10 Best Wet Cat Foods in the UK in 2024 – Reviews & Top Picks

Whether you feed wet food or a mixture of wet and dry, choosing the right wet cat food means choosing one that is palatable for your cat, friendly on your wallet, and that has beneficial ingredients to meet the unique nutritional requirements of your feline friend. With dozens of cat food manufacturers offering a selection of potentially hundreds of foods, selecting the right meal can prove challenging.

Below, we have compiled reviews of ten of the best to help you find the best food for your cat, including food for kittens and for those on a tight budget.

A Quick Look at our Favourites in 2024

	Image	Product	Details
Best Overall		Felix Mixed Selection In Gravy	Cheap Nutritionally balanced for adult cats Gravy is palatable and popular	Check Price
Best Value		Purina Wet Cat Food Collection	5% protein ratio is good Cheap	Check Price
Premium Choice		SHEBA Fresh & Fine Wet Food	7% protein ratio 40% meat content	Check Price
Best for Kittens		Nature’s Menu Wet Kitten Food	70% meat content Main ingredient is chicken 10% protein	Check Price
		Encore 100% Natural Wet Cat Food	Primary ingredients are named meat proteins 12% protein Made with 55% meat	Check Price

The 10 Best Wet Cat Foods in the UK

1. Felix Mixed Selection In Gravy Wet Cat Food – Best Overall

Felix Mixed Selection in Gravy is a multipack of wet food sachets which includes four flavors: chicken and kidney, duck and lamb, tuna and salmon, and turkey and liver. Wet cat food uses either jelly or gravy to encase the food and ensure that it retains its moisture levels. Some cats do enjoy the jellied broth, but others turn their noses up at it. Gravy is aromatic and moist, with a better consistency than jelly tends to offer.

Felix Original food is very well-priced, comes in a good selection of flavors, and it is popular with most cats. It meets all the nutritional requirements of cats. However, its 6.5% protein is low, even for a wet food, and while the food does contain real meat, this only accounts for approximately 4% of the food ingredients, whereas some premium foods contain up to 90% or more.

Considering cats are obligate carnivores, the meat percentage figure could be higher, but the combination of price, palatability, and availability, makes Felix Original the best overall wet cat food in the UK.

Purina Gourmet Cat Food Perle Chef’s Collection is another multipack of pouches consisting of meat chunks in gravy, described by Purina as mini fillets in gravy. The multipack includes four flavours: duck, lamb, chicken, and turkey, and the food has a high 12.5% protein ratio, which is higher than other foods of a similar standard.

Like the Felix, this food only contains around 4% meat, and its primary ingredients are listed as being meat and animal derivatives. Although this is not necessarily a bad ingredient, it is a vague description. Meat derivatives could be taken from any part of the animal, which means that the meat protein could be low-quality.

With that said, the price is low, the gravy is popular, and the food is nutritionally well-rounded, if a little rich for some cats, making this the best wet cat food in the UK for the money.

Sheba Fresh and Fine comes in a variety of flavour profiles, including the fish lover’s multipack with three primary flavours: cod, salmon, and tuna. It is a more premium-priced food but whereas the Felix and the Purina only contain 4% meat ingredients, Sheba has 40%. However, like the first two, the primary ingredients are meat and animal derivatives, so it is difficult to pinpoint exactly the source of protein in this food.

With 7.7% protein levels, this is a nutritionally balanced food that shouldn’t prove too rich for most cats. It is an adult food, which means that you will need to look for a different food for kittens.

While a high moisture level is to be expected in wet food and can be considered beneficial because it ensures that your kitty is getting the required amount of water every day, Sheba’s 85% moisture level is quite high and means that your cat could be left hunting for more morsels of meat.

Kittens need a lot of protein to ensure that their muscles develop and strengthen. As such, they will eat more pouches of food and you should ensure that they are getting their protein from a bioavailable and beneficial protein source: for obligate carnivores like cats, this means that the vast majority of the protein should come from a meat source.

Nature’s Menu Kitten Food is formulated specifically to meet the nutritional needs of kittens. It has a 10% protein ratio, is made from at least 70% meat content, and the meat used is specifically named, so the chicken food pouches contain 70% chicken.

It is a premium-quality food, which means that it does cost more than most other foods, but the manufacturer claims that it is human-grade food that is free from cereals and fillers. The packages are even resealable. If you only feed half a pouch at a time to your kitten, unsealable pouches can leave a cat food smell in your fridge.

