The best food for ragdoll cats

The Ragdoll is an unusually large but lovable cat breed. Pet parents have become enamored with their docile temperament and habits which make them ideal partners for cuddling up on the couch for a movie. When choosing a diet for your Ragdoll cat, it’s important that you take the unique traits of their breed into account. In today's article we'll be going over the nutritional needs of this breed and making some food recommendations for them based on this research. We've made some picks for both wet and dry foods in a variety of price ranges and explained why we've made these choices to help pet parents make their decision.
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The Ragdoll is an unusually large but lovable cat breed. Pet parents have become enamored with their docile temperament and habits which make them ideal partners for cuddling up on the couch for a movie. When choosing a diet for your Ragdoll cat, it’s important that you take the unique traits of their breed into account.

For starters, as one of the largest cat breeds, they can be prone to joint issues. This means that when you select their diet, you should take special care to choose something that offers them joint support. When searching the ingredients lists look for healthy Omega 3 fatty acid. These items are natural anti-inflammatory aids that can help with joint pain or arthritis which is common in many larger breed domestic pets.

Ragdolls are unfortunately also prone to having heart issues later in life. Those Omega3’s are also great for heart health, which is great. The easiest way to get these fatty acids into your cat’s diet is to offer them a food that includes fresh, whole meat fish ingredients. Not only is this item particularly tasty for your cat, strengthening the appetite of picky eaters, but it will provide numerous health benefits to them. Not only as an anti-inflammatory agent, but it also supports healthy skin and coat, helping your cat with excess shedding and hairballs, whilst keeping their fur looking beautiful.

The best food for Ragdoll cats:Fresh/wet foods

Now that we know about the nutritional needs of Ragdoll cats, it’s time to choose an appropriate food for your fur baby! Unfortunately, there are a TON of junk foods out there for cats. The number of options is frankly overwhelming, but today, Beanietoes has done the work for you. We’ve researched tons of popular brands and dug through the ingredient lists to bring you the best of the best.

How did we come up with this list? For starters, we eliminate anything with low quality ingredients like wheat and corn. Your Ragdoll cat is an obligate carnivore, they need meat to be happy and healthy, so you should do your best to leave the fillers behind. Everything we’ve chosen uses whole meat ingredients, healthy carbohydrates and no junk. Pet parents should keep in mind that while these foods are all excellent, animals are individuals just like people. They have allergies, preferences and sensitivities, just like us. It may take some work to find the perfect food for your specific cat. Here’s our list!

#1 – NomNomNow

best cat food

Number one on our list is fresh pet food NomNomNow! This awesome pet food company cooks their foods fresh every week and delivers them straight to your door. Everything is made using super fresh, people grade ingredients. Their recipes are also super limited in ingredients, making them an excellent choice for pets with digestive issues, allergies or food sensitivities. Previously, we talked about how important Omega3’s are for Ragdoll cats, so our recommendation for them is the Flavorful Fish Feast recipe. Below you can see the ingredients for this meal. It contains only five main ingredients, with no fillers, grains or other unsavory items.

The recipes are very transparent, and you’ll be able to see a complete nutritional breakdown of the items in the recipes and their nutrition analysis. This allows you to be certain about exactly what foods you’re putting into your cat’s body. It also allows you to know immediately if there is an ingredient in a recipe that just won’t work for your cat.

healthy food for cats

NomNomNow is the best of the best for those who are looking to offer their pets the best nutrition with no compromise. These highly digestible diets will make your Ragdoll think they are a kitty king or queen. While this is certainly not the cheapest option, it is the best. All of their recipes are formulated by a vet for maximum nutrition, and they are perfectly portioned to keep your cat at their ideal weight. They even offer free consultation to help you make the perfect diet for your cat if they have food or health related issues. If you’re interested in learning more about this awesome service, then click here to go to their website.

#2- Wysong Archetype

digestible cat food

Raw diets can be exceptionally beneficial for cats. Unfortunately, it can take a lot of time to properly prepare a balance raw diet on your own. It can also be dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing, because it’s possible you may not be giving your cat adequate nutrition, or you could be introducing them to dangerous bacteria. The good news is that if you want a no hassle way to feed your Ragdoll a raw diet, then Wysong has you covered. This pet food company produces a non-thermal raw food formula which allows you to offer your cat a raw food diet, with the convenience of a dry food diet.

These foods are freeze dried for preservation purposes. While you can feed the freeze dried product straight to your cat, it’s a better idea usually to reconstitute it with water. This adds much needed liquids to your cat’s diet. Their formula is composed of over 95% meat, making these recipes highly palatable and a good choice for choosy felines. They use a whole prey approach to their recipes, choosing to include not only whole meats but also organs and bones which add a wide array of beneficial nutrients for your cat.

Wysong Archetype is also free from unnecessary starches, instead including more beneficial fruits and veggies such as blueberries and broccoli. Each recipe features only one protein, making it a good choice for cats who are sensitive to foods with many ingredients or sensitive to particular proteins. Pet parents can choose from chicken, quail, rabbit, or pollock. Interested in seeing the full ingredients list and learning more about this excellent and convenient raw diet? Click here to go to the website.

