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Our Final Verdict
We give Love, Nala an overall rating of 4.75 out of 5 stars.
Quality: 4.8/5
Variety: 5/5
Ingredients: 4.7/5
Value: 4.6/5
If you’re like me (and so many other obsessive cat owners) and spend too much time on Instagram stalking adorable kitties, then you probably already know who Nala Cat is. She does, after all, hold the Guinness Book of World Records title for the cat with the most followers on Instagram. And if you’re here, then you probably also know that Nala has her own brand of cat food.
Love, Nala is a natural cat food and supplement company started by the loving owners who brought Nala to the world’s stage. Their all-natural wet foods, air-dried kibble, treats, and supplements were all created to honor Nala and give cats everywhere the love they deserve through a nutritious, healthy diet.
I had the opportunity to try many of Love, Nala’s products on my well-loved kitty, Makoa. He is a big foodie and was happy to lend a paw in this review (spoiler alert, he is now a big Love, Nala fan!). Find out how much he liked this food, what I as a discerning owner think about it, and if this cat nutrition company is a good fit for you by reading our full Love, Nala brand review, below.
At a Glance: The Most Popular Products
About Love, Nala
Pookie Methachittiphan’s life changed forever when she adopted little Nala from a shelter. Not only did this gray tabby bring her Instagram fame, but she’s the reason Pookie met her life and business partner, Shannon Ellis. Together, the two cat lovers started Love, Nala as a way to honor the cat that has enriched their lives so much.
Today, Love, Nala offers cat owners everywhere a nutritious, natural option for air-dried kibble, wet food, treats, and more.
Where is Love, Nala Cat Food Produced?
Love, Nala dry foods and many of their other products are made in Visalia, California. Their canned food is made in a human-grade processing facility in Thailand. Most of their ingredients are sourced in the US and those that come from abroad must meet strict quality standards.
Which Types of Cats Is Love, Nala Cat Food Best Suited For?
With so many recipe options, there is bound to be something from this company for just about every cat.
Their dry food is complete and balanced for all life stages, making it a great option for kittens, adults, and seniors alike. The air-dried processing makes this food highly nutritious while also maintaining a natural flavor most cats love.
The canned food options from Love, Nala include a long list of recipes. Each is made primarily of quality animal ingredients and contains a high moisture content to help support kidney and bladder health. These are all highly palatable and perfect for picky eaters.
Love, Nala also has many supplements to help with common kitty issues and yummy mousse treats to reward good kitties.
Key Features
Here is a quick overview of what sets Love, Nala products apart from other cat food companies. We’ll look at the ingredients, macronutrient ratios, the different recipe options, and where to order this food.
Ingredients
Each can and bag of Love, Nala cat food is created using meat-first recipes. For many of the flavor options, the first two ingredients are quality animal products. For instance, the Tuna with Spinach canned food lists tuna and chicken as the first two ingredients.
Following the top tier meat ingredients is typically a short list of whole food plant ingredients and additional animal ingredients. Eggs, tomatoes, spinach, sweet potato, and carrots are all ingredients you’re likely to find in these recipes. None of the recipes include grains or other common fillers.
Each recipe also includes an extensive list of added nutrients, from taurine to folic acid. While these additions are necessary to make these recipes complete and balanced, the large amount of synthetic nutrients does indicate that the whole foods used are not nutrient-dense enough to support overall health all on their own.
The dry food options contain more nutrient-dense cuts, such as chicken heart and liver, but still include a similar list of added nutrients.
Macronutrient Breakdown
All of the canned and wet food recipes are centered around high-protein meat ingredients. Given this, it’s no surprise that these foods are packed with the protein kitties need to thrive.
On average, the canned foods contain about 50 to 70% protein. The dry food options are a little lower, as these recipes require more carbohydrates, but still come in at a respectable 47% protein on average.
The fat content is on the lower end for the canned food recipes, with an average fat content of around 10%. The dry food is typically a little higher, around 20%.
Protein and fat are both necessary ingredients to help cats grow and thrive. The high protein content of these foods makes them a great choice for kittens and adult cats, alike. Because the recipes are lower in fat and carbohydrates, they’re also a great choice for indoor cats who need a little help staying trim.
Recipes
There is no lack of variety at Love, Nala. Almost all of their offerings are available in multiple flavors and recipe types.
