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Eukanuba (pronounced “You-Kan-Ooo-Bah”) is the premium sister food of Iams, produced by super-company Procter & Gamble. If you like your interesting facts, then the term “Eukanuba” stems from a lyric by jazz composer Hoagy Carmichael, known for composing the music for “Stardust”, “Georgia on My Mind”, “The Nearness of You”, and “Heart & Soul”.
“Eukanuba” is said to mean “something supreme”. They like to give this impression, but is the food really supreme?
Dried chicken and turkey seems like a reasonable inclusion, and a decent source of meat protein. It’s weighed after water has been removed which is a good thing and solidifies it as the prime ingredient in the food.
Chicken Viscera comes next, which is the most elegant way of labelling a by-product. Viscera = chicken guts and organs. This doesn’t sound supreme to me, but is arguably in tune with a cat’s natural diet. Chicken liver is included as a nutritious organ meat, making up 9% of the food. Too much liver can cause vitamin A toxicity which can affect your cat’s bones. I’ve seen it used as a more prominent ingredient in other brands (such as Purina), so I’m not overly concerned about the amount in this food.
The ingredients from here on in aren’t great. Wheat and Maize Grits (aka corn grits) are worthless ingredients in a cat food, only included as cheap fillers. Fish Meal is used as an undisclosed and dubious source of protein. Beet Pulp is a source of fibre, but is sugary and potentially bad for the digestive system. Chicken Digest is a broth created when chickens are boiled up to create a cheap source of meat ingredients (#1 and #2 in the list), and brewers yeast is a by-product of beer brewing.
Overall it’s not a bad food and it’s better than Iams. If you buy your cat food in commercial pet stores or supermarkets then this will be one of the better foods on the shelf.
Ingredients
Dried Chicken And Turkey (20%, A Natural Source Of Taurine), Chicken Viscera, Chicken Liver (9%), Rice, Maize Grits, Fish Meal, Animal Fat, Dried Beet Pulp (3.3%), Dried Whole Egg, Chicken Digest, Potassium Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Brewer’s Dried Yeast, Sodium Chloride.
Hi! Thank you for very informative reviews, they’ve opened my eyes on the most popular cat food brands. I’m busy researching kitten food at the moment while waiting to pick up my new kitten (12 week old) in a week’s time.
It’s currently being fed Royal Canin and the breeder highly recommends it. In your opinion, is Eukanuba any better? I’ve read both reviews and i understand you are not a big fan of either.
Hi Elena, I’m not a huge fan of either but both companies are very pro-active with the breeder community and they sponsor dog shows and offer breeders incentives. That said there are plenty of worse foods, but also many that are better.