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Special Kitty Cat Food Review Summary
We give Special Kitty cat food a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.
Walmart is known for many things. It sells affordable products that allow regular people to make ends meet, but it’s not exactly known for having the highest-quality offerings. That also sums up its store-brand cat food, Special Kitty. So is Special Kitty a good cat food choice for your favorite feline?
Special Kitty is a budget food. It’s often sold in bulk, as you can buy 44-pound bags of dry kibble, which is unusual for a cat food. Therefore, it’s best suited for people who can’t afford to spend much on their cat’s diet or those who are struggling to feed a large number of cats, such as shelters or rescue groups.
However, all that value comes with a downside: your cat’s nutrition. There’s not much in it worth recommending since it’s full of cost-cutting ingredients, like animal by-products, corn, and soybeans.
The Special Kitty brand isn’t forthcoming with information about its practices either. As best we can tell, it is manufactured in the United States, but the manufacturer (J.M. Smucker) doesn’t exactly have a sterling reputation.
Your cat won’t go hungry eating Special Kitty, but they won’t reach their full potential on it either.
At a Glance: The Best Special Kitty Cat Food Recipes:
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Our Favorite
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Special Kitty Naturals Dry |
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Special Kitty Pâté Wet Food |
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Special Kitty Outdoor Formula |
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Special Kitty Complete |
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Special Kitty Cuts in Gravy |
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Special Kitty Cat Food Reviewed
Who Makes Special Kitty and Where Is It Produced?
Special Kitty is a Walmart-exclusive line, and it’s difficult to find much information on its manufacturing history. It appears that the manufacturer has changed several times, but J.M. Smucker currently makes it.
J.M. Smucker owns several manufacturing facilities in Alabama, Kansas, and New York. We’re not sure which one Special Kitty is made in, but all of the facilities make inexpensive, mass-produced pet foods like Meow Mix, 9Lives, and Kibbles ‘n Bits.
Special Kitty was previously owned by Mars PetCare, Doane Pet Care, and Big Heart Pet Brands. Some of the companies produced the food overseas (including China), but it doesn’t look as if J.M. Smucker does so today.
Which Types of Cats Is Special Kitty Best Suited For?
It’s difficult to honestly review budget foods like Special Kitty without sounding elitist. We understand that not everyone can afford to give their cat top-of-the-line foods, and we also believe that everyone should be able to experience the joys of pet ownership, regardless of their financial situation.
However, the only reason to buy Special Kitty is if you’re strapped for cash. It has a poor nutritional profile, and there’s little reason to believe that the manufacturer is strict about quality control.
If this is the best food you can afford, buy it by all means, but if you can afford anything else, you should probably buy that instead.
Which Types of Cats Might Do Better With a Different Brand?
Again, this question is difficult to answer without appearing as a snob. However, facts are facts: virtually every cat will do better with a different brand.
It all depends on what you can afford. If you want a budget-friendly food that’s much better for your cat than Special Kitty, we’d recommend Rachael Ray Nutrish Indoor Complete.
Discussion of the Primary Ingredients in Special Kitty Cat Food
Cat Food Fillers
Special Kitty’s dry foods are mostly composed of fillers. That is to say, they’re made of cheap ingredients that add bulk to the food without adding any nutritional value. Ground yellow corn is usually the first ingredient, followed closely by corn gluten meal. That’s a problem because cats are carnivores; their diet should primarily be meat, not vegetables.
Unfortunately, meat costs more than corn, so it’s cheaper for the manufacturer and the consumer to fill the cat food with corn. Think about a cat in the wild. If they found themselves in a cornfield, they’d focus more on the mice or birds than the plants.
As a result, cats have never developed a way to process corn, so it shouldn’t be included in their food.
Cat Food Animal By-Products
In most cases, meat is one of the first few ingredients listed, but unfortunately, the meat is usually animal by-products. Animal by-products are pieces of meat that aren’t suitable for other uses, but in order to save money, the manufacturers will pile them all together and put them in low-cost foods. There is a fair amount of nutrients inside, but you have no idea what else might be there.
The actual definition of animal by-products states that they include “carcasses and parts of carcasses from slaughterhouses, animal shelters, zoos, and veterinarians, and products of animal origin not intended for human consumption, including catering waste.”1 So, you might have meat from long-dead and diseased animals inside, which isn’t good for your cat.
