You may have found Catpro Plus on the shelves of your local IGA. It’s otherwise not readily available, but when you read our Catpro Plus cat food review you’ll find out is a good thing.
Catpro Plus cat food review
What the marketing says
The Catpro Plus packaging touts “100% Australian” as if that’s a good thing from a country which has no official regulation for pet food.
All formulas state “A Premium Source of Protein & Calcium”, but ask yourself this – how is “premium” defined? What are the requirements for a pet food manufacturer to use this word?
We’ll get back to this when we look at the ingredients.
There are only two formulas in the range but the truth is the formulas are almost identical.
The small difference with the Salmon & Tuna Flavour is a small inclusion of fish in the ingredients. Australian standards allow the word “Flavour” to be used on the packaging if there is some small trace of that ingredient, which means it doesn’t need to be significant or even beneficial.
So don’t be tricked into believing you’re feeding your cat Salmon and Tuna.
What the ingredients really say
For this review we’ll take a look at Catpro Plus Chicken & Beef for Adult cats.
We know a cat is a carnivorous animal. It’s a basic fact, well known, and you possibly even learned about it when you were five.
Cat’s depend on a diet of prey – meat, organs, bone, and to a very small extent the stomach contents of prey.
With that simple fact in mind, it may shock you that the main ingredient in Catpro Plus, for carnivores, is wholegrain cereals (wheat &/or corn).
Yes, it’s really that much of a fallacy. Corn isn’t great for a cat. Wheat definitely isn’t something you want to feed your cat either.
The long term health implications and ensuing vet bills (not to mention heartache) are definitely not what you want for your furry cat companion. If they are, you probably shouldn’t have a cat.
How can they market this cat food as Chicken & Beef or Salmon & Tuna with the reality being the main ingredient is wheat and corn?
Why isn’t it labelled “Wheat and Corn” in big letters on the packaging?
Yep, we mentioned it earlier – no official regulation and terrible voluntary standards. This means a manufacturer has no accountability either when your cat gets sick. All they need to say is “lots of things can cause a cat to get sick”.
The second ingredient is meat & meat by-products, which in terms of cat food is whatever meat (and meat waste from a human-consumption facility) can be sourced the cheapest. There’s no assurance it’s in a significant quantity either, as it’s possible the cereal grains are almost the entire product.
The third ingredient is possibly in the same quantity as the meat, and that’s vegetable protein from ambiguous vegetables. There’s even more cereal in their too, in the form of cereal protein.
Still reading?
It gets worse.
The 26% protein on the label may sound good, but it’s a typical composition so not even guaranteed. It could be much less protein for all we know, which means more carbohydrates.
Even if there is 26% protein, it’s probably more from corn and cereal protein than meat, and these aren’t as readily digested by carnivorous cats.
10% fat is very low. Not good.
We mentioned the word “premium” earlier. Truth is this word can be used willy nilly without any meaning. Even if Catpro Plus was made from premium wheat, which it probably isn’t, it doesn’t mean in any way, shape, or form, that wheat is good for a cat. Premium potato skins aren’t either.
A summary of Catpro Plus cat food
There’s very little to rave about with Catpro Plus. The last line of the ingredients says no preservatives or artificial flavours, but this comes after ambiguous antioxidants which are likely to be artificial and probably bad for your cat.
Cat’s need to be fed a species-appropriate diet of animal ingredients, not have their digestive system dragged through the mill with a cat food “product” made from problematic grains like wheat.
This cat food is clearly formulated for profit, not for your cat. Not recommended.
We hope our Catpro Plus cat food review has offered a clear perspective on what this product really is. Do your cat a favour and refer to our list of better cat foods.
Is Catpro Plus suitable for kittens?
No.
In our opinion it’s not even suitable for adult cats.
Where to buy Catpro Plus
Not that you would, but it’s available at IGA and likely other independent retailers.
