Dr. Elsey's cleanprotein Chicken Cat Kibble 6.6 lb. Bag

Do you ever struggle with feeling like you do not get enough "bang for your buck" when it comes to pet food or feel like pet food manufacturers are ripping you off as a whole? I've certainly felt this way time and again. I remember several years ago reading many articles warning of the dangers of various popular pet food brands and their secret and inadvertent poisoning of our feline friends. From that time, I decided to consciously make an effort to ensure that my cats had quality food. I scoured the Internet to find what products were the best for the animal, not just the pocketbook. I have taken a collegiate nutrition course and read many scholarly articles which helped me to find the information I desired, not being content at simply looking at a single source and I made sure that my sources were reliable via further research into them. Dr. Elsey's CleanProtein is a wonderful choice of cat food—the best (pure) "dry" cat food on the market currently that money can buy, it contains no "grain-filler" products as many other pet foods do, it provides our pets with additional needed vitamins and minerals while containing no [carcinogenic] food-dyes and maintaining a pet-approved flavor. It is one of the top-rated "dry" pet foods according to CatFoodDataBase, being marked at "9 out of 10 paws" for ingredients and nutrition, containing no "questionable" ingredients, only being beaten by freeze-dried cat foods "Primal", and "ZiwiPeak" as well as Wysong's Epigen Chicken. ("Dr Elsey's Cleanprotein Chicken Recipe Review", CatFoodDB.com, ¶1). "Overall, Dr. Elsey's is a significantly above average cat food …." ("Dr Elsey's Cleanprotein Chicken Recipe Review", CatFoodDB.com, ¶1). It contains more protein and fewer carbohydrates than most other cat food brands. According to the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), it gets a whopping 53.8% of its Calories from protein and 39.8% of them from fat while only using carbohydrates for 6.4% of it's Caloric content. At Dr. Elsey's, they are careful not to pack typical "filler" into the food. Generally, fillers refer to things such as cornmeal, oats, and other grain products that are oftentimes used to provide additional quantity without additional notable substance to pet foods. Unlike dogs, cats specifically are not designed to eat starches and grains over a long period of time and doing so can lead to horrible problems later in the pet's life. ("Cats and Carbohydrates: The Carnivore Fantasy?", Verbruggheand, Hesta, & ed. Rand, Abstract). They take care to ensure that the nutrition going into their feed is exactly that: nutrition. ("The CleanProtein Diet", Dr. Elsey, ¶1). They do use dried egg product as a certain type of filler, but this is nutritious for cats, being an excellent source of [tasty] protein. They add no dyes to their product, noting that many of these dyes have shown cancerous properties in a lab setting. In fact, these dyes are added to products simply to attract human purchasers with little regard to a pet's health. Foods with these dyes and grain-fillers in them are equivalent to the "fast food" of the pet-world—tasty with little value and toxic traits. At Dr. Elsey's also makes sure that the flavor of the product really shines through, if my little feline friends' appetites (and contented "meows") for it have taught me anything! It has a very mild aroma and a firm, "crunchy" texture. Numerous other individuals on Dr. Elsey's website have also confirmed their delight with the product. Some of you may panic whenever you see "salmon" listed within the ingredients, which is understandable but in this case, a bit of further research shows that you have little to fear (unless your cat has a specific allergy to this fish). See, it is not the fish's protein that is used, simply the oil—and not in a massive quantity either, having "significantly less moisture than an equivalent wet food." ("Dr Elsey's Cleanprotein Chicken Recipe Review", CatfoodDB.com, ¶6). Others may have a fright whenever seeing that "oxalate" is used in the food but with some further research, we are delighted to find out that this helps prevent our feline friends from getting Chronic Kidney Disease, a leading feline cause-of-death! ("Chronic Kidney Disease is the #1 Cat Killer: What is Oxylate and Why Does It Matter?", Dr. Elsey, ¶2). This food is