Updated: February 22, 2021 by Kristen Chapple
I have always been very particular about my diet, both in terms of the quality of the food I put into the body and knowing that it has been produced as ethically and environmentally-friendly as possible. This is a food philosophy that I very much want to extend to my cat, but it can be challenging because of the different nature of the pet food industry.
As such, I was very interested when a friend told me about Halo cat food, as they prioritize both ethically and sustainably produced meat, and GMO-free vegetables. Big boxes ticked for me, I spent some time researching the brand to see if it would also provide the nutrition that my cat needs to thrive. The verdict? Their good quality meat forms an excellent basis for any cat food that I can feel good about buying.
Read on to find out more about the brand, and for my top five Halo cat foods.
If You’re in a Rush…
Halo’s use of quality and ethically produced meat makes it stand out in the market and forms a good basis on which to build healthy cat foods. Both their standard wet food and dry food lines provide good nutrition for cats, with named meats as their first ingredients.
They also never include animal meal or meat by-products in their recipes. This means that you can be sure that the meat in these recipes, which is where the vast majority of necessary nutrition for cats lies, is the best that they can get.
The Best Halo Cat Foods Are…
- Halo Chicken Recipe Grain-Free Adults Canned Cat Food
- Halo Rabbit and Garden Greens Recipe Grain-Free Sensitive Stomach Canned Cat Food
- Halo Chicken and Trout Recipe Gluten-Free Indoor Cat Canned Cat Food
- Halo Holistic Chicken and Chicken Liver Recipe Adult Dry Cat Food
- Halo Holistic Seafood Medley Sensitive Stomach Dry Cat Food
Halo offers a range of different foods, including for different life stages and health conditions. Looking just at their range of food for adult cats, below are a list of five of the most popular and best Halo cat foods.
1. Halo Chicken Recipe Grain-Free Adults Canned Cat Food
Halo’s grain-free wet cat food is packed full of quality, ethically raised meat. It is full of nutrients that cats need with very little in terms of ‘filler’.
Pros
- High in protein
- Ethically raised meat
- Grain-free
- Enriched with essential vitamins and minerals
- No artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives
Cons
- High in calories
- Contains garlic
This standard, grain-free wet recipe for adult cats from Halo starts with an excellent base, being primarily comprised of chicken, chicken liver, and turkey in chicken broth. Not only is it good to see named meats rather than meal, but all the meat in this recipe, and all of Halo’s recipes, are ethically and sustainably reared.
Halo partners this meat medley with a lot of GMO-free vegetables such as carrots, green beans, peas, celery, and sweet potatoes. While these all sound great and are things that you would like to see on your own plate, they aren’t really essential to carnivorous cats, though they certainly won’t do them any harm.
As expected from good quality cat food, it is enriched with a range of essential vitamins and minerals. It is good to see salmon oil in the mix as a natural source of omega fatty acids since the meat medley does not contain any fish.
The one ingredient in this recipe that really raised an eyebrow for me was garlic powder. Garlic is toxic to cats and can lead to the breakdown of red blood cells and anemia. As little as one clove of garlic can cause them serious medical issues. While the garlic in this recipe is trace, it just doesn’t seem to make sense to have such a dangerous ingredient as part of the recipe at all.
Also, just as a warning, this food is pretty high in calories, as should be expected when containing so much meat. Therefore, portion control is a must.
Nutritional Profile
- Crude protein 9% minimum
- Crude fat 6% minimum
- Crude fiber 1.5% maximum
- Moisture 84% maximum
- 1,025 calories per kilogram
First Five Ingredients
- Chicken
- Chicken Liver
- Carrots
- Turkey
- Green Beans
Overall: High-Quality Meat
2. Halo Rabbit and Garden Greens Recipe Grain-Free Sensitive Stomach Canned Cat Food
This is another high-protein, high-quality meat recipe from Halo, but specially formulated for sensitive stomachs.
