Dry cat food is convenient and doesn’t spoil as fast as wet food, it’s nutritionally ‘complete and balanced’ but also this doesn’t mean it’s healthy nutrition for your cat, especially if not chosen with care in mind.
I’ve analyzed for days the nutritional information on the labels (guaranteed analyses of protein, fat, fiber, carbs, and moisture), the ingredient quality, the nutritional additives (vitamins and minerals), and of course the recall history of the brands, and trust me it was quite hard to come up with 10 products!
For more information about cat nutrition, click on the pic below to see our cat food guide!
10 Best high-protein, grain-free dry cat foods
As I explained in our cat food article, cats are obligate carnivores and they must have animal protein as their main source of nourishment. Period. Dry cat kibble it’s usually not so packed with animal proteins as wet food, but rather high in vegetable protein and carbohydrates. Dry cat food also loses most of its natural nutrients through the cooking process and lacks the moisture a cat needs in its diet.
But, some high-protein dry cat foods are worth feeding to your cat after all.
So here it is, starting with species appropriateness, ingredient quality, guaranteed analyses, recall history, and price, I present to you the best high-protein, grain-free dry cat foods of 2022:
1. Dr. Elsey’s cleanprotein™ Chicken Recipe, high-protein, grain-free dry cat food
Dr. Elsey’s cleanprotein™ is a high-protein, grain-free kibble made with high-quality ingredients, and the best dry cat food you can get on the US market.
Inspired by the amount of protein your cat would eat from its prey in a natural environment, Dr. Elsey’s cleanprotein™ recipes contain 95% animal-based protein and healthy omega-3 fatty acids. It contains no grains, no added sugars, no fillers, artificial coloring, or preservatives, instead, the company uses gelatin as a natural binder.
This food promotes a healthy and active lifestyle for your cat, and from customer reviews, their cat’s coats and fur condition have significantly improved. The cats look healthier, their fur is softer and shiny, and they are energetic and happy.
1️⃣ Dr. Elsey’s cleanprotein™ Chicken Recipe
Similar recipes:
Dr. Elsey’s cleanprotein™ meets the requirements for a complete and balanced diet based on the nutritional levels established by AAFCO for cats of all life stages and is suitable for cats with allergies or suffering from diabetes.
Dr. Elsey’s cat food never had a recall for their recipes!
1️⃣ Dr. Elsey’s cleanprotein™ Chicken Recipe
2. SMALLS Freeze-Dried Raw Other Bird (the Turkey Recipe) high-protein, grain-free dry cat food
Although not considered kibble, but rather freeze-dried little niblets, we added this high-protein recipe to the dry cat food list because these niblets don’t need to be rehydrated as other freeze-dried cat foods do. You can feed it to your cat like it is in the bag.
The recipes are species-appropriate, they contain a high amount of animal protein, a fair enough amount of fat, and are low in carbs. No added sugars, artificial colors, or preservatives, and of course no grains!
The Smalls freeze-dried raw cat food is suitable for cats of all life stages and is formulated to be complete and balanced for cats according to the AAFCO guidelines.
2️⃣ SMALLS Freeze-Dried Raw Other Bird (the Turkey Recipe)
Similar recipes:
- SMALLS Freeze-Dried Raw Bird – the Chicken recipe
- SMALLS Freeze-Dried Raw Water Bird – the Duck recipe
As far as we know the freeze-dried recipes from Smalls never had a recall, only their Human-Grade Fresh cat food had one recall for their fresh chicken and fresh turkey recipes.
Smalls cat food is not sold in stores, instead, the company is shipping their boxes to you, with a monthly subscription of a custom meal plan for your cat.
