Temptations (Dry) Review

Temptations Adult Dry Cat Food is made up of four recipes which each receive the Cat Food Advisor rating, 2 stars

This range of dry food is a kibble with a very similar ingredient list in all four formulas.  Chicken by-product meal is the first ingredient listed in all recipes and each contains wheat, corn and brewer’s rice, along with plant protein.

The table below shows each recipe in the range including our rating. The Temptations range is not formulated to meet AAFCO nutrient profiles. It is formulated to be complete and balanced for adult cats, meeting the FEDIAF nutrient guidelines. FEDIAF is the equivalent to AAFCO within Europe.

Recipe and Label Analysis

Temptations Tasty Chicken Flavor Dry Cat Food 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 chicken by-product meal, a dry rendered product of slaughterhouse waste. It’s made from what’s left of a slaughtered chicken after all the choice cuts have been removed.

On the brighter side, by-product meals are meat concentrates and contain nearly 300% more protein than fresh chicken.

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

The second ingredient is wheat. Like corn, wheat is an inexpensive and controversial cereal grain. And aside from its energy content, this grain is of only modest nutritional value to a cat.

For this reason, we do not consider wheat a preferred component in any cat food.

The third ingredient is ground whole grain corn. Corn is an inexpensive and controversial cereal grain of only modest nutritional value to a cat.

For this reason, we do not consider corn a preferred component in any cat food.

The fourth ingredient is soybean meal, a by-product of soybean oil production more commonly found in farm animal feeds.

Although soybean meal contains 48% 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 fifth ingredient is brewer’s rice. Brewer’s rice is a cereal grain by-product consisting of the small fragments left over after milling whole rice. Aside from the caloric energy it contains, this item is of only modest nutritional value to a cat.

The sixth ingredient is animal fat. Animal fat is a generic by-product of rendering, the same high-temperature process used to make meat meals.

Since there’s no mention of a specific animal, this item could come from just about anywhere: salvaged roadkill, spoiled supermarket meat, even dead, diseased or dying cattle.

For this reason, we do not consider generic animal fat a quality ingredient.

The seventh ingredient is meat and bone meal. a dry “rendered product from mammal tissues, including bone, exclusive of any added blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents”. ¹

Meat and bone meals can have a lower digestibility than most other meat meals. 

Scientists believe this decreased absorption may be due to the ingredient’s higher ash and lower essential amino acid content. [1. Shirley RB and Parsons CM, Effect of Ash Content on Protein Quality of Meat and Bone Meal, Department of Animal Sciences, University of Illinois, Poultry Science, 2001 80: 626-632].

The eighth ingredient is natural flavor. Natural flavors doesn’t give us much information about the particular ingredients included in this cat food for flavoring purposes. 

We’re pleased that the flavorings used are natural, but more details are required to give any further information about these natural flavoring ingredients. Flavorings are used to make the foods more appealing and tasty for our cats.

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.

We are always disappointed to find artificial coloring in any pet food. That’s because coloring is used to make the product more appealing to humans – not your cat. After all, do you really think your cat cares what color their food is?

Nutrient Analysis

Based on its ingredients alone, Temptations Tasty Chicken Flavor Dry Cat Food  looks like a below average dry product.

The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 33.3%, a fat level of 15.6% and an estimated carbohydrate level of 43.1%.

As a group, the brand features a below average protein content of 33.3% and a near-average fat level of 15.6%. Together these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 43.1% for the overall product line, alongside a fat to protein ratio of 47%.

This means this Temptations dry range contains lower than average protein, higher than average carbohydrate and near-average fat, when compared to typical dry cat food.

Has Temptations Dry cat food been recalled in the past?

No.  Temptations has not had a product recall.

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

Temptations pet food is made by Mars Petcare which is part of Mars incorporated; an American multinational food processing, confectionery, and veterinary services corporation. 

Mars has headquarters in McLean, Virginia while Mars Petcare has headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee. It operates 22 factories in the United States and several plants in Canada, factories in the UK, and has operations in other countries.

Mars recently announced that it is making progress toward procuring 100 percent of the fish it uses from more sustainable sources.