This Wet Cat Food Looks Like Something You Could Eat Yourself

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Ever thought about switching your cat to wet food but don’t want to get him hooked on something overly processed?

That’s where Tiki Cat Luau food comes in. We wanted to try it out on our own cats, since it’s high in protein and made with real ingredients.

We gave it our official Paw of Approval because even some of our pickiest cats really loved it.

Tiki Cat Luau food is wet food that’s made with real fish or chicken that’s been shredded or flaked in such a way that it practically looks like something you could put on a sandwich. (But please don’t eat it — cats only!)

Since it’s wet food, Tiki Cat Luau food also helps your pet with hydration, acting as a source of extra water.

Tiki Cat Luau food is a high-protein formula made with real chicken and fish (depending on which flavor you get).

It’s grain-free and doesn’t contain things like potatoes or corn. All the ingredients are non-GMO, and you also don’t have to worry about things like fillers, artificial preservatives or fake flavors.

Here’s how the ingredients break down in the succulent chicken recipe:

Chicken, chicken broth, sunflower seed oil, calcium lactate, dicalcium phosphate, potassium chloride, taurine, choline chloride, salt, magnesium sulfate, ferrous sulfate, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), vitamin E supplement, niacin (vitamin B3), zinc oxide, vitamin A supplement, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, manganous oxide, calcium pantothenate, copper amino acid chelate, riboflavin supplement (vitamin B2), sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), folic acid, potassium iodide, vitamin D3 supplement.

Tiki Cat Luau food comes in a bunch of different flavors, like:

If you can’t seem to choose between these flavors, Tiki Cat also offers a variety pack of Luau flavors.

We picked seven Dodo cats — with varying levels of pickiness — to give the Tiki Cat Luau food a try.

Our cats were given the Tiki Cat Luau variety pack so they could try a bunch of different flavors.

We were thrilled to find out that half of our judging panel was instantly obsessed with their new wet food.

“My cat was interested right away, which doesn't always happen. She sniffed and ate right away, which is great for a picky cat!” — Becca S.

“After that first can, he was ALL IN. Every day, about an hour before his wet food feedings, Mowgli will start anticipating them. He'll bash into my legs and coo and pace around his bowl.” — Julia V.

“Our cats loved Tiki Cat Luau! They came running every time we cracked a can and immediately started gobbling it up.” — Jordan S.

A couple of our cats seemed to enjoy the fish flavors more than the chicken ones.

“I soon learned that Rumi really liked the fish flavors (tuna, salmon, tilapia, etc.) but wouldn't even bother with simple meat flavors, like chicken.” — Zainab A.

Another one of our pets needed a little time to get used to the Tiki Cat Luau food and ultimately ate it up, no problem.

“As someone who is so used to eating kibble, I don't think Jinx was expecting a wet meal! He seemed to warm up to it more the following day. I wouldn't say he's obsessed with the food; he seems indifferent and will eat it if it's in his bowl!” — Bethsie M.

There are a bunch of things we love about Tiki Cat Luau food.

Our pet parents’ favorite thing about this food is that the Tiki Cat Luau recipes are packed with real, healthy ingredients that are good for their cats.

“I love that it's filled with good ingredients and has chunks of real fish in it. I never like feeding Phoebe wet food that you can't tell what it is.” — Becca S.

“It has ingredients that are great for cats — real meat as the first two ingredients, high in moisture and it’s grain- and carb-free!” — Zainab A.

One of our reviewers was so impressed with the quality of his Tiki Cat Luau food that it became his new favorite thing.

“The Tiki Cat Luau wet food is such quality and he loves it more than his robot feeder now that I doubt I will even try any others.” — Julia V.

In fact, Tiki Cat Luau food contains so much protein that it practically looks like a can of tuna or chicken you’d get yourself from the supermarket.

“I can see that there's mostly solid in the food, which would speak to the protein content.” — Bethsie M.

“Nothing seems overly processed or low-grade. The texture is like shredded fish or chicken. It definitely delivers as far as I can tell without actually eating it myself.” — Julia V.

Because Tiki Cat Luau comes as a wet food, it helped our cats stay hydrated while they ate.

“​​It helped with hydration through high moisture levels.” — Jordan S.

A couple of our pet parents even seemed to notice improvements in their cats’ health after starting them on Tiki Cat Luau food.

“I do believe that since I started feeding Jinx this food, he has lost a bit of weight and drinks less water, both of which I think [are] because of the Tiki Cat Luau food.” — Bethsie M.