2️⃣ SMALLS Freeze-Dried Raw Other Bird (the Turkey Recipe)
3. ZIWI® Peak Air-Dried Venison Recipe for Cats, high-protein, grain-free dry cat food
Ziwi® Peak Air-Dried Venison Recipe is made out of 96% animal ingredients. The recipe contains 93% free-range venison meat, venison organs (tripe, heart, lung, liver, kidney), and venison bone to which are added 3% New Zealand green-lipped mussels – a natural source of glucosamine and chondroitin that helps with long-term joint health and mobility.
The food is then supplemented with lecithin, inulin from chicory, dried kelp, and all the vitamins, minerals, and amino acids a cat needs in its diet to thrive as a carnivore animal. This makes this diet complete and balanced for cats according to the food nutrient profiles established by AAFCO for all life stages.
This recipe is gently air-dried to naturally preserve all the nutrients from the ingredients whilst eliminating pathogenic bacteria. Because they use a dehydration process they don’t need to add any starches or grains for palatability and binding purposes like normal extruded kibble does, which makes Ziwi Peak air-dried recipes species-appropriate for cats due to their macronutrient distribution and very low carbohydrate content.
This food is just as nutritious as a raw diet but in the convenient form of air-dried. It is grain-free, GMO-free (with no added hormones, antibiotics, or growth promotants), sugar-free (no glycerine or high glycemic ingredients such as potato or tapioca starch), no added artificial preservatives or colorants, and primarily made out of grass-fed venison with a 54% protein content in the dry matter.
3️⃣ ZIWI® Peak Air-Dried Venison Recipe for Cats
Similar recipes:
Ziwi Peak cat food recipes have never been recalled.
Overall, this food is nutrient-dense, based on a high animal protein content, moderate fat, and very low carb content.
3️⃣ ZIWI® Peak Air-Dried Venison Recipe for Cats
4. Stella & Chewy’s Chick Chick Chicken Dinner Morsels, high-protein, grain-free dry cat food
The freeze-dried crunchy morsels from Stella & Chewy’s can be fed dry or you can rehydrate them by adding warm water to help your cat transition to a diet rich in moisture.
The morsels are made from 98% raw cage-free chicken meat ground with bone, along with chicken liver and chicken gizzard to which are added seeds, herbs, probiotics, and supplements to meet the nutritional levels established by AAFCO for a complete and balanced diet for cats of all life stages.
The recipe is species-appropriate, high-protein, grain-free, sugar-free, and relatively low in carbs.
4️⃣ Stella & Chewy’s Chick Chick Chicken Dinner Morsels
Similar recipes:
Some Stella & Chewy’s freeze-dried raw cat food recipes (the Chick Chick Chicken, Tummy Ticklin’ Turkey, and Salmon & Chicken dinners) were recalled in July and December 2015 due to the possibility of contamination with the bacteria Listeria. Listeria monocytogenes on rare occasions can cause disease in cats and dogs. Normally cats that have been consuming contaminated foods with listeria could present mild diarrhea and vomiting, and in more occasional uncommon cases it can lead to fever, muscle pain, trouble breathing, loss of pregnancy, and even death. Stella & Chewy’s cat and dog food recipes have never been recalled since. In addition, all their products are tested before packaging and they post the outside lab results on their website to ease customers’ minds.
Overall this freeze-dried raw food is nutritionally good for your cat and has the convenience of kibble with a safe shelf-life it comes in three format bags, 3.5oz, 8oz, and 18oz.
4️⃣ Stella & Chewy’s Chick Chick Chicken Dinner Morsels
5. Instinct® Ultimate Protein Cage-Free Chicken Recipe, high-protein, grain-free dry cat food
Nature’s variety® Instinct® Ultimate Protein Cage-Free Chicken Recipe offers cat nutrition that mirrors the benefits of raw food, with 95% protein from real chicken.
The recipe is species-appropriate, high-protein, grain-free, and uses chicken fat as the source of fats instead of manmade oils. It does not contain any added sugars or artificial additives. It does contain tapioca though, which is not ideal but highly used in grain-free dry foods to create palatability in the kibble structure.
