Taste of the Wild Cat Food Review of 2023: Recalls, Pros & Cons

Review Summary

Taste of the Wild is a brand of Diamond Pet Food, which is a pet food company based in the USA. All of its foods are manufactured in the USA and are billed as being affordable and using high-quality ingredients. As well as using real meat, fish, or fowl as their primary ingredient, the brand’s recipes also include unique proteins from boar, bison, duck, trout, and venison.

Although the foods are manufactured in the USA, Diamond sources its ingredients from countries including Belgium and China.

Through their Prey range, they also offer limited-ingredient food, which is suited to cats with sensitive stomachs and that are intolerant to certain foods. As well as dry foods, Taste of the Wild offers canned wet food. The canned food uses many of the same ingredients as the dry food but is better suited to cats that can’t stomach all dry ingredients.

Taste of the Wild’s concentration of meat, its use of novel proteins, and their grain-free recipes make them a good choice of food, made all the more palatable by an affordable price tag. However, their ingredients do feature some low-cost fillers and their foods are high in carbs.

At a Glance: The Best Taste of the Wild Cat Food Recipes:

Taste of the Wild Cat Food Reviewed

Who Makes Taste of the Wild and Where is it Produced?

Taste of the Wild is a brand of pet food, manufactured by Diamond Pet Food. The US-based company was founded in 1970 by Gary Schell and Richard Kampeter. They make several lines of pet food. As well as the Taste of the Wild ranges, you will also find Diamond, Diamond Naturals, Diamond Care, and Diamond Pro89, as well as Nutra and NutraNuggets.

Diamond Pet Foods has five manufacturing facilities, all in the US. These plants are located in Missouri, South Carolina, Arkansas, and two in California. All facilities are audited annually by National Sanitation Foundation International to ensure quality control and safety.

Which Types of Cats is Taste of the Wild Best Suited For?

Taste of the Wild has a varied range of foods. This includes cat foods for indoor and for active cats. All their foods are grain-free, which means that they are suitable for cats with sensitive stomachs caused by food sensitivities and intolerances.

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

Although the manufacturer claims that several of their ranges are suitable for kittens and seniors, because they are formulated for cats of all ages, Taste of the Wild does not offer stage-of-life foods. Cats have different dietary requirements at different stages of their life. Kitten owners, especially, can benefit from giving their pets something easier to chew, digest, and keep down.

Similarly, aging cats have different requirements than kittens. Aging cats may suffer from sensitive or decaying teeth, while many senior cats need to increase their caloric intake because they are less able to benefit from the calories they eat.

What’s In Taste of the Wild Cat Foods?

Taste of the Wild produces several different cat foods, and each has its own unique ingredients. However, following an analysis of the different recipes, the following aspects were found to be present in many of the formulae:

Prey Limited Ingredient Range

Taste of the Wild manufactures a range of food called Prey. This is a limited ingredient range, and each formula contains no more than four primary ingredients. The first ingredient is the meat source, either Angus beef or turkey. The other main ingredients are lentils and sunflower oil. You will also find the probiotics and vitamin supplements that are found in other Taste of the Wild recipes, but because there are fewer ingredients, this range is considered better suited to cats that have sensitive stomachs. This range also has fewer carbohydrates than the other ranges.

Taste of the Wild’s Probiotics

Probiotics are an important part of a cat’s diet. Taste of the Wild adds its own Viables probiotics blend to their food. These have been developed specifically for cats and are added after the cooking process is complete. This ensures that your cat receives all of the biological benefits of these ingredients. Benefits include an improved immune system, gut health, and general health.

Dry Food and Wet Food Options

Taste of the Wild offers both dry food and wet food formulae. They advise that you should choose wet food if your cat does not get enough water or moisture in their diet. It contains substantially more water than dry kibble and because cats tend to love the flavor of wet food, it is a convenient way of ensuring that they are well hydrated.

Dry food, on the other hand, is better for cats that space their meal out over an hour or longer. Kibble does not spoil so your cat can take a bite whenever it wants. It’s also much easier to clean up. You can also feed a combination of dry and wet food over the day, but you need to take into account the total calories and nutritional content of each food source to ensure that you are not overfeeding your cat.

