Smalls Cat Food Review of 2023: Pros, Cons & Verdict

Smalls Cat Food Review Summary

Smalls Cat Food is an up-and-coming subscription service that sends you cat food directly to your door. Their foods source high-quality ingredients that are perfect for your cat’s daily nutrition. They send out their recipes monthly, and you store them and feed them to your cat throughout the month until it’s time for the next shipment. You can also add freeze-dried raw food to your order as an add-on.

At a Glance: The Best Smalls Cat Food Recipes

Smalls Cat Food Reviewed

Smalls Cat Food is relatively new to the pet food scene. It was established in 2017, aiming to combat the issue of cat food being made using literature for animals besides cats. Their “About Us” page gives a condensed history of cat food in the United States and provides the buyer with an assurance that their mission is to change that.

Who makes Smalls, and where is it produced?

Smalls Cat Food is produced in the USA using ingredients sourced from either the USA or Canada. The ingredients are human-grade meats and vegetables cooked and packaged in the USA before being shipped directly to your home.

Which Types of Pets is Smalls Best Suited For?

Smalls Cat Food is suitable for any cat but cats with limited ingredient needs. It is made with cats in mind, and their dietary needs are at the forefront of every recipe. Their food has also been shown to help with many gastrointestinal issues in cats because of their high-quality recipes.

Which Types of Pets Might Do Better with a Different Brand?

Cats who are particularly picky about their food texture and flavors might be better off without Smalls. Their food textures and flavors are limited and rigid, and by the time you ascertain that your pet will eat none of them, you’ll be out quite a bit of cash. While you can get a refund if your cat refuses to eat the food, the high price-point of the food can leave pet parents wary of them taking the plunge.

Discussion of the Primary Ingredients

Ingredients are an essential part of any food discussion. The first two to three ingredients in each blend are real meats and animal organs. That means that the ingredients by weight are primarily real meats and organs.

Organ meat is integral to the health of cats. Organ meat contains higher concentrations of B vitamins and minerals such as phosphorus and iron that cats need to flourish. Organ meats are generally the second or third ingredient in Smalls Cat Food which is highly species-appropriate for cats and ensures excellent nutrition for the cats eating it.

Smalls Chicken recipes combine Chicken Meat, Organs, and Bones as their primary ingredients, while Other Bird uses Turkey Meat with Chicken Organs. Their Cow recipe uses lean ground beef and cow organs to provide nutrition for cats who can’t have poultry.

Smalls Human-Grade Fresh wet food does contain peas. So, any pet parents avoiding peas in their cats’ diets will have to pass on their wet food for one reason or another.

Their add-on freeze-dried recipes use a combination of meats and bones to provide a texture similar to kibble but provides nutrition that is more aligned with a raw cat diet. Smalls Freeze-Dried Raw food contains fewer ingredients than their Human-Grade Fresh wet food.

Smalls Freeze-Dried Raw food presents a good alternative for cats who prefer the crunchy texture of kibble, although you can’t purchase it separately from the fresh food. Smalls provides three different options for Freeze-Dried Raw. Unfortunately, they’re all bird recipes, so if your cat can’t or won’t eat poultry or waterfowl, there are no Freeze-Dried Raw options available for you.

What Is the Price of a Smalls Subscription?

As we’ve mentioned, Smalls Cat Food is sold on a subscription basis. Pet parents who want to try the food out will be able to purchase it can get their first box at a discounted price, and it will come with a few bonus extras on top of your preferred choices. If your pet has allergies or is picky, you can even swap out the free bonus items for items that your pet can eat so that the food doesn’t go rancid.

Smalls Cat Food subscriptions vary based on how much food you purchase each month. The Human-Grade wet foods are $9 for 11.5 oz, while their Freeze-Dried Raw foods are $30 for 12 oz. The Human-Grade Fresh wet food is much less expensive and represents the Smalls brand as its primary food choice.