Instinct® Ultimate Protein is packed with protein and every piece of kibble is coated with freeze-dried raw for added nutrition and to offer the taste of the raw. It is formulated to meet the nutritional levels for adult cat maintenance established by AAFCO, so this food it’s not suitable for kittens.
The Instinct® Ultimate Protein Cage-Free Chicken Recipe contains guaranteed levels of live, natural probiotics for good digestibility and optimal nutrient absorption and has natural Omegas and antioxidants to promote healthy skin and coat and strengthen the immune health of your cat.
You are probably wondering what Montmorillonite Clay is from the ingredient list…Montmorillonite Clay is an anticaking agent, an additive meant to aid the absorption of excess moisture and prevent the clumping of food. Nature’s Variety uses Montmorillonite Clay in their pet food diets after it’s tested and guaranteed dioxin-free, and is also approved by AAFCO.
5️⃣ Instinct® Ultimate Protein Cage-Free Chicken Recipe
Similar products:
- Instinct® Ultimate Protein Cage-Free Duck Recipe
Nature’s Variety Instinct® Ultimate Protein varieties, as well as all the other dry or wet cat food recipes manufactured by the brand, have never been recalled, but Nature’s Variety had its most recent recall in 2015 for some of their chicken-based dog foods that were found positive for salmonella after FDA testing.
5️⃣ Instinct® Ultimate Protein Cage-Free Chicken Recipe
6. Instinct® Raw Boost® with Real Chicken, high-protein, grain-free dry cat food
Instinct® Raw Boost® kibble for cats by Nature’s Variety® is a high-protein, grain-free cat kibble recipe with real cage-free chicken as the main ingredient which is not only freeze-dried raw coated but also includes freeze-dried raw bites of chicken in the recipe giving people a cheaper way to add raw foods in their cat’s diet.
The recipe is high in animal protein and uses chicken fat as the source of fats. It does not contain any added sugars or artificial additives, colorants, or preservatives, but it does contain tapioca to create kibble palatability.
Instinct® Raw Boost® is packed with protein and every piece of kibble is coated with freeze-dried raw for added nutrition and to offer the taste of the raw.
6️⃣ Instinct® Raw Boost with Real Chicken
Similar recipes:
- Instinct® Raw Boost with Real Salmon High-Protein Kibble + Freeze-Dried Raw bites, Grain-free Recipe
- Instinct® Raw Boost with Real Rabbit High-Protein Kibble + Freeze-Dried Raw bites, Grain-free Recipe
The recipe is formulated to meet the nutritional levels of a complete and balanced diet for cats of all life stages approved by AAFCO.
As we mentioned above, Nature’s Variety® Instinct® wet and dry cat foods never had a recall, but the company Nature’s Variety® was recalled in 2015 for salmonella contamination in some of their chicken-based dog food recipes. In 2013 they had a recall after plastic was found in the food and in 2010 another recall for potential salmonella on a limited amount of chicken medallions, patties, and chubs.
6️⃣ Instinct® Raw Boost with Real Chicken
7. Orijen Original Cat, high-protein, grain-free dry cat food
❗ Orijen Original Cat is the new name of the former Orijen Cat & Kitten formula.
Orijen Original Cat is a moderate protein, grain-free, and relatively low carbohydrate content dry cat food made with fresh or frozen-raw cage-free chicken and turkey, eggs, and wild-caught fish.
Their authentic WholePrey recipe uses animal parts like meat, bones, cartilage, organs, and fat to mimic the diet your cat’s ancestors would eat in the wild.
The recipe is composed of 90% animal ingredients and 10% fruits, vegetables, and added nutrients like vitamins, minerals, natural preservatives, and probiotics to meet the AAFCO recommendations for a complete and balanced diet for cats of all life stages, which makes it suitable for cats and kittens.
The kibble is freeze-dried coated to offer your cat a raw yummy flavor and does not contain grains, sugars, or any artificial additives.