If you think of a cat in the wild, would they be catching fresh prey or scavenging on a days-old carcass? Cats are excellent hunters and haven’t evolved a hardy enough stomach to scavenge. As a result, animal by-products can be challenging for them to digest.
Cat Food Meals
“Meals” are foods that are made by mashing up several ingredients together. For example, chicken meal contains various parts of the bird—including bones and organ meat—combined into a single substance.
They may sound gross, but they provide an assortment of nutrients not often found in lean cuts of meat. If used appropriately, they can be important parts of any cat’s diet.
Unfortunately, Special Kitty uses odd ingredients like soybean meal. It includes several parts of the soybean, which wouldn’t be a problem if it weren’t for the fact that cats shouldn’t be eating soybeans at all.
You’ll also find animal by-product meals. Again, meals are usually good, but when they’re made from piles of rotten meat, you’re better off avoiding them entirely.
The Nutritional Splits Are Actually Respectable
If you ignore what goes into the food and look at the percentages on the label, Special Kitty doesn’t seem so bad. Their dry foods are usually in the range of 30% protein, 10% fat, and 5% fiber; these are not outstanding numbers to be sure, but nothing to turn up your nose at either.
Your cat will get most of the nutrition that they need from this food, so you don’t need to worry about them getting malnourished or anything like that.
Its Canned Food Is a Bit Better
You’ll see water as the first ingredient if you check out the labels on one of its canned foods. This is fairly typical for wet cat foods (it has to get wet somehow, after all), and since most cats don’t drink enough water, giving them plenty of moisture is always a good idea.
After that, the next ingredient is usually an organ meat, like liver. While you might not care for liver, your cat will love it, and it’s full of all sorts of nutrients that aren’t found in leaner cuts of meat. Seeing it listed so highly on these labels is a good thing.
Once you get past the liver, you’ll find fillers like wheat gluten, soy flour, modified food starch, and animal by-products.
You may also find other proteins like tuna or ocean whitefish, but they will be in limited quantities. Overall, it appears that its wet foods are made by taking a bit of good meat and caking it in fillers and cheaper cuts of meat.
It Has a Limited Number of Special Recipes
Special Kitty hits all the basic notes when it comes to special recipes, as it has both indoor and outdoor cat formulas, as well as foods designed for kittens. Beyond that, the pickings are slim.
It doesn’t have a dedicated senior formula, weight management, or sensitive stomach options. It has a “complete nutrition” option and a “naturals” line, which is its high-end option. It’s the best of the bunch but mainly involves shuffling around cheap ingredients.
If your cat has any special dietary needs, don’t expect Special Kitty to be able to accommodate them.
Despite Its Flaws, Cats Seem to Love the Taste
Most cats gobble Special Kitty up, and you shouldn’t have any difficulty convincing your cat to eat it. There are hundreds of user reviews on Walmart’s website attesting to the fact that cats find it delicious.
Of course, the problem is that it’s a very calorie-dense food, so you’ll have to be strict about portion control. Otherwise, you’ll have an obese cat on your hands and all the health problems that come with it.
Special Kitty Is Tremendously Popular
Special Kitty is the top-selling cat food in the United States by an overwhelming amount; it’s corralled nearly 20% of the overall cat food market. That’s more than every other brand combined. It’s not surprising since Walmart is the top retailer in America, and many owners jump at the chance to give their cats cheap food they’ll actually eat.
But just because something is popular doesn’t mean it’s a good idea, and feeding your cat Special Kitty is not an exception to that rule.
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A Quick Look at Special Kitty Cat Food
- Budget-friendly
- Sold in bulk
- Cats love the taste
- Decent nutritional profile
- Loaded with cheap fillers
- Uses tons of animal by-products
- Little in the way of lean, healthy meat inside
- Limited variety of recipes available
Special Kitty Cat Food Recalls
Whenever you’re making cheap food, more emphasis is placed on cutting costs than following every rule to the letter. As a result, budget food manufacturers are often more prone to recalls than other food companies, and Special Kitty is no exception.
The first recall happened in 2007. Special Kitty was part of the Great Melamine Recall, where hundreds of pet foods were recalled because they’d been tainted with melamine, a toxic chemical in plastics. These tainted foods (all of which were made at a single factory in China) were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of pets.
It was recalled again a year later for potential salmonella contamination, and in 2017, a recall was issued due to a lack of thiamine. Both of these could be fatal to cats, but no illnesses or deaths were traced back to the affected foods.
