4Health Cat Food Review 2023 – Top Picks, Pros & Cons

Review Summary

Introduction

4Health is a pet food company owned by Tractor Supply Company, a home and ranch company based in Tennessee. This company started in 1938 as a mail-order tractor part supplier. However, they have now grown to sell a wide variety of products. A large part of their company involves pet food and supplies. Therefore, their 4Health brand is one of their major selling products. They are marketed as a premium brand. Their foods regularly include premium ingredients, like probiotics and antioxidants.

At a Glance: The Best 4Health Cat Food Recipes:

4Health Cat Food Reviewed

 

4Health is fairly good cat food. It isn’t the best on the market, but it isn’t the worst, either. It does come with high-quality ingredients for the most part, though the quality does lower as you move further down the ingredient list.

Who Makes 4Health and Where Is It Produced?

This brand is owned by Tractor Supply Company. It is their store brand. However, it is made by Diamond Pet Food, which is based in the USA. This company also makes quite a few different brands, including Canidae and Taste of the Wild. Diamond Pet Food owns five different facilities across the United States. All the foods they make are crafted in the United States at these facilities. However, they do source ingredients from other companies. Most of their ingredients are sourced from France or New Zealand. However, they do source some of their vitamins and minerals from China, including their folic acid and taurine.

Which Types of Cats is 4Health Best Suited For?

4Health is pretty average cat food. Most recipes include meat of some sort as the first few ingredients. However, the next few ingredients are typically some sort of veggies. Peas are a fairly common option, which isn’t optimal for obligate carnivores, as cats are. We don’t recommend it for cats with health problems or those that have special dietary needs. Some purebred cats may not find this food suitable either. If the breed is prone to a variety of health problems, this brand is likely not the best option. They simply aren’t the best for cats that have or may have health problems.

Which Types of Cats Might Do Better with a Different Brand?

If your cat has health problems, you may want to find a higher quality brand – or one that is specifically made with their health problem in mind. This brand often can’t accommodate health problems. Furthermore, if your cat is more prone to health problems, you may want to choose a different food. This food is of decent quality, but it isn’t the highest quality. Therefore, it may not help them avoid some of the health problems they are prone to. With that said, this brand does provide six different recipes to treat specific health problems. However, they are not the best.

Discussion of the Primary Ingredients

Luckily, most of the recipes start with meat of some sort. The exact type of meat depends on the recipe. Typically, chicken recipes include chicken as the first ingredient. However, sometimes salmon recipes include chicken high on the list as well. However, some of the other ingredients aren’t as great. For instance, many include refined grains high on the ingredient list. As you might imagine, these are not a great option for your feline. While some grains are okay, you typically don’t want to choose refined grains. These sorts of grains have had much of their nutritional content eliminated, providing very little reason to add it directly to a cat’s food. Some low-quality veggies are included as well. For instance, peas are very high in protein and are often included in their recipes. This raises the protein content of the food, though the protein is plant-based. Often, these recipes include a wide variety of added ingredients. For instance, omega fatty acids are often included. This helps keep your cat’s skin and coat healthy. Taurine is included to improve the cat’s heart and eyes. Antioxidants are also included to improve their overall health. Many cats will benefit from these added ingredients.

Macronutrients

These recipes are often quite high in protein and fat. These are exactly what cats need to thrive. However, much of this protein comes from peas and other plant-based ingredients. This protein isn’t always high in the amino acids that cats need. As you might imagine, this leads to a lower-quality muscle mass. Often, these foods are quite low in carbohydrates. Carbohydrates aren’t particularly necessary for cats, though low levels do provide highly digestible energy that some cats do need.

