One of the most important things that you can do to help ensure that your cat lives a long and healthy life is to feed them a high-quality diet. Diet and nutrition is an exceptionally important part of being a pet owner. As the old saying goes, “you are what you eat,” and this is as true for your cat as it is for you.

These days, when it comes to feeding our feline friends, we are quite spoiled for choice. There are so many different types and brands of cat food available, choosing the best one for your cat can be quite difficult. While most cat foods — provided that they are labeled with the words, “complete and balanced” — will give your cat all the nutrients that they need, there are some cat foods that may be better than others.

To help you make sense of all the options and give you guidance in choosing the right food, we’ve put together this list of reviews of the best cat foods available in Australia.

A Quick Comparison of Our Favorites in 2023

	Image	Product	Details
Best Overall		Royal Canin Indoor Adult Cats Food	For indoor cats Quality ingredients Age-specific / energy-specific	CHECK PRICE
Best Value		Purina Fancy Feast Wet Cat Food	Premium quality Complete and balanced diet Available in a range of flavors	CHECK PRICE
Premium Choice		Hill’s Science Diet Senior Dry Cat Food	Premium product Age-specific - 11+ years Complete and balanced diet	CHECK PRICE
		Felix Sensations Jellies Cat Food	Multi-buy savings Handy easy-use pouches Provides a variety of flavors	CHECK PRICE
		Hill’s Science Diet Adult Canned Cat Food	Premium quality Real meat and vegetables 100% money-back guarantee	CHECK PRICE

The 8 Best Cat Foods in Australia

1. Royal Canin Indoor Adult Cats Food — Best Overall

Royal Canin is one of the most well-known premium brand pet food manufacturers in Australia, and this dry cat food for indoor adult cats is simply outstanding. While Royal Canin has a range of different cat food varieties, this one has been specifically formulated for cats that spend their days lazing around the house and snoozing.

Obviously, an active cat is going to have different dietary requirements than one that is a little more laidback. A product like this is a great way to ensure that your cat still gets plenty of premium quality and nutritious food, without all the high-calorie ingredients that they don’t need.

2. Purina Fancy Feast Wet Cat Food — Best Wet Cat Food

Bulk buying is a great way to save money on quality pet food products, and this 24-pack of Purina’s Fancy Feats wet cat food is no exception. As a rule, wet cat food (canned food) is more expensive to buy than dry food, and as they are also usually tastier, many fussy eaters often won’t touch anything else.

Offering a complete and balanced diet in a range of flavors and textures, Fancy Feast foods is a premium brand that sells for a reasonable price, which makes this multi-buy option the best cat food in Australia for the money.

3. Hill’s Science Diet Senior Dry Cat Food — Premium Choice

Hill’s Science has a well-deserved reputation for producing a range of high-quality science-based foods for cats, and this dry food for senior cats is no exception. Formulated with cats over the age of 11 in mind, it contains increased levels of nutrients necessary for heart and kidney health and is made with all-natural premium ingredients that almost all cats will love.

This is just one of the wide variety of age- and energy-specific cat foods produced by Hill’s Science, and even if you don’t have an older cat, you are almost certain to find the perfect food for almost any cat in its product range.

4. Felix Sensations Jellies Cat Food

When you have a cat that likes to have variety in their diet, you can end up spending a fortune on different flavored foods, but a much better way is to find a product like Felix Sensations that has bulk-buy variety packs.

While still more expensive by weight than dry foods, this variety pack of pouched wet food is a much more economical way to buy cat food than to purchase individual cans or pouches. Made with quality ingredients, these meals are designed to provide a complete and balanced diet, and the use of pouches rather than cans makes this product easier to store and lighter to move around.

5. Hill’s Science Diet Adult Canned Cat Food

This canned adult cat food comes in a pack of 24 single-use 79 g cans and provides a complete and balanced diet for cats between the ages of 1 and 6 years old.

Since it uses real premium ingredients, Hill’s Science is so confident that your cat will like its food that it has a no-questions-asked 100% money-back guarantee. Again, buying in bulk will save you money, but as Hill’s Science is a premium brand, you will likely find other brands on sale for less.

Hill’s Science has a wide range of cat foods in a variety of flavors and types, but what we particularly like about this one is the mix of real chicken and vegetables that you can actually see and smell in the product. This recipe comes served in gravy, and this ensures a soft tender meal that is easy for your cat to chew and digest.

