Venison. Wild boar. Smoked trout. Roasted quail.
Taste of the Wild sells the idea that your indoor cat, currently asleep on a radiator, is a small predator who should be eating like one. The marketing is doing work.
Underneath it is a genuinely reasonable mid-range food with one thing worth understanding before you buy: who actually makes it.
- Taste of the Wild lists real meat, fish, or fowl as the first ingredient in every recipe.
- The brand specialises in novel proteins including venison, wild boar, smoked trout, roasted duck, and Angus beef.
- Taste of the Wild is made by Diamond Pet Foods, and was last recalled in May 2012.
- Diamond Pet Foods has had several recalls across its brands, including aflatoxin in 2005, salmonella twice in 2012, and low thiamine in 2013.
- Taste of the Wild is higher in carbohydrate than premium high-protein brands, and some recipes contain canola oil.
Our Top Picks
Taste of the Wild Rocky Mountain All Life Stages High Protein Grain-Free Recipe with Roasted Venison & Smoke-Flavored Salmon Dry Cat Food, 14-lb bag
Taste of the Wild Canyon River Trout & Smoke-Flavored Salmon Grain-Free Dry Cat Food, 14-lb bag
Taste of the Wild PREY Turkey Formula Limited Ingredient Recipe Dry Cat Food, 15-lb bag
Taste of the Wild range compared
| Product | Best for | Size | Price | Line |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taste of the Wild Rocky Mountain All Life Stages High Protein Grain-Free Recipe with Roasted Venison & Smoke-Flavored Salmon Dry Cat Food, 14-lb bag | Best overall | Dry bag | $39.99 | Rocky Mountain |
| Taste of the Wild Canyon River Trout & Smoke-Flavored Salmon Grain-Free Dry Cat Food, 14-lb bag | Best fish recipe | Dry bag | $39.99 | Canyon River |
| Taste of the Wild Lowland Creek All Life Stages High Protein Grain-Free Recipe with Roasted Quail & Roasted Duck Dry Cat Food, 14-lb bag | Best high protein | Dry bag | $39.99 | Lowland Creek |
| Taste of the Wild PREY Turkey Formula Limited Ingredient Recipe Dry Cat Food, 15-lb bag | Best limited ingredient | Dry bag | $48.99 | PREY Turkey |
| Taste of the Wild PREY Angus Beef Formula Limited Ingredient Recipe Dry Cat Food, 15-lb bag | Best novel protein | Dry bag | $47.99 | PREY Angus Beef |
| Taste of the Wild Rocky Mountain Canned Cat Food, 3-oz, case of 24 | Best wet food | Case | $29.99 | Rocky Mountain canned |
Do novel proteins actually matter?
Yes, but for a narrower reason than the marketing implies.
Food allergy in cats is usually a reaction to a protein the immune system has met repeatedly, and the usual suspects are chicken, beef, fish, and dairy simply because those are what cats eat most. A novel protein is one the cat has not been exposed to, which is why venison and quail turn up in veterinary elimination diets.
So if your cat is itchy, has recurring ear problems, or vomits regularly and your vet suspects food, a novel protein is a genuinely useful tool. That is a real clinical use and Taste of the Wild is an affordable way to access it.
What novel proteins do not do is make food better for a cat with no sensitivity. A healthy cat eating chicken is fine. Venison is not nutritionally superior to chicken; it is just different. Any elimination diet should be run under veterinary supervision, because doing it wrong wastes weeks and tells you nothing. The Cornell Feline Health Center explains how food allergy trials are structured.
The Diamond Pet Foods question
Taste of the Wild is made by Diamond Pet Foods, and this is the detail most reviews mention in passing without explaining.
Diamond has had several recalls across its brands over the years: aflatoxin contamination in 2005, salmonella twice in 2012, and low thiamine in 2013. Taste of the Wild specifically was last recalled in May 2012.
Two honest readings of that. The critical one: a cluster of recalls across a manufacturer’s brands suggests process problems rather than bad luck, and aflatoxin and thiamine failures are serious. The generous one: those events are more than a decade old, the company has had a clean run since, and a recall is evidence that monitoring caught something.
Compare against brands with no recall history at all, such as Acana or Tiki Cat, and decide how much weight you place on it. Check current status yourself in the FDA recall database rather than trusting any summary, including this one.
The 6 Taste of the Wild products, reviewed
Taste of the Wild Rocky Mountain All Life Stages High Protein Grain-Free Recipe with Roasted Venison & Smoke-Flavored Salmon Dry Cat Food, 14-lb bag: best overall
Rocky Mountain is the flagship, built around roasted venison and smoked salmon and formulated for all life stages, so it suits a household with a kitten and an adult sharing a bowl. Real meat leads the label, the price is fair for what it is, and this is the bag most people should start with.
