HTZ ORIJEN Cat Food

Orijen cat and Kitten Dry Food:

The last time I was browsing round the Zooplus website I noticed some ‘Orijen’ dry cat food which said it was suitable for adult cats and kittens of all breeds and that is was supposed to be exceptionally good for your cats health. I read a few of the reviews and decided to give Orijen a go.

When the food arrived I was amazed by the ingredients, Tifa has never had it so good and is currently eating better than me! As the ingredients are so amazing I am going to include them in my review below.

The food consists of 75% premium animal ingredients, (de-boned chicken, chicken meal, turkey meal, northern whitefish, chicken fat, de-boned turkey, salmon meal, salmon and anchovy oils, de-boned salmon, chicken broth and free-range eggs). The chicken and turkey are grain fed and the fish is wild-caught!

The other 25% is made up of fruits, vegetables and botanicals fortified with antioxidant vitamins and minerals, (russet potatoes, sweet potato, sunflower oil, sun-cured alfalfa, brown kelp, carrots, spinach, peas, tomatoes, apples, psyllium, dulse, chicory, liquorice root, turmeric root, fenugreek, cranberries, blackcurrants, marigold flowers, sweet fennel, zea mays, peppermint leaf, chamomile flowers, dandelion root, summer savoury, rosemary extract and rosehips).

There are all sorts of vitamins and minerals too which won’t mean a lot to most people so I won’t include them. Needless to say there are all the vitamins etc that are recommended for cats including taurine for good eyesight and calcium for strong bones.

None of the ingredients have ever been frozen and the food is steamed cooked at a low temperature, (around 90C), to keep in as many of the nutrients as possible. The food contains no animal by-products, glutens or soy, chemical preservatives, oxides, sulphates or genetically modified ingredients.

Orijen, (made by Canadian company, Champion Petfoods), follow the ‘BARK’ concept which stands for Biologically Appropriate Real-Food Kibble. Basically as cats are naturally carnivores who have adapted for a diet rich in meat with smaller amounts of fruits, vegetables and grasses that, that is what we should feed them. Most cat food is bulked out with cereals, which is not something that would be part of a wild cat’s diet. Obviously house cats use fewer calories than their wild cousins and Orijen have taken that into account too.

The food comes in little three pronged shapes, a bit like the blades on a wind-turbine, and are all a uniform size and dull brown colour. I was worried that Tifa wouldn’t touch the stuff as she was used to Go-Cat but she wolfed it down, purring the whole time and regularly stopping to lick her lips. The lip licking continued long after she had eaten and I got an amazing amount of hugs from her too! It was quite obvious that she really enjoyed it and that was me happy.

I don’t measure Tifa’s food as she is VERY active, (climbing curtains, walls etc and generally running around all day), so I just keep her bowl full and let her eat when she likes. Each 400g packet lasts over a week depending on her activity levels.

It is expensive at £3.25 for 400g but I love spoiling Tifa and compared to the ingredients of ‘normal’ cat food I think this is well worth the extra money. Tifa has always been very healthy but since eating this, her fur is softer than anything I could imagine, her eyes are brighter and her breath doesn’t smell at all. The evidence in her litter tray speaks volumes compared to what was left behind on ‘normal’ food too.

As long as I can afford it I will be feeding Tifa Orijen cat food and would strongly recommend it to any cat owner.