packed to the brim with great feline nutrition and carefully crafted to mimic a cat's most natural diet. It uses no toxic dyes or grains & starches in it and even it's filler is protein-based. Cats love its flavor and it even helps to ward off CKD in cats, a leading killer. Some people worry because of fish-based oil used in it, but after a bit of research, you find that the amount is minimal and is actually healthy for felines—improving brain development and cognitive function, reducing inflammation, slowing tumor growths, reducing abnormal heart rhythms, and seizure frequency. ("What Are the Benefits of Fish Oil for Dogs and Cats?", PetMD, Pendergrass, ¶5-11). Dr. Elsey's CleanProtein is one of the best dry cat foods that the market has to offer, fighting for our pets' health, giving them a healthy dose of vitamins and minerals that they need for peak bodily performance, and it is quite affordable. If you're like me and you want your cats to not just live but to really thrive, then give Dr. Elsey's a try, I am sure you won't regret it! Sources: CatfoodDB.com PetMD.com Petfood.AAFCO.com NCBI.NLM.NIH.gov Dr.Elseys.com

Love dr Elseys products. My cat is underweight. Vet diagnosed as otherwise healthy. Switched to the digestible protein. He’s super picky, won’t even eat wet food! He loves Dr. Elseys Clean Protein!. Their cat litter is the BEST! It actually is very low dust!

BUY IT! I have two 14 year old cats that have had major intestinal issues with puking and they DEVOURED this kibble (I don’t normally let them eat kibble due to the lack of quality) and have had zero upset tummies! I now am able to mix a little kibble with wet food without issues. A bit pricey but worth it knowing it is high protein and safe for my former diabetic cat too. Thank you!

I have two cats, an eight-year-old and one who's about a year and a half old. I free-feed Blue Buffalo kibble, which I have been pleased with for many years now, and continue to be. But I bought a 6.6 lb. bag of Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein Chicken Recipe because I like to give them a treat every now and then, not that it's necessarily better than the food they always have available, but because it's something different and, despite what some of the professionals say, my experience with cats has been that they like to try something different from time to time. Normally, I rotate between the various Blue Buffalo recipes but, every now and then, I'll buy another premium cat food. As a result, they fought over it. That says something when you consider that they always have kibble available. I won't list all of the ingredients here because the list is relatively long, but there's nothing that looks scary to me. The first six ingredients are chicken, dried egg product, gelatin, chicken fat, natural flavor, and salmon oil. Then you get into a long list of vitamins and minerals, for the most part. The only thing that I would question there, and which I always question when I see it in an ingredient list, is natural flavor. What is natural flavor? Shouldn't the kibble have the natural flavor of the natural foods that it consists of? "Natural flavor" doesn't tell me anything, so I wonder about that. However, there is no gluten, byproducts, corn, soy, wheat, fillers, or other ingredients that cats sometimes have trouble with. It's 89% protein, and it seems clear that the taste is something that my cats love. It also has a clean smell, which might seem like an odd thing to say but I've tried some kibble that doesn't. Given that I free-feed, that's important to me, although we all know that cats often enjoy some pretty rancid-smelling stuff. Besides the uncertainty of "natural flavors," my only concern is that I don't think I could afford to feed them this as a regular staple. They like Blue Buffalo well enough too, and it has great ingredients, as well as a price that's more reasonable. Had I been regularly feeding them another food, and given them Blue Buffalo as a treat, they might fight over that too. If I had reason to believe that Dr. Elsey's was better for my cats than Blue Buffalo, I would eat the cost and let them eat the better food, but I've raised four cats into their mid-20s on Blue Buffalo, one nearly making it to 29 years of age, so I'll stick with the Blue as a staple. However, I will certainly buy it again as a treat or to mix with the Blue Buffalo kibble.

