9Lives Meaty Paté (Wet) Review

9Lives Meaty Paté wet cat food receives the Cat Food Advisor rating of 2 stars.

Made from meat by-products, it also contains brewers’ rice which, although recognised as an easily digestible carbohydrate in cat food, is more commonly found in dry food than wet.

Each recipe includes its AAFCO nutrient profile: Growth (kitten), Maintenance (adult), All Life Stages, Supplemental or Unspecified.

The product line includes seven wet cat foods.

Recipe and Label Analysis

9Lives Meaty Paté with Real Beef 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 meat by-products, an item made from slaughterhouse waste. This is what’s left of slaughtered animals after all the prime striated muscle cuts have been removed.

With the exception of hair, horns, teeth and hooves, this item can include almost any other part of the animal. ¹

What’s worse, this particular item is anonymous. So, the meat itself can come from any combination of cattle, pigs, sheep or goats — which can make identifying specific food allergies impossible.

Although most meat by-products can be nutritious, we do not consider such vaguely described (generic) ingredients to be as high in quality as those derived from a named animal source.

The second ingredient is water. This adds nothing but moisture to food and is a routine finding in most wet cat foods.

The third ingredient is poultry by-products, again this is slaughterhouse waste (what’s left of slaughtered poultry after all the prime cuts have been removed.)

In addition to organs, this item can also include feet, beaks, undeveloped eggs and almost anything other than prime skeletal muscle.

The quality of this ingredient can vary, depending on the caliber of the raw materials obtained by the manufacturer.

Although this item contains all the amino acids, we consider poultry by-products slightly lower in quality than a single species item (like chicken by-products).

The fourth, fifth and sixth ingredients are all named products — fish, chicken and beef.

Fish is typically sourced from clean, undecomposed whole fish and fish cuttings of commercial fish operations. ²

Without more detailed information, it’s difficult to judge the quality of this particular ingredient.

Chicken is considered “the clean combination of flesh and skin… derived from the parts or whole carcasses of chicken”. ³

Beef is defined as “the clean flesh derived from slaughtered cattle” and includes skeletal muscle or the muscle tissues of the tongue, diaphragm, heart or esophagus. ⁴

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

Nutrient Analysis

Based on its ingredients alone, 9Lives Meaty Paté with Real Beef looks like an affordable, yet low quality food.

The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 41%, a fat level of 20.5% and an estimated carbohydrate level of 30.6%.

As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 41% and a mean fat level of 20%. Together these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 31% for the overall product line, alongside a fat to protein ratio of 49%.

This means this 9Lives Meaty Paté product line contains below average protein levels and higher than average carbs and fat, when compared to typical wet cat food.

Has 9Lives cat food been recalled in the past?

9Lives has had at least two recalls in its 60-plus year history.

The most recent was in December 2018, when two varieties of 9Lives canned cat food were recalled due to potentially low levels of thiamine (vitamin B1).

And in early January of 2017, several flavors of Meaty Paté were pulled off the shelves due to potential thiamine deficiency.

The recall was expanded eight days later to include more Meaty Paté flavors. In addition to 9Lives foods, the recall involved two other Big Heart Pet brands—EverPet and Special Kitty.

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

9Lives was founded in 1957 and, after taking on its iconic mascot, Morris, became one of the most recognizable brands in the pet food industry.

9Lives is owned by Big Heart Pet Brands, a subsidiary of the J.M. Smucker company. Other brands in the Big Heart Pet Brands’ family include Meow Mix, Natural Balance, Nature’s Recipe, and Milo’s Kitchen.