Adirondack Cat Food (Dry) Review And Nutritional Analysis

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Here’s a few important points to consider for this particular line:

• Meat is the first ingredient, but there isn’t a lot of it
• Includes fillers like rice, barley, oats, and brewer’s dried yeast
• Includes added vitamins and minerals
• Below average protein and above average carbs are not a recipe for success

The Adirondack product line includes 3 dry recipes/flavors. 

Each recipe below includes its related AAFCO nutrient profile when available on the product’s official webpage or packaging: Growth (G), Maintenance (M), All Life Stages (A), Supplemental (S) or Unspecified (U).

The star rating is a rough average of all of the flavors in a single line of food. If an individual recipe scored lower or higher, we will mark that below, next to the flavor.

• Adirondack Adult (A)
• Adirondack Lean (A)
• Adirondack Kitten (A)

Adirondack Adult was selected to represent the other products in the line for this review.

Ingredient Breakdown

The first ingredient in this cat food is chicken meal. Good.

Chicken is a very good protein source for cats.

Chicken meal is a concentrated form of chicken, and is considered a high quality ingredient.

In short, much of the moisture of the chicken is taken away, and you are left with a very high-protein, low-moisture powder-like substance.

The inclusion of chicken meal helps to ensure a very high protein level.

The second ingredient is brown rice. Bad.

It may be slightly better than corn in some areas, but rice is simply not biologically appropriate for cats.

It is a filler ingredient.

Studies hypothesize that rice may decrease taurine absorption in cats, leading to taurine deficiency, a dangerous ailment.

The third ingredient is chicken fat. Good.

Named animal fats in cat food is usually a good thing.

Chicken fat is a great source of healthy fats and omega fatty acids.

It is preferred to canola oil or unnamed animal fats.

The fourth ingredient is ground grain sorghum. Bad.

For humans and dogs, sorghum might be a useful grain. 

It compares well to wheat and others in terms of it’s protein levels and energy.

However, grains are not biologically appropriate for cats.

The moderate protein levels will contribute to the overall protein of this food, making the amount of meat in it lower than it seems. 

The fifth ingredient is egg product. Good.

Even though eggs are not meat, they are a highly digestible form of protein.

In fact, they are one of the most complete, bioavailable forms of protein for both humans and cats.

As long as it is not the main protein ingredient, the addition of egg is a quality ingredient

The sixth ingredient is dried plain beet pulp. OK, but with reservations.

Beet pulp is intended to increase fiber quantities in pet foods, and may be good for intestinal health.

However, some believe it is just an inexpensive filler.

Whatever the case, we believe that a little bit in the food isn’t detrimental to your cat, but probably isn’t a necessary ingredient.

The seventh ingredient is whitefish meal. OK, but with reservations.

“Whitefish” is a bit of a difficult term in the cat food industry, because it may mean any number of fish.

However, it seems that most whitefish labels mean tilefish, a small, commercially fished ingredient, that is high in protein and fat.

Fish are not often eaten in the wild by cats, and this particular fish may pose a high risk of mercury poisoning.

If this is, indeed, tilefish, the FDA has warned pregnant women not to consume it due to high mercury levels.

It is likely not present in high enough quantities to worry, but the risk remains.

The eighth ingredient is oat groats. Bad.

Oat groats are oats without the fibrous outer shell. 

Grains are not biologically appropriate for cats, and so oat groats have no place in a recipe that looks to mirror natural feline diets.

This recipe includes a number of other ingredients, but once you get down this far, none of them will be in large enough quantities to make a real difference, except for the added vitamins and minerals.

However, there are still a few things you should know about.

This recipe uses brewer’s dried yeast, which is a by-product of brewing beer. It is used for flavoring and for protein and B-vitamins. This is not a quality ingredient.

To read a more in depth article about any of the ingredients listed here, check out our Cat Food Ingredient Wiki (currently under development).

The Catological Verdict on Adirondack Dry Cat Food

From top to bottom, this is an average dry product.

While meat is the first ingredient, it’s not found in high enough quantities. It does contain extra minerals and vitamins, but that’s only really important because the recipe itself doesn’t include many other whole foods. 

This is an acceptable, but not great food for your cat. 

Since meat only shows up once or twice in each of the flavors, and since there are a number of ingredients that increase total protein from plant sources (mostly grains), we can assume that this is a mostly plant-based cat food, without enough meat to make it biologically appropriate for your cat’s dietary needs.

To review, on a dry matter basis, this food is 33% protein, 16% fat, and 41% carbs.

As a group, the brand has an average protein content of 33%, and average fat content of 16%, and an average carb content of 41%.

Compared to the other 2000+ foods in our database, this food has:

• Below average protein.
• Average fat.
• Above average carbs.

Because it is starts with meat and at least tries to use “quality” grains,  our average rating for this brand is 2.5 stars.

Not recommended.

Adirondack Cat Food Recall History

We do not believe that a recall indicates a low quality food or company, and we respect the fact that sometimes things happen that cause a manufacturer to recall a food.

Usually these things are non-life-threatening, and we think it’s important to take a moment to be thankful about just how few recalls there really are in the industry, considering the enormous volume of food produced.

However, we do believe that a history of recalls may point to a larger issue with a company, and that discerning consumers want to know who they’re buying from, especially when it comes to something as important as the food you feed your beloved cat. 

Here is a list of recalls that have affected the Adirondack brand in the past:

• We could not find any evidence of a recall in Adirondack’s history.

If you want to stay up to date on the latest recall information affecting your cat’s food, sign up to our email list and receive an email every time a recall is announced. We’ll also let you know about any updated ratings, recipe changes, or new cat foods on the market. (Our alert system will be launched shortly, check back soon.)

Where To Buy Adirondack Cat Food

We recommend purchasing your pet products from Chewy.com. They continually prove that they walk the walk while talking the talk, and I’ve never dealt with a more dedicated pet-parent base of people than those who work at Chewy. 

Plus, they offer 20% off and free shipping on lots of orders.