Best Organic Cat Food for a Natural Feline Diet – Reviews of the Top Wet and Dry Brands

If you’re looking for the best organic cat food, you’ve got a bit of a journey ahead of you!

We tried to make it a bit easier by collecting our reviews of the top rated natural, organic foods for your kitty below.

But before we get into what ranks #1, we should chat a little bit about the state of organic cat food, and what you can expect.

Our review process is unbiased and based on extensive research. If you buy through the links on our site, we may earn a commission.

Quick-Find Best-In-Class Table

Editor’s Choice

evangers organic cat food

Evanger’s Organics

  • Fully organic
  • High protein, low carb
  • Includes important organ meat

Newman’s Own Organics

  • Fully organic
  • Good macronutrients
  • Limited ingredient

Purina Beyond

  • Mostly organic
  • Lots of organ meats
  • Limited ingredient
  • Fully organic
  • Includes chicken liver
  • Good price

Tender & True Organic

  • Fully organic
  • Decent dry option
  • Includes chicken liver

Is Organic Worth It, Or Can You Trust “Natural” Cat Food?

First of all, we need to make a distinction between organic and the often-substituted “natural” label.

Organic cat food, much like human foods, have to source their ingredients from organic-certified sources.

Natural cat food, on the other hand, just means that the ingredients have not had any chemical alterations, according to Ashley Gallagher, a DVM at Washington, DC’s Friendship Hospital For Animals.

Further, per the AAFCO guidelines (which are the loose set of regulations that pet food manufacturers must follow), labeling something as “natural” simply means that the pet food is preserved with natural preservatives, vs. artificial preservatives.

But…that’s all they have to say about it.

In the same PetMD article, Dr. Gallagher also noted that “holistic” doesn’t have a legal definition, so it really doesn’t mean much when a company labels their food as such.

So, clearly if you’re looking for organic cat food, you should make sure it’s labeled as such and has the certification to back it up.

Why Feed Your Cat Natural Organic Cat Food

I’ll start by admitting that there is little verified, scientific evidence that shows that organic foods have significantly more benefits of than non-organic food.

However, we all know that we’d rather be eating meats and fruits and vegetables that don’t contain chemicals, preservatives, synthetic fertilizers, and pesticides, right?

According to the Mayo Clinic, the potential nutritional benefits of organic food includes:

  • Slightly higher nutrients, especially antioxidants
  • Higher Omega-3 fatty acids
  • Lower toxic metals
  • Lower pesticide residue
  • Meats may have a lower occurrence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria

It’s also typically better for the environment and GMO-Free.

If you eat this type of diet to improve your health and longevity, you may wish to give the same consideration to your cat’s diet.

The only real downside is that costs are typically higher than non-organic foods.

Is it necessary to buy organic food to have a healthy cat?

No, probably not.

At least not nutritionally.

The marginal increases in nutrients or other health-producing benefits are likely so small that your cat’s body won’t notice…as long as you pick the best quality cat food! (Which we’ll help you with below.)

But, it may be necessary for you to feed your cat organic food.

It all depends on your beliefs and preferences!

How We Choose The Best Organic Food For Cats

There aren’t very many organic cat foods.

Even of the few who use organic ingredients, only a small handful are fully organic.

And of these cat foods, only a small handful are good quality cat foods overall.

You see, there’s a difference.

Just because it’s organic DOES NOT mean that it’s good for your cat!

This is similar to “human grade” pet food. A label doesn’t make a food good.

If a cat food was full of organic corn, organic wheat, and organic beans, that would just mean that it was an organic food not fit for a cat.

It might also be full of low quality thickening agents, artificial flavors, and more. That’s why you need to read the whole ingredient label!

We’ll break down in our cat food reviews below whether a food is fully, certified organic or has some, but not all, organic ingredients.

Now, how did we pick these specific foods (outside of their organic properties)?

We have a massive database of cat foods (over 2000+ foods), which we’ll explain a little bit more below. But it’s important to mention what criteria we used when creating this list of the best organic foods.

In our list of foods, we rate them from 1-5 using 5 different grading points. The cat foods below are all AT LEAST a 3.5 out of 5 stars. That means they’re much better than average.

What Cats Actually Want To Eat

Studies on both indoor, commercially-fed cats, and feral and stray cats show that cats will self-select food sources that result in a macronutrient profile in this range (dry-matter basis used):

  • Protein: 52-63%
  • Fat: 22-36%
  • Carbohydrate: 2.8-12% (with “wild” cats on the very low end of this range)

What we believe this shows is that cats have evolved to thrive on a high protein, moderate fat, and low carb diet.

How We Rate Foods

Our database of cat foods contains over 2000 individual foods.

