Hi-Tor Cat Food (Wet) Review And Nutritional Analysis

Rating

  • Meat is the first ingredient – 1 Star
  • Uses some unnamed meats – 0 Star
  • Above average protein content – 0.5 Star
  • Less than 4 controversial ingredients – 0 Star
  • Catological Discretionary Rating – 0 Star

Here’s a few important points:

  • Meat is the first ingredient, but it’s low quality, unnamed “meat by-products”
  • Rice flour and other poor quality fillers are used
  • A variety of other unnamed meats are used
  • The Neo line has a poor macronutrient profile with low protein, high carbohydrates
  • Includes added vitamins and minerals

Hi-Tor’s product line includes 2 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.

  • HI-TOR Veterinary Select Neo (M) 1 star
  • HI-TOR Veterinary Select Felo (M)
hi tor felo wet cat food can

HI-TOR Veterinary Select Felo was selected to represent the other products in the line for this review.

Hi-Tor Veterinary Select Felo

Wet Cat Food

Estimated Nutrient Content
ProteinFatCarbs
Guaranteed Analysis11%6%NA
Dry Matter Basis50%27%11%
Calorie Weighted Basis39%52%9%

Estimated Dry Matter Nutrient Content

Protein

50%

Fat

27%

Carbs

11%

Fiber (guaranteed analysis)

1%

Calories/100g

109

Is real, named meat the first ingredient?

Yes

Ingredients

Meat By-Products, Sufficient Water for Processing, Beef, Chicken, Animal Liver, Ocean Fish, Rice FlourGuar Gum, Minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Proteinate, Manganous Sulfate, Potassium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Vitamins (Vitamin E, A, D3, B12 Supplements, Thiamine Mononitrate, Niacin, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Folic Acid, Biotin), Choline Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Carrageenan, Salt, Taurine.

Ingredients in red are controversial or of questionable quality.

Ingredient Breakdown

The first ingredient in this cat food is meat by-products. Bad.

Whether you consider the use of by-products as a good use of otherwise wasted animal matter, or you consider it a cheap, poor quality ingredient, there’s no arguing with the fact that an unnamed animal product is bad news.

According to AAFCO, meat by-products are “non-rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals. Includes, but not limited to lungs, spleen, kidneys, Brain, livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low temperature fatty tissue, and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. It does not include hair, horns, teeth, and hoofs.”

Basically what this means is that anything left over on the carcass once the good, human-grade cuts of meat are removed, is thrown into a vat and processed.

Since it just says meat and not chicken or beef, you have no idea what’s in it.

The rules surrounding ingredient labeling on pet food allow for less than ideal animals to be used in pet food.

It is possible for these rendering plants to use “4-D” animals…Dead (from means other than slaughter), diseased, dying, or disabled.

This is a low quality ingredient.

After water, the second ingredient is beef. OK, but with reservations.

Beef is a novel protein for most cats, meaning they may be able to eat it if they are allergic to other proteins like chicken.

It certainly packs a protein punch and includes many minerals.

However, cats would obviously never feed on cows in the wild, and it may be too tough on their bodies, much like it is for humans who eat too much red meat.

We would encourage this ingredient to be used sparingly, and not as an every day food.

The third 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 fourth ingredient is animal liver. Bad.

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.

However, this company uses an unnamed (i.e., “animal”, instead of “chicken”) liver product.

That means you have no idea where it’s coming from.

The labeling requirements for pet food let you get away with a lot when it comes to unnamed meat.

This could be liver from a dead (from causes other than slaughter), dying, diseased, or disabled animal. It might come from an animal a cat normally wouldn’t eat. 

You just can’t be sure.

Low quality ingredient.

The fifth ingredient is ocean fish. Bad.

While it is fairly common to batch multiple types of ocean fish in cat food, labeling it “ocean fish”, we do not approve of any animal ingredient that is not specifically labeled.

Without a name, it could be just about anything, and you can’t make an informed choice.

That being said, “ocean fish” are usually small, oily fish, with a very high protein content.

There is some concern that these are not sustainably fished.

The sixth ingredient is rice flour. Bad.

Rice flour is basically just finely ground or milled rice.

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

It is a filler ingredient, and sometimes used as a thickening agent.

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

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.

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.

It also uses carrageenan, another thickening agent.

Carrageenan is a very controversial ingredient. It is derived from a red seaweed.

One of it’s forms, degraded carrageenan, is a potential carcinogen.

While degraded is not used in food applications, some people have concerns that the ingredient could become degraded from a cat’s stomach acid, therefore potentially increasing cancer risk.

It is likely fine, but with so many other options on the market, many people choose not to take the risk.

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 Hi-Tor Wet Cat Food

From top to bottom, this is a below average food.

Meat is the first ingredient, but it is an unnamed (“meat”, rather than chicken or turkey) by-product. This is not a quality meat product.

Being both unnamed and a by-product, it could be just about any part of any animal.

It uses rice and other filler, which are biologically inappropriate for cats.

The Felo recipe has a pretty good macronutrient profile, so you may be tempted to purchase it.

However, we recommend looking at both the macronutrient profile and the ingredients that give it the specific profile.

In this case, the ingredients seem very low quality, and we would not risk feeding it to your cat.

The Neo recipe is worse. It is full of the same low quality ingredients, but has a bad macronutrient profile, since it is low in protein and too high in fat.

This is NOT a good example of a wet food you should be feeding your cat.

Since it’s clear that plant products make up a fair bit of this food, we can assume that this is a mixed meat- and plant-based food, which is not ideal for your carnivorous feline’s dietary needs.

To review, on a dry matter basis, this food is 50% protein, 27% fat, and 11% carbs.

As a group, the brand has an average protein content of 43%, and average fat content of 36%, and an average carb content of 8%.

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

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

Because it uses unnamed meat ingredients and has unnecessary fillers, our rating for this brand is 1.5 stars.

Not recommended.

Hi-Tor 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 Hi-Tor brand in the past:

  • We could find no record of a recall in Hi-Tor’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 Hi-Tor 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.

Emily Parker

Emily Parker is the Content Manager at Catological. She's passionate about helping cat parents love their cats better by providing the best information and recommendations about everything you'll need to know about your cat, from kitten to senior years. She believes natural, biologically-appropriate products are best...why wouldn't you provide the best for a member of your family?!