6. DINE Desire Pure Tuna Wet Cat Food

When it comes to pet foods, DINE is one of the most well-recognized cat food brands in Australia. The company has been feeding Australian cats for decades and can be trusted to provide good quality products at a reasonable price.

This product is not formulated to be a complete diet, but rather is intended to be a tasty supplement that can be added to other foods to make it more appealing or served as a special treat. One look at this product, and you’ll see that it primarily contains real tuna meat. There likely isn’t a cat in the country that wouldn’t enjoy having this cat food added to their plate.

7. Whiskas Mixed Selection in Gravy Wet Cat Food

If you are on a budget but have a cat that won’t touch dry food, this multi-buy mixed selection of wet food pouches from Whiskas might be just what you are after. With 96 individual food pouches and three different flavors in the box, you are not likely to find a better priced wet food that will provide your cat with a complete and balanced diet.

Of course, at this price point, the product isn’t likely to contain the same quality cuts of meat as some of the more premium brands, but it will keep your cat both happy and healthy, and that is all you really need.

8. Purina Friskies Adult Seafood Sensations

If your cat is happy to eat dry food, a less expensive option to consider is Purina’s Friskies range of cat food. This food comprises a complete and balanced diet with the flavor of seafood. It is mostly made from whole-grain cereals and vegetable by-products but has all the necessary vitamins and minerals to keep your cat healthy.

Buyer’s Guide – Picking the Best Cat Food in Australia

Australian is a nation of pet lovers, and according to IBIS World, the Australian pet food production industry is currently worth about $3.2 billion annually. It is an industry that is geared mainly toward providing food for the millions of domestic dogs and cats that Australians choose to share their homes with.

It is little wonder that pet food manufacturers go to great lengths to develop cat foods that will not only provide for the basic nutritional requirements of our feline friends but also appeal to their often fussy tastes and eating habits.

In Australia, there are guidelines that set the standards that pet food manufacturers should follow. While these are voluntary, the industry tends to follow them closely, as there is just too much money at stake to risk doing otherwise.

Check the label

When choosing the right cat food for your pet, the best place to start is with the label on the packaging.

The Australian Standard requires cat food manufacturers to adhere to the requirements of the American Association of Feed Control Officials. You should look for words on the label that indicate that the product contains a complete and balanced diet, which means that the product must be a nutritionally complete food. Keep in mind that there are different recommendations for cats depending upon their life stage, and a complete and balanced diet for cats in the “growth and reproduction” stage of their life will be different than what’s required by cats in their “adult maintenance” stage.

Cat foods that don’t provide a complete and balanced diet are generally only for supplementary feeding and will be labeled with words such as, “intended for occasional or supplemental feeding,” “snack,” or “treat.”

The label will also provide you with information about exactly what is in the product. One thing to keep in mind is that the ingredient that forms the largest percentage of the product by weight will be listed first and the ingredient that forms the smallest percentage by weight will be last on the list. This can be confusing, as with wet cat foods, the largest ingredient by weight will probably be water, yet ingredients that are lower on the list are likely the most important from a nutritional perspective. Basically, don’t discard the importance of the ingredients listed toward the end of the list.

Price

Unfortunately, the adage that “you get what you pay for” is true when it comes to cat food. While most foods will meet your cat’s nutritional needs, it is likely only going to be the premium brands that will make use of the nicest and tastiest ingredients. Often, these foods have stronger flavors and a more appealing taste, so if your cat is a fussy eater, you will likely end up spending more for their food than the owner of a cat that will eat any food put in front of them.

Of course, even premium brand products go on sale from time to time. When you find a product that your cat likes on sale or offered as a multi-buy option, you should take the opportunity to save money by stocking up.

Consider your cat’s activity level

The amount of food that your cat will need to eat will vary depending upon how much energy they burn during the day. An active cat that is always outside exploring will obviously need a bigger serving of food than one that lives inside and sleeps most of the time, but unlike dogs, cats are generally quite good at self-regulating the amount of food that they need.

However, if you have a cat that just loves food, and you notice that they’re starting to put on excess weight, you can get cat foods are formulated to help your pet lose weight. These are typically well labeled and safe to use, but as with any health issue, we would recommend that you speak to your vet before implementing any major change in your pet’s diet.

Final Verdict

Hopefully, our comprehensive list of reviews has made choosing the right cat food for your feline friend much easier.

To recap, our top choices for the best cat food in Australia are:

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Featured Image Credit: Happy monkey, Shutterstock