The name is odd enough that people assume it is style over substance. A cat food called I and Love and You sounds like it was designed by a branding agency before anyone thought about protein.
The ingredient panel says otherwise. Real meat leads every recipe, the range is grain free, and the brand has never recalled a cat food in its history.
It is not the cheapest and it is not the meatiest. It is, quietly, one of the better-value premium options on the shelf.
- I and Love and You cat food has never been recalled, though the company recalled beef gullet dog treats in July 2015 over possible salmonella.
- Every I and Love and You recipe begins with real meat, and the range is grain free throughout.
- The recipes include pre and probiotics to support digestion, which is unusual at this price point.
- The wet food range is generally rated higher than the dry range by independent reviewers.
- Ingredients are sourced mainly from the United States and Canada, with some from Australia, Argentina, Thailand and New Zealand.
Our Top Picks
I and Love and You Naked Essentials Chicken & Duck Recipe Dry Cat Food, 11-lb bag
I and Love and You Chicken Lickin’ Good Pate Cat Food, 3-oz, 24 ct
I and Love and You Whascally Wabbit Pate Canned Cat Food, 3-oz, 24 ct
I and Love and You range compared
| Product | Best for | Size | Price | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I and Love and You Naked Essentials Chicken & Duck Recipe Dry Cat Food, 11-lb bag | Best overall | Dry bag | $45.80 | Naked Essentials |
| I and Love and You Chicken Lickin’ Good Pate Cat Food, 3-oz, 24 ct | Best wet food | Case | $45.69 | Pate |
| I and Love and You Oh My Cod! Pate Canned Cat Food, 3-oz, case of 24 | Best fish recipe | Case | $45.99 | Pate |
| I and Love and You Whascally Wabbit Pate Canned Cat Food, 3-oz, 24 ct | Best novel protein | Case | $45.99 | Rabbit pate |
| I and Love and You Chicky-Da-Lish Stew Canned Cat Food, 3-oz, 24 ct | Best texture variety | Case | $45.90 | Stew |
| I and Love and You Treat Meow Digestion Support Chicken Puree Lickable Cat Treats, 0.5-oz pouch, case of 96 | Best functional treat | Lickable | $76.99 | Digestion support |
What grain free actually means here
Grain free is one of the most misused phrases in pet food, so it is worth being precise about what this brand does with it.
I and Love and You replaces grain with peas and chickpeas depending on the recipe. That is a legitimate swap, but it is worth understanding that it is a swap rather than a removal. The carbohydrate is still there; it is coming from legumes instead of rice or corn.
Does that matter? For most cats, very little. Grain allergy in cats is genuinely rare, and the common food allergens are animal proteins such as chicken, beef, fish and dairy rather than grain. Grain free is a preference, not an automatic upgrade.
Where it does matter is if your vet has identified a specific sensitivity, or if you simply want fewer plant carbohydrates in an obligate carnivore’s diet. Both are reasonable positions. The Cornell Feline Health Center covers feline food allergy in more depth.
The recall record
No I and Love and You cat food has ever been recalled. That is a clean record and a genuine quality signal, since recall history is one of the few things an owner can verify independently.
One honest caveat: the company recalled beef gullet dog treats in July 2015 over possible salmonella contamination. That is a different product line and a different species, but it is company-level history and leaving it out would be selective.
Compare against brands with no recall anywhere in their history, such as Farmina or Acana, and decide how much weight a dog-treat recall carries for you. Check current status yourself in the FDA recall database.
The 6 I and Love and You products, reviewed
I and Love and You Naked Essentials Chicken & Duck Recipe Dry Cat Food, 11-lb bag: best overall
Naked Essentials chicken and duck is the flagship dry food and the sensible starting point. Real meat leads, it is grain free, and pre and probiotics are built in for digestion. Rated well above average on ingredient quality for what it costs, which is the brand’s whole pitch.
I and Love and You Chicken Lickin’ Good Pate Cat Food, 3-oz, 24 ct: best wet food
Chicken Lickin’ Good pate. The wet range is the stronger half of this brand, and pate suits cats with dental problems or missing teeth since it needs no chewing. Adding wet food to any dry diet is the highest-value change most owners can make, because cats drink poorly.