“Mowgli does seem to have more energy and loves it.” — Julia V.

The amount of Tiki Cat Luau food in each can seemed to be perfect for our pets.

“I also liked the portion size each can provided — it seemed like a good amount for my cat, who's a teeny-tiny old lady at 8 pounds.” — Zainab A.

And it was so simple to crack into the Tiki Cat Luau cans, making mealtime the easiest thing ever.

“The cans were easy to open, use and clean out before recycling.” — Zainab A.

“The cans are solid. You don't have to use a can opener.” — Julia V.

Plus, all the nutritional information you need is on each one.

“I think it's really convenient that all the information you need about the food is on each can, as opposed to just being on the packaging.” — Bethsie M.

There were a couple minor downsides to the Tiki Cat Luau food.

One of our reviewers has always had an issue with wet food, but her parent wanted to give the Tiki Cat Luau food a try anyway.

Unfortunately, she’s still not a fan of this wet cat food.

“Boots didn't take to eating more than a taste of only two of the flavors (I'm talking only the tiniest lick of the ones with chicken). Most of them she wouldn't even try at all. She just sniffed them and immediately walked away from her dish.” — Deborah A.

And while one of our judges initially loved the fish flavors, she ultimately preferred just the broth to the actual food.

“Rumi ended up liking the broth more than the actual meat!” — Zainab A.

While our pet parents love the healthy, natural formula in the Tiki Cat Luau food, the ingredients list isn’t the easiest to decipher.

“This food has a really long ingredient list. I would hope that I could understand or pronounce all the things that go into my cat's food! There are a lot of extras in the food, which I presume to be the vitamins, but it seems like overkill.” — Bethsie M.

And like most wet cat food, the Tiki Cat Luau foods can be kind of stinky.

“Some of them were a bit more watery and didn't smell good to me at all. The others with the fresh shredded chicken smelled delicious.” — Deborah A.

The price of Tiki Cat Luau food starts at $19.33 and gets slightly more expensive — only by a few dollars — depending on which flavor you choose.

All of our pet parents acknowledge that the cost is a bit steeper than a lot of other options but agreed that the healthy, high-quality ingredients make the extra investment worth it (as long as your cat enjoys eating it, of course).

Five of our six human judges would gladly recommend Tiki Cat Luau food to other pet parents.

How much you feed your cat depends on a few things — his size and his age being two big factors.

There are reference charts that’ll help you figure out how many calories your cat should eat in a day.

From there, go off the nutritional information on your cat’s food to determine what amount will provide him with the number of calories he needs.

There’s no hard and fast rule about how often you should feed your cat, as long as he’s getting the right amount of calories each day.

Most cats prefer to eat a bunch of small meals throughout the day, but how you go about this will depend on what kind of food he gets and how quickly he eats.

If your cat typically eats dry food, you could just fill his bowl in the morning and let him periodically graze as he pleases. (Unless he has a tendency to eat too quickly and puke after, in which case you might want to portion out his meals into his bowl a few times a day.)

But if your cat eats wet food, pay attention to the time of day he likes to eat and feed him then, since canned food can go bad if it’s left sitting in his bowl.

While cats don’t necessarily need to eat wet food instead of dry food, a lot of vets recommend canned food over kibble.

The big reason for this preference is that wet food has a higher amount of moisture, which can keep your cat hydrated and even protect him from developing urinary or kidney problems.

If your cat is on a dry-food-only diet, you’ll need to make sure he gets enough water throughout the day so he doesn’t develop a urinary tract infection or get dehydrated.

When you’re changing cat foods, avoid swapping his old brand for his new stuff all at once.

Sometimes that can result in your cat refusing to eat or, if he does, it can cause digestive issues since the formulas in the two foods are different.

Instead, mix a tiny bit of your cat’s new food in with his current one to start. Over time, gradually increase the amount of the new food while decreasing the amount of his old stuff until he’s eventually only eating the new food.

The process can take anywhere from a few days to a couple weeks, but it’s definitely worth the wait to safely transition your cat to a new food.

The Dodo may receive complimentary samples to test in our Paw of Approval program, but all our opinions are 100 percent our own. We only publish endorsements of products we (and our dogs and cats) absolutely love! You can find out more about our testing process here.

If you have a product you love that you want to share with other pet parents, send a tip to dodopaw@thedodo.com.