For instance, their air-dried food comes in three flavors, Turkey & Chicken, Chicken, and Beef. You can even opt to get all three flavors in a single order, a great option for varying your cat’s nutrition intake and keeping them interested in their food.
The canned food line offers even more variety. You can choose from pate or flaked texture. And from canned or packet packaging.
Each option includes multiple flavor options as well, from Mackerel with Carrot & Pumpkin to Chicken with Sweet Potato & Tomato. Overall, there are dozens of options to choose from so you can find exactly what your cat likes or mix it up each month to keep them interested.
Ordering Options
There is also no shortage of options when it comes to getting your Love, Nala food. The easiest way is to take advantage of the subscription option on the Lova, Nala website.
Not only does this allow you to choose auto-delivery every 2 to 12 weeks, but it also saves you 20% on your order. And each subsequent order is 10% off.
You can also find Love, Nala at a variety of other online retailers, including Chewy and Amazon.
Many local pet food and supply stores across the country also carry Love, Nala products.
Our Reviews of the Love, Nala Products We Received
1. Air Dried, Grain-Free Cat Food
Love, Nala originally started out with a traditional dry kibble offering. They have since replaced their kibble with only air-dried cat food. In my opinion, this was the right move.
Air-dried foods are more nutritious since they don’t undergo heat processing, which deactivates enzymes and destroys many sensitive nutrients. Food that is air-dried retains nearly the same nutritional profile as dehydrated and freeze-dried foods.
Compared to dry kibble, Love, Nala air-dried foods contain three times as much moisture. This is key since most house cats do not drink enough water to offset dry kibble diets. By feeding food with more moisture in it, you can help protect your cat’s kidneys and urinary tract from infection and disease.
Love, Nala air-dried food is available in three flavors, all of which contain high amounts of protein and feature real meat ingredients at the top of the ingredient list.
The food pieces are a bit larger than traditional kibble and can sometimes be stuck together. But adult cats and larger kittens should have no problem with this food.
My cat was very taken by the smell (though it isn’t overly stinky) and was quick to pick this food out of his old kibble while I was transitioning him over to his new diet.
Pros
- More nutritious than kibble
- High in protein
- Contains more moisture than kibble
- Very palatable
- Fairly affordable for air-dried food
Cons
- Pieces are fairly large
- Contains many synthetic nutrients
2. Canned Food in Broth
Love, Nala canned food comes in two varieties, pate and flakes. Both options contain a lot of extra moisture in the form of broth or gravy. This is intentional to help ensure your cat gets enough liquid to keep those kidneys working properly.
In addition to a higher moisture content than other canned foods, these diets also have a lot more protein than you’ll typically find. Wild cats’ diets consist of large amounts of protein and a decent amount of fat.
These Love, Nala diets were made to imitate these natural diets while still taking into consideration the typical lifestyle of pet cats. This means that they contain high amounts of protein to help form lean muscle and support health but only moderate amounts of fat to better control weight.
There are a number of recipes to choose from which makes it easy to find something every cat will enjoy. And since these recipes were created to please a very picky eater (looking at you, Nala) you can bet they will win even the most discerning of cats over.
My cat is a huge fan of these wet foods. And I am happy to report that they smell a lot better than most canned cat foods I’ve tried. They have an odor, but it smells fresher than most and doesn’t linger.
Pros
- Very high in protein
- Multiple recipe options
- Two texture options
- Enticing flavor and scent
- Whole-food ingredients
Cons
- On the pricer end
- Long list of added nutrients
3. Cat Health Supplements
In addition to their food offerings, Love, Nala also has three different supplement options, Digestive, Skin & Coat, and Calming.
Each of these products features a long list of active ingredients to tackle issues from the inside out. The Digestive supplement, for instance, contains four probiotic strains, an enzyme blend, and prebiotics.
These supplements come in an easy-to-feed chew that is designed to be highly palatable. You won’t have to fight with your cat to get them to eat these supplements!
The key to that palatability is in the enticing ingredients, like animal plasma, chicken, and chicken liver flavor. Each little triangular-prism-shaped chew is soft and just stinky enough to get your cat’s attention.
Dosing is easy, too. Cats under 10 pounds get one chew while big cats get two.
My cat looks forward to his Digestive and Skin & Coat chews every morning. I have already seen a difference in both his litter box habits and his glossy fur since starting them.