It’s important to note that the recalls happened before J.M. Smucker took over production. However, Special Kitty had one recall under J.M. Smucker’s watch in December 2019, as some of its canned foods “didn’t meet the company’s quality and safety standards.” J.M. Smucker said that eating the foods could “cause nausea with excessive salivation, diarrhea or vomiting to more severe symptoms, including difficulty walking, seizures, and in extreme situations, death.”
It’s also worth noting that many of J.M. Smucker’s other brands have also been recalled. In fact, it issued three different recalls between 2018 and 2020 alone, so it doesn’t look like its manufacturing standards are as strict as you might hope.
Reviews of the 3 Best Special Kitty Cat Food Recipes
1. Special Kitty Naturals Dry Cat Food — Our Favorite
This is Special Kitty’s high-end brand, and there’s no doubt that it’s the best food that it makes. However, you’ll find the same questionable ingredients in all its other foods, like animal by-products and cheap fillers. With the Naturals line, the order is mixed up, so animal by-products are listed first rather than third or fourth. It’s not much better, but it’s better than nothing.
The overall protein levels are good, clocking in at 38%, and there is real chicken inside; it’s just the eighth ingredient listed. The fiber and fat levels are lower than we’d like (at 3% and 13%, respectively), but neither number is unforgivable. There’s brewer’s rice inside, which should help offset any upset stomachs caused by all the corn and wheat.
Special Kitty Naturals is not a great food, but it’s the best Special Kitty has to offer.
Calorie Breakdown:
- Made with real chicken
- High protein levels
- Meat is first ingredient
- Brewer’s rice is gentle on tummies
- Loaded with fillers and animal by-products
- Chicken is eighth ingredient listed
- Fiber and fat levels are low
2. Special Kitty Pâté Wet Food Classic Variety Pack
If you want to feed your cat wet food instead of (or in addition to) dry kibble, Special Kitty produces this wet food variety pack. There are three recipes in each box: usually tuna, mixed grill, and something called “special supper.” This allows you to change up your cat’s meals and prevent them from getting bored.
The first ingredients are the same for all recipes: water and meat by-products. The water is good, as cats need moisture, and having meat by-products listed as one of the first two ingredients is better than having corn or wheat listed there.
There’s also real meat in these cans (usually chicken and fish), but it’s pushed down the ingredients list. Chicken by-products are ranked ahead to go along with the “meat by-products.”
The formula has a decent amount of protein at 10%, but there are not many essential nutrients, like taurine, inside. As a result, you should pair it with a well-balanced kibble, but spending extra money on two brands defeats the purpose of buying Special Kitty.
Calorie Breakdown:
- Variety of recipes staves off boredom
- First ingredients are meat and water
- Real meat included in the recipe
- Packed with animal by-products
- Needs to be paired with well-balanced kibble
3. Special Kitty Outdoor Formula Dry Cat Food
If you let your cat wander outside, Special Kitty Outdoor Formula may be your best bet among the brand’s offerings. The bag promises that it has the “nutrients to support an active outdoor life.” Beyond that, we have no idea what sets it apart from its indoor cat formula.
The outdoor formula has a bit less fiber and way more carbs. In fact, carb-heavy fillers make up five of the first six ingredients listed. That will give your cat short bursts of energy but won’t provide them with anything long-lasting. It will also increase their odds of becoming obese if they aren’t very active.
The formula has 30% protein, which is on the lower side of the average, and it all seems to come from animal by-products. You will find bone meal inside, which is a nutritious but seldom-used ingredient in cat foods. The Special Kitty Outdoor Formula will definitely give your cat all the fuel that they need to zoom around for an hour or so outside.
Calorie Breakdown:
- Designed for outdoor cats
- Good for short bursts of energy
- Bone meal has important nutrients
- Stuffed to the gills with cheap fillers
- Less protein than we’d like to see
- Likely to cause obesity unless cat is very active
*We used Special Kitty Naturals calorie breakdown to represent the calories in this product*
What Other Users Are Saying About Special Kitty Cat Food
- All About Cats: “Special Kitty cat food is primarily plant-based rather than animal-based. Low-quality fillers like corn, wheat, and soy make up the majority of their dry food products and their wet foods rely heavily on meat and poultry by-products.”
- Pet Food Talk: “The ingredients in Special Kitty are low-quality … it seems that Special Kitty is regarded by consumers as a low-quality, inexpensive cat food formula that does not contain good sources of nutrition.”