7️⃣ Orijen Original Cat
The brand also provides kibble only to adult cats or kittens:
Similar recipes from Orijen for cats of all life stages are:
As the leading brand of Champion Petfoods, Orijen has two manufacturing plants, the NorthStar kitchen in Alberta, Canada, and the DogStar kitchen in Auburn, Kentucky, USA.
Orijen customers from Canada, Europe, and Asia get the foods made in the Canadian kitchen whilst Orijen customers from the US, Central, and South America get the recipes made in the Kentucky kitchen. The company only makes dry foods for cats and for dogs with the ingredients locally acquired from safe sources near their manufacturing facilities and their NorthStar and DogStar kitchens have received Safe Food Quality (SQF) and Safe Feed/Safe Food (SFSF) certifications.
Orijen recall history
All these safety regulations because Orijen has been recalled once in 2008 in Australia where a small number of cats got sick and even died after eating Orijen cat food, although Champion Petfoods claimed that the fault was not with their recipes but with the mandatory irradiation treatments implemented by Australia’s food import regulations.
Before 2009, any pet food that contained raw meat, fresh meat, or cooked at low temperatures had to undergo an irradiation treatment to destroy any potential microbial contamination before ending up in stores. This mandatory treatment exposed the foods to gamma rays that not only destroyed microbes but also drained the Vitamin A from the food and increased the promotion of free radicals that have put cat lives in danger.
The Orijen food was also found to contain various heavy metals and toxins in their food such as BPA, Arsenic, Cadmium, Mercury, and Lead, but the amount was below the level approved by the FDA. This is due to the high amount of fish the recipe contains and it’s one of the things we do not like about Orijen.
Overall, Orijen is a good cat food inspired by a cat’s diet in the wild, with a considerably low amount of carbs compared to other cat foods on the market, with safe sources of animal ingredients and species-appropriate recipes, but the bad reviews left by customers related to the US recipe makes the brand’s integrity questionable. We hope they will do better, but for now, they are nr. 7 on our list.
7️⃣ Orijen Original Cat
8. Nulo Freestyle High-Meat Kibble Chicken & Cod Recipe, high-protein, grain-free dry cat food
The Nulo Freestyle Chicken & Cod Recipe is formulated with 83% animal-based protein and low glycemic index carb ingredients to which is added a natural prebiotic supplement (chicory root) to make sure your cat gets all the necessary amino acids to have a healthy life.
The recipe is grain-free and contains a moderate amount of animal proteins with a rather low amount of carbs (approx. 20%), but still consists of more vegetable ingredients a cat should have in its diet.
The diet is grain-free, sugar-free, and doesn’t contain any artificial ingredients like preservatives, colorants, or chemical additives, it also doesn’t contain any tapioca or tapioca starch.
8️⃣ Nulo Freestyle High-Meat Kibble Chicken & Cod Recipe
Similar recipes:
Nulo dry cat food is a premium cat food manufactured in the US with ingredients procured from North America, France, and New Zealand that are tested for quality and safety before they are used in any of the Nulo products.
Nulo has never been recalled for any of its recipes and it’s complete and balanced for cat nutrition according to AAFCO based on a cat’s life stage.
8️⃣ Nulo Freestyle High-Meat Kibble Chicken & Cod Recipe
9. Instinct® Original Grain-Free Recipe with Real Chicken, high-protein dry cat food
Instinct® Original by Nature’s Variety® is a high-protein, grain-free cat kibble recipe with cage-free chicken as the main ingredient containing 81% animal ingredients and 19% fruits, vegetables, and other non-animal ingredients.
As their Instinct® Ultimate Protein Cage-Free Chicken Recipe, the kibble is coated with freeze-dried raw to offer the raw taste and enhance nutrition for your cat.
The recipe uses peas as a binder solution for a grain-free formula and tapioca as a secondary binder and does not include any other legumes or starches compared to other brands, reducing the carb content of the recipe. The main protein sources come from chicken, chicken meal, turkey meal, and menhaden fish meal and they use chicken fat instead of vegetable-based oils.
