Knowing exactly what goes into your cat’s food is essential. While every cat food company claims to deliver the best of the best, only a few actually do it.
That’s why we took the time to track down and examine the best cat foods with taurine. Not only do they all have taurine, but they also come packed full of proteins, amino acids, and omega-3s and don’t have fillers.
Here are our reviews of the top cat foods, and now all you need to do is narrow it down to your favorite one.
Disclaimer: The foods reviewed here were chosen because they have certain characteristics that might help with some of the causes or consequences of this medical condition. However, they are not a medical treatment or a substitute for medical treatment. Keep in mind that each medical case is different and what works for some pets may not work for others. Your veterinarian is the right person to advise you on the best diet for your pet’s individual case.
Smalls cat food is the 1st overall best cat food with taurine. It’s available through a subscription service with custom cat food meal plans and top-notch ingredients. All recipes are developed with the guidance of pet nutrition consultant Dr. Susan Lauten, Ph.D. Recipes are available in several fresh formulas, all of which are complete and balanced according to AAFCO guidelines.
All ingredients in Smalls food are human-grade and are made in a facility using USDA-certified ingredients sourced from the United States and Canada. The recipes come in three proteins and two textures: Bird, Cow, and Other Bird in minced or pate textures. Smalls also provides a discount on a trial box that allows you to try it before you commit.
The only downside is the price, and a subscription may not be ideal for every pet owner, though it will keep your cat’s feeding consistent. Regardless of being a little more expensive, we still think Smalls is the best cat food with taurine you can find on the market today.
Pros
Convenient delivery
Custom formula
Multiple recipes and textures
Formulated with a pet nutrition consultant
Cons
Expensive
2. Purina ONE Tender Selects Blend Cat Food — Best Value
Purina One Tender Selects has chicken as the first ingredient and contains crunchy pieces and meaty morsels. With 34% crude protein, it has more protein than competitors with similar formulations and contains 0.15% taurine. It also has prebiotic fiber to support your cat’s digestive and immune system health and includes essential vitamins and minerals.
Tender Selects is made in the United States and contains no fillers or artificial preservatives. Although it contains high-quality ingredients your cat needs for a healthy life, it’s less expensive than many of its competitors. Therefore, we think Purina One Tender Selects is the best cat food with taurine for the money.
There are superfoods for your cats, and then there’s everything the Honest Kitchen pushes out. However, the Honest Kitchen is expensive and doesn’t last nearly as long as some other cat foods.
When you look at what you’re getting, it’s no surprise. The Honest Kitchen Chicken Recipe tops our list in taurine content at 0.2%. It also has 29% protein and plenty of fiber, and it’s made from only the freshest and most natural ingredients.
Everything is high-quality, which is why the Honest Kitchen is exceptionally high-priced. If you have a picky eater, the good news is that they shouldn’t have any issues with this food. You just have to be able to afford to buy it every few weeks.
Kittens don’t get the same food as adults, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need a diet rich in taurine. Blue Buffalo’s Wilderness Kitten Chicken Recipe delivers. It has an extremely high taurine content, the kibble is smaller for kittens, and every ingredient is high-quality.
Even better, there’s an adult food option for Blue Buffalo Wilderness that’s high in taurine, too, so you can help your cat make a seamless transition to a food that you know they’ll love as soon as they’re ready.
While the bag sizes are smaller and a bit more expensive for the kitten recipe, the adult recipe is more affordable. The good news is that kittens don’t eat much, and you can transition them to the more affordable adult food in just a few months.
Pros
Extremely high taurine content
They have an adult food that they can graduate too
There are good cat foods, and then there’s American Journey. It combines two common poultry options, turkey and chicken, which puts them in our top five list of cat foods with taurine. It uses only high-quality ingredients and offers a great mix of price and affordability.
There are three size options to choose from. While no bag is more significant than 12 pounds, it will last quite some time for most cats. The taurine percentage isn’t the highest, but it’s higher than most other brands. The crude protein content is an astounding 40%, there’s plenty of fiber and vitamins, and there are zero fillers.
If you’re looking for a more novel protein in your cat food, look no further than Taste of the Wild. Unlike many cat foods that have chicken and turkey, Taste of the Wild uses venison and salmon in its recipe.
At 42% crude protein, you won’t find a more protein-laden cat food. Every ingredient in Taste of the Wild is high-quality, which can be surprising when you look at the price tag. It’s not as cheap as some other dry foods, but it’s only slightly more expensive, and the two primary ingredients are venison and salmon.
Finally, at 0.15% taurine, it’s near the top of the pack.
3-ounce case of 24, 5.5-ounce case of 24, 12.5-ounce case of 12
Taurine percent:
0.1%
For everything that wet cat foods do well, having a high taurine content at an affordable price isn’t one of them. Wellness puts out a decent product with its Complete Health Pate Chicken Entrée, but even it only has 0.1% taurine.
That’s only half of what the top choices on this list offer, and you’re spending nearly as much as the premium choice! That’s not to say that Complete Health is a bad cat food. There are plenty of perks, including high omega-3 numbers, high levels of amino acids, and a decent amount of crude fiber.
However, if you’re looking for a food with more taurine, you’re probably better off sticking with dry cat food.
Pros
Best wet food option
Multiple size options
Great for their coat
Cons
Low taurine amount
Expensive
Low protein amount (10.5%)
8. Rachael Ray Nutrish Premium Dry Cat Food Cat Food
Rachael Ray might not be who you think of when you think of cat food, but Nutrish is a suitable product. It’s not the “Super Premium Food” that the packaging claims, but there are plenty of fresh, high-quality ingredients that your cat will love.