Taste of the Wild Canyon River Trout & Smoke-Flavored Salmon Grain-Free Dry Cat Food, 14-lb bag: best fish recipe
Canyon River uses trout and smoke-flavored salmon. Novel proteins genuinely help if your cat has reacted to chicken, because a protein the immune system has not met repeatedly is less likely to trigger a response. Run any elimination diet with your vet rather than guessing.
Taste of the Wild Lowland Creek All Life Stages High Protein Grain-Free Recipe with Roasted Quail & Roasted Duck Dry Cat Food, 14-lb bag: best high protein
Lowland Creek leans on roasted quail and smoked duck, again as all life stages. Interesting protein sources are the brand’s whole identity and this is one of the more unusual combinations you can buy without going boutique.
Taste of the Wild PREY Turkey Formula Limited Ingredient Recipe Dry Cat Food, 15-lb bag: best limited ingredient
The PREY line strips the recipe back to a handful of ingredients built around a single animal protein. That simplicity is the point: fewer ingredients means fewer suspects if you are trying to identify what your cat is reacting to. The most expensive line here and worth it for that specific job.
Taste of the Wild PREY Angus Beef Formula Limited Ingredient Recipe Dry Cat Food, 15-lb bag: best novel protein
PREY Angus Beef, same limited ingredient approach with beef as the single protein. Beef is less common in cat food than chicken or fish, which makes it useful in a rotation or an elimination trial. Cats that have eaten poultry their whole lives sometimes take to it immediately.
Taste of the Wild Rocky Mountain Canned Cat Food, 3-oz, case of 24: best wet food
The canned Rocky Mountain recipe, and the cheapest way into the brand. Taste of the Wild’s wet range is small compared with its kibble, but adding any wet food to a dry diet does more for a cat than upgrading the kibble itself, because cats drink so poorly.
Where it sits against the competition
Taste of the Wild is priced between the budget brands and the genuine premium tier, and the food matches that position.
- Better than budget: real meat first, grain free, novel proteins, no corn or wheat filler.
- Not premium: higher carbohydrate than brands like Orijen or Nulo, and some recipes include canola oil, which is a debated inclusion.
- Good value: around $40 for a bag puts it well below the $50 to $70 premium brands while offering proteins they often do not.
- Wet range is thin: only a couple of canned recipes, so this is a dry-led brand.
Who should buy Taste of the Wild
Buy it if you want novel proteins at a sensible price, particularly if you are working through a suspected food sensitivity with your vet, or if you want a grain-free food without paying premium rates.
Skip it if the manufacturer’s recall history bothers you, or if you want the highest protein and lowest carbohydrate available. Compare with our best dry cat food picks, Orijen at the top end, and the best wet options if you want to add moisture.
The bottom line on Taste of the Wild
This is a solid mid-range food doing something genuinely useful: making novel proteins affordable. For a cat with a suspected chicken sensitivity, that is worth more than another point of protein percentage.
The Diamond recall history is the honest caveat and it is more than a decade behind them now. If you want a starting point, Taste of the Wild Rocky Mountain All Life Stages High Protein Grain-Free Recipe with Roasted Venison & Smoke-Flavored Salmon Dry Cat Food, 14-lb bag suits most households and works for kittens and adults together. This article is educational rather than veterinary advice, and food sensitivity should be diagnosed by a vet rather than guessed at.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Is Taste of the Wild good cat food?
Taste of the Wild is a decent mid-range cat food. Every recipe lists real meat, fish, or fowl first, it is grain free, and it offers novel proteins at a fair price. It is higher in carbohydrate than premium brands and some recipes contain canola oil.
Q: Has Taste of the Wild been recalled?
Taste of the Wild was last recalled in May 2012. Its parent company Diamond Pet Foods has had several recalls across its brands, including aflatoxin in 2005, salmonella twice in 2012, and low thiamine in 2013.
Q: Who makes Taste of the Wild cat food?
Taste of the Wild is made by Diamond Pet Foods, a US manufacturer. All Taste of the Wild food is manufactured in the United States.
Q: What are novel proteins and why do they matter?
A novel protein is one a cat has not eaten before, such as venison or quail. Food allergies usually develop to proteins eaten repeatedly, so novel proteins are used in elimination diets to identify what a cat is reacting to. They offer no advantage to a cat with no sensitivity.
Q: Is Taste of the Wild grain free?
Yes, Taste of the Wild cat food recipes are grain free. Grain free is a preference rather than an automatic nutritional upgrade for most healthy cats, and what matters more is overall protein quality and carbohydrate level.
Q: Is Taste of the Wild good for cats with allergies?
It can be useful because of its novel protein recipes and its PREY limited ingredient line, which uses a single animal protein and few other ingredients. Any elimination diet should be run under veterinary supervision to be meaningful.
Q: Is Taste of the Wild better than Purina ONE?
Taste of the Wild uses real meat first with no corn or wheat and offers novel proteins, while Purina ONE is cheaper and backed by more extensive feeding trials. Taste of the Wild has the better ingredient panel; Purina ONE has the stronger testing record.
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