9️⃣ Instinct® Original Grain-Free Recipe with Real Chicken
Similar recipes:
Instinct® Original Grain-Free Recipe with Real Chicken meets the standards established by AAFCO for cat nutrition suitable for all life stages.
As we already pointed out the Instinct® by Nature’s Varietyt® cat food recipes never had a recall but the company’s dog recipes that contained chicken-based ingredients were recalled for testing positive for salmonella in 2015.
Overall this food is high in animal protein, with moderate fat and relatively low carbohydrate content compared to other dry cat foods.
9️⃣ Instinct® Original Grain-Free Recipe with Real Chicken
10. Taste of the Wild® Rocky Mountain® Feline Recipe with Roasted Venison & Smoked Salmon, high-protein, grain-free dry cat food
Taste of the Wild® brings to the table affordable, high-quality cat food which is grain-free and features real meat as the first ingredient all by being inspired by a cat’s diet from natural prey.
Taste of the Wild® Rocky Mountain® despite the roasted venison and smoked salmon ingredients promoted on the food bag has as the first ingredient a protein-dense chicken meal followed by peas and sweet potatoes, chicken fat, and pea and potato protein which are concentrated plant protein sources.
🔟 Taste of the Wild® Rocky Mountain® Feline Recipe
Even though the recipe contains 42% crude protein we are not sure how much of that is coming from a vegetable protein source, so that’s why Taste of the Wild Rocky Mountain ends up last on our list.
The Rocky Mountain® recipe is formulated specifically for cats of all life stages to meet the nutrient levels established by AAFCO.
Taste of the Wild® has had a big recall in 2012 due to a multi-state salmonella outbreak contamination caused by different brands of pet food all manufactured in Diamond Pet Foods facilities, the owner of Taste of the Wild brand.
Although the recipe is indeed grain-free, it contains more vegetables than needed for a proper species-appropriate diet for cats, but overall, compared to other cat foods on the market is still a cat food with moderate protein content and a quite decent amount of carbs.
🔟 Taste of the Wild® Rocky Mountain® Feline Recipe
If you are looking for more affordable but still healthy choices of food for your cat, check out our article Best budget cat foods which will give you the best 10 budget wet cat foods + the best 10 budget dry cat foods currently on the market, all individually reviewed.
Final words
We took research seriously and came up with what we think it’s the best 10 high-protein, grain-free dry cat foods on the US market at present times. This article will be revised and updated in the eventuality of new cat food that meets the standards to join our list.
Until then, these are our best 3 picks:
Overall best
High-quality human grade ingredients, species-appropriate, high-protein, grain-free dry cat food
1️⃣ Dr. Elsey’s cleanprotein™ Chicken Recipe
Affordable
Good quality, high-protein, grain-free dry cat food with added freeze-dried niblets
6️⃣ Instinct® Raw Boost with Real Chicken
Cheapest
Good quality, high-protein, grain-free dry cat food:
🔟 Taste of the Wild® Rocky Mountain® Feline Recipe
Oh and one more thing! In case you were wondering…
How to calculate carbohydrate content in cat food
AAFCO labeling conventions do not require the carb content to be shown in the guaranteed analysis on the label of cat food. If you want to determine the carbohydrate content of cat food you need to do it by yourself. You can find out the carb content of cat dry foods by adding up the percentage of crude protein, fat, moisture, fiber, and ash from the guaranteed analysis, and then you have to subtract their sum from the total of 100%.
Carbs = 100 – (crude protein + crude fat + moisture + crude fiber + crude ash)
Once again, here are the best high-protein dry cat foods reviewed above:
We hope you enjoyed our unbiased small reviews and we helped you choose the best option for your cat and you. If you have other recommendations please let us know in the comments below.
Have a purrfect day!
