Applaws Cat Food Review 2025

It’s the brand that looks like the perfect cat food. You can see the real tuna loin, the real chicken breast, all flaked into a natural looking broth. It’s beautiful, it’s simple, and it promises “100% natural” ingredients. But behind this perfect picture lies a hidden danger, a detail so critical that getting it wrong could seriously harm your cat. That is the entire reason for this brutally honest applaws cat food review.

We’re not just going to look at the pretty ingredients. We’re going to dissect the most misunderstood and dangerously overlooked aspect of this popular brand and give you the definitive, safety first verdict on how to use it without making a terrible mistake.

Who Is Applaws & What’s Their “Natural” Promise?

Applaws is the brand that looks like it was made in a high end health food store, not a massive factory. You can see the real chicken breast, the whole tuna loin, and the natural broth. It’s an image of pure, unadulterated quality. But as we know, the prettiest picture isn’t always the most honest one. Let’s look behind the beautiful label.

Sourcing And Manufacturing: Who Actually Makes Applaws?

Applaws is not a small, independent Aussie brand. It’s a major international player. The brand originated in the UK and is owned by MPM (Making Pet Food Matters), a large global pet food company.

Critically for us, the wet food products sold in Australia are primarily manufactured in Thailand. This is a common practice for high quality, fish based cat foods, as Thailand is a hub for the global human grade fish processing industry. So, while the brand is British, the food in your cat’s bowl is likely made in Thailand.

Deconstructing Their “100% Natural & Simple” Philosophy

This is the very heart of the Applaws brand. Their entire marketing universe is built on the promise of simplicity and transparency. Their ingredient lists are often incredibly short—sometimes just three or four ingredients. You can literally see the “100% natural” chicken breast or tuna loin in the tin. It’s a brilliant and powerful marketing message.

But this is where we must ask the most important question of this entire review. Is a simple, three ingredient list a better diet? Or is it a dangerously incomplete one? This is the central paradox of the brand, and getting the answer wrong has serious consequences.

Has Applaws Cat Food Ever Been Recalled?

A brand’s safety record is the ultimate currency of trust. In a world of recalls and quality control failures, how does Applaws stack up? I performed a deep dive into Australian and global recall databases.

The news for Applaws is exceptionally good. To date, there have been no major, widespread recalls for Applaws cat food products. This is a massive point in their favour. For a brand operating at this scale, maintaining a clean slate is a powerful signal of excellent quality control and high manufacturing standards. It proves that the “quality” story they sell is, at least from a safety perspective, very real.

The Most Important Thing You Need To Know: Complete vs. Complementary

If you only read one section of this entire applaws cat food review, make it this one.

This is the critical, non negotiable safety warning that most other reviews either bury in jargon or miss completely. This is the difference between a healthy meal and a dangerous mistake.

The Brutally Honest Explanation: What “Complementary” Really Means

Many of Applaws’ most popular products the beautiful tins with the whole fish fillet, the pouches of shredded chicken are “complementary” foods.

In human terms, this is not a “meal.” It’s a garnish.

Think of it as the parsley on a steak, or a side of steamed broccoli. It looks incredibly healthy, but it’s not the entire, balanced dinner. It’s the equivalent of you trying to live on nothing but unseasoned chicken breast for every meal.

A complementary food is designed to be fed with a separate, complete meal. It is a topper. A treat. A snack. It is not a cat’s main source of nutrition.

Taurine Deficiency And Other Nutritional Risks

This is the single most important lesson in our entire cat diet guide: a simple, ‘natural’ food is not always a healthy one. A cat fed exclusively on a ‘complementary’ food… can develop severe nutritional deficiencies..

This is where the marketing looks great, but the reality gets serious.

So what’s missing? Only all the essential vitamins and minerals your cat needs to survive. The most critical missing piece is taurine.

Cats are obligate carnivores, but they cannot create their own taurine. They must get it from their diet. A “complete” food has taurine, vitamins, and minerals added in precise, legally required ratios.

A “complementary” food does not.

Feeding your cat a diet of only complementary foods is a fast track to severe nutritional deficiencies. According to VCA Animal Hospitals, a long term taurine deficiency can lead to severe, irreversible conditions like Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM), a life threatening heart disease, and feline central retinal degeneration, which causes permanent blindness.