Not all cats, or owners, prefer food in gravy. It can be a challenge to get all of the food and its surrounding gravy out of the packet. Some cats also find the gravy to be too rich, either causing them to leave food or causing gastrointestinal complaints like diarrhea and vomiting. Jelly slides out of the packet more easily and some cats prefer it.

Encore 100% Natural Wet Cat Food consists of palatable chunks surrounded by jelly. As a result, it has 84% moisture levels, but because it contains at least 55% named fish, it is an excellent source of protein for your cat, especially considering its high 12% protein levels.

It is an expensive food, but with primary ingredients of tuna, ocean fish, or tuna and salmon, its higher cost is justified.

Purina One Adult Cat Mini Fillets In Gravy are wet cat food pouches that consist of chunks, or mini fillets, in a gravy liquid. They have 12% protein ratio, which is higher than most, but only 8% of the ingredients are meat-based, which means that most of the protein comes from vegetable and plant sources. Cats are obligate carnivores, which means that they benefit from a diet that consists solely or mostly of meat proteins.

As well as being quite low in meat content, the primary meat ingredients are unnamed derivatives, which means that they could be low-quality protein sources and are less beneficial than named meat proteins. The food is mid- to high-priced, although its gravy tends to make it popular with cats.

Applaws Natural Wet Cat Food is a wet cat food made from natural ingredients and containing a minimum of 75% named fish protein.

There are a variety of flavours available, including this fish and ocean food selection, but all flavours contain at least 75% named meat source. This means that the food’s protein content, which averages around 14%, is primarily meat-based. What’s more, we also know the type of meat used. The other ingredient in the food pouches is a natural fish broth. This broth is similar to a gravy in consistency, and it keeps the food moist, ensuring a decent moisture ratio of 82%.

Applaws Natural Wet Cat Food is not meant as a complete meal, which means that it will need to be combined with a dry food or a kibble. If you’re looking for a total meal solution, Applaws isn’t the right choice for you.

Thrive Food Complete Chicken and Liver is a complete wet food, which means that it contains all of the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that your cat needs. You don’t need to mix it with a dry food or offer any other form of sustenance.

It is made from good quality ingredients, with a minimum of 70% meat content. As well as chicken and liver, this food includes a chicken stock, which contains additional nutrients and makes the food more appealing to cats, as well as sunflower oil to maintain consistency and moisture level.

The food has a high protein ratio of 16%, and because this comes from meat sources, it can be quite rich for some cats. The food is also expensive, although this is explained by the quality of the named meat ingredients.

Lily’s Kitchen Tasty Cuts come in a variety of flavours, including meat and fish flavours. All the recipes are grain free and free from artificial additives and contain around 9.5% protein, although that does vary a little according to the particular flavour.

The tins are a little larger than pouches, but this is still an expensive food, and while the ingredients are good quality, offering protein from named meat sources, they may not be suitable for cats with allergies and sensitive stomachs. Some of the recipes, such as the ocean fish recipe, include additional proteins like chicken and pork. Cats with sensitivities usually do better on food with limited ingredients and a single source of protein.

Meowing Heads Lickin Chicken Food is a premium wet cat food that consists of shredding chunks of meat in a broth. It is made from 93% meat ingredients, although the chicken flavour includes 25% beef so is not a good choice if you’re looking for a single protein source food. However, it is free from grain and has 11% protein, which is derived from named meat sources.

The consistency of the food is different to that of most other pouches and not all cats enjoy the mushy paste. This food is expensive, although the pouches are larger than most, which means that you will need to feed fewer over the course of the day and some owners will prefer this convenience.

Buyer’s Guide: Choosing the Best Wet Cat Food in the UK

As responsible pet owners, we need to ensure that we are meeting our cat’s nutritional and dietary needs. We want to make sure that they are fulfilled after a meal, but we also need to make sure that they are getting the protein, calories, and the right vitamins and minerals to ensure that our feline friends stay healthy. The food we choose is obviously important, no matter what life stage or the special dietary requirements of our cat.

Is Wet Cat Food Best?

Wet food is one type of food we can give to cats. Alternatives include raw food and dry food, while some owners give a combination to their pets, in order to enjoy the best benefits of all foods.

Wet food is often preferred over dry food because it is more appealing and palatable. It also helps meet your cat’s hydration requirements. Cats do not instinctively drink water from a bowl and get most of the moisture they require from their food. While dry food might only contain 10% moisture, wet food contains around 80%.