I and Love and You Oh My Cod! Pate Canned Cat Food, 3-oz, case of 24: best fish recipe
Oh My Cod! pate, built on cod rather than the usual tuna. Rotating proteins is worth doing rather than locking a cat onto one flavour for years, and a whitefish base is a useful change from poultry without going fully tuna-led.
I and Love and You Whascally Wabbit Pate Canned Cat Food, 3-oz, 24 ct: best novel protein
Whascally Wabbit is rabbit-based, which almost no cat has eaten before. That makes it genuinely useful in an elimination diet run with your vet, since a trial needs a protein the immune system has never met rather than simply a different brand.
I and Love and You Chicky-Da-Lish Stew Canned Cat Food, 3-oz, 24 ct: best texture variety
Chicky-Da-Lish stew, with visible chunks rather than smooth pate. A fair number of cats reject pate outright and will only eat food with structure, so if yours has turned down every smooth food, change texture before you change brand again.
I and Love and You Treat Meow Digestion Support Chicken Puree Lickable Cat Treats, 0.5-oz pouch, case of 96: best functional treat
Treat Meow lickable tubes with digestion support. Functional treats sit between food and supplement, and the honest framing is that they are a pleasant extra rather than a treatment. A cat with ongoing digestive trouble needs a vet, not a tube.
Wet or dry: buy the wet
If you are choosing where to spend within this brand, the wet range is the stronger half and independent reviewers consistently rate it higher than the kibble.
That is partly formulation and partly physics. Wet food carries far more moisture, and cats descended from desert animals have a weak thirst drive that dry feeding never fully compensates for. Over a lifetime that matters for kidney and urinary health more than any ingredient upgrade to a kibble.
Our guide to the best wet cat food covers the wider category, and a water fountain attacks the same problem from the other side.
Who should buy it
Buy it if you want clean, meat-first, grain-free food without paying Orijen or Ziwi prices, and you value a clean recall record. The rabbit recipe is also a genuinely useful novel protein if you are working through a sensitivity with your vet.
Skip it if you want maximum animal content per dollar, where Acana does more, or if you are shopping the budget shelf, where this sits well above. Compare in our best dry cat food guide.
The bottom line
I and Love and You is a better food than the whimsical name suggests. Real meat first, grain free, pre and probiotics, sensible sourcing, and not one cat food recall in its history.
It is not the meatiest or the cheapest, but on quality per dollar it is one of the more sensible buys in the premium-adjacent tier. If you want a starting point, I and Love and You Naked Essentials Chicken & Duck Recipe Dry Cat Food, 11-lb bag for dry, or the pate range if you are adding wet food. This article is educational rather than veterinary advice.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Is I and Love and You a good cat food?
Yes. Every recipe begins with real meat, the range is grain free with pre and probiotics for digestion, and no I and Love and You cat food has ever been recalled. Independent reviewers rate the wet range higher than the dry.
Q: Has I and Love and You cat food been recalled?
No I and Love and You cat food has ever been recalled. The company did recall beef gullet dog treats in July 2015 over possible salmonella contamination, which is a different product line.
Q: Is grain-free cat food better?
Not automatically. Grain allergy in cats is rare, and the common food allergens are animal proteins rather than grain. Grain-free recipes replace grain with legumes such as peas or chickpeas, so the carbohydrate is swapped rather than removed.
Q: Where is I and Love and You cat food made?
Ingredients are sourced mainly from the United States and Canada, with some coming from Australia, Argentina, Thailand and New Zealand. The brand emphasises wild or sustainably sourced meat where possible.
Q: Is the wet or dry food better?
The wet range is generally rated higher than the dry. Wet food also carries far more moisture, which matters for cats because they have a weak thirst drive and do not compensate well on a dry-only diet.
Q: Does I and Love and You have novel proteins?
Yes. The Whascally Wabbit recipe is rabbit-based, which most cats have never eaten. Novel proteins are useful for elimination diets, which should be run under veterinary supervision.
Q: Is I and Love and You worth the price?
It sits in the upper-middle tier rather than at premium prices, and delivers meat-first grain-free recipes with a clean recall record for that money. Brands like Acana offer more animal content but cost more.
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