BFF (Best Feline Friend) Cat Food Review 2023: Recalls, Pros & Cons

Review Summary

Introduction

The BFF (Best Feline Friend) cat food line is an affordable, healthy, and tasty cat food for your best feline friend. Produced by Massachusetts-based Weruva, the BFF line contains ingredients sourced from around the world and is manufactured in Thailand.

What makes this cat food line so unique is that it specifically focuses on providing animal-based protein and hydration to your feline friend. As a result, their recipes are much more species-appropriate than other cat food varieties. For example, the recipes contain more animal protein and protein in general than other varieties, which is a must for cat food.

Although the BFF line has been recalled in the past and contains some plant-based ingredients, the line as a whole is still impressive in comparison to other companies. This is especially true given how affordable the recipes are and the quality of ingredients.

To find out more about the BFF cat food line, keep reading. Although we generally agree that this is a great cat food brand, it’s important to do thorough research before buying cat food to ensure you get the tastiest and most nutritious treat for your furry feline friend. After all, they deserve it!

Let’s learn more about this brand!

At a Glance: The Best BFF (Best Feline Friend) Cat Food Recipes:

BFF (Best Feline Friend) Cat Food Reviewed

BFF cat food was created by Weruva, which is a Massachusetts-based company that focuses all of their cat products on meat and high moisture. Unlike other Weruva recipes, the BFF line is cheaper and comes with less variety, but it is great for those on a budget.

Who makes BFF (Best Feline Friend) and where is it produced?

The BFF food line was created by Weruva. Although this company is based in Massachusetts, the BFF cat food is manufactured in Thailand, but the ingredients are sourced from all around the globe. For example, their ingredients are sourced from Australia, Thailand, New Zealand, and the United States.

Additionally, all of their fish ingredients are caught in Pacific waters, with the exception of the tilapia and basa. More so, their seafood lines are certified dolphin safe and turtle safe.

Which Types of Cats is BFF (Best Feline Friend) Best Suited For?

The BFF cat food is best suited for cats who need a lot of moisture and high protein. This line is specifically formulated so that it contains a lot of gravy, water, and hydration. This is perfect for older cats or cats with known illnesses.

Additionally, the line contains a high amount of protein. Given that cats are obligatory carnivores, high protein is a must for any cat food variety you select. This ingredient focus makes the line much more cat-appropriate. Although you want all cat foods to have high protein, this is an especially great feature for cats that are overweight or have health conditions.

Discussion of the Primary Ingredients (Good and Bad)

Although the specific ingredients of BFF cat food will depend on the exact recipe, all the recipes contain pretty similar ingredients. Let’s take a look at the primary ingredients used to further understand the quality of nutrition that goes into each one of these cans.

High-quality Animal Protein

The thing we love the most about BFF cat food is that it contains high-quality animal protein. As obligatory carnivores, cats need meat and animal protein. Plant protein simply does not provide enough protein and fat that cats need. Instead, it adds way too many carbohydrates, causing cats to gain weight.

By focusing on high-quality animal protein, however, BFF cat food is much healthier for cats and remains cat-appropriate. As a result, it is much more suitable for cats of all shapes, sizes, and ages than other brands.

Like other cat food varieties, BFF comes with multiple proteins to choose from. This includes tuna, chicken, turkey, duck, and beef. Often, their recipes contain multiple proteins, which adds even more protein and fat, as well as a tasty flavor cats love.

On top of the animal protein being high-quality, there is also quite a bit of it. Almost all of the recipes are at least 69% protein. To put that in perspective, most hard cat food varieties offer about 50% protein at most, which is not enough protein for cats.

Hydrating Ingredients

As we mentioned above, the BFF cat food line also focuses on offering hydration. Many people don’t realize this, but cats need a lot of hydration from their food. Especially as cats age, they are less likely to drink water, requiring them to get hydration from their food.

BFF cat food does this by making all of their food varieties canned or wet. Most often, their cat foods are placed in gravy. This gravy adds a whole lot of hydration that cats love and need, especially cats that are older or have certain health conditions.

No Artificial Ingredients, Additives, Colorings, or Flavorings

Something else we absolutely love about the BFF cat food is that none of their recipes include artificial ingredients, additives, colorings, or flavorings. This ensures that the cat food is healthy and does not contain carcinogenic or other dangerous ingredients.

Plant-Based Ingredients

The biggest downside of this cat food is that it does contain some plant-based ingredients. Most notably, the thickening agent within the gravy is typically either potato starch, guar gum, or tapioca starch. Although all cat foods need plant-based ingredients for shelf life and thickening, it adds unnecessary carbohydrates.

Additionally, most of the seafood-based ingredients have plant-based fats. This is because fish is much lower in fat than poultry and beef. Once again, the plant-based ingredients are not as species-appropriate, but it is better than no additional fat at all.

Want to see more cat food reviews? Check out our review page here!