The default subscription shipment is weekly, but this can be adjusted from anywhere between two and eight weeks, depending on what works best for you. The price can go up quickly, especially if you have more than one cat. Feeding your cat Smalls as their primary food could easily be over $200 a month, which can be a deal-breaker for many pet parents.

What If My Cat Doesn’t Like the Food?

If your cat doesn’t like the food, Smalls will provide a full refund for your trial box as long as it’s within the two-week trial box period. Unfortunately, there’s no real streamlined way to get your refund should you need one. You’ll have to contact their customer service and do it manually.

Individual trial items cannot be refunded, only the entire box. So, if your cat liked some of the food but not all of it, there’s no way to refund only what your cat didn’t like. Thankfully, the trial box comes with a huge variety and selection, and a good portion of the box is discounted. So if your cat does like some of the foods but not all of them, you won’t be out too much money.

A Quick Look at Smalls Cat Food

Recall History

Smalls Cat Food has never been the subject of a mandatory recall. They have voluntarily recalled a batch of food because of several complaints by customers that the food smelled and looked strange out of the box. No health complaints were leveraged against the company even during their voluntary recall.

Reviews of the 3 Best Smalls Cat Food Recipes

1. Human-Grade Fresh Chicken

Smalls’ Human-Grade Fresh Chicken recipe features high-quality ingredients that start with real chicken meat. This recipe features heart and liver meat as well to increase the amount of taurine in the food.

Smalls’ Human-Grade Fresh is always grain-free and low-carbohydrate, so if your cat has any issues with gluten, there are no worries here. The food isn’t pea-free for any pet parents who have to avoid peas.

This recipe features 49% metabolized protein content, primarily from chicken meat and organs, which is excellent for obligate carnivores. The food also features a carbohydrate content of less than 20%, perfect for cats everywhere.

2. Freeze-Dried Raw Bird

Smalls’ Freeze-Dried Raw foods are their answer to the dental health benefits of eating kibble for cats. The Freeze-Dried foods are made with meat and bones as their primary ingredient. Organ meats are the second ingredient in Smalls’ Freeze-Dried Raw Bird features chicken meat and bones and heart, liver, and gizzard meats.

The Freeze-Dried foods can be stored in your pantry like dry foods, and Smalls recommends feeding the whole 12 oz bag within 30 days of opening it.

The biggest drawback to the Freeze-Dried Raw foods is how expensive they are. The dehydration process isn’t cheap, and it shows in the $30 price-point of the bag. While the nutrient profile of freeze-dried raw foods tends to be higher-quality and more species-appropriate than the average dry food, it may be cost-prohibitive for many pet parents. This freeze-dried food is also only available with a fresh food subscription.

3. Human-Grade Fresh Cow

For cats who can’t or won’t eat poultry, there’s Smalls’ Human-Grade Fresh Cow. Human-Grade Fresh Cow features lean beef and beef liver meats as the first two ingredients. Like their Chicken and Other Bird recipes, the meats are sourced from the U.S. and Canada and processed in the US.

The Cow recipe features 50% metabolized protein, and the carbohydrate content is less than 5% of the overall nutrition, both of which are fantastic nutrient profiles for cats.

Fresh Cow has less phosphorous than the Chicken recipe, which will be better for some cats than others. It also features Smalls’ supplement mix to ensure that the mineral and nutrient profiles are perfectly formulated for cat nutrition.

What Other Users Are Saying

Conclusion

While Smalls is an up-and-coming brand formed just a few years ago, there’s no doubt that the love and care that goes into each Smalls Cat Food recipe shows. They deliver well on their promise to put feline nutrition at the forefront of their brand, and they feature a fantastic lineup of ingredients that many other companies can’t match.

Smalls’ price point and subscription model may leave some pet parents feeling wary about taking the plunge, but those who do will be treated to some of the best cat foods that money can buy.

Check out our complete list of cat food reviews here

See Also: 

• Open Farm Cat Food Review: Our Expert’s Opinion
• The Honest Kitchen Cat Food Review: Is It a Good Value?
• Go! Solutions by Petcurean Cat Food Review: Recalls, Pros & Cons