Simply Nourish (Wet) Review

Simply Nourish wet cat food is made up of 32 recipes with ratings that vary from 3.5 to 5. The average rating of the brand overall is 5 stars.

The table below shows each recipe in this range including our rating and the AAFCO nutrient profile: Growth (kitten), Maintenance (adult), All Life Stages, Supplemental or Unspecified.

Recipe and Label Analysis

Simply Nourish® SOURCE ™ Pate Adult Wet Cat Food – Natural, High Protein, Grain Free (Venison) recipe was selected to represent the other products in the line for a detailed recipe and nutrient analysis.

Label and nutrient data below are calculated using dry matter basis.

Ingredients Analysis

The first ingredient is venison, which is considered “the clean flesh derived from slaughtered” venison and associated with skeletal muscle or the muscle tissues of the tongue, diaphragm, heart or esophagus. ¹

The second and third ingredients are chicken and turkey, which are considered “the clean combination of flesh and skin… derived from the parts or whole carcasses of chicken/turkey”. ²

All three meats are naturally rich in the 11 essential amino acids required by a cat to sustain life.

The fourth ingredient is venison broth. Broths are of only modest nutritional value. Yet because they add both flavor and moisture to a cat food, they are a common component in many wet products.

The fifth ingredient is chicken liver. This is an organ meat sourced from a named animal and thus considered a beneficial component.

The sixth ingredient is potatoes. Potatoes can be considered a gluten-free source of digestible carbohydrates. Yet with the exception of perhaps their caloric content, potatoes are of only modest nutritional value to a cat.

The seventh ingredient is potato protein, the dry residue remaining after removing the starchy part of a potato.

Even though it contains over 80% protein, this ingredient would be expected to have a lower biological value than meat.

And less costly plant-based products like this can notably boost the total protein reported on the label — a factor that must be considered when judging the actual meat content of this cat food.

The eighth ingredient is carrots. Carrots are rich in beta-carotene, minerals and dietary fiber.

From here the list goes on to include a number of other items. But to be realistic, ingredients located this far down the list (other than nutritional supplements) are not likely to affect the overall rating of the product.

However this recipe does contain carrageenan which is a gelatin-like thickening agent extracted from seaweed. Although carrageenan has been used as a food additive for hundreds of years, there appears to be some recent controversy regarding its long term biological safety. 

The article, The Carrageenan Controversy, published in Scientific American, does a good job of addressing this topic.

Nutrient Analysis

Based on its ingredients alone, Simply Nourish® SOURCE ™ Pate Adult Wet Cat Food – Natural, High Protein, Grain Free (Venison) recipe looks like an above-average wet product.

The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 52.3%, a fat level of 34.1% and an estimated carbohydrate level of 5.6%.

As a group, the brand features an above-average protein content of 49.1% and a mean fat level of 18.9%. Together these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 24% for the overall product line, alongside a fat to protein ratio of 40%.

This means this Simply Nourish wet range contains higher than average protein, lower than average carbohydrate and higher than average fat, when compared to typical wet cat food.

Has Simply Nourish cat food been recalled in the past?

No.

You can view a complete list of all cat food recalls since 2021 here.

To stay on top of any cat food product recalls, sign up for our free email alerts, here.

About

Simply Nourish was founded in 2011 in Seattle, Washington and is a subsidiary of Mars Petcare, one of the largest pet food companies in the world.

Its manufacturing facilities are FDA-registered and audited for compliance with the Quality Management System. They are also Safe Quality Food (SQF) certified, which is a rigorous global food safety and quality program.