Purina Cat Chow Review (original) (raw)

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

Overall Score: 5/10

We give Purina Cat Chow cat food a 30 out of 60 rating or a D grade.

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

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 0.10to0.10 to 0.10to0.12 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.