My first introduction to BIOpet was their “Vegan” food for dogs, which is a wonderful way of removing expensive (and necessary!) meat ingredients and selling a bag of cheap filler as “pet food”. Then I discovered it’s made by The Great Australian Petfood Company, a company with a range of sorry to see foods, so that wasn’t a good starting point.
Thankfully this Grain Free offering for cats is pretty good. It’s not the best, but it’s a damn sight better than some of their other foods.
Let’s investigate…
We start off with not one but two meat meals, chicken and beef. It’s great to see meat as the main ingredient, especially in a condensed “meal” form which ensures the food is predominantly meat. Peas come next as an additional protein source as well as fibre, which is a fine inclusion. Some foods attempt to bulk up protein with peas, but we’re on the right track with this food as the meat comes a solid first.
Potatoes aren’t needed for our carnivorous cats. It’s a fairly pointless ingredient, but does add bulk (keeping costs down) and help bind the kibble. The concern with potato is it’s high GI, but I only see that as cause for concern when it’s more prominent in the food. I see no issue here, and it’s an ingredient we see often.
Poultry oil is a source of energy, and includes varying degrees of linoleic acid as a source of omega 6. It has to be noted it’s a by-product of meat rendering, a nasty way of manufacturing meat ingredients (search Google for some gruesome reading). The quality of poultry oil varies greatly, so it’s hard to say what nutritional benefit this ingredient may have. It’s a shame to see a by-product in a food that has done so well until this point. Other ingredients of questionable quality are fish oil and fish meal (can be rank fish and one of the most common ingredients to find synthetic additive ethoxyquin).
It’s nice to see flaxseed included, as well as natural prebiotic, and minscule traces of garlic and kelp. Taurine is a necessary inclusion.
The food is low in carbohydrates which is good to see, and testament to the amount of meat in the food. From a company that produces some appalling foods, this is a great start at redemption.
It’s interesting to see the cat formula is almost identical to the dog formula, but with beef and chicken switched over. That means it’s a food formulated for dogs, with an offshoot for cats, but I suppose that makes sense from a manufacturing standpoint.
Ingredients
Chicken meal, beef meal, field peas, potatoes, poultry oil, tapioca, canola, fishmeal, flaxseed, beet pulp, fish oil, salt, natural prebiotic, yucca schidigera extract, taurine, mixed tocopherols (vitamin E), rosemary plant extract, vitamins (vitamins A, D, E, K, B1, B2, B6, B12, niacin, folic acid, biotin, choline, pantothenic acid), minerals (iron, zinc, copper, manganese, selenium, iodine, cobalt), lutein, garlic and kelp.
