In this article
We give the Earthborn Holistic a rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars.
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When it comes to finding the best cat food for your favorite feline, there are so many angles to consider. If you want premium nutrition and quality ingredients, enough variety to keep your picky kitty interested, at a price you can afford month after month, from a company that cares about sustainability, you might think you’re setting your hopes a little high.
Finding a cat food brand that scores high in all these categories is tough, but I think I may have discovered one that ticks every box.
Earthborn Holistic offers meat-first, grain-free recipes with plenty of protein, balanced nutrition, and quality ingredients. Their wet food comes in seven tasty options to appeal to even the pickiest of eaters, and the company takes its sustainability pledges seriously.
My cat, Makoa, and I had the chance to try both of their dry food options and all their canned food recipes. Keep reading to find out if Earthborn Holistic really is the best cat food option for the conscientious kitty owner.
Finding a Quality Food for Picky Cats Can Be Tricky
We all want our cats to get the best nutrition possible, but it doesn’t matter if you buy the most premium, highest-quality ingredient cat food if your cat won’t actually eat it.
The unfortunate truth is that quality does not necessarily equate to palatability. In fact, the opposite is often true.
Low-quality, highly processed diets often add special “palatants” to their recipes to make them more appealing to cats. Some of the most common flavor enhancers include animal digest, hydrolyzed proteins, rendered fats, and meat slurries. These ingredients often appeal to carnivore taste buds, but they are not the kind of thing you would ever choose to feed your best friend.
It’s a bit like comparing a big greasy hamburger to a superfood salad – you know which one is better for you, and it’s not necessarily the one your taste buds are calling out for!
That is exactly why palatants do not appear in high-quality pet foods. And that is why picky cats often prefer inferior food to that premium diet you just spent so much money on.
So how do you convince your picky cat to devour food that is actually good for them? The key is variety.
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About Earthborn Holistic Cat Food
Recent studies found that when cats become used to the smell of their food, their interest naturally declines. It’s not that they’re necessarily picky; they simply lose motivation to eat when their food all smells the same. When it comes to variety, Earthborn Holistic’s canned food line has it figured out. They have seven different canned food recipes, each with a different flavor profile to keep your cat interested every day.
On top of that variety, these canned foods also feature pleasing textures, gravy, and plenty of moisture to appeal to the feline appetite.
Pair these canned foods with Earthborn Holistic’s two grain-free dry food recipes, and you have a smorgasbord of nutritious, high-quality meal options that are both tasty enough for the pickiest eaters and easy on the wallet.
Who Makes Earthborn Holistic Cat Food and Where is it Produced?
Earthborn Holistic is made by Midwestern Pet Foods, a fourth-generation, family-owned company that began as a small Indiana milling business in 1926.
Today, Midwestern Pet Foods operates four company-owned manufacturing facilities in Indiana, Illinois, New York, and Oklahoma. According to the company, all Earthborn Holistic dry cat food is manufactured at these US facilities, and it sources ingredients primarily from US suppliers when possible.
Which Type of Cat Is Earthborn Holistic Best Suited For?
Unless your cat has specific allergies or is on a prescription diet, Earthborn Holistic cat food is for every cat.
As you can imagine, this cat food is a great option for picky eaters. The variety of canned food makes it easy to keep your kitty from getting bored. Feed it alone or mix it with Earthborn’s grain-free dry food to add even more variety and save a little money.
Both canned and dry foods are grain-free and certified as all-life-stage diets, making them a great option for kittens, adults, and seniors.
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Earthborn Cat Food Product Specs
Ingredients
Earthborn Holistic puts a strong emphasis on animal-based proteins, though the exact ingredients vary by recipe. The dry food recipes feature ingredients such as chicken, chicken meal, salmon meal, pollock meal, and other fish proteins, paired with carbohydrates such as sweet potatoes, peas, pumpkin, and tapioca. Several recipes also include fruits and vegetables like blueberries, cranberries, apples, carrots, and spinach.
The canned foods take a more meat- and fish-forward approach, with recipes built around ingredients such as chicken, beef, tuna, salmon, mackerel, and shrimp. Broth provides additional moisture, while vitamins and minerals round out the nutritional profile.
Overall, Earthborn’s recipes offer a good balance of animal proteins and plant-based ingredients, with the wet foods providing the added benefit of significantly higher moisture—an important consideration for picky cats and cats that don’t drink much water.
Recipes
While the dry food recipes are limited to just two options, each with a different main protein, the canned food recipes span a range of flavors and key ingredients. This helps add that all-important flavor and texture variety that keeps picky cats interested, as well as providing options for cats with sensitivities to certain ingredients.
