7 best wet cat foods for your purrrfect feline

More moisture, high in protein and a great way to add variety to your kitty’s diet: just some of the reasons why wet cat food is pawfect for our feline friends. But which to choose? Your fluffy cutie deserves only the most purrrfect meal for her weight, life stages and activity levels. 

And while we know our friends of the feline world are famously strong-minded, it’s important that pet parents take on a touch of that stubbornness when it comes to choosing the best wet cat food (and the same goes for finding a local cat sitter, by the way). 

That’s why here, we’re chewing the fat about the best wet cat foods on the market so that your furry best friend has enough energy for leaping, pouncing and clawing to her heart’s content.

Best wet cat food overall

Merrick Purrfect Bistro Grain-Free Chicken Pate Canned Cat Food

This grain-free, high protein blend is designed to give your feline friend the nutrients they need, support healthy muscles and provide them with energy to happily go about their day of leaping, scratching and pouncing. Suitable for adult cats as well as kittens, it’s complete with a targeted mix of vitamins, minerals and that all-important amino acid: taurine. Along with all those essentials, it’s also packed with antioxidants vital for immune function, plus omega-3 fatty acids which support healthy skin and fur. Along with its sound nutrition, what else do we love about this food? Well it’s ideal for picky eaters - the pate texture makes it easy to digest and provides essential moisture for even the fussiest of felines.

How to choose the best wet cat food

• It should meet the requirements of the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). The healthiest cat foods often include a label from the AAFCO, to indicate whether the food will give your kitty the nutrients it needs as part of a healthy, balanced diet.
• Make sure the food you choose is made for your cat’s age and weight.
• If your cat has a health issue, make sure you choose a cat food that’s specifically formulated to give them the nutrient blend they need.
• High in animal-based proteins.
• Packed with essential nutrients including vitamins, minerals and fatty acids.
• Complete with amino acids, and in particular, taurine. It’s an essential part of any cat’s diet, helping to maintain health vision, digestion, heart muscle function and immune system functioning.
• Moderate amounts of animal fats.
• Buy from well-established, reputable cat food brands.
• Never provide your cat with a plant-based diet. Cats are carnivores that need animal protein to live a healthy life.

What are the benefits of wet cat food?

While wet cat food isn’t the be-all and end-all of having a healthy kitty at home, there are a few benefits and drawbacks that you might want to consider before choosing the best wet cat food for your feline friend.

Wet cat food advantages

• Better for hydration. If you’re a cat parent, you’ll know that it’s not always easy to encourage your fluffy best friend to stay hydrated. With their infamous fussiness towards water bowls and inefficiency in drinking water (lapping takes up barely any), it’s important that cat parents find other ways to keep their feline friends hydrated. Along with investing in a cat water fountain (as some prefer flowing water), choosing the best wet cat foods out there can help boost their overall hydration.
• High in protein. It’s vital for your cat’s health to make sure they can keep as much of that all-important lean body mass well into their golden years. Choosing a food that’s super high in animal protein from the very start will help your furry best friend hold onto lean body mass from kittenhood to adulthood, and all the way into their senior years.
• Adds variety. Just as most humans shiver at the thought of eating the same thing for every meal day in, day out, our feline friends appreciate a bit of variety too, no matter how much of a balanced diet they’re eating. Choosing the best wet cat foods will help your kitty stay interested in your house menu with the variety of flavors and textures that wet food has to offer, especially if their diet is a hybrid of wet and dry food.

Wet cat food disadvantages

• Leftovers. Cats can be the queens of fussiness when it comes to the pet world, and we recognise this just as much as the next feline lover! Wet food goes off a lot quicker than dried cat food, especially if it’s left out of the fridge. So, give your fluffy best friend the amount you think they’ll eat and refrigerate the rest - it’ll keep for about a week (but always follow package instructions). Even better, you could freeze any leftovers so that your cat’s dinners are kept interesting and out of the bin.
• Scheduling issues. Even the best wet cat foods aren’t happy with being left out. Wet food that’s been sitting there for a while will attract flies, get smelly, and get abandoned as a result. And while this is all true, you can’t simply not leave any food out if you’re due to be MIA for a few hours - your cat will be hungry and anxious. So, what’s the solution? Try a mix of wet and dry cat food that fits around yours (and your cat’s, of course) schedule.
• Dental health. While wet cat food has a whole host of health benefits, it doesn’t do the same job as dry food on the teeth front. As wet food is a whole lot softer than dry, it doesn’t have the same cleansing abilities. So what’s the solution? Invest in your feline’s dental hygiene and care, and mix it up with dry kibbles (not literally - keep them separate for crunch purposes).
• It’s stinky. As you’ll know by now, wet cat food is much more perishable than dry. So if you’re feeding your moggy the best wet cat food on the market, you’ll need to keep up with the dishes, cleaning out any leftovers in all the nooks and crannies.