Wet food is not necessarily the best choice for all cats and owners, though. Once a packet has been opened, it can go off quickly and may only last a day or two even in the fridge. During this time, it will smell, too, unless you buy resealable packets. Because it is a perishable food, wet meat can only be left down for one or two hours before any remaining food needs to be disposed of. While most cats will eat their food in this time, some prefer the slow graze that is afforded with a dry kibble.

Combination feeding means offering dry kibble to graze on, over the course of the day, and one or two mealtimes consisting of wet food. This can help meet moisture levels and it means that your cat has something to eat even while you’re out at work. If you do feed a combination of dry and wet food, ensure that you do not overfeed your cat.

How Much and How Often to Feed?

Assuming that you are feeding a diet solely of wet food, you should ensure that you do not feed too much. Weigh your cat and compare this to the manufacturers’ instructions on the packet. You can increase or decrease food allowance slightly according to whether your cat needs to lose or gain weight, whether it is active or leads a sedentary life, and according to any instructions given by your vet. You should expect to feed several pouches a day, ideally split over at least two meals.

Choosing Wet Cat Foods

There are a lot of wet foods on the market. Choosing the best for your cat means considering the life stage of your cat, its preferences, and dietary requirements. It also means finding one that meets your budgetary requirements and other needs.

Cat Life Stage

Kittens eat more, require more protein than adult cats, and have specific vitamin and mineral requirements that must be met by the food you feed. To help ensure that you meet all of your kitten’s requirements, you should ideally opt for kitten food. Cats can move on to adult food at around 12 months of age. As when changing cat food for any reason, make the transition slowly, over the course of 2 weeks or so. This will let your cat gradually get used to the different protein and nutritional values in the food. If a food doesn’t specify the life stage it targets, it is most likely an adult food.

Jelly vs Gravy

Wet foods come in some sort of liquid. This can be jelly, gravy, or broth. The choice of which is best for you may be determined by your cat’s preference. Some will refuse to eat gravies while others refuse jellies. Otherwise, some owners prefer jelly because it is easier to extricate it from the packet, but gravy can be more palatable to your cat and attract them to eat more readily.

Complete or Supplementary Food

Most wet cat foods are labeled as complete foods. This means that they are nutritionally complete and they contain all vitamins and minerals a cat needs in order to be healthy and to lead a long life. From a practical standpoint, complete food can be used as the sole food source for your cat and does not need mixing.

Some other foods are supplementary. This means that they will need mixing with dry food and are usually higher in protein and richer.

Toppers are also fed as part of a more varied diet, but they are added to the top of a dry kibble to make it more appealing and to enhance the nutritional value of the kibble.

Main Ingredients of Wet Cat Food

You should always check the ingredients in cat food before buying it. Pay particular attention to the main ingredient. Cats are obligate carnivores, which means that they should get all, or the majority, of their dietary protein, from meat-based sources. If possible, avoid those foods that contain too many ingredients and that list vegetable, grain, and plant sources as the most prevalent ingredient.

Protein Level and Source

Protein levels can be found on the packaging of wet cat food and are expressed as a percentage of the overall food content. Wet food is made up primarily of moisture, which means that protein levels are naturally lower than with dry food.

With wet food, this ratio can range from 6% to 16%. Lower numbers can mean that the food has low-quality ingredients and that your cat will not be getting the protein it needs from its meals.

Too high a number could mean that the food is rich, and your cat might struggle to keep the food down. Protein ratios of around 9% to 10% are about average.

Wet Cat Food Moisture Level

The moisture content of wet food is one of the benefits of feeding this type of food because it ensures that your cat remains well-hydrated. Expect moisture levels between 75% and 85% and adjust the level you buy according to your cat’s preferences. Wetter food is more likely to make a mess if you have a ferocious diner.

Conclusion

Wet food is the preferred food choice of a lot of cats and their owners. It smells tastier, has the moisture required to ensure a healthy and hydrated cat, and with good quality ingredients and a reliable source of meat protein as the main ingredient, it can be a complete food that offers everything your cat needs to be healthy. We have included reviews of ten of the best wet cat foods available in the UK, as well as a guide to choosing food yourself. We found Felix offered reasonable ingredients, with a good protein level, and a low price point, making it the best overall choice for most healthy adult cats. Purina Gourmet is equally inexpensive and offers a source of meat protein that cats enjoy.

Featured Image Credit: Chendongshan, Shutterstock