- Walmart: As pet owners, we always double-check with reviews from buyers before we buy something. You can read these by clicking here.
Conclusion
Hopefully our Special Kitty cat food review has helped you decide if it’s right for you. Special Kitty is a cat food that’s designed to fill a specific niche: giving people with little disposable income a way to feed their cat food that they’ll love. If you simply rank it on its ability to fulfill that criterion, it’s a smashing success.
When you examine how it’s able to provide tasty, inexpensive meals, though, the wheels fall off. Its recipes are loaded with cheap fillers and low-grade meat, and your cat won’t get nearly as many high-quality nutrients from Special Kitty as they would from better food.
Feeding your cat Special Kitty is definitely better than letting them starve, but it’s a far cry from being a healthy food.
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8 Responses
Thank you for this page. I forgot to mention in my above comment to J. Smith that my neighbor and I have been able to get a good percentage of our feral colony neutered/spayed, but all it takes is a couple of litters for things to get out of control quickly; people like to adopt young kittens, but it is very challenging to get any of the youngsters in this feral colony until they are several months old at best, and at that point they are small but no longer kittens. I care for several two-to-three-year-olds that I wish could be adopted.
We’ve been using this food on and off for 2 years now. Just because it’s the cheapest and the cat colony that adopted us (20) seem to like it. Yes, almost all of them are fixed now. The spayed girls seem to be heavier but healthy. They’re about 5 or so years old. The 1 year olds (yes, we weren’t fast enough) are also healthy but thinner. We haven’t had any issues so far and it seems to be the popular food out here because it’s become hard to find. We live next to a field and used to have a bad mouse problem, not anymore. I might have to start adding more protein for them but they’re all doing great. Thank you for posting about this, much appreciated.
Thank you for your comment and for sharing your story Ike.
Having a small colony of ferals (25 at the moment) this is the ONLY way I can possibly afford to feed them through the winter here in Wisconsin. I feed then both dry and wet food daily and of course keep them well watered. I've fed this brand for many many years and NOT had any issues, no dead cats after feeding, I think that's just ridiculous. My cats have plenty of critters outside to eat and I would imagine that too would cause one to die if eaten an infected mouse/bird/squirrel/chipmonk or rabbit. My cats eat one 44# bag of dry a week and are fed the wet daily. Even at this pricepoint it's a pretty hefty cost to keep then fed and I'm on SS so it's my choice to even feed them and give them shelter. Ferals life span is generally 5 years in the wild and I'm giving them warm shelter, fresh water and something for their stomach when the snow is two feed deep and they can't hunt for something fresh. This is the only company offering a big bag for large groups of cats that I am aware of. Sure, I would love to feed them as well as I feed my indoor cats but I just can't afford to. I've never had a problem with this brand, never.
Hi, J. Smith, thanks for sharing your story and experience with this brand. We admire your compassion and generosity and would also like to mention that the best way to help feral cats is to ensure they are spayed and neutered so populations can be controlled.
Thanks for sharing your experiences with a feral colony; I am in a similar situation, although with fewer–down from around twenty last year to around 12-14 this year. I rely on Special Kitty for its low price compared to the others–I also rely on Friskies and 9 Lives–but as you say, it all ends up still being very expensive. Our feral population exploded during the pandemic when the local Animal Shelter's new director stopped the Shelter from continuing to provide free spay/neuter services for feral cats. We (myself and a neighbor) continue to deal with the expanded population as well as we can, but it's challenging. I try to socialize them and several could be great pets, but they persistently spray, so I can no longer let any of them in my house. A few that I handle can sleep in the garage. I found this page because my latest purchase of Special Kitty canned pate has several bulging cans–I wondered if there is a recall. Thanks for doing what you can for your colony, and thanks to Quincy for providing all this helpful information.
I recently bought a 44 pound bag of special kitty out door cat food and the first day I fed it to my cats just hours later one of them died and every time since then I have been feeding them one or more have died I thought it was my neighbor killing my cats but in starting to think it might be this cat food. what should I do? I bought it at Walmart in garden grove ca.
So sorry to hear about this Shawn, as you see, this brand has had several food recalls in the past. There is no official publication about a recent recall for this brand, but please do contact the manufacturer to let them know what happened with your cats. Please make sure you keep the LOT number and package when you make the report. You should also CC the store's manager in the report email. If it was the food, other pets are at risk too. Thank you very much for sharing this information!