Note: If your cat has a disease or illness which could impact their immune system, then a raw diet may not be right for them. Cats suffering from these illnesses could have trouble fighting off food borne illnesses which would be no trouble for a healthy cat. If this is the case, then a fresh, cooked diet like NomNomNow will likely be a better choice for them.

#3- Bravo 95% Meat Cat Food

ragdoll cats food

If you’d prefer a canned food for your Ragdoll kitty over a fresh or dehydrated diet, then our top pick here is Bravo. This pet food company makes an excellent canned diet that is 95% real, whole meat. They have three recipes, but each one uses high quality meat and organs, offering your cat an exceptional nutritional profile. They are free from artificial ingredients, starches and grains. This means more nutrition and less filler for your fur baby.

All of these recipes are made and sourced in the USA. That distinction is important, because some foods actually read Made in the USA, but they do not get their ingredients from the USA. Fortunately, Bravo does not do this, and you can be sure that any products used in these foods are 100% safe for your cat.

The ingredient profile for these foods is good, but in some cases it may not be the best for sensitive cats. If you know that your cat has problems digesting multiple proteins, then you should be aware that only the chicken recipe uses a single protein. The others have multiple ones. While this is not a problem for most cats, it is important to be aware of it just in case your cat has issues with it. You can see the full ingredients list and read reviews for this food on Amazon’s product page for them.

Best dry food for ragdoll cats

There are some pet parents that would prefer to feed their cat a dry food for cost saving reasons, and we understand that. However, we also feel that you should know that this is not the healthiest option for your cat. Cats tend to get most of their liquids through eating, and that means cats who are only fed dry food diets can actually be dehydrated. This can lead to serious health complications like struvite crystals. These blockages can actually make it so your cat can not urinate! If this happens, then they will die without emergency surgery.

The best way to prevent this is by making sure that your cat is getting an adequate amount of moisture in their diet. For that reason, we recommend that you at least feed a portion of your cat’s diet as a wet food. You can for example, feed them wet food in the morning and dry food in the evening if you need to reduce costs and can’t afford to feed them an entirely wet food diet.

While fresh or canned is best, there are a number of acceptable dry foods out there as well. So, here’s our list of premium dry foods for Ragdoll cats.

#1 – Halo Cat Food

best dry catfood

If your kitty has digestive issues, then this is an excellent dry food to help them with that. Their recipes are superiority digestible, helping kitties with issues such as diarrhea or vomiting. After feeding this food you’ll likely also notice that your cat’s fur is much nicer. A healthy coat can help cats to avoid hairballs as well, and thanks to Halo’s Dream Coat, this food can make that a reality.

Halo uses only human grade, whole food ingredients to manufacture their foods. Unlike other brands, they do not use rendered meat meals which are often heavily processed. While there’s nothing inherently bad about this ingredient, whole foods will always be more nutritious.

They offer grain free varieties, and these options feature more healthy carbohydrates such as sweet potatoes. If you are considering feeding your Ragdoll cat a mix of wet and dry, then this company offers excellent recipes for both, and you can use one of their highly nutritious and palatable wet foods to supplement your cat’s dry food diet. See the full ingredients list and learn more about this great and affordable pet food option here.

#2- Orijen Cat Food

ragdoll cat food

Orijen offers exceptional dry food diets for cats. Their recipes are biologically appropriate, making them easy to digest. Most of their recipes are 85-90% protein, making them a tasty and healthy choice for your cat. They include varying amounts of both fresh and raw ingredients, and if you browse the ingredients list, you’ll see whole meat items going quite a ways down. That’s how you know the food you’re buying is predominately protein and not full of fillers. Cat food companies are required to list ingredients in order of prominence.

In addition to high quality meat products you’ll also find other helpful ingredients in these foods such as pumpkin, which is good for digestion or healthy fish oils that act as an anti-inflammatory and give your cat a healthy and shiny coat.

While Orijen does offer exceptional diets, pet parents should be aware that most of the feature multiple proteins. If your cat has an sensitivities to certain proteins, make sure to go over the ingredient list thoroughly, or perhaps choose a food with a more limited ingredient list. For cats without food allergies though, this is an excellent choice. You can learn more about this food here.

#3- Taste of the Wild Cat Food

best low calorie cat food

Looking for a good dry cat food that won’t break the bank? Taste of the Wild makes a very good, grain free cat food that offers up healthy proteins like trout and salmon for your cat. There are some things to know here though. Grain free does not mean starch free. While this food is free from problem filler items like corn and grains, it does have a lot of potatoes which are higher up the ingredient list than we’d like. While there’s nothing wrong with this food, Orijen will offer a bigger meat protein bang for your buck, as a good deal of the protein in this food will come from veggies.

However, this food does offer a high percentage of protein, added probiotics for digestion, antioxidants and healthy fatty acids. It still offers excellent nutritional value for the price, and it’s a good option for pet parents on a budget who would still like to feed their fur baby a better food but don’t have a ton of money to spend. Learn more about this high-quality, yet affordable option here.

Michelle Rei
Michelle Rei
Michelle is a pet parent turned amateur pet product researcher. After adopting a fur baby with digestive issues caused by bad pet food, she's poured hundreds of hours into research to find the best of the best to help him and other pets live happier and healthier lives.
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