It’s not an exaggeration. Feeding your cat only the Applaws ‘complementary’ tins is, over time, a recipe for a medical emergency.

How To Read The Label

So, how do you protect your cat? You have to become a label detective.

Ignore the enticing, glossy photo of a tuna loin on the front of the can. That’s marketing. The truth is always on the back, in the small print.

You are looking for one of two magic phrases:

1. “Complete & Balanced”: This is the AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) gold standard. If you see this, the food is a meal and has all the required nutrients.
2. “Complementary” / “For Intermittent or Supplemental Feeding Only”: This is the warning sign. This means it is not a meal. This is the ‘garnish’ we’ve been talking about.

Learning how to read cat food labels and spot the critical difference between ‘Complete’ and ‘Complementary’ is the single most important skill you can learn to protect your cat.

Kristen’s Pro Tip: The 5 Second Rule

When I’m in the supermarket aisle, I use a 5-second rule. If I can’t find the words “Complete & Balanced” on the back of the label in 5 seconds, I automatically assume it’s a treat, not a meal.

Don’t ever be fooled by “100% Natural” on the front. “Natural” does not mean “complete”.

It’s that simple. “Complete” is a meal. “Complementary” is a topper.

A Breakdown Of The Applaws Product Range

Applaws’ range is split into three very distinct categories. Confusing them is easy to do, and it’s the entire reason for this review.

Let’s clear the fog and map out what’s what.

The “Complementary” Tins & Pouches (The Famous Toppers)

This is the product you see everywhere. It’s the “face” of the brand.

These are the 70g tins and 60g pouches with crystal clear broth, whole tuna loins, and perfect shredded chicken breast. They look good enough for a human to eat.

This is their “complementary” range.

It’s designed as a treat, a topper, or a “just because” snack. It is not, and has never been, a complete meal.

The “Complete” Dry Food (The Full Meal Kibble)

This is Applaws’ workhorse. This is their “complete and balanced” meal, available in chicken, ocean fish, and kangaroo varieties here in Australia.

It’s a high protein, grain free kibble that is designed to be your cat’s main food. It’s fortified with the essential vitamins, minerals, and taurine that are all missing from the complementary tins.

This is the Rolex to the topper’s shiny bracelet. One is a serious, functional piece of engineering; the other is an accessory.

The “Complete” Wet Food (The Safe Wet Option)

This is the secret boss battle. Yes, Applaws does make a “complete” wet food, but it’s not the famous tins.

In Australia, you need to look for their “Applaws Vitality” range.

These come in patés and gravies and are explicitly labelled as “Complete & Balanced.” They have all the necessary vitamins and minerals added in. If you are determined to feed your cat an all Applaws wet food diet, this is the only product line that is safe to use as their main meal.

Applaws Cat Food Reviewed

This is where we put the beautiful, natural ingredients to the test. To truly understand the Applaws paradox, we must analyse and compare their two main types of food: the famous “Complementary” tin and their less known, but critically important, “Complete” formula.

Reviewed: Applaws “Complementary” Wet Food (Tuna Fillet In Broth Tin)

This is the hero product. The icon. The beautiful tin that looks so good you could almost eat it yourself. It is the visual representation of the brand’s entire “100% natural” promise. But is it a complete meal? Let’s find out.

Ingredient Teardown: A Look At What’s Missing

Let’s look at the ingredients list. It’s a work of beautiful simplicity: Tuna Fillet 75%, Fish Broth 19%, Rice 6%. That’s it. There are no derivatives, no fillers, no sugars, no colours. Just real, flaked tuna. It is, without a doubt, a high quality product.

But the most important part of this analysis is not what’s in the tin, but what’s missing.

Let’s be brutally clear: this is not a complete and balanced meal. It is missing the essential, life sustaining vitamins, minerals, and amino acids (like the all important Taurine) that are added to properly formulated “complete” cat foods. A cat fed exclusively on this diet would, over time, develop severe nutritional deficiencies that can lead to blindness, heart failure, and death. This is not an opinion; it is a nutritional fact.

