10 Best Soft Dry Cat Foods in Canada – 2024 Reviews & Top Picks
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Perhaps you have a cat that only likes dry food but struggles to chew it because of teeth issues. If you’re hoping to find new cat food for your cat, here are reviews of 10 of the best soft dry cat foods available to Canadians. There’s also a buyer’s guide that can give you extra ideas of what to look for.
A Quick Glance at the Winners in 2024
| Rating | Image | Product | Details | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Best Overall
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Purina ONE True Instinct |
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Check Price |
Best Value
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Friskies Grillers Cat Food |
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Check Price |
Premium Choice
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Purina ONE Tender Selects Dry Cat Food |
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Check Price |
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Whiskas Dry Kitten Food |
|
Check Price | |
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Hill’s Science Diet Pouch Variety Pack |
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Check Price |
The 10 Best Soft Dry Cat Foods in Canada
1. Purina ONE True Instinct Dry Cat Food — Best Overall
| Main ingredients: | Chicken, poultry by-product meal, pea starch |
| Protein content: | 35% |
| Fat content: | 14% |
| Calories: | 356 kcal/cup |
The best overall soft dry cat food in Canada is Purina ONE True Instinct Grain Free Dry Cat Food. It has a combination of kibble and tender morsels made of real meat. It contains chicken as the main ingredient, and if your cat is sensitive to grains, this food is also grain free. It’s full of essential minerals and vitamins, including four sources of antioxidants to boost your cat’s immune system. It doesn’t contain any artificial colours, flavours, or preservatives. The downside is that picky cats might not like it.
- Combination of kibble and meaty morsels
- Chicken is the main ingredient
- Grain free for cats sensitive to grains
- Four sources of antioxidants
- No artificial ingredients
- Picky cats might not like it
2. Friskies Grillers’ Tender & Crunchy Cat Food — Best Value
| Main ingredients: | Ground corn, corn gluten meal, ground wheat |
| Protein content: | 30% |
| Fat content: | 11% |
| Calories: | 383 kcal/cup |
The best soft dry cat food in Canada for the money is Friskies Grillers’ Tender & Crunchy Cat Food. It’s super inexpensive and is a mix of tender meaty pieces and crunchy kibble. It has a combination of flavours like beef, turkey, and chicken with veggies, all of which have a grilled taste. It has added antioxidants, essential fatty acids, and vitamin A and taurine for healthy eyes. However, it’s full of artificial colours and flavours, and the first three ingredients are not meat based.
- Inexpensive
- Crunchy kibble and tender pieces
- Grilled flavour with turkey, beef, and chicken flavours
- Added vitamin A and taurine for eye health
- Contains artificial ingredients
- First three ingredients are not meat
3. Purina ONE Tender Selects Dry Cat Food — Premium Choice
| Main ingredients: | Chicken, rice flour, corn gluten meal |
| Protein content: | 34% |
| Fat content: | 15% |
| Calories: | 370 kcal/cup |
Purina’s ONE Tender Selects Dry Cat Food is a premium choice and a veterinarian-recommended soft dry food. It’s a mix of crunchy dry food with tender morsels and has real chicken as the main ingredient. It’s full of omega fatty acids for a healthy coat and taurine for vision health. However, it’s quite expensive.
- Vet recommended
- Crunchy kibble and tender morsels
- Whole chicken is the main ingredient
- Omega fatty acids for healthy coat and taurine for eyes
- Expensive
4. Whiskas Dry Kitten Food
| Main ingredients: | Chicken by-product meal, wheat, ground whole-grain corn |
| Protein content: | 38% |
| Fat content: | 15% |
| Calories: | 387 kcal/cup |
Whiskas Dry Kitten Food is a balanced meal for kittens ages 1 to 12 months. It is a dry kibble that also contains little “treats” that are crunchy on the outside but soft in the middle, and the kibble size is small enough for kittens. It’s high in protein for developing cats and includes antioxidants for a healthy immune system. The issues are that many of the main ingredients are grains, and the “treat” parts are a bit big for kittens.