We collected all the relevant information on each product, including:

  • AAFCO Rating
  • Ingredient list
  • Macronutrient profiles (Guaranteed Analysis, Dry-Matter Basis, and Caloric Basis)
  • Price and price per pound
  • Calories per 100 grams
  • Whether meat is the first ingredient
  • How each food compares to the average of all foods on a macronutrient basis
  • Whether the recipe uses more than 4 controversial ingredients

Each of these data points works together to form a star rating on a 1-5 star scale (including half points).

  1. If the food’s first ingredient is meat, it gets 1 point.
  2. If the food does not use unnamed meat ingredients (“meat by-products”), it gets 1 point.
  3. If the food has an above average protein level on a dry-matter basis, compared to all other foods in the database, it gets 1 point. If it has an average amount, it gets .5 points.
  4. If the recipe contains fewer than 4 controversial ingredients (not necessarily bad ingredients), it gets 1 point. If it contains exactly 4 it gets .5 points.
  5. The final available point is a discretionary point that we award based on things like carbohydrate content, inclusion of probiotics and vitamins, and other points, and is our judgement call on a food’s quality and biological appropriateness for your cat.

We think that this system provides a fair, transparent system by which we can compare all foods on an equal footing, and give you the easiest possible time when choosing the best of the best.

Reviews Of The Best Organic Cat Food

Reviewing The Healthiest Organic Wet Cat Food

EDITOR’S CHOICE

#1. Evanger’s Organics Wet Cat Food

evangers organic cat food

Catological Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Calories per 100 grams: 180

Macronutrients (Dry-Matter Basis):

  • Protein: 46%
  • Fat: 23%
  • Carbs: 11%

First 4 Ingredients: Organic Chicken, Organic Chicken Broth, Organic Chicken Liver, Organic Brown Rice

Organic Status: Fully Organic

Our top choice for canned cat food that IS fully organic is Evanger’s Organics, specifically their chicken flavor recipe.

Even the guar gum, a thickening agent, is organic. That’s something that only THREE other manufacturer’s use, and shows incredible attention to detail.

While we don’t love the inclusion of rice, the fact that it is still low in carbs tells us that there is not a lot of rice in here and the food is still high-quality.

It’s fairly high protein, moderately high in fat, and is full of organic chicken, including the ever-important organ meat, liver.

Liver is incredibly dense in both protein and micronutrients not otherwise found in muscle meats, and is usually a sign that the cat food is higher quality than most.

The only reason this didn’t score a perfect 5/5 is because the protein level, while average across all foods we tested, didn’t deliver that little bit of extra punch to get to about 52%…the sweet spot for cat food.

So yeah, if you’re looking for a top notch, fully organic cat food for your pet, it’s hard to beat Evanger’s.

>> Tap Here To Read More Reviews And Get Today’s Best Price on Amazon <<

#2. Newman’s Own Grain Free Organic Canned Cat Food

Catological Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Calories per 100 grams: 129

Macronutrients (Dry-Matter Basis):

  • Protein: 41%
  • Fat: 30%
  • Carbs: 11%

First 4 Ingredients: Organic Chicken, Organic Chicken Broth, Organic Dried Eggs, Tricalcium Phosphate

Organic Status: Fully Organic

OK, I know in the last review I said only 3 other companies use organic guar gum. Well, guess what?

Newman’s Own Chicken and Liver Dinner flavor is one of them.

Their organic canned cat food also has great attention to detail here, with a very limited-ingredient (and grain-free) food that thankfully lacks the carbohydrate fillers of some cat food brands, while maintaining a fully organic status.

It doesn’t include organ meat, and has a slightly lower protein count than our pick above, but is still a well rounded food, with a higher fat percentage than some others, which is actually a good thing for your cat.

Again, the thing that kept this back from being a perfect 5/5 was it’s slightly lower protein count.

Newman’s Own has a fair number of above average cat foods, and is one of the trusted cat food brands we recommend (in most cases).

>> Tap Here To Read More Reviews And Get Today’s Best Price on Chewy <<

#3. Purina Beyond Simple Origins Grain Free Organic Wet Cat Food

Catological Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Calories per 100 grams: 121

Macronutrients (Dry-Matter Basis):

  • Protein: 41%
  • Fat: 23%
  • Carbs: 12%

First 4 Ingredients: Organic Chicken, Cod, Chicken Broth, Organic Chicken Liver

Organic Status: Mostly Organic

This surprised us, which just proves that our ratings are real and we don’t just go and google the best organic foods and fill in the blanks from other writers.

Purina is not one of our favorites, since they put out a lot of lower quality cat foods that are cheap, but not all that healthy.

However, the Purina Beyond lineup is actually quite good, especially this organic canned cat food option in chicken and sweet potato flavor.

It includes organic chicken, organic chicken liver, and organic chicken heart, three excellent ingredients (especially the added organ meats), and it’s grain-free.

And there’s hardly anything else in here except for sweet potato, vitamins, and minerals. That’s a big win for your cat!