Guaranteed Analysis & Dry Matter Basis Breakdown

Here are the numbers on the tin:

• Crude Protein: 14%
• Crude Fat: 1%
• Moisture: 84%

Now for the math. When we remove the massive 84% moisture for a true Dry Matter Basis calculation, the protein level is an absolutely phenomenal 87.5%. This is pure, unadulterated fish protein.

And this is the tragedy of the product. The macronutrient profile is spectacular. The ingredient quality is unimpeachable. But the lack of fortification makes it an incomplete and therefore potentially dangerous food if it is misused as a cat’s primary source of nutrition.

Reviewed: Applaws “Complete” Dry Cat Food (Chicken)

After the shocking but critical lesson of their “complementary” food, we now turn to their “Complete” daily nutrition offering. This specific formula promises a high meat, grain free diet featuring chicken and duck. Is this the hidden gem that redeems the Applaws brand? Let’s find out.

Ingredient Teardown: Is The Complete Food Actually Good?

Yes. Let’s be brutally honest: this is an excellent cat food.

The ingredients list starts with Dry Chicken Meal (59%) and Dry Duck Meal (4%). This is a phenomenal foundation. It means the formula begins with a powerful, concentrated, and most importantly named animal protein source. The very next ingredient is Chicken Mince (9%), further solidifying its meat first credentials. This is a top tier protein blueprint.

Instead of the cheap corn, wheat, or soy fillers that plague lesser foods, this formula is genuinely grain free. It uses Potato and a small amount of Peas as binders. And to demonstrate their nutritional bona fides, they even include a Probiotic to aid in digestive health. This is a clean, transparent, and carnivore focused ingredients list.

Guaranteed Analysis & Dry Matter Basis Breakdown

Here are the numbers on the bag:

• Crude Protein: 37%
• Crude Fat: 20%
• Moisture: 10%

These are very strong numbers to begin with. But when we perform the final Dry Matter Basis calculation for a true comparison, the results are deeply impressive. The protein level is approximately 41.1%, and the fat is a healthy 22.2%.

The verdict is undeniable: Applaws Complete Dry Food is a genuinely excellent, high quality daily meal and a top contender for the best high protein cat food in the premium kibble category.

Kristen’s Review

The ingredient teardown told a wild story: the beautiful, famous wet food is a nutritional trap, while the boring bag of kibble is secretly a superstar.

But does any of that matter if the cats won’t eat it? To find the truth, I brought in the only opinions that count: Oreo, my fluffy black and white food critic, and Misty, my sleek grey rescue who has a PhD in scepticism.

The Taste Test

First, I presented the “Complementary” Tuna Fillet tin. Let’s be honest, this was a foregone conclusion. The moment I opened it, the smell of pure tuna filled the kitchen. It doesn’t smell like cat food; it smells like human food.

The reaction was exactly what you’d expect. It was a feeding frenzy. Both cats devoured it with a level of enthusiasm they usually reserve for a dropped piece of roast chicken. It is, without a doubt, one of the most palatable things you can put in front of a cat. This is a five star, gourmet treat, and they knew it.

Next, and this was the real test, I put down the “Complete” Chicken & Duck dry food. Now, my cats are primarily wet food eaters, so new kibble is always a hard sell. Oreo, being Oreo, crunched away happily. The real shock was Misty. She didn’t just give it a courtesy nibble; she ate her whole portion. And then, about an hour later, she went back for more.

There it was. The ultimate endorsement. It wasn’t the addictive, “cat crack” frenzy of the pure tuna, but something far more valuable: a quiet, consistent, repeat customer approval. It wasn’t a treat; it was just a genuinely good, satisfying meal.

The Litter Box Report

The final, and most honest, review a cat can give comes 12 hours later. The litter box does not lie.

And this is where the Complete dry food truly proved its A++ quality. I was honestly stunned. A diet this high in pure animal protein and low in fillers has a very distinct signature.

The output in the litter box was noticeably more compact, firmer, and significantly less smelly than our usual brand. This is the undeniable, real world proof of a highly digestible, efficient, and carnivore appropriate food.

