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Rating
- Meat is the first ingredient – 1 Star
- Uses some unnamed meats – 1 Star
- Above average protein content – 1 Star
- Less than 4 controversial ingredients – 1 Star
- Catological Discretionary Rating – 1 Star
Here’s a few important points to consider for this particular line:
- Meat is the first, and just about only, ingredient
- Doesn’t include fillers
- Lots of added vitamins and minerals
- While it is almost entirely protein (good), it doesn’t have enough fat to be quite “perfect”
The Almo Nature La Cucina product line includes 6 wet 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.
- Almo Nature La Cucina Chicken with Pineapple (A)
- Almo Nature La Cucina Chicken with Whitefish (A)
- Almo Nature La Cucina Tuna with Papaya (A) 4.5 stars
- Almo Nature La Cucina Tuna with Lobster (A) 4.5 stars
- Almo Nature La Cucina Tuna with Sole (A) 4.5 stars
- Almo Nature La Cucina Chicken with Apple (A)
Almo Nature La Cucina Chicken with Whitefish was selected to represent the other products in the line for this review.
Almo Nature La Cucina Chicken with Whitefish
Wet Cat Food
| Estimated Nutrient Content |
| Protein | Fat | Carbs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guaranteed Analysis | 14% | 1.5% | NA |
| Dry Matter Basis | 76% | 8% | 0% |
| Calorie Weighted Basis | 79% | 21% | 36% |
Estimated Dry Matter Nutrient Content
Fiber (guaranteed analysis)
0.5%
Calories/100g
92
Is real, named meat the first ingredient?
Yes
Ingredients
Chicken, Water Sufficient For Cooking, Whitefish, Sunflower Oil, Tapioca Starch, Tricalcium Phosphate, Natural Flavor, Minerals (Zinc Oxide, Reduced Iron, Sodium Selenite, Manganese Sulfate Monohydrate, Copper Glycine Complex, Potassium Iodide), Choline Chloride, Taurine, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Biotin, Folic Acid, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source Of Vitamin K Activity), Potassium Chloride.
Ingredients in red are controversial or of questionable quality.
Ingredient Breakdown
The first ingredient in this cat food is chicken. Good.
While quality of the individual ingredient can vary, chicken is a good protein source for cats.
It’s also important to note that chicken contains about 70% water, so when it is processed and cooked for use in cat food, it will become a smaller part of the total recipe.
After water sufficient for processing, the second ingredient is whitefish. 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 third ingredient is sunflower oil. Good.
This is a decent source of fat for energy and potentially for a healthy coat.
The fourth ingredient is tapioca starch. OK, but with reservations.
Used in many grain-free recipes as a starch to bind the food together.
While it’s not very nutritional and doesn’t compare well to grains in some cases, there’s likely not enough of it to cause any digestive issues for your cat.
After natural flavors, which are fine, the fifth ingredient is tricalcium phosphate. Good.
Tricalcium phosphate is both a useful phosphorous supplement to help regulate acidity in the body, and an emulsifier.
It helps the food stay together a bit more in general, but without “caking” or “clumping”.
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.
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 Almo Nature La Cucina Wet Cat Food
From top to bottom, this is an above average wet product.
It is almost the exact same as the Complete line, but without the guar gum.
Meat is the first, and pretty much only, ingredient. It contains extra minerals and vitamins. We would like to see a higher fat content, perhaps with the inclusion of organ meat, but it is otherwise a fairly biologically appropriate food for your kitty.
This is a good example of a wet food that is made up almost entirely of meat, and that you should feed your cat.
Meat is clearly the main ingredient, so we can assume that this is a meat-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 76% protein, 8% fat, and 0% carbs.
As a group, the brand has an average protein content of 76%, and average fat content of 8%, and an average carb content of 0%.
Compared to the other 2000+ foods in our database, this food has:
- Above average protein.
- Below average fat.
- Below average carbs.
Because it is almost entirely made up of meat, but could use a bit more fat, our average rating for this brand is 5 stars.
Recommended.
Almo Nature 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 Almo Nature brand in the past:
- We could not find any evidence of a recall in Almo Nature’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 Almo Nature 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.