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High In Carbohydrates

Some of the dry and wet cat foods in the Taste of the Wild’s range have higher than necessary carbs. Wild cats would have eaten prey containing minimal carbohydrates. The domestic cat still has a low carbohydrate requirement and it is believed that a diet that is too high in carbs could be detrimental to your cat’s health. Too many carbohydrates can lead to obesity and diabetes according to some studies. If your cat suffers from diabetes mellitus, it is recommended that you feed a low carbohydrate meal.

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

A Quick Look at Taste of the Wild Cat Food

Taste of Wild Recall History

Diamond and Taste of the Wild have seen several recall notices for their foods, including their cat food ranges.

Diamond cat food was recalled in 2005 due to a potential aflatoxin mold contamination, twice in 2012 for potential salmonella contamination, and in 2013 due to a low level of thiamine in their food.

To see all cat food recalls check out our recall page!

Reviews of the 3 Best Taste of the Wild Cat Food Recipes

1. Taste of the Wild Rocky Mountain Cat Food

With chicken meal as its primary ingredient, Taste of the Wild Rocky Mountain cat food contains 42% protein. Other meat ingredients found in this formula include roasted venison, smoked salmon, and ocean fish meal. The recipe includes Taste of the Wild’s formulated probiotics, as well as a host of other vitamins and minerals that ensure your cat’s nutritional requirements are being met.

There is pea and potato protein found in this food. These are both considered to have lower biological value than meat protein. They do increase the protein count for the food, but the protein is not considered as beneficial because it contains fewer other nutrients. As with all Taste of the Wild recipes, Rocky Mountain is a grain-free formula and it does not contain any artificial ingredients.

Calorie Breakdown:

2. Taste of the Wild Canyon River Grain-Free Dry Cat Food

Cats should not be fed a regular diet of pure fish. However, cat food that contains fish is considered safe, as long as it has additional thiamine as part of the recipe. Thiamine, or vitamin B1, is an essential nutrient for cats, but it is not found in large enough quantities. Taste of the Wild Canyon River Grain-Free Dry Cat Food is a grain-free recipe that lists trout and ocean fish meal as its primary ingredients. It also has added thiamine mononitrate to help prevent a vitamin B1 deficiency in your cat. At 32% protein, this formula has a slightly lower ratio than that of the Rocky Mountain range but still has a high level of carbs, making up 41% of the dry ingredients.

Calorie Breakdown:

3. Taste of the Wild Rocky Mountain Wet Cat Food

The fish-based Rock Mountain canned food combines salmon, smoked salmon, and ocean fish with chicken liver, chicken, and roasted venison meat sources. It also contains potato starch, pea, and several other ingredients that give it a 32% carbohydrate concentration when dry.

It has a low 8% protein content, although most of this protein does come from animal sources. The food sticks to Taste of the Wild’s ethos that they use natural ingredients, foregoing any artificial flavorings and colorings and that their recipes use meat as their primary ingredients while being grain-free.

Calorie Breakdown:

What Other Users Are Saying

Here’s what others are saying about Taste of the Wild’s cat food range.

Conclusion

Taste of the Wild promises to use natural ingredients and ensure that all of its pet foods use meat or fish as its primary ingredient. They also add vegetables and fruits, as well as their proprietary probiotic mix to their cat foods, ensuring that your cat enjoys a great-tasting and nutritious meal. For cats with sensitive stomachs, there is the limited-ingredient Prey range, which has four primary ingredients with the vitamins and probiotics added to fortify your cat’s good health.

Thanks to their use of natural ingredients, and the lack of artificial colorings, and minimal use of fillers, Taste of the Wild is recognized as being a premium food, but it doesn’t carry the same price tag as a lot of competing premium brands. However, the food is a little rich in carbohydrates, and at least one of their ranges includes canola oil, which is a controversial ingredient. Although there haven’t been any in the past few years, Diamond, Taste of the Wild’s parent company, has experienced several product recalls over the years.

Not sure if it’s appropriate to reference another type of food in this review. CM’s discretion.

Featured Image Credit: Taste of the Wild, Chewy