Ingredients of Catpro Plus cat food
Ingredients of Catpro Plus cat food (Chicken & Beef):
Wholegrain cereals (wheat &/or corn), meat & meat byproducts (chicken, beef &/or lamb), vegetable protein, tallow, cereal protein, digest, salt, essential vitamins & minerals (including calcium, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, iron, zinc, manganese, copper, iodine, selenium, vitamins A, D3, E, K, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pyridoxine, panothenic acid, folic acid, B12, biotin), choline chloride, amino acids (taurine), antioxidants. No preservatives or artifical flavours.
Typical composition of Catpro Plus cat food
Note Catpro Plus has a typical composition rather than a guaranteed analysis. This means the values listed below are not guaranteed, potentially meaning less protein, less fat, and higher carbohydrates (sugars).
Typical composition of Catpro Plus cat food (Chicken & Beef):
| Protein | 26% |
| Fat | 10% |
| Crude Fibre | ? |
| Carbohydrates * | Estimated 46% (likely more) |
For anyone wondering vegetable protein is usually soy, so to top it off your cat has yet another ingredient he cannot digest or needs.
Fab review though, this is one of those typical cheap foods, that have no place existing in the world of cats.
I’m a part of a group called Feline Nutrition on Facebook, moisture is highly important for cats, kibble is not needed at all. In place of this you’d be better off feeding canned.
Even if it’s the cheapest canned, it’s better than kibble, kibble permanently dehydrates, opening your cat up to constant UTI’s and stones.
They get all their water requirements from their food, so it’s very very important that their food is moisture rich. Neither dog nor cat can out drink the dehydration caused by all dry foods, that includes air dried and freeze dried, that hasn’t been reconstituted with water.
Disclaimer: Make sure the canned you feed is complete and balanced if using it alone, more often than not, they are not complete. Cats need taurine to stay healthy, complimentary foods rarely contain taurine.
If your having issues switching your cat to a healthier option visit that group, they have files on how to go about transitioning properly. It can be a long process.
Yeah well, As a vet I can tell you you’re giving bad advice. Cats need wet and dry food in their daily diet. this is the issue with amateurs like yourself giving bad advice to people. please keep doing your Facebook as a hobby, but don’t give bad advice at least do some research first.
Hi Charlotte, I have to say that’s a very odd thing to say. Cats have been around, what, 10 to 12 million years without needing dry processed kibble. I would be interested to hear on what basis dry food is necessary in a cat’s diet?
Almost all dry cat foods are high carbohydrate, mostly from grains or potatoes, yet cats are obligate carnivores and shouldn’t have these ingredients in their diet.
There are arguments against a purely wet food diet as well, and as a vet I’m sure you’re aware how rife periodontal disease is in pets from soft food diets.
We’re all for discussion here, so I’d love to hear your thoughts further.
I’m in that group too!! What Aussie brands do you feed? Besides what’s on the list I mean. I wish our reviewer did more wet!
Hi there, I joined that group to gain more knowledge, I don’t actually have a cat, I have two Chihuahuas, but I do feed them at times cat food.
I use Orijen, Pure Life (the kibbles are really hard though, like rocks) and Cherish. All 3 of those have cat versions.
Than I feed air dried Absolute Holistic, Kiwi Kitchens on rotation, Ziwi Peak Provenance series, Woof or Meow freeze dried, K9 Natural freeze dried also has cat foods.
Take into account that only Cherish and Pure Life are Aussie owned, the rest are New Zealand.
All these foods are good to feed though, but since cats require moisture the better main food, would be rehydrated freeze dried with a few bits of air dried or kibble on top.
Someone in that group said not to rehydrate kibble that contains corn or wheat as it releases mycotoxins, not sure how true that is, but it makes you wonder. Although honestly I’d never feed a carnivore corn and wheat.
If you wanted more variety you could do a freeze dried meal in the morning with toppers and a canned meal at night with toppers.
You can do a lot of variety, if you have the means and budget to do so honestly.