(PARDON THE ALL CAPS I thought it will help visual intake people like me information I'm not yelling ) Before Dr. Easley I was shelling out for Fromm. The search for a quality cat food was not only confusing, it could be terrifying. The industry is not transparent. The first bag I bought of, Dr. E was the chicken which wasn't a hit exactly, but I have to remember that they were doing a change, and I MADE THE MISTAKE of just giving them the CHICKEN and NOT SLOWLY INTRODUCING. WITH THE SALMON I separated the two foods into small separate containers daily like a TASTE TEST to see which ones they like because I have such finicky cats. I want to make sure that they're eating enough. And which they prefer if I was to do a mixture into one container. So RESULTS for a week from the TASTE TEST from our older cat to the two young ones, they SNARFED THE DR.E SALMON And their coat became ridiculously soft, their poop was reduced and smell I almost thought I had a new cats. At one point they were out of the salmon and so I bought the duck and they love that.- as much as I love ducks and felt a little guilty. So after I have to put out smaller amounts of the Dr. E At a time. I have a container where I put both Fromm 1--- to ---2. (edit from the future I no longer use Fromm because of the ingredients) and strictly use Dr. E as their daily dry and for wet: cats in the kitchen, and Dave's wet food- On the side, treats or toppers: Stella and Chew's dehydrated salmon, and cod, and the multiple options here at Amazon for cat freeze dried chicken- Treats I get from Shameless Pets. It may seem like a lot, but options rotation keeps finicky eaters when they want a change or a topper to finish the wet food well cared for ) Also, obviously, I don't go through all of it within one month. Ok back to my first experience with Dr. E And why it has become such a staple that we will not buy any other dry food :) ---2. My budget (and many of you I'm guessing) cannot rely on buying DR. E like five of those bags a month- so I do buy the 6 pound bag and those supplemental foods. Because it is suggestion that cats get wet food often I think pretty much anything is better than nothing when we love our cats so I've even bought like blue buffalo tasteful wet food. Really we just work within our budget. If we have to mix in a dry, we try to make sure it's one that they enjoy and try to keep the DR. E at least over half. You would think that this disrupts their stomach, but it's important actually to change up cat foods due to the really unfortunate event something happens to us caretakers- we never know what our godcats parents may end up feeding them. Zoiks! So some of the joy about the quality I get and wishing I could buy more- I have a feeling they're getting some good teeth cleaning not because it's an overly hard food but smaller size and when they eat it has this like delightful crunch sound. I'm not sure how to put it but it's kinda cute when they're eating. Hydration is in cat health is always concerning, and I get worried about my older cat- (Not because of the food, just historically with cats )he will eat it if offered when it's moistened with water & also added to wet food. Please see my review about Tiki, cat sardines, and mackerel! This is kind of gross, but I had to to go through and make sure through a recent lot And make sure there were no very sharp fish teeth, scales, grit etc..) Dr. E dry food puts me at ease, knowing that the ingredients are SUCH HIGH QUALITY and purity that my little ones kidneys are not going, be put at such stress. I had the heartbreak of losing three cats to a pet food. I thought was really excellent. So I guess my suggestion is maybe TRY to INCORPORATE this food anyway one can even if it's like mixing it in WITH ANOTHER FOOD or separated to have on the side each day a little bit for the cats IF ONE IS FINANCIALLY STRESSED so your kitties can get some really good nutrition in with their other food. That would be a start that's what it was for at least me. So that's my impression. I certainly would like to buy more. 1 bag with three cats really doesn't last long obviously we buy a lot of wet food- (hydration) & still buy a bag of Fromm. (edit from the future no longer buying Fromm -ingredients are not worth it) I would really like to get rid of all the unnecessary fillers and carbohydrates and put Dr. E on Subscription. If it's a financially, better month, I splurge on three bags. I now have experience that the amount of protein in DR. E makes them not have to crave the junk food - they are so much more healthy Also they get wet food daily and other options if they want :) I hope some of this was helpful-pardon the length of this. This review may sound a bit mixed as I try to tell of my story of first trying to incorporate the food to making it pretty much only dry because of my kitties health being so good.