Pros
- High in protein
- Named meats as first two ingredients
- Ethically raised meat
- Enriched with essential vitamins and minerals
- No artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives
Cons
- High in calories
- Contains a lot of eggs
- No added probiotics
Halo’s sensitive stomach cat food formula follows the same principles as their standard formula by combining quality protein with GMO-free vegetables. In this case, the protein comes from rabbit and chicken, topped up with chicken liver and eggs. It is good to see a moderate amount of chicken liver in the recipe as this provides many of the nutrients that cats need.
However, I am not a huge fan of eggs in my cat’s daily feed, just because they are high in cholesterol and fat, and this probably contributes to the high caloric content of this food.
The garden greens headlined in the food’s name actually appear pretty low down the list of ingredients like barley grass, dandelion greens, and parsley. These are all things that you might like to see on your own plate but again aren’t essential for cats, though it won’t do them any harm.
Considering this dish is for sensitive stomachs, I was a tad disappointed not to see any added probiotics among the vitamins and minerals that enrich this formula.
Nutritional Profile
- Crude protein 11% minimum
- Crude fat 6.5% minimum
- Crude fiber 1.25% maximum
- Moisture 78% maximum
- 1,153 calories per kilogram
First Five Ingredients
- Rabbit
- Chicken
- Chicken Liver
- Eggs
- Natural Flavor
Overall: Sensitive High Protein
3. Halo Chicken and Trout Recipe Gluten-Free Indoor Cat Canned Cat Food
This is another variation on Halo’s quality wet cat food, this time marketed as an indoor cat recipe.
Pros
- High in protein
- Named meat as the first ingredient
- Enriched with essential vitamins and minerals
- No artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives
- Contains L-Carnitine
Cons
- High in fat
- High in calories
- Contains a lot of eggs
- No added probiotics
This is another variation of Halo’s wet food, though this time for indoor cats. It starts with cage-free, sustainably-reared chicken as the first ingredient, with extra meat-based protein found from eggs, chicken liver, and trout.
As I have already said, I don’t really like seeing eggs so high up on the list of ingredients because of their high fat and high cholesterol content. This probably contributes to why this recipe is so high in calories and fat. This is to be expected from a recipe that is also high in meat and protein but seems strange for a formula targeted at indoor cats that are assumed to be less active.
Exercise portion control when feeding this to your cat. Halo has added L-Carnitine to the recipe to help balance this high-calorie content. This additive should boost your cat’s metabolism, helping them burn more calories and giving them a bit more energy.
For its vegetables, this formula uses quinoa and kale, both of which should be pretty easy to digest, and they have also added coconut oil which is a healthy addition for your cat. This recipe is again enriched with essential vitamins and minerals, but it would have been nice to see probiotics added as well.
Nutritional Profile
- Crude protein 9.5% minimum
- Crude fat 7.5% minimum
- Crude fiber 1.25% maximum
- Moisture 78% maximum
- 1,189 calories per kilogram
First Five Ingredients
- Chicken
- Eggs
- Chicken Liver
- Trout
- Quinoa
Overall: Indoor Meaty Protein
4. Halo Holistic Chicken and Chicken Liver Recipe Adult Dry Cat Food
This dry cat food from Halo stands out from the pack. It is made with more high-quality meat than most dry cat foods on the market.
Pros
- Named meat as the first ingredient
- Moderate protein
- Enriched with essential vitamins and minerals
- Added probiotics
Cons
- High in carbohydrates
- High in plant-based protein
- Contains eggs
Halo’s dry cat food stands out as a product that is packed full of meat-based protein. Dry cat foods need carbohydrates in them to give them their texture, even though cats do not really need carbohydrates as part of their diet. The result can sometimes be a plant-heavy food that offers little of nutritional value for cats beyond calories, mixed in with animal meat meal to give it the meat flavor and protein that it needs.
This dry food from Halo stands out as having real chicken listed as its first ingredient, with additional animal-based protein added as chicken liver which is very healthy for cats, and eggs which are also healthy for cats, but as I have already said, I don’t necessarily like to see as a main ingredient because of its high fat and cholesterol content.