A Quick Look at BFF (Best Feline Friend) Cat Food

Recall History

The BFF cat food line does not have the best recall history, but it could be much worse too. In 2017, Weruva stopped the sale of all BFF food in Australia. This recall occurred because multiple Australian residents reported their cats vomiting and having a number of other symptoms, such as reduced appetite and neurological problems, after eating the food.

By June of that year, it had been confirmed that the BFF food was linked to the illness of hundreds of cats, as well as 20 deaths.

In response to this, Weruva froze all sales of the BFF line within Australia to conduct a thorough investigation. From this investigation, they found that certain batches of the food did not contain a high amount of thiamine or vitamin B1.

After discovering this issue, Weruva claimed to have corrected the issue and even ensured that all BFF food is nutritionally adequate. However, several people have critiqued their public release for being vague and non-explanatory in details.

Reviews of the 3 Best BFF (Best Feline Friend) Cat Food Recipes

Let’s take a look at our top three favorite BFF cat food recipes:

1. BFF OMG Lots-O-Luck! Duck & Tuna Dinner in Gravy Grain-Free Canned Cat Food

Our favorite BFF recipe is the BFF OMG Lots-O-Luck! Duck & Tuna Dinner in Gravy. Being within the OMG line, which stands for Oh My Gravy, this canned food is super moist and densely packed with protein. As the name tells you, this chunky stew is made from minced tuna and duck.

This recipe contains a hearty combination of protein, creating a delicious texture and flavor cats love. Even picky eaters love this delicious stew. Plus, it provides quite a lot of protein, which is essential for cats’ health. More so, the nutrient breakdown is ideal for cats.

About 69% of the nutrient breakdown classifies as protein. Meanwhile, about 19% is fat, and only 13% is carbohydrates. Although this is still a high carbohydrate count for cats, it is notably healthier than just about any other cat food on the market.

The biggest downside of this recipe is that it is thickened with potato starch and guar gum. Although these ingredients are not bad for cats per se, they do lead to a slightly higher than recommended carbohydrate content. Nevertheless, the animal-sourced nutrition and lack of preservatives makes it a great option for cats.

Calorie Breakdown:

2. BFF Tuna & Pumpkin Valentine Dinner in Gravy Canned Food

Another BFF recipe to try is the BFF Tuna & Pumpkin Valentine Dinner in Gravy Canned Food. It belongs to the Originals line, and it contains wild caught salmon as its number one ingredient. In this recipe, tuna is minced with pumpkin and thickened with potato starch and xanthan gum. It also includes sunflower seed oil for additional fat.

This recipe has really high protein count with a low fat and carbohydrate count. This high protein makes it species-appropriate. Plus, cats absolutely love this recipe. Like our top pick, even picky cats tend to love this tuna protein recipe.

What we especially love about this recipe is the high protein and low carbohydrate content. About 78% of the recipe is protein, whereas only 6% is carbohydrate. Meanwhile, the remaining 16% is fat. Although this is a low fat content for cats, the high protein and low carbohydrate content make it incredibly healthy for felines.

The one thing we would caution about this recipe is that you should not feed your cat fish-based foods long term. Although fish-based foods are great on occasion, you should feed them poultry more frequently because it is more suited for their diet. It also contains plant-based fat, not animal-based fat.

Still, this is a great recipe to feed your cat on occasion. Its high protein and high moisture content make it a favorite for just about any cat.

Calorie Breakdown:

3. BFF OMG Tuna & Salmon Sweet Cheeks Dinner in Gravy

Finally, the last recipe we recommend is the BFF OMG Tuna & Salmon Sweet Cheeks Dinner in Gravy. Like the other recipes we recommend, it has a high protein count and is a delicious recipe that even the pickiest of cats will love. Although it has several plant-based ingredients and a higher carbohydrate content than the other recipes, it is still a great choice.

Most notably, this recipe contains about an 69% protein. This protein comes from wild caught tuna and salmon. The recipe is also thickened with tapioca starch and guar gum. More so, additional fat is added to the recipe with sunflower oil. About 15% of the recipe is carbohydrates, whereas 16% is fat.

What we really like about this recipe is that the protein is of really great quality and there’s a large amount of it. This makes the recipe more species-appropriate than other food varieties. Still, you should not feed your cat seafood on a regular basis. Additionally, there are a lot of plant ingredients in this recipe. As a result, it also has a higher carbohydrate content than the other two recipes mentioned above.

Despite some of these drawbacks, we still recommend this recipe because it has a high protein count and does not contain any additives or artificial colorings like most other wet food brands. Plus, your cat will absolutely love the flavor.

Calorie Breakdown:

What Other Users Are Saying

In addition to our own experience with BFF cat foods, we wanted to see what other users thought. Looking at other users’ reviews can give you a great idea about the quality of cat food you are purchasing. Here are a few examples up real users’ opinions on BFF cat food.

 

Conclusion

All around, we are thoroughly impressed with the BFF cat food brand. The ingredients are incredibly species-appropriate, leading to a tasty, protein-dense, and hydrating meal that all cats love. Even though it does contain some plant-based ingredients and a lot of seafood-based ingredients, the recipes are tough to beat in comparison to other commercialized cat food brands.