Nulo Grain-free Duck and Lentils Receipe Dry Cat Food, 12 lb

Comes in many variations

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Reviewer: Mark Lamendola

My kitty really likes this food. That's one hurdle all foods must pass before being kept on hand for serving to her.  As her human guardian, I am also quite pleased with this food because I know it's safe for her to eat and very nutritious.

Before buying the queen a new food, I first make sure it doesn't contain anything toxic, such as wheat, corn, soy, or the new "poison your pet" darling, the potato. I don't eat these toxins myself, and certainly would not serve them to a trusting animal. If you don't know why these are toxic, you would do well to research that. The gist of it for wheat, for example, is it's been bred to have a giant endosperm (making it an endocrine modifier) plus it's been contaminated with RoundUp (giving it neuorotoxicity). Monsanto keeps lying about the alleged lack of persistence of RoundUp in the grain, but three highly respected labs in three different European countries have proven the persistence and those papers are published.

Before actually giving her the food, if ordered online, I read the label on the package even though I read the ingredients online. Then if it's kibble, which is nearly all I ever feed her, I taste it myself. In this particular case, the package has a blurb "Every ingredient counts" and you can tell the folks at Nulo really mean this.

As with all foods I give her, this is grain-free. On the manufacturer's site you'll read, "

Our feline friends require rich protein to stay fit and healthy.

With 82% of proteins coming from real meat like duck, chicken and turkey, your cat will be sure to get the amino acids they need to build strong muscles and bounce back from a day of play. Our low carbohydrate ingredients and advanced probiotics insure they’re getting the nutrition they deserve.

In fact, compare our top four ingredients against the brand you’re currently feeding your pouncing little tigers.."

Here are the ingredients:

Deboned Duck, Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, Deboned Cod, Whole Peas, Lentils, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols & Citric Acid), Pea Fiber, Natural Flavor, Ground Flaxseed, Dried Chicory Root, Dried Kelp, Dried Sweet Potato, Dried Cranberries, Calcium Carbonate, DL-Methionine, Taurine, Zinc Proteinate, Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), Iron Proteinate, Niacin Supplement, Copper Proteinate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Supplement, Manganese Proteinate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Sodium Selenite, Riboflavin Supplement, Dried Bacillus coagulans Fermentation Product, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Calcium Iodate, Folic Acid, Rosemary Extract.

Most kibble has a distinctly fishy taste, even if it's fish-free. I'm not sure why that is. Most of it tastes about the same to me. This kibble does not have that fishy taste.

As with all the high-end cat foods I have examined thus far, the packaging exactly matched the product. With the low-end foods, the packaging is deceptive. I just want to note something about high-end cat foods. They save you money versus buying the cheap stuff. If you understand nutrition, you understand why. Basically, the cat eats less food in total so it lasts longer and your cat doesn't have the typical illnesses that drive up vet bills. Dental caries is now an epidemic among pet cats and dogs, a problem that totally goes away with the right food.

The key to the caries problem is to stick with good kibble. The corn-based stuff will not only wreak havoc on your cat's endocrine system, it will leave a film on their teeth. This problem also exists for humans, so start checking what you eat if you want a zero cavities household and zero obesity household.

I feed this cat dry kibble, though she does get moist treats also. She's an indoor cat who likes to go outside. So she does hunt and eat rabbits, chipmunks, birds, and other little critters. I avoid giving her salmon, since that is a heavily contaminated fish that now has a very high correlation to prostate cancer; if you eat this fish yourself, stop doing so.

At 7.8 lbs, she's not a big cat but she is a lean, muscular athlete. This is because of her diet; "Great bodies are made in the kitchen" and "You are what you eat." She's seven years old, but has the energy of a cat teenager. She whoops all contenders in the territory fights, even those big males that are more than twice her size. And I've seen her make a six-foot vertical leap. One time, she even took a bird that was in mid-flight.