| Country of origin | United States |
| Available from | Pet Circle |
Open Farm really stacks up as one of the best cat foods available in Australia. They also offer something very special, the ability to trace all the ingredients in your specific bag. You simply go to their website and type in the bag number, and voila, they’ll tell you exactly where every ingredient came from!
They take pride in their ingredients coming from family farms, being antibiotic and growth hormone free, and non-GMO fruits and veggies.
Let’s delve in a little deeper to the Homestead Turkey & Chicken Recipe…
First off it’s a high protein (37%) high fat (18%) kibble which is very respectable and assures us lower carbs (sugars) than cheaper alternatives. It’s likely the ratios of the first 6 ingredients are relatively equal, of which we have 4 meat ingredients to 2 legumes. That’s pretty good for a kibble, and it’s nice to see an excellent mix of meat and fish – turkey, chicken, ocean whitefish meal, and herring meal. Chickpeas and red lentils aren’t too bad either, but as cats are carnivores these will provide less nutritional value than the meat and fish.
There’s some excellent ingredients in the food, and it’s nice to see the use of coconut oil rather than cheaper alternatives. It’s also preserved naturally with rosemary extract rather than the ambiguous chemicals you find in many cheap cat foods.
Bonus: Check out the Open Farm wet food cartons – they’re great!
Highly recommended.
Ingredients
Humanely Raised Turkey, Humanely Raised Chicken, Ocean Whitefish Meal, Herring Meal, Garbanzo Beans (Chickpeas), Red Lentils, Coconut Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols), Ocean Menhaden Fish Meal, Green Lentils, Pumpkin, Natural Flavour, Non-GMO Cranberries, Dried Chicory Root Extract Choline Chloride, Apples, Choline Chloride, Salt, Dandelion Greens, Taurine, Turmeric, Potassium Chloride, Dicalcium Phosphate, Dried Yucca Schidigera Extract, Mixed Tocopherols (a natural preservative), Calcium Carbonate, Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Iodate, Vitamin E Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Niacin Supplement, D-calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin A Acetate, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid, Rosemary Extract
Will this just prove how full of sh*t this site is if you really care about cats and really were telling the truth about what dry food is good or bad you wouldn’t recommend this crap you wouldn’t recommend any dry food because as somebody who actually has an education in this stuff dry food is actually horrendous no dry food is good including this crap dry food has zero health benefits to your cat or dog it’s full of salt and sugars any meat any vegetable nutrition any form of nutrition is heavily burnt and cooked out through process after process the nutrition of the dry food is depleted so you end up with a hard bit of crap in a bowl it doesn’t matter whether your pay $5 for your dry food or $100 for your dry food you’re buying the same crap bland junk that is only going to hurt your dog or your cat the only difference is the people spending $100 are dumber than the people spending $5 at least the people spending five dollars aren’t being ripped off for the gunk in a bowl
Hi Rachel (or Krazic?),
I’m more than happy for feedback, and we perhaps don’t differ quite that much on our feelings towards processed kibble for cats and dogs.
I’m not sure why you felt the need to make multiple slightly aggressive comments on various pages with various emails when you can simply structure more beneficial comments which may help other readers?
Firstly, lets state the obvious – cats are obligate carnivores who should have a diet amounting to whole prey, or near enough in our modern world of domestic pets and commerce.
Secondly, cats (and dogs) have existed for 10s of millions of years, yet modern science tells us we absolutely must feed commercial pet food for the sake of their health, and that’s only been around for a handful of decades. It’s also mostly inappropriate if you read many of the reviews on this website.
The email you have given for this particular comment suggests you work at a veterinary practice. That’s interesting given most veterinarians endorse dry foods made of ingredients not overly appropriate for carnivorous animals.
Lastly, if you don’t consider there’s a difference between a $5 bag of cat food made mostly of cereal grains and by-products to a $100 bag made with the majority of animal ingredients, then that’s fine – feed your cat raw or whatever you feel is right.
The purpose of these reviews is to point people in a better direction, whether that’s from a poor quality kibble to a better one, from a kibble towards a more natural raw/dried raw food, or full raw. The people who read these reviews cover a broad spectrum of people, from those who’ve bought home their first pet and know little about what to feed them, those on a budget who can’t afford dried raw or don’t know where to start with raw, or people simply hoping to find better solutions to keep their pet’s healthy.
By all means, be constructive – help people – but make it constructive.