A Quick Look at 4Health Cat Food

Recall History

4Health has two past recalls. It appears that these recalls are due to their manufacturer, Diamond Pet Food, as other Diamond Pet Food brands were affected at the same time. The first one occurred in 2012 when some of the foods were recalled for potential contamination with salmonella. These foods had been crafted in the Diamond Pet Foods’ South Carolina branch. The recall was completely voluntary, which means that the company recognized its problem when recalling the food without the FDA needing to order the recall. 4Health was recalled again in 2013, this time for having potentially low levels of thiamine. Again, other Diamond Pet Foods were also affected, so it seems to have been a problem with their facility specifically.

Reviews of the 3 Best 4Health Cat Food Recipes

To get a better idea of how this food stacks up, let’s take a look at three different recipes.

1. 4Health All Life Stages

The 4Health All Life Stages formula is the brand’s “default” recipe. It isn’t designed to do anything in particular except provide your feline with a high-quality diet. It includes real chicken as the first ingredient, followed by chicken meal. Both of these are high-quality protein and fat sources for your feline. However, ground white rice is the third ingredient. While grains aren’t necessarily bad, you should aim for whole grains when possible. Like many of their recipes, this one also includes a variety of added ingredients. For instance, a variety of antioxidants are included, such as zinc, selenium, and vitamin E. Taurine is added for their heart and eye health, and they’ve included probiotics to support your feline’s digestive health. As the name suggests, you can feed this recipe to adults, kittens, and seniors. It meets the AAFCO guidelines for all life stages. This formula does include a wide variety of veggies and fruits. Some of these are a bit higher on the ingredient list than we would like. For instance, peas are the fourth ingredient. While a few peas can provide extra nutrition and fiber for our cats, they are also very high in protein and inflate the overall protein content of the food.

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2. 4Health Untamed Glacial Stream Recipe

4Health’s Untamed line is specifically designed without any grains. On the outside, it looks like a pretty solid grain-free food. However, you aren’t actually paying for more meat. Based on the ingredient list, it appears that the company has replaced grains with inexpensive veggies, like lentils and peas – instead of adding more meat to the formula. The first two ingredients of this food are fish-based. The first one is salmon and the second one is an ocean fish meal. These are high-quality ingredients and highly recommended. However, lentils, chickpeas, and peas appear as the next three ingredients. While a few veggies are okay, these appear in excessively high amounts. They are all very high in protein but don’t include all the amino acids that your feline needs to thrive. Therefore, they are generally considered to provide lower-quality protein. Lentils and peas are not specifically better than grains by any means. On the other hand, this formula does include some quality additives. For instance, omega-3s and omega-6s are added to potentially improve your cat’s skin and coat health. They may also help with arthritis and similar joint problems.

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3. 4Health Grain-Free Chicken and Whitefish Dinner Canned Food

The ingredient list of this recipe includes various high-quality animal products. The first ingredient is chicken broth, which adds nutrients and moisture to the cat food. Chicken and organ meats are included as well. In fact, the large majority of this food appears to be animal products of some sort. As you might imagine, this recipe is quite high in protein due to its heavy use of meats. This macronutrient is exactly what your feline needs to thrive. Probiotics are included to support your cat’s digestive system and immune system. As far as wet foods go, this is an extremely high-quality recipe. We recommend it for those that need to add some extra moisture to their cat’s diet or who simply prefer to feed their cat wet food. Compared to other brands on the market, this wet food is decently inexpensive as well.

What Other Users Are Saying

Many users found this food to be high quality for the price. There were many reports of owners switching from more expensive brands to this one. Other owners swore my 4Health products for their finicky cats that had trouble accepting many other brands. To read specific reviews from real customers, check out these reviews on Amazon.

Conclusion

4Health is a decent cat food that provides both dry food and canned food. Their recipes often include high amounts of meat, with some sort of meat-based protein always appearing as the first ingredient. However, high amounts of inexpensive veggies like peas and lentils often appear in many ingredient lists. If you purchase grain-free food, you aren’t actually getting more meat, for instance. Instead, it appears that they simply switch out the grain for peas and lentils. With that said, this brand does have fewer than average recalls and appears to be cheaper than other premium brands on the market. It isn’t the best out there, but you do get a lot of bang for your buck.