However, while this dry food contains a lot of meat-based protein, it also contains a lot of carbohydrates and plant-based protein, such as oatmeal, soy protein concentrate, pearled barley, potato protein, pea fiber, and dried sweet potatoes.
The presence of plant protein might seem like a good thing, as we know that cats need a lot of protein. But unlike humans and dogs, cats cannot substitute their natural animal protein with plant protein as they are unable to produce many of the compounds that they need from plant-based proteins. These ingredients shouldn’t do your cat any harm, but they are just filler and should not be mistaken for adding additional nutritional benefits.
Nutritional Profile
- Crude protein 32% minimum
- Crude fat 16% minimum
- Crude fiber 5% maximum
- Moisture 10% maximum
- 416 calories per cup
First Five Ingredients
- Chicken
- Chicken Liver
- Dried Egg Product
- Dry Peas
- Oatmeal
Overall: Dry Food Rich in Quality Meat
5. Halo Holistic Seafood Medley Sensitive Stomach Dry Cat Food
Marketed for sensitive stomachs, this is Halo’s seafood dry food recipe, which again contains more fresh meat than we usually see in dry cat foods.
Pros
- Moderate protein
- Enriched with essential vitamins and minerals
- Added probiotics
Cons
- High in carbohydrates
- High in plant-based protein
- Contains eggs
Halo’s sensitive stomach dry food for cats is very similar to their standard formula, but in this case, fish is its base ingredient. The food is primarily made from sustainably caught white fish and salmon, with eggs and chicken fat added.
Halo describes these as novel proteins. Novel proteins that your cat does not always eat are good for preventing allergies, though I am not sure that I would classify whitefish and salmon as novel.
Like their standard recipe, this sensitive stomach recipe also contains quite a lot of carbohydrates and plant-based proteins, which aren’t bad but do not offer any particular nutritional benefit. Marketed for sensitive stomachs, probiotics have been added to this recipe to improve digestion.
Nutritional Profile
- Crude protein 32% minimum
- Crude fat 16% minimum
- Crude fiber 5% maximum
- Moisture 10% maximum
- 414 calories per cup
First Five Ingredients
- Whitefish
- Salmon
- Dried Egg Product
- Oatmeal
- Dried Peas
Overall: Probiotic Enriched Dry Meat
About Halo
Andi Brown founded Halo back in the 1980s when her own cat Spot was struggling with a number of different health conditions including an unhealthy coat, digestive problems, eye and ear infections, fleas, and urinary tract problems. Andi tried all the different foods and medicine suggested by vets with minimal success.
Then fate introduced Andi to Voyko Marx, who believed that diet is the key to good health, in all species. He started to cook Spot homemade stews made from fresh, healthy ingredients, and Spot’s health problems started clearing up quickly.
Soon after, learning from the experience, Andi founded Halo on the principle that good quality, natural food means a healthy and happy pet. Halo was sold to investors in the early 2000s, and comedian Ellen DeGeneres has been a part owner since 2008.
Halo is one of the few pet food makers committed to sourcing all of their ingredients from trusted, ethical sources. All meat and poultry come from the United States, Canada, and New Zealand and are both ethically and sustainably produced. They source their wild-caught seafood from MSC-certified sustainable fisheries.
All of the fruits and vegetables that they use are GMO-free and are sourced from Europe, where GMO regulations are stricter than the US. They also use no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives, never use animal by-products, and offer grain-free recipes for cat parents that prefer that option.
Halo’s marketing focuses on the superior digestibility of their food, with the proof being ‘in the poop’. They focus on telling cat owners that the food will lead to smaller, less smelly, and easier to scoop poop. This is great, but I personally think that the quality of their meat ingredients is Halo’s real selling point.
The Verdict
Halo’s use of quality and ethically produced meat makes it stand out on the market and forms a good basis on which to build healthy cat foods. Both their standard wet food and dry food lines provide good nutrition for cats, with named meats as their first ingredients, and they never include animal meal or meat by-products in their recipes. This means that you can be sure that the meat in these recipes, which is where the vast majority of necessary nutrition for cats lies, is the best that they can get.