Hey. I came across your page while looking (yet again) for a suitable kibble for a cat with a history of a full urinary blockage (5yrs ago).
My vet refuses to give any recommendations that aren’t Royal Canin. Unfortunately, RC has caused other issues for my cat (excessive weight gain and constipation & very large, painful bm’s) and I can’t afford to go to a different vet.
I haven’t been able to find any QUALITY kibbles that fall within suitable percentages of phosphorus, magnesium, and calcium to maintain urinary health.
Do you have any suggestions? I’m in Canada. I’ve been looking at Open Farm, but I’m nervous to switch.
I’ve read so much information regarding feline urinary health, but I always appreciate advice from someone more knowledgeable.
My cats currently get wet food with added water every night, their food/water dishes are cleaned daily, they have a fountain (but the male cat in question is afraid of it), I only give filtered water, and I clean the litter 1x-3x daily.
Sorry, tl;dr…
I’d greatly appreciate any advice on urinary health kibble and supplements that are safe for my male cat who almost died from a full blockage 5 years ago.
Thank you kindly.
Hi Lothian, I would suggest keeping kibble to a minimum if possible, particularly any high-carbohydrate kibble. I would also suggest feeding a decent wet, freeze dried (with added clean water), air dried, or BARF patties (not sure what you would call BARF in Canada) – it sounds like you’re doing this already, and the water fountain is always a bonus. Fresh/raw might be a good option as well, even as part of the diet?
I’m not sure if that helps? I expect you’ve changed their diet significantly since the blockage 5 years ago?
I think this is one of the most affordable in the list of Best Cat Food. But unfortunately, my non-fussy, food loving cats does not like this. I tried 2 flavours but I have to sit there and encourage them to eat every morning. So I am back to hunt a substitute to this one.
there are no meat percentage for their either dry nor wet food.
Hi Jeffrey, it’s not often you’ll find percentages of meat on a pet food. Even if you do they’re often a little misleading, such as having a wet weight percentage which is significantly reduced once extruded into a kibble and moisture is cooked off.
Hi I found in Open Farms FAQS it said 80 to 90% animal protein but I have emailed them for clarification and also asked why so many lectins in cat food. of course they could weigh wet meat and dry pulses etc so it is tricky as you say. My cats are raw fed but it is so hard when we have housesitters and one cat refuses different foods according to his mood. He has got quite sick before from food refusal so we find we have to pander to him with pork roo chicken lamb beef venison and rabbit all free range. We also try top range canned and it is usually refused. As a kitten we put him on the breeders food initially and he never refused it as it was kibble. He wont eat frontier cat or ziwi dehydrated either. I am lucky to be able to afford grass fed free range but even that is a struggle with him. My other cat and my dog eat whatever I give them and again luckily I can give high quality food like lyka frontier eureka and raw. Many people have no choice but to feed kibble. Also raw isn’t the be all and end all for teeth. My cat chews giant chunks of meat rabbit pieces chicken wing tips and he has already had one extraction and due for another at a cost of $1000 with clean, blood work antibiotics and fluids and anaesthetic . My other cats teeth are perfect so there is a genetic component to cats teeth. Ziwi has chickpeas also unless you can get provenance which I cant seem to find now that they have been bought out. I notice they have a new food that is a mix of kibble and air dried. Doesn’t seem that great either. Thanks for the reviews and although I agree BALANCED raw is best I think we have to be pragmatic about peoples budgets and also not everyone wants a cat that drags meat all over the house including onto our dining table.You might also want to review meal completers as just raw meat is not good. I use Wombaroo Carnivite and the scientist Gordon will gives the breakdowns of the food values with different cuts of meat if you email him as I did a few years ago. There is also predamax and others on the market like raw meow. If Raw Meow was free range chicken I would use it. She makes a fabulous gut helper called Avas Blend.
I’m not sure if my replies are working properly or if it was deleted? Love this helpful website! Just again asking about the amount of legumes in this recipe. Does you know of a decent cat kibble without so many legumes? Also not sure about the high rating with legumes and the splitting of ingredients.
I am thinking of getting this for my cat, as ziwi is getting too expensive. But I am surprised at the high rating as I am concerned about the amount of legumes. And how the lentils are split in the ingredients. It’s really hard to find a a half decent cheaper alternative to ziwi.
I’ve just transitioned my cat on to Open Farm products and have notices she is drinking more water than usual. Any thoughts on the Sodium content of the dry and wet foods?
Thanks 🙂
Jenna