- Kibble mixed with crunchy treats that are soft in the middle
- High in protein for developing kittens
- Antioxidants for a healthy immune system
- Kibble size just right for kittens
- Contains many grain products
- Rectangular “treats” are large
5. Hill’s Science Diet Adult Cat Pouch Variety Pack
| Main ingredients: | Ocean fish, tuna, chicken, pork liver |
| Protein content: | 7.8% |
| Fat content: | 2.5% |
| Calories: | 153–162 kcal/pouch |
Hill’s Science Diet Adult Cat Pouch Variety Pack isn’t exactly canned food and it isn’t dry food either. It comes in pouches with large chunks of food in gravy. This one is a variety pack and comes in tuna, chicken, and ocean fish recipes. It’s easy to serve because each pouch is a meal: Just open, pour, and you’re done. Even better, there are no leftovers! It includes amino acids, antioxidants, and vitamins C and E for overall health, and the recipes contain real meat. Unfortunately, it is expensive, and the chunks are on the large side, so cats with little to no teeth might have trouble eating it.
- Pouches with chunks of food in gravy
- Variety pack with three flavours
- Made with real meat
- Each pouch is a serving, so no leftovers
- Contains antioxidants, amino acids, and vitamins C and E
- Expensive
- Chunks are quite large
6. Stella & Chewy’s Freeze-Dried Dinner Morsels
| Main ingredients: | Chicken with ground bone, chicken liver, chicken gizzard |
| Protein content: | 45% |
| Fat content: | 25% |
| Calories: | 123 kcal/oz |
Stella & Chewy’s Freeze-Dried Raw Dinner Morsels is freeze-dried raw food. You can feed it to your cat as is or rehydrate it with cool or warm water to make it as moist. About 98% of the ingredients come from cage-free chicken. It has probiotics and taurine and is pea, lentil, and potato free. It is quite expensive, though, and the texture can be inconsistent from bag to bag. Sometimes it’s crumbly and not too hard, and other times, it’s super hard, and it takes longer to rehydrate.
- Raw, freeze-dried food can be eaten as is or rehydrated
- 98% of the ingredients come from cage-free chicken
- Contains probiotics and taurine
- Lentil, potato, and pea free
- Expensive
- Inconsistent texture
7. Whiskas Dry Cat Food With Tuna
| Main ingredients: | Whole-grain corn, chicken by-product meal, wheat |
| Protein content: | 30% |
| Fat content: | 14% |
| Calories: | 392 kcal/cup |
Whiskas Dry Cat Food With Tuna provides a balanced diet for adult cats. It consists of kibble combined with crunchy treats that are soft in the middle. It’s quite affordable and doesn’t contain artificial colours or flavours. It has added taurine for vision health. Many cats love this food! The biggest issue is that while it’s advertised as having tuna flavour, this recipe does not include real tuna. Natural tuna flavour is used instead, and it is quite far down the ingredient list.
- Kibble mixed with treats that are soft in the middle
- Affordable
- No artificial flavours or colours
- Added taurine for vision health
- Tuna flavour is not the main ingredient
8. Meow Mix Tender Centres Cat Food
| Main ingredients: | Whole ground corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal |
| Protein content: | 31% |
| Fat content: | 11% |
| Calories: | 328 kcal/cup |
Meow Mix Tender Centres Salmon & Chicken Cat Food is affordable and offers something different from many other foods. Rather than kibble mixed in with treats, every piece in the bag is crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. It has two different flavours of salmon and chicken and contains essential vitamins and minerals for a balanced diet. It provides extra antioxidants for the immune system and will give your cat healthy skin and coat. However, it contains artificial colours and other questionable ingredients, such as corn syrup.
- Crunchy outside and soft inside
- Flavours of chicken and salmon
- Antioxidants for the immune system
- Inexpensive
- Contains artificial colours
- Questionable ingredients, like corn syrup
9. Vital Cat Essentials Freeze-Dried Mini Nibs
| Main ingredients: | Chicken, chicken heart, chicken liver |
| Protein content: | 55% |
| Fat content: | 18% |
| Calories: | 345 kcal/cup |
Vital Cat Essentials Freeze-Dried Chicken Mini Nibs features freeze-dried raw morsels that are taken humanely from chickens raised on farms. It’s designed for all life stages and is gluten and grain free for cats that need to avoid these ingredients. It helps support overall health, including digestion and oral health and maintaining a healthy weight and sleek coat. It doesn’t contain fillers or any artificial ingredients. However, it’s expensive, and the size of the morsels is quite large, particularly for small cats. They also don’t always rehydrate well.