Best wet cat food for indoor cats

Weruva Paw Lickin’ Chicken

While indoor and outdoor cats can eat the same foods (they’re both the fluffy cuties at the end of the day), often indoor cats will get a little less exercise than their outdoor cat cousins. So, that’s why we’ve taken a liking to this chicken cat food from Weruva, the ideal blend for kitties with slightly lower activity levels, making it amongst the key contenders for the best wet cat foods for weight loss. It’s protein-rich and lower in carbohydrate - the ideal combo for felines who prefer lazing to leaping. Along with its rich mix of vital nutrients (including omegas, vitamins and minerals), this food is rich is taurine which, as you’ll know by now, is super important for heart and vision health. Alongside its pawfect reputation on the nutrition front, this food is mixed with a delicious gravy, ideal for getting even the pickiest eaters interested.

Best wet cat food for sensitive stomachs

Tiki Cat Tummy Topper Pumpkin & Wheatgrass Cat Treat

The best wet cat food for cats with sensitive stomachs that’s stood out for us is this food topper from Tiki. ‘What’s a food topper?’, you might be wondering. Well they’re designed for a gentle scatter across your cat’s bowl of food. While it can be difficult to find cat food that doesn’t irritate cats with sensitive stomachs, adding a topper can help to soothe your sensitive friend. It’s a super simple, grain free blend with anti-inflammatory properties made with only three ingredients. The topper’s smooth texture makes it a non-invasive, easily digestible addition to any meal. With a topper that soothes your cat’s stomach, your precious friend will be able to reap the benefits of their yummy meals, without the dreaded after effects (or at least less of them).

Best wet cat foods for kittens

Purina ONE

Purina is one of the most well-known, trusted cat food brands out there, and this wet food blend for kittens lives up to the company’s reputation. It’s been specially blended for kittens, containing the vital nutrients your new kitty needs and leaving out what she doesn’t. The high-protein blend is designed to give your kitten the nutrients she’s after in a meal to meet her growing body, brain and appetite. Along with meat as its number one ingredient, find a variety of vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients to keep your kitty healthy and happy. Plus, it’s completely grain-free as cats don’t need a lot of carbohydrate to function.

Best wet cat foods for senior cats

Purina Pro Plan Focus Adult 11+

If you’re home to a senior kitty, you’ll know that their needs are a whole lot different to kittens and younger cats. Prone to more health complications like kidney issues, it’s vital you choose the best cat food that supplements all the nutrients they need to live a comfortable, happy life. This blend from Purina is soft, moist and easy to digest - which is exactly what older cats need. Made from a mix of real salmon and tuna, your fluffy best friend will feel satisfied from the protein-rich blend, along with all the essential vitamins and minerals that are so important for older cats. Rest assured that every ingredient in this blend for kitties in their golden days is chosen deliberately - it’s all in there for keeping your kitty healthy. And rest assured, you won’t find any artificial colors or preservatives!

Best wet cat food for picky eaters

Weruva Cats in the Kitchen Chicken Frick 'A Zee Chicken Recipe Au Jus

If you’ve adopted a cat only to find out they’re a picky eater, we can’t say we’re in shock - the feline world sure does have its own mind at times! One way to get your fussy feline enjoying her food is to make sure all that nutrients is surrounded by something saucy, like a gravy, sauce or jus, in this example from Weruva. It helps to mask the flavor and texture of the meat, and it’s a great way to get your cat trying new blends. This tasty mix is of course chicken-based, so you can guarantee it’s protein-packed. All those important vitamins, minerals and amino acids are swimming in a savory gravy that’ll help bridge the gap between healthy and tasty.

Best quality affordable wet cat food

Purina Fancy Feast Classic Pate Collection

While there’s no price on your healthy kitty, the food you choose doesn’t have to cost the Earth to do the job. Lots of the leading, most trusted brands also pride themselves on being some of the most affordable, too. So, no matter whether you’ve got a kitten, cat or senior moggy, you’re bound to find something to suit your kitty’s needs, while avoiding burning a hole in your pocket! Something we love about this pack from Purina is its variety - find different flavors in each pack, allowing you to buy in bulk while keeping your kitty interested in each and every meal. Find all the usual suspects including essential vitamins and minerals to support your fluffy friend’s overall health, plus the blends are perfect for both adult cats and kittens, ideal if you’ve got leftovers!

Got a feline friend with a sensitive stomach?

Even the best cat parents can find it hard to find food their fluffy friends will be happy with, especially if they’ve got a sensitive stomach. To make cat parenting a touch easier, here’s our list of the best food for a cat with a sensitive stomach.