I've been feeding this great catfood to my cats for their entire lives. It was great, all 5 cats were healthy and happy and loved the food. I've had the monthly subscription for years and years. Never a consistent problem until THIS SUMMER, starting about June or so. Now this catfood makes all my cats sick. It's awful. So sad. I have previous bags from past subscriptions, still perfect, different formula. I had to throw the new sickness inducing food away. Daily vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy, itching. The OLD formula causes no issues. I've been slowly cancelling all subscriptions to all flavors as these formula changes and sickness seem to be trickling diwn to every flavor variety now. All the new formulas and flavors make the cats sick. It's really so sad, this was such a good company, such a great catfood. Now it makes my cats sick. I thought it was just a bad batch at first, but different packs, bags, expiration dates, flavors, quantities, all cause issues, even a few kibble bits mixed into other foods. Something is seriously off now. Even the smell is different in some flavors and bathches. I've tried Salmon, Turkey, Chicken, Duck. The Salmon was the first to make them sick. The Chicken must have been the last reformulation because that was the safest flavor and formula until about this June / July subscribe and save subscriptions came in, and then cats got sick from that too. Just so sad. I'm lucky to still have several bags of the old formulation which still is great, causes no issues, but soon I'll be out. I've been mixing in other brands now as the final Dr. Elsey's Chicken kibble is gradually used up. So far there's been no problem at all with the other brands, like Instict Ultimate Protein Cage Free Chicken (47% minimum protein), Purina Pro Plan LiveClear Chicken for Kittens (42% minimum protein level), etc. It's just so sad not to be able to rely on the Dr. Elsey's Chicken (59% minimum protein) dry food. Why on earth did they replace the dried eggs with hydrolyzed pork and pork plasma and whatever else is causing such distress to my cats? I don't get it? Egg is a great protein and cats like it (at least mine- they even steal scrambled eggs bits when they are sbeaky and find them on a plate) and I'm glad that other brands like Purina LiveClear still use the dried egg. In fact, research has found that as well as being a great protein source, egg also reduces cat allergens in their saliva. It's made a big difference to those in my family with cat allergies and it's a good easily digestible protein. I don't know why Dr. Elsey's changed a good formula, but I can't make my cats sick anymore by using it. I even tried just mixing small amounts to get the cats slowly used to the new formula, but that hasn't worked. They just can't adapt even after 3 months. A few cats were starting to do okay (minimal vomiting and diarrhea), but then started itching, pulling out fur, getting bald patches, like with food allergy reactions. Maybe my cat family (Momma Cat and her 4 kittens) just all have allergy to pork protein? Whatever it is, I can no longer use or recommend any of the Dr. Elsey cat food varieties. The litter is still great and they haven't reformulated that, but the cat food is bad now, at least for my particular family of cats. Just sad after so many many good years with this once trusted high quality brand that really seemed to care and want the best for cats, and avoid cheap fillers, by products, protein mixes, excesdive carbs, etc. I don't know why they would make such a huge change, say nothing, and just allow cats to get sick and have to suddenly change the food formula and add an entirely different protein in the mix? And no warning or anything? It makes no sense to me. BEWARE of all the excellent PAST reviews. All the PAST 5-Star ratings are completely correct and accurate, but they are all based on a different formula and a different time. I LOVED this cat food for YEARS AND YEARS! Always reliable, my cats have NEVER been sick ever, until this formula change started occurring, and whatever changes started creeping into all the flavors, starting months ago with the Salmon formula. But the Chicken was always safe until now. Maybe it takes awhile for the alkergy and sick reactions to build up? I don't realky know. If you want to see what has been happening lately just review the latest / most current ratings. Not just on Amazon but all over the internet with this formula change and the impact on so many cats. You can go to reviews and filter by most recent and it tells a different story. Or just research the Dr. Elsey's Formula Change. The reviews have dropped fast and are scary with the cats getting sick. I'm glad I got rid of it fast and it didn't lead to any lasting illness or anything severe, just vomiting and diarrhea and bald patches and itching, which immediately