Diamond Naturals Cat Food (Wet) 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
• Recipes include some fillers, with the Indoor Hairball Control recipe having the most
• Includes extra vitamins and high quality, chelated versions of some minerals
• Fairly good macronutrient profiles with reasonable protein and fat levels and fair carbohydrate levels

The Diamond product line includes 3 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.

• Diamond Naturals Chicken (M, G) 3.5 stars
• Diamond Naturals Indoor Hairball Control (M) 2.5 stars
• Diamond Naturals Whitefish (M) 3.5 stars

Diamond Naturals Chicken was selected to represent the other products in the line for this review.

Ingredient Breakdown

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

While quality of the individual ingredient can vary, chicken is a very 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.

The second ingredient is chicken broth. Good.

Instead of using water for processing, chicken broth is added for moisture.

Broth may contain vitamins and nutrients from the original animal (chicken, in this case), that water would lack.

This is usually a sign of a high quality food.

The third ingredient is chicken liver. Good.

Liver is an important organ meat that your cat would eat in the wild to get extra protein, vitamins, and minerals.

This is usually a sign of a high quality food.

The fourth ingredient is brown rice flour. Bad.

Brown rice, ground into flour, 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 fifth ingredient is carrots. Good.

The beta carotene in carrots turns into vitamin A, which is a useful antioxidant compound.

However, cats can’t turn much beta carotene into vitamin A like we can, so much of it is stored for growth or cell reprouction.

Therefore, carrots are most useful for kittens or senior cats.

After natural flavors, which are fine, the sixth ingredient is flaxseed oil. Good.

Flaxseed provides a quality omega-3 fatty acid source, and nutritive fiber to the recipe.

The seventh ingredient is guar gum. OK, but with reservations.

Guar gum comes from guar beans, and is a thickening agent.

In small quantities, like those in cat food, it should be a harmless ingredient.

However, some research has shown that including guar gum in a commercial cat food “had a significant negative effect on apparent protein digestibility in many of the cats and tended to depress apparent fat and energy digestibilities.”

While not heavily substantiated beyond this study, it might mean your cat needs to eat more protein to make up for the lower digestibility.

The eighth ingredient is agar agar. Good.

Agar-agar is derived from a red seaweed, but is different from carrageenan.

It is used as a “gelling” substance, which helps keep food together.

Although they are both red seaweeds, it seems agar-agar does not suffer from the same potentially carcinogenic qualities as carrageenan.

Until we find research to prove that they are the same just because they both come from red seaweeds, we believe agar is a better gelling agent than most others used.

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 a few things you should know about.

This recipe utilizes chelated minerals, which may be easier to digest and more bioavailable for your cat. This is usually a sign of a high quality cat food.

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 Diamond Naturals Wet Cat Food

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

Meat is the first ingredient, filler quantities are moderate, and protein and carb levels are reasonable. 

This is an okay example of a dry food you should be feeding to your cat.

Based on the ingredients and the macronutrient profiles, meat likely plays a major role in the recipe. We can therefore say that it is likely a meat-based cat food, which is appropriate for your carnivorous feline.

To review, on a dry matter basis, this food is 45% protein, 23% fat, and 16% carbs.

As a group, the brand has an average protein content of 45%, and average fat content of 22%, and an average carb content of 16%.

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

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

Because meat is the first ingredient, but moderate fillers are used, our average rating for this brand is 3 stars.

Somewhat recommended.

Diamond 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 Diamond brand in the past:

• March 2013 – Low thiamine levels – 1 recipe affected
• May 2012 – Potential salmonella – Many recipes affected
• April 2012 – Potential salmonella – 1 recipe affected
• December 2005 – Possible aflatoxin contamination – Multiple recipes affected

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 Diamond 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.