It’s also available for a reasonable price, and the protein amount is decent at 34%. There are three size options, and each option has 0.15% taurine, which puts it in the upper echelon of our products in taurine content.
Still, it fell to the bottom third of our list because it can’t hold up against the top foods on our list. The 0.15% taurine amount isn’t bad, but you can do better. The same goes for the crude protein content. This is a decent choice at a great price, but you can find a better option for your cat.
The Halo Holistic Wild Salmon & Whitefish Recipe is a novel protein diet that works great for your cat. Not only are they novel proteins, but most cats can also handle fish better than some other proteins, so if your cat has a sensitive stomach, Halo Holistic might be just what you need.
However, the taurine percentage is slightly too low at 0.1%. While it’s not the lowest percentage, not many dry foods have less taurine. Also, a 6-pound bag of Halo Holistic has a similar price to the 12- and 14-pound bags of some other dry foods.
The difference comes down to the protein choice, but if your cat doesn’t need salmon and whitefish, there’s no reason to pay salmon and whitefish prices.
The IAMS Proactive Health Indoor Weight & Hairball Care is a great cat food for those who need to manage their cat’s weight. There are zero fillers and four size options to choose from. They’re all affordably priced, and they’re relatively easy on your cat’s stomach, too.
However, it has a lower percentage of taurine, at 0.13%. You could do worse, but many other brands, especially wet cat foods, are better. But what really drives the point home is the lower protein amount.
Only 30% is too low for dry cat food, and it’s a disappointment because of everything else this food provides.
Wet cat foods aren’t ideal if you’re looking for a diet full of taurine. Fussie Cat Premium Tuna with Salmon is a decent wet food option, but it only has 0.05% taurine.
The omega-3s and amino acids are great for your cat’s coat, but this list is all about the taurine. In that area, Fussie doesn’t deliver. While it’s not as expensive as premium foods, it’s still a more expensive option than other dry foods, and you don’t get as much taurine. If you need wet cat food, you could do far worse.
Pros
Decent wet food option
Tons of amino acids and omega-3s
Great for your cat’s coat
Cons
Low taurine content
Expensive
Low protein content (12%)
Buyer’s Guide: Selecting the Best Cat Foods with Taurine
With so many ingredients, vitamins, and minerals, picking the perfect cat food can quickly get overwhelming. That’s why we created this comprehensive buyer’s guide to walk you through everything that you need to know.
Just take a deep breath and keep reading; we’ll have you ordering the perfect food for your cat in no time.
How Much Taurine Does Your Cat Need?
The math can get a little complicated here if you overthink it, so we’ll start with that part before breaking it down.
As long as your cat can process taurine correctly and isn’t taurine deficient, all they need is 10 mg per kg of body weight of taurine per day to get enough. While you can run many complex math problems to see if your cat is getting enough, as long as they’re eating food with 0.05% taurine, they’re good to go.
If your cat has trouble processing taurine, you’ll want to raise that number. Since your cat can’t overdose on taurine and it has plenty of heart-healthy benefits, there’s no reason not to give your feline friend extra taurine at each meal.
How Much Protein Does Your Cat Need?
While taurine is essential to your cat’s health and is the focus of this article, protein is the most crucial ingredient in cat food. While recommendations push for at least 25% of protein in cat food, that’s a bare minimum.
Most vets will recommend picking a food with between 35% and 40% protein, but a bit less than this amount is perfectly fine, too. While you can overdo the protein if you make food for your cat at home, you won’t find a commercial cat food that does it for two reasons.
First, it’s not good for your cat. Second, protein is the most expensive part of cat food. The last thing a cat food company wants to do is spend money adding too much protein for your cat!
Image Credit: Inna Astakhova, Shutterstock
Picking a Protein Source
This is something that many cat owners get hung up on, but unless your cat has a specific allergy to a protein source, chances are that it’s not something that you need to worry about. The best thing you can do is choose a protein source and stick with it.
Staying consistent enables your cat’s digestive tract to get used to a specific food and makes it easier to process, even if they don’t have a sensitive stomach.
But if your cat does have a sensitive stomach, you might need to stick with a more novel protein source. Venison, salmon, and other fish are excellent choices, but it all comes down to what your cat has an allergy to.
Remember that it’s perfectly normal for a cat to get sick after switching foods, especially if they have a sensitive stomach. Therefore, always give your cat time to adjust to the new food before deciding if that’s the right choice.
How Much Should You Feed Your Cat?
It all comes down to how many calories are in the cat food you’re feeding your cat. That’s why you should always follow the directions on the cat food that you use.
A good rule of thumb for most cat foods is to feed them ¼ cup for every 5 pounds of cat. So, if you have a 15-pound cat, you should feed them about 3/4 cup of cat food.
However, always check the instructions on your cat food because some foods have more or fewer calories, which can lead to over- or under-feeding.
While providing our feline companions with high-quality food is paramount, selecting the right food and water bowl is equally important. The modern yet practical design of our Hepper NomNom Cat Bowlcombines cat-catered features, like whisker-friendly shallow dishes and slight elevation, with a contemporary style aimed at protecting your floors from messy eating and drinking. The NomNom is entirely dishwasher safe and was thoughtfully created with your cat’s health and well-being in mind.
If you’re still unsure of which cat food is best for your cat after reading these reviews, why not go with Smalls? It’s our top choice for a reason: it’s a high-quality food that has everything that your cat needs to thrive, and it’s delivered right to your door and for a reasonable price. If you’re on a tighter budget, Purina ONE Tender Selects Blend is a phenomenal choice with a price you can’t beat.
Whatever you do, stick with one of these quality products. While you can find something cheaper at a budget store, those formulas don’t give your cat what they need to stay healthy.
