Royal Canin, Hill's, Purina, Orijen and Canagan formulate separately for each market, so the composition and guaranteed analysis on the US or UK bag can differ from the Japanese one. The figures on this page come from the Japanese version. Treat them as a guide and read the label on the bag actually in front of you before buying.

Reading the label where you are

In the US, the line that matters is the AAFCO statement: it names the life stage and says whether adequacy was established by formulation (“formulated to meet…”) or by an animal feeding trial, which is the stronger claim. In the UK, labels follow the retained EU feed rules: “Analytical constituents” lists at least crude protein, oils and fats, fibre and ash, and complete food covers the whole diet while complementary food does not — most treats and many wet foods are complementary.

Prices only compare per 100 g

Pack sizes differ between markets, and the big bag is not automatically cheaper. That is why our ranking converts everything to a price per 100 g. When you pick a size, think about storage too: dry food loses quality once opened, so very large bags rarely make sense for a single cat.

Recalls: keep the lot number

Photograph the lot code and best-before date when you open a bag. If a batch is recalled you need that code to tell whether yours is affected — the FDA publishes pet food recalls in the US, and the FSA does in the UK. A bag brought in through parallel import usually has no such route back to you.