We read the research and the bag, so you don’t have to
DryCatFood.org gathers feeding amounts, protein figures, label rules, and life stage guidance from veterinary schools, the FDA, and AAFCO standards. We organize it around the questions cat owners actually ask, and every number names its source.
- 6topic areas covered
- 10named sources
- 4people on the team
- 0foods we make, sell, or test
What we are
An independent reference
For people feeding cats in the United States, from one kitten in an apartment to a barn full of working cats.
Veterinary schools, the FDA, and AAFCO publish solid information on feeding cats. The problem is where it sits: spread across university fact sheets, federal pages, and technical standards, and written for readers who already know the vocabulary.
We gather that work and organize it around the questions owners actually ask. Figures are turned into cups, bags, and days, with the source named beside each one.
What we are not
Not a pet food company, not a vet
We don’t make, sell, or test cat food. Nobody here runs feeding trials or reports results from their own cats, and you won’t find a first-person feeding claim on this site.
Brand guides come from labels, manufacturer documentation, and published nutrient data. Where a point rests on owner reports, the guide says so.
And we’re not veterinarians. That difference matters enough on a site about what your cat eats that it gets its own section, which comes next.
Read this one
Where our guidance stops
A wrong food choice usually costs money. Sometimes it costs a cat’s health. Three rules follow from that, and they apply to every page here.
We describe. We don’t diagnose.
A guide can explain what a urinary formula is built to do and which signs mean trouble. It can’t tell you what’s wrong with your cat. Several problems look alike, and some can’t wait.
A sick cat needs a vet, not a search result.
We don’t prescribe diets or doses.
Prescription diets for kidney, urinary, and other conditions are sold through veterinarians for a reason, and so are medications. We explain what these products are. Choosing one, and how much to feed, belongs to your vet.
Therapeutic diets come from your vet.
Cats aren’t small dogs.
Cats need certain nutrients from their food, including taurine, that dogs can make enough of on their own. A food can be complete for a dog and still leave a cat short. Every figure here names the life stage it fits.
Check the species and life stage on the bag.
The people
Who writes these guides
Four people research, write, verify, and edit what you read here. Each covers a defined area, so the sourcing stays consistent within it.
Team Member One
Editor
Reviews every guide before it publishes and keeps the sourcing standard the same across feeding, nutrition, and brand guides.
Team Member Two
Writer, feeding and nutrition
Covers portions, calories, protein, and life stages, the guides the food calculator is built on.
Team Member Three
Writer, brands and labels
Works from labels and manufacturer documentation to build the brand guides and the label explainers.
Team Member Four
Research and fact checking
Opens every figure in the publication it cites before a guide goes live, and logs each correction.
Why one byline? Guides publish under a shared Editorial Team byline because most of them pass through more than one person. Research, drafting, verification, and editing are often split across the team, so crediting a single author would misrepresent who did the work.
Six steps, in order
How a guide gets made
Verification comes before publication, never after. That’s the whole reason the order matters.
Start with a real question
We write for questions cat owners actually ask. If nobody is asking it, a page answering it serves nobody.
Gather the published research
Veterinary school sources come first, then FDA and AAFCO documents. Where sources give different figures, both get collected, not averaged into a number nobody published.
Read the label, not the ad
Brand guides work from the label and the maker’s documentation: life stage statement, guaranteed analysis, and calories per cup. Front-of-bag claims don’t count as evidence.
Verify every figure
Each number is opened in its source publication and checked. If a claim can’t be traced, it comes out of the draft.
Mark the vet boundary
Anything that needs a veterinarian is flagged as needing one. On a site about what cats eat, this check earns its place.
Publish and revisit
Sources are named in the sentence. Guides are revisited when a label, a formula, or a recommendation changes.
Our standards
What we commit to
These rules apply to every page on the site. They’re the reason the writing reads the way it does.
Every figure names its source.
Calories, protein, and portions carry the organization that published them.
Ranges, not averages.
Where sources disagree, we show both figures and explain the difference.
No invented feeding experience.
No first-person feeding stories, no fabricated owner quotes, and no claimed test results.
No testing we didn’t do.
Brand guides come from labels, documentation, and published data, and say which one.
No diagnosis, no dosing.
We describe what conditions and diets are. Treatment decisions belong to a veterinarian.
Life stage named on every figure.
What fits a kitten can leave an adult overweight. We never write around that.
No paid placement.
No brand pays for coverage, a rating, or a spot in a list.
Corrections get made and noted.
A fix says what changed and which source it came from.
How we work
DryCatFood.org is an independent reference. We don’t make or sell cat food, and we don’t run feeding tests on our own cats.
Every guide is built from published research and regulatory documents, then checked line by line against the sources it names. Where two sources give different figures, we show both and say why.
We describe. We don’t diagnose. Vomiting, weight loss, or a cat that stops eating needs a veterinarian, not a new bag of food.
Sources we rely on
- Cornell Feline Health CenterFeeding, storage, cat health
- Tufts Cummings SchoolClinical nutrition, dental claims
- FDA Center for Veterinary MedicineLabel rules, complete and balanced
- AAFCOCat food nutrient profiles
- AAHANutrition and weight guidelines
- AAFPFeline energy needs
- WSAVA Global Nutrition CommitteeChoosing a pet food
- National Research CouncilEnergy requirement formula
- NIH PubMed CentralPeer-reviewed pet food studies
- Veterinary Oral Health CouncilDental product seals
Corrections and contact
Found a figure that looks wrong?
Calories per cup and label statements change when a food is reformulated. If ours doesn’t match the bag in your hand, tell us which formula you’re reading.
Corrections usually go up the same week.
Everything else
Media questions, permissions, a broken page, or anything about how the site works.
We aim to answer within three business days.
Sick cat?
A cat that stops eating, keeps vomiting, or is losing weight needs a vet, not an inbox. Call your veterinary clinic first.