Is grain-free cat food automatically better?
No - grain-free doesn't mean low-carb, and it doesn't guarantee a better score. What matters is what replaces the grains, and the answer is often just as carbohydrate-dense.
"Grain-free" is a marketing term, not a nutritional standard. Many grain-free foods replace wheat and corn with peas, lentils, potatoes, and tapioca, which are equally high in carbohydrates.
The grain-free myth
The logic behind grain-free sounds reasonable - cats don't eat grains in the wild, so removing them should make a food more species-appropriate. In practice, removing grains is only beneficial if what replaces them is not another carbohydrate source.
What actually makes a food better
Instead of filtering by "grain-free", use Cat Food Central to compare actual dry matter carbohydrate percentages and protein sources. That tells you far more than whether grains are present.
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