Pros
- Easy to feed
- Soft and chewy
- Multiple active ingredients
- Quality inactive ingredients
- Easy to dose
4. Mousse Cat Treats
The treat offerings from Love, Nala aren’t your typical dry cat treats. Instead, they are highly palatable, mousse-textured squeeze tubes.
Using this delivery method for tasty rewards has many benefits. For one, this mousse is high in moisture. As we talked about above, this is a good thing for house cats, since they have a high incidence of kidney disease.
The texture is also very pleasing and enticing to many cats, especially those who aren’t interested in standard treats.
These Mousse Cat Treats can be used as rewards during training, occasional treats, or as toppers to make their food more enticing.
There are three recipes to choose from, Chicken, Tuna, and Tuna & Salmon. Each contains quality meat ingredients and added superfoods. For instance, the Tuna & Salmon contains collagen-packed fish skin and the Chicken has added prebiotics in the form of chicory root.
My cat loves it when I add a squeeze of Mousse to his dry food and these treats have also come in handy during training.
Pros
- Highly enticing
- Contain real meat
- Added superfoods
- Multiple uses
Cons
- Can be messy
- Leftovers must be stored properly
Our Experience With Love, Nala
My cat, Makoa, is a big fan of food. In fact, he likes eating so much that he will occasionally eat things that aren’t food. His most recent foray into not-food was when he chowed down on my daughter’s rubber dinosaur.
To help curb this strange habit, I’m always on the lookout for nutritious, high-protein cat diets that will help fill him up and satisfy his lust for food without adding to his weight. Given Love, Nala’s high protein and lower fat content, and many recipe options, I thought it might be a good choice for Makoa.
I ordered their Turkey & Chicken Air-Dried food, Tuna with Spinach Recipe Pate, Chicken Flaked with Sweet Potato & Tomato Recipe, Digestive and Skin & Coat supplements, and a sampling of their Mousse treats.
As soon as I started mixing the foods into Makoa’s meals, it was clear how he felt about them. He immediately began picking out the air-dried morsels from his typical dry food. And he is a huge fan of both canned food recipes.
I like that neither the dry food nor canned food has an intense odor. I actually stopped feeding wet food for a long time because the smell would linger in the house for hours after mealtime. That has not been an issue at all with Love, Nala.
The supplements have also been a big hit with Makoa. He happily eats them up before even starting on his food in the morning. This is a very good thing because we all know how hard it is to pill a cat!
After just a couple of weeks on these supplements, I have already seen results. Despite his sensitive stomach, Makoa did not have any issues switching diets, which I attribute to the digestive supplement. His fur is also noticeably softer and glossier since starting the Skin & Coat chews.
I was very hopeful that Makoa would be obsessed with the Mousse so I could use it to teach him a few tricks. While it doesn’t have Churu appeal, he does like it and the texture makes it easy to use in training. But mostly I have been adding it as a treat/supplement to his meals.
I am a big fan of the protein content of these foods and the whole-food ingredients used in the recipes. And I love that they use air-dried food as it has so many benefits for cats.
There is a lot to like about the offerings from Love, Nala. They have a huge variety of recipe options and obviously put care into selecting their major ingredients. But I think there is still something to be desired here.
The long list of added nutrients would indicate that the whole foods used aren’t providing enough nutrition to meet minimal values. This is not at all uncommon in the pet food industry. But it also isn’t optimal since synthetic vitamins and minerals are not nearly as well absorbed as naturally occurring nutrients.
I also found the price of the canned food to be a bit high compared to the competition. The other offerings are more in line with Love, Nala’s goal of providing affordable healthy food. The air-dried food is very reasonably priced for what it is, as are the supplements.
Overall, though, I have been very impressed with this company. My cat definitely loves eating all of these products, including the supplements. I have noticed an increase in his energy and improvement in his body condition since starting him on Love, Nala.
Conclusion
If you’re searching for better cat food with more variety, I definitely recommend checking out what Love, Nala has to offer.
This company has created a long list of recipes in air-dried and wet food forms to help keep cats healthier by providing more moisture and nutrients in every bite. These recipes are specially designed to appeal to even the pickiest of eaters. And they’re very high in protein and packed with quality meat ingredients so you’ll love feeding them as much as your cat loves eating them.
Love, Nala also carries easy-to-give supplement chews and fun mousse treats so you can spoil your cat while supporting their overall health.
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