resolved upon switching to the old formula and other brands. This may not be your experience, and I hope your cats love the new formula, don't have reactions to pork protein or pork plasma, and stay healthy and happy. My cats have all reacted to it. Again, these 5 cats are all related (Mother and her children) so it may run in the family, but I just wanted to share. I didn't know what was going on at all until I started reading similar incidents occurring in the last few months with the formula change. I don't write many reviews, and my reviews tend to be mostly 5-star positive, but I wanted to share my specific experience with this new formula, in case it helps anyone else. If Dr. Elsey's wanted to save money by eliminating the dried egg as a protein boost to the chicken protein or as a filler, why not just choose more chicken or add in chicken fat, or something that keeps the formula clean without mixing an entirely different protein into the formula that's existed for a decade or more? I still can't understand it. I knew something was going on about a year ago, little by little different flavors were changing ingredients. I just thought my cats didn't like the different flavors and smells so I switched. I sure was lucky I had so many bags of the original formula saved up. But now I understand why the smell of the foods became different and the reactions by the cats became so different based on the formula and flavor changes. Anyway, sorry for rambling on!

My ragdoll started losing weight on the Royal Canin, worrying about the fillers and wheat I switched to this grain free. He liked it too much, as we transitioned his food and he was eating it too fast and regurgitating, at first I thought it was making him throw up cause it was bad for him, until I figured out he was just eating too fast. I kept him on it a bit longer until it was the only thing he would eat and he started slowing down and his stomach adjusted. Now he is perfect, loves eating it and is gaining weight again. I add a bit of that raw chicken powder for extra calories and he is going much better. This food is not for all cats, some breeds it will make them sick or give them diarrhea, I have another cat who cannot eat it, she is an older Norwegian forest cat, and I have a kitten who is a mixed breed who also cannot tolerate it. Ragdolls have very strong stomachs normally (he loves to eat ballons and cardboard) so this food sits well with him in general. I think it's a bit overpriced for being so exclusive for some cats, but it's probably expensive to make without all the chemicals and fillers. (I know that's weird that something more natural is harder to get and more spendy) So good luck, if you have a ragdoll or other purebred large breed, it will probably be good for them.

The clean protein chicken recipe, cat food is definitely worth the try. All four of my kit cat Mafiosas absolutely enjoy & LOVE this brand/recipe. What I like about the clean protein chicken dry food recipe is that the size of each nibble piece is not too large but just right (even for one of my more picky cats)- she prefers smaller pieces. No issues with the smell of the food. I also like that this brand/recipe helped clear up tummy issues of my more picky cat eater that also had a difficult start at the beginning of her life and as a result she is smaller and she must have access to a higher quality cat food. My other three cats also had slight tummy issues with other brands of cat food. What I do is pair this brand of high quality clean protein cat dry food with another high quality brand of wet food that my cats prefer. Even with using the dry food from this brand and pairing with another brand of wet food, my cats are thriving and do very well with the balance of high quality dry & wet feed. Their coats are amazing, and they have slimmed down. I also noticed a change in their stool in a positive way. I do wish this brand offered other sizes in addition to their 2lb or 6.6lb bags. Overall great product and definitely worth the try. I reccommend the smaller bag if you are considering transitioning your cat from its current food as you wean them off over a week or so by introducing the new food (a small amount of the new food at first) in the same food bowl with the soon to be old food and increase the amount of the newer food and lesson the amount of the older food (to see how your cat likes the food and how the cat does with the new food). I also recommend trying the clean chicken recipe before trying the clean protein salmon recipe- unless you know for sure that your cat prefers a fish recipe to chicken. Yes, this brand costs more than the main stream cat foods however, in my opinion, it's worth every penny and we get what we pay for, higher quality food can come at a higher price. The great thing is, there are always opportunities for discounts and sales as well 😊