Earthborn Holistic Cat Food (Wet) Review And Nutritional Analysis

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Here’s a few important points:

• Meat is the first, and main, ingredient
• Some fillers are used, although they are not as plentiful as other brands
• The high protein and low carbohydrate levels are fantastic, but the fat content is far too low
• Too many of the recipes rely on fish as the main protein source, which we do not recommend
• Extra vitamins, and quality, proteinate versions of some minerals are added

The Earthborn Holistic product line includes 13 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.

• Earthborn Holistic Chicken Catcciatori (M)
• Earthborn Holistic Monterey Medley (M, G)
• Earthborn Holistic Harbor Harvest (M, G)
• Earthborn Holistic Catalina Catch (M, G)
• Earthborn Holistic Chicken Jumble with Liver (M, G)
• Earthborn Holistic Chicken Fricatssee (M)
• Earthborn Holistic Ranch House Stew (M, G) 3.5 stars
• Earthborn Holistic Upstream Grille (M)
• Earthborn Holistic Lowcountry Fare (M)
• Earthborn Holistic Key West Zest (M)
• Earthborn Holistic Fin & Fowl (M)
• Earthborn Holistic Riptide Zing (M)
• Earthborn Holistic Autumn Tide (M)

Earthborn Holistic Chicken Jumble with Liver was selected to represent the other products in the line for this review.

Ingredient Breakdown

The first ingredient in this cat food 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 second ingredient 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 third ingredient is potatoes. Bad.

These are typically used as filler in grain-free recipes.

They are not biologically appropriate and may cause digestive upset.

The fourth 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 fifth ingredient is sunflower oil. Good.

This is a decent source of fat for energy and potentially for a healthy coat. 

The sixth ingredient is dried 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

After natural flavors, which are fine, the seventh 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”.

The eighth 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.

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 you should know about.

This recipe uses the proteinate form of minerals, which means that they should be easier to digest for your cat, and be more readily available for her body to use to maintain her health. This is usually a sign of a quality 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 Earthborn Holistic Cat Food

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

Meat is the first ingredient, and there are limited filler ingredients.

The protein content is very high, and the carb content is very low. Both of those things are great.

However, two things stop us from giving them an additional point with our Catological Discretionary Rating.

1. Most recipes use fish as the main protein source. We do not believe that it’s natural or healthy for cats to rely on fish as their main source of food.
2. The fat content is a bit too low. Cats do not typically require a lean diet like this, and in fact without enough fat, they could suffer. In the wild, cats typically eat up to 48% of their calories from fat.

This is still a good example of the type of food you should be feeding your cat if you choose to feed a wet diet, particularly if you choose a chicken-based recipe, or supplement the fish recipe with another type of food.

Because it has high protein and has very few filler ingredients, we can assume that this is a meat-based cat food, which is appropriate for your carnivorous cat.

To review, on a dry matter basis, this food is 53% protein, 12% fat, and 9% carbs.

As a group, the brand has an average protein content of 62%, and average fat content of 11%, and an average carb content of 1%.

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

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

Because meat is the first ingredient, and there are very limited filler ingredients, our rating for this brand is 4 stars.

Recommended.

Earthborn Holistic 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 Earthborn Holistic brand in the past:

• We could find no instances of recalls in Earthborn Holistic’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 Earthborn Holistic Wet 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. 

Not convinced?

Check out our ratings and reviews of the best cat foods in our comprehensive, data-backed guide right here.