easy opening pull tab, on their bags. It is absurd, to add inconvenience, to the ever increasing prices [I realize that cannot be avoided], and the reduction, in volume.” – Grouch, reviewing Purina Cat Chow Complete Dry Cat Food
“When the pack size changed from 16# to 15#, Purina also changed the ingredients. Now instead of poultry meal, there is only chicken meal. They removed the meat and bone meal, and have cracked corn instead of corn meal. Our barn cats (never ever had a picky barn cat in 40+ years) refused to eat this new food! I have been an autoship customer of Chewy.com ever since they were a small and new company. Chewy is my favorite company to deal with currently. I wish however Chewy would have notified me well ahead of the ingredient change so I could have kept some of the old food while transitioning to new. Chewy has always gone above and beyond in the customer service area, but they could use some improvement in alerting autoship customers to changes and could use some improvement in communicating with pet food companies on ingredient changes. Afterall, pet food is their main business, they above all retailers, could be on top of this. I finally did get a straight answer regarding the ingredient changes from Purina after talking to 4 people there. Chewy was not aware of any ingredient changes. Room for improvement, but keep up the good customer service!” – Nickname, reviewing Purina Cat Chow Complete Dry Cat Food
How Much Does Purina Cat Chow Cat Food Cost?
With few recipes costing more than five cents per ounce, Purina Cat Chow is one of the cheapest brands on the market. Assuming that you’re feeding a typical ten-pound cat who takes in about 200 calories per day, Cat Chow will cost about $0.10 to $0.12 per day.
Overall, Is Purina Cat Chow Cat Food a Good Choice?
There’s not a single food in the Purina Cat Chow family that emphasizes meat over plants or clearly-named meats over potentially-low value by-products.
With ingredient lists thick with corn, soy, wheat, and dyes, Purina Cat Chow’s original lineup tends to contain more plants and potential irritants than nourishing meat ingredients. While Purina Cat Chow Naturals poses as a healthier upgrade, it’s just as carbohydrate-heavy and just as species-inappropriate.
Overall, Purina Cat Chow is a tempting option if you’re on a tight budget, but it’s not your only choice. Before you settle on this brand, consider Kirkland cat food or any of the products on our list of the best cheap cat foods on the market.
Where To Buy Purina Cat Chow Cat Food?
Purina Cat Chow is available almost anywhere you can buy cat food. You’ll find it in groceries, big box stores, and pet specialty shops. It’s similarly easy to find online, with online retailers including Walmart.com, Chewy, and Amazon.
Try thr naturals original not the indoor or specialty kind just original naturals. Even the reviews on Google for Purina naturals original dry cat chow are example enough, I’ve never had so many exceptional healthy cats even the vet the boasts hills science diet had to say something about our muscle cats with soft fur and impressive health conditions. My neighbor and I both go to the same vet that we have known for 20+ years and they noticed when we changed cat food because they all got very healthy and it was noticable to someone who sees every cat in the county.
My mother was feeding 3 feral and 1 stray but now I have been feeding them since 2012 purina naturals original mixed with some inexpensive canned food like 9 lives and they are thriving although they are over 12yrs old and totally outdoors. {they are spayed and neutered}
I wonder about the usefulness of your scoring. Why are the six ratings categories weighed equally? Should Product Variety be as important as Ingredient Quality? For some reason you give Purina’s Price a 10/10 rating, whereas Friskies’s Price a 6/10 rating. Purina is actually a bit more pricey than Friskies (dry food). You’re grading Purina with a ‘D’. Friskies and Meow Mix get a ‘C’. Is Purina really worse overall?
Hi Kenneth,
Thank you for your comment.
This review is specific for Purina Cat Chow and not the whole Purina brand. You can see the general review of the Purina brand here:
https://cats.com/purina-cat-food-review
As for the price, according to PetFoodSherpa.com review of Purina Cat Chow, their dry cat food is priced 66% lower than the market avg. and that’s why we have a 10/10 price rating.
LMK if this makes sense and if you have additional questions
My cats loved Purina Cat Chow Complete before the ingredients changed but for months now they barely eat and refuse to eat it. I knew the ingredients had changed before on the bags because my cats quit eating it even the ferals. I had to add more canned cat food and chicken livers to even get them to eat. I am very upset that Purina Cat Chow complete change their recipe! I totally understand the grade of D because it’s horrible now they will not eat it. I have to provide a better dry food for my cats now.