Current recipes include:
Dry Food
- Primitive Feline™ – Chicken & Vegetables
- Wild Sea Catch™ – Salmon & Vegetables
Canned Food
- Catalina Catch™ – Mackerel Dinner with Shrimp in Gravy
- Chicken Catcciatori™ – Chicken Dinner
- Harbor Harvest™ – Salmon & Whitefish Dinner with Vegetables in Gravy
- Monterey Medley™ – Tuna & Salmon Dinner
- Chicken Jumble with Liver™ – Chicken Dinner with Liver
- Chicken Fricatssee™ – Chicken Dinner with Liver in Gravy
- RanchHouse Stew™ – Beef Dinner with Vegetables in Gravy
Sustainability
Earthborn is a great option for the picky cat and the discerning cat parent. Not only can you feel good about what you’re feeding your cat, but you can also feel good about supporting this company.
Earthborn’s UPC for Trees program plants a tree for each product UPC customers submit. To date, they’ve planted over 1.38 million. And their ReBorn program ensures their dry-food packaging is recyclable through TerraCycle.
Availability
Earthborn Holistic cat food is available through independent pet stores and online retailers, making it relatively easy to find without relying exclusively on big-box stores. The brand provides a retailer locator on its website and recommends calling ahead to confirm that a particular recipe is in stock. Online, Earthborn is widely available through retailers such as Chewy, which carries both its dry and canned cat foods.
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Comparison
| Product Earthborn Holistic Cat Food | Leading Mid-Tier Premium Cat Food |
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Our Experience With Earthborn Holistic Cat Food
As soon as our package from Earthborn arrived, Makoa and I were excited. The presentation of the canned food was so fun! The variety pack of cans came in an adorable, colorful box that doubles as a great storage option. And Makoa was excited because he could smell the tastiness of this food the second I opened the package.
I received both dry food options. Each has the same tiny, round kibble shape, which I really like. The kibble pieces are small enough for kittens, and the shape works perfectly for Makoa’s treat ball, which is what he eats his breakfast out of each morning.
I also received all seven canned food recipes. Each contains visible cuts of meat and/or seafood, plenty of thick broth/gravy, and plenty of moisture. A few recipes contain peas and other vegetables, but you can see clearly that these make up a small percentage of the actual volume, which is good since cats are obligate carnivores and have little use for plant nutrients.
Makoa took to both food types right away. He happily ate the dry food without any added wet food or moisture, but was an especially big fan of the canned food options. Each time I opened a new recipe, he seemed extra excited.
I liked that dinner-time stimulated him beyond the typical excitement about eating. Each meal offered new flavors and textures to explore.
In terms of the ingredients, I am fairly pleased with what Earthborn offers. All the recipes start with at least one named meat ingredient. Many of them include additional animal proteins, and plenty of options also list organ meat or full named meat meals.
Most of the recipes do include some plant-based ingredients, and the dry foods feature pea protein as an inexpensive way to increase protein content. It’s a measure that keeps costs down, making the food more affordable, while still putting meat ingredients at the top of the list.
I am also a big fan of the sustainability efforts this company has undertaken!
Overall, I would recommend this brand to any cat owner, particularly those who are struggling to find a cat food that appeals to their picky cat, is made with quality ingredients, and is affordable for long-term feeding.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Does Earthborn Holistic use artificial ingredients?
Earthborn’s recipes contain no artificial flavors, preservatives, or colors. All of their recipes are formulated to provide complete and balanced nutrition and meet AAFCO requirements.
Is Earthborn Holistic cat food made in the USA?
Earthborn Holistic dry cat food is made in the USA at its four family-owned facilities. The canned foods are a product of Thailand. Ingredients come from US suppliers whenever possible, although some are sourced internationally.
Is Earthborn Holistic environmentally friendly?
Earthborn has several sustainability initiatives, including its Earthborn ReBorn program, which allows its dry-food and treat packaging to be recycled through TerraCycle. Its UPCs for Trees program also plants one tree for each UPC submitted.
* $4 off in-store when you sign up for our monthly email blast!
Coupon must be printed and used in-store.
Conclusion
If you are sick of wasting money on premium cat food that your picky kitty won’t actually eat, I highly suggest giving Earthborn Holistics a try.
Their recipes include the same high-quality, meat-first ingredients as many premium brands but with a variety of extra-palatable canned food options to help keep cats with the most discerning tastes interested meal after meal.