We’d like to see a slightly higher protein and slightly lower carb count for a wet food, but overall, it’s hard to complain when there’s so much good meat in here and much of it is organic.

>> Tap Here To Read More Reviews And Get Today’s Best Price on Amazon <<

#4. Castor & Pollux Organix Grain Free Organic Wet Cat Food

Catological Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Calories per 100 grams: 124

Macronutrients (Dry-Matter Basis):

  • Protein: 41%
  • Fat: 23%
  • Carbs: 22%

First 4 Ingredients: Organic Chicken, Water Sufficient for Processing, Organic Chicken Liver, Organic Peas

Organic Status: Fully Organic

Organix is one of the first canned cat food recipes that comes to mind in this category, but it’s actually not our favorite.

It’s definitely still above average, but honestly we like their mostly-organic Pristine line better.

However, we’re putting this in here because it’s one of the truly 100% organic options on the market.

Again we have the chicken liver here for extra natural micronutrients.

However, it also has peas and pea protein, as well as coconut flour.

You can see the addition of the peas in the high carbohydrate levels (especially high for a wet cat food). This is an example of an organic ingredient that is not good for your cat just because it’s organic.

Peas aren’t all that bad for cats, but they don’t need them, and it’s a way for the brand to make a cheaper food, without needing to add more meat. This is reflected in the price, as it’s one of the cheaper organic options out there.

Overall not bad, but we prefer the other options above.

>> Tap Here To Read More Reviews And Get Today’s Best Price on Amazon <<

Reviewing The Top Rated Organic Dry Cat Food

#1. Tender & True Organic Grain Free Dry Cat Food

Catological Rating: 2.5/5 stars

Calories per 100 grams: 350

Macronutrients (Dry-Matter Basis):

  • Protein: 33%
  • Fat: 20%
  • Carbs: 29%

First 4 Ingredients: Organic Chicken, Organic Chicken Meal, Organic Tapioca Starch, Organic Pea Flour

Organic Status: Fully Organic

The dry organic cat food options are nowhere near as good as the wet options.

If you really must feed organic dry food, this is the best you’re going to find, and unfortunately it’s not all that great.

The carbs are about average for a dry food, which means they’re fairly high, and it has a variety of fillers, like tapioca, peas, potato, and beans.

It does contain chicken liver, but it’s quite far down the ingredient list, so there’s probably not much in there.

It’s nice that the first couple of ingredients are organic chicken, and that it does try to include other good ingredients, but man are the fillers ever overpowering.

Since protein and fat are at least decent and carbs aren’t as high as some dry foods, this is an OK option.

>> Tap Here To Read More Reviews And Get Today’s Best Price on Chewy <<

#2. Gather Free Acres Organic Grain Free Dry Cat Food

Catological Rating: 3/5 stars

Calories per 100 grams: 366

Macronutrients (Dry-Matter Basis):

  • Protein: 33%
  • Fat: 18%
  • Carbs: 34%

First 4 Ingredients: Organic Chicken, Organic Dehydrated Chicken, Organic Peas, Lentils

Organic Status: Mostly Organic

Gather Free Acres has fewer filler ingredients than some other dry foods, but it certainly has a lot of each filler ingredient. The carbohydrates are more plentiful than the protein, which is not a great mix for your cat’s health and digestive system.

Again, we’re including this to show you the best of the organic options, even if they’re not very good…but please find a different dry option here or choose one of the wet ones we recommend above.

It’s fairly limited ingredient, which is always nice, and of course the organic chicken is fantastic to have.

>> Tap Here To Read More Reviews And Get Today’s Best Price on Chewy <<

#3. Castor & Pollux Organix Grain Free Dry Cat Food

Catological Rating: 2.5/5 stars

Calories per 100 grams: 374

Macronutrients (Dry-Matter Basis):

  • Protein: 36%
  • Fat: 16%
  • Carbs: 34%

First 4 Ingredients: Organic Chicken, Organic Chicken Meal, Organic Pea Protein, Organic Sweet Potatoes

Organic Status: Fully Organic

Organix has slightly higher protein than the other dry options, but also has a ton of carbs, coming from peas, sweet potatoes, beans, and tapioca.

All of which are unnecessary for your cat, and just provide a cheap filler.

That said, there is some good chicken in here, in both the first two ingredients and the smaller portion of organic chicken liver that’s down the ingredient list a ways.

Again, there are better dry foods out there, but nothing in the way of organic options.

So, if you must feed dry, this is a decent choice, but please consider choosing a canned option above.

>> Tap Here To Read More Reviews And Get Today’s Best Price on Chewy <<

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?!

1 thought on “Best Organic Cat Food for a Natural Feline Diet – Reviews of the Top Wet and Dry Brands”

  1. Thank you, this list is very actual and useful for me. It’s a pity, the prices are rising… It’s hard to explain to my Pets why I sometimes buy cheap food instead of what they like. Thanks!

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