You may want to do more research into the word “byproduct.” Any quick google search will tell you that byproduct is basically organ meat. Organ meat is consumed by people all over the world. In the USA, most people don’t eat organ meat, so we call it “byproduct.”
Newsflash….dogs and cats eat organ meat!!! Has your dog or cat ever caught a little bunny or squirrel or chipmunk? Did you see how he/she ate it? They rip open the belly and eat the abdominal organs FIRST! Because they know its the most nutritious.
So please stop misinforming the cat owning public. Byproduct (aka organ meat) is absolutely the MOST nutritious part of the chicken or cow. That is why it’s used in pet food. It is nutritious and inexpensive, which makes it perfect.
That said, Cat Chow is definitely one of the lowest quality dry foods. ProPlan is by far Purina’s best diet…for cats or dogs.
Hi there, thanks for the comment. This is quite true; animal by-products aren’t inherently bad nutritionally. My main concern about these by-products isn’t an “ick” response but related to the possibility that these by-products are lower-quality than the other meat components in pet food. It’s not just that most Americans don’t eat organ meat, and it’s therefore called by-product. It is, well, a by-product of meat processing, which is also not a bad thing in and of itself (far less wasteful than throwing it out, certainly), but this is not legally approved for human consumption. To my understanding, a slurry of animal by-products may be held to lower quality standards than other cuts of meat, and because little consideration is given to the ratios of the components of that slurry, it may have a lower biological value as well. Of course, things have already improved on the quality front, but even up to a few years ago, it was legal to use 3D (dead, diseased, or dying) animals in this type of rendered product for pet food, which introduces greater potential for contamination, including with the euthanasia drug pentobarbital. So, while in theory, animal by-products are a great source of low-cost nutrition, the reality is that there does seem to be a slightly higher risk of both inferior nutrition and quality coming from these products. Ideally, we would feed our cats these animal by-products, but more thought would be put into the quantities of each component and they would be held to more stringent quality standards.
My latest purchase of Cat Chow Complete is very much NOT the same as the last 10 years. It is a lot darker color and LOTS of crumbs are left in the bowl. I don’t know what changed, but I am not sure if I trust Cat Chow anymore.
I inherited two cats both females when my daughter passed. One is about 15 months old and the other is about 4-5 years old. I am currently feeding them only dry food. I’ve been using Purina Complete. I am blown away by your post. I thought I was doing them right but I see I’m not. Can you recommend a wet food to feed them or a good recipe for homemade food. I know home made will not have vitamins and other minerals they would need. So which is best?
Thank you for any suggestions. I signed up for your newsletter also.
Can you send my reply also to my email? Thanks
Hello there, Mary Bean! You should receive this response in your email inbox, but I’ll shoot you an email as well just in case. 🙂 I’d recommend reading the following guides:
Best Wet Cat Food
Best Homemade Cat Food Recipes (Approved by a Vet)
I switched dry cat food from Purina plus one for sensitive stomach to Purina naturals! Since then she has really smelly poop and is pooping on the carpet could all the vitamins in the naturals cause this? And should I change back to her original food? She is 15 yrs old
Hmm, that does sound worrisome—the combination of smelly poop and pooping on the carpet makes it sound like there may be more going on than the dietary change alone. I wouldn’t point to the vitamins in the Naturals recipe. Instead, it might be the fact that the Naturals formula has more corn gluten meal, which may be less digestible than the ingredients in the Purina ONE formula. The only advantage of the Naturals formula is the lack of artificial colors, and I’d say that the Purina ONE food is overall a more wholesome choice. I would switch back to the old food and monitor your cat to see if anything changes. There may be something else happening to cause these issues. Wishing you and your kitty all the best!
Purina One Plus- our 9 year old cat just died almost overnight with kidney failure. One day he’s playful and happy, the next, deathly ill. Our Vet opened the Clinic for us last Sunday afternoon and for 5 days did everything possible to save him. We discussed anything that he could have eaten, gotten into outside but no, with 4 ft of snow outside he hasn’t wanted to go outside and no to anything he might have eaten outside of his Purina dry kibble. We did however read that the foil ling of the Purina bag contained chemicals that could be toxic to a cat over time. He only consumed two large bags of this food before this happened and I had ordered a different brand from Chewy just before he fell ill.
I can’t claim that something in this food poisoned his kidneys, but I know that I will never order a Purin brand product again. It’s not highly rated i just learned but Chewy gave it a higher rating much to my disappointment. A lower price is not as crucial as a quality food.
Hello Nanette, my apologies for the late reply. Thank you for sharing your story, and I wish you and your family all the best.