- Humanely harvested from chickens raised on farms
- Good for cats at all life stages
- Supports overall health
- No fillers or artificial ingredients
- Expensive
- Morsels are large
- Doesn’t always rehydrate well
10. Nulo Freestyle Freeze-Dried Raw Cat Food
| Main ingredients: | Chicken, salmon, chicken necks |
| Protein content: | 46% |
| Fat content: | 23% |
| Calories: | 200 kcal/cup |
Nulo Freestyle Freeze-Dried Raw Cat Food is high in protein, and 98% of the ingredients come from real chicken and salmon. It contains natural sources of essential nutrients, such as kelp and cranberries, and has the GBC30 probiotic for the immune and digestion systems. It can be used as is or as a topper for your cat’s regular food, or it can be rehydrated with warm water. The issues are that it’s quite expensive food and that the morsels are quite large. Additionally, picky cats might not like it.
- High in protein
- 98% of the ingredients come from real chicken and salmon
- Natural nutrients from ingredients such as cranberries and kelp
- Contains the GBC30 probiotic for immune and digestive systems
- Can be served as is or rehydrated
- Expensive
- Large morsels
- Not all cats like it
Buyer’s Guide: How to Select the Best Soft Dry Cat Food in Canada
Before you purchase a food that you think might work for your cat, read through this buyer’s guide. We go over a few points that might help you find your cat’s next food.
Small Bags
Many of the soft dry foods on this list are expensive. If you are transitioning your cat to a new food, particularly if it’s quite different in texture and/or flavour, you’ll want to buy the smallest bag possible. You don’t want to pay for a large bag and get stuck with it if your cat doesn’t like the new food.
Cat’s Teeth
If your cat has teeth issues or no teeth at all, you might want to stick with wet food. While a dry food diet is a healthy one, you need to ensure that your cat is getting enough moisture, which wet food has a large amount of! A cat that has trouble with kibble should be given wet or at least semi-moist cat food.
Moisture
This is an essential factor because the moisture content is the difference between a dry and a semi-dry food. Most kibble has a moisture content between 7% and 12%, so you’ll want to aim for food that is at least over 10%. But this doesn’t necessarily mean the food will be soft enough for your cat. You can add water or broth to your cat’s usual kibble or add the kibble to wet food. This can also help soften the dry food for a cat that has trouble with the crunch factor.
Kibble Size
The size of the kibble can affect how difficult or easy it is for your cat to eat dry food. Small cats will have an easier time eating small kibble, while large cats might prefer large kibble. Check the reviews; sometimes, customers will put up photos of the food, which can give you a better idea of how big or small the pieces are. The reviews can also help you decide if the food will work for your cat.
Ingredients
The first five ingredients generally make up about 80% of the entire recipe. So, when you’re in the market for a new food, you should always check those ingredients. It’s best if real meat is included in at least the first three ingredients, since cats are obligate carnivores. Also, unless your vet has stressed that your cat shouldn’t eat grains, there isn’t any necessity on your part to go grain free.
Conclusion
Purina’s ONE True Instinct Grain Free Dry Cat Food is our favourite for its combination of kibble and tender morsels, four sources of antioxidants, and lack of artificial colours, flavours, or preservatives. Friskies Grillers’ Tender & Crunchy Cat Food is inexpensive and offers a great combination of flavours and textures.
Our premium choice pick is Purina’s ONE Tender Selects Dry Cat Food for being a veterinarian-recommended soft dry food. Finally, the best soft dry kitten food is Whiskas Kitten Food, which is a balanced meal for kittens ages 1 to 12 months.
We hope that these reviews of the 10 best soft dry cat foods will help you find the perfect food for your cat. Try to watch your cat so you can better understand what kind of food will make them happy and keep them healthy.
Featured Image Credit: Patrick Foto, Shutterstock