The wet food tin passed with flying colours as well, as you’d expect from a simple meal of tuna and rice. But the results from the dry food were the ones that blew me away. It is, without a doubt, a high performance fuel.

How To Use Applaws Safely

We have reached the end of one of the most surprising reviews I have ever conducted. We’ve discovered that Applaws isn’t just one brand; it is two completely different philosophies in one package. One is a brilliant, high quality meal. The other is a beautiful, but potentially dangerous, trap.

So let’s get down to the only conclusion that matters: how do you use this food safely?

The Pros

• Exceptional Ingredient Quality & Transparency: At its best, the Applaws brand uses a spectacularly short, simple, and high quality list of ingredients. You can literally see the real chicken and tuna, which is a massive mark of quality.
• A Superb Dry Food Formula: Their “Complete” dry food is genuinely excellent. It is a high protein, high meat, low carb, and species appropriate kibble that punches well above its price point. It’s one of the best value for money premium kibbles on the market.
• Unmatched Palatability (in the wet food): The “complementary” wet food tins are like catnip in a can. For sheer taste appeal to get a fussy or sick cat eating, they are almost unbeatable.
• Stellar Safety Record: A history with no major recalls is a huge trust signal.

The Cons

• Dangerously Incomplete Wet Foods: This is the brand’s single biggest, and most dangerous, flaw. The fact that their most famous and popular wet food products are not complete meals and can lead to severe nutritional deficiencies is a critical safety issue that cannot be overstated.
• Confusing and Misleading Marketing: The premium packaging and beautiful appearance of their incomplete wet foods can easily mislead a well intentioned owner into making a catastrophic feeding mistake.

Applaws vs. Ziwi Peak (The “Natural” Giants)

How does Applaws’s “natural” food stack up against the king of the category in Australia?

• vs. Ziwi Peak: When it comes to their “Complete” formulas, Applaws and Ziwi Peak share a very similar philosophy: high meat, low carb, species appropriate nutrition.
• Ziwi Peak is the superior food (using an even higher percentage of meat and a gentle air drying process), but Applaws’s dry food is the far superior value. For the money, Applaws offers a taste of that elite philosophy at a much more accessible price point.

The Bottom Line Recommendation

This is my final, brutally honest conclusion:

You should absolutely buy Applaws “Complete” dry food. It is one of the best kept secrets in the Australian cat food market, offering near elite nutritional quality for a fantastic price. It has my strongest recommendation.

You should think of the famous Applaws ‘Complementary’ wet food tins as one of the very best cat treats on the market, but a treat nonetheless. Use it as a weekend luxury, a delicious topper to add to their complete food, or a tool to get a sick cat eating again. You must never, ever feed it as your cat’s sole source of nutrition.

Kristen’s Recommended Alternatives (Safer, Simpler Choices)

That was complicated. If you’d rather just buy a food you know is a safe, complete meal every single time, here are three brutally honest, superior alternatives.

• GOOD (The Best Supermarket Choice): Fussy Cat Grain Free Wet Food. It has a similarly clean, grain free philosophy, but it is always a “Complete & Balanced” meal, making it a far safer and more reliable daily choice from the supermarket.
• BETTER (The Smart, Science Backed Choice): Advance Wet Food. If you want a brand backed by decades of science and a flawless safety record for their cat food, Advance is the next logical step up. Their wet food is high in protein and universally trusted.
• BEST (The Ultimate “Natural” Choice): Ziwi Peak. If you want the absolute best of the “natural” food philosophy that Applaws promises, then Ziwi Peak is the king. It’s a New Zealand made, ultra high meat food that is both nutritionally complete and unparalleled in its ingredient quality.

Pricing & Where To Buy Applaws In Australia

Applaws sits in a brilliant sweet spot in the market. It’s a premium, high quality food that is widely available at supermarket prices, making it one of the best value for money brands in Australia. You don’t need to go to a specialty store to find it; it’s right where you do your weekly shop.

Here are the main places you can buy Applaws in Australia:

• Amazon Australia: The most convenient place to buy the full range, especially the larger bags. You can reliably find both the “Complementary” Tuna Tins and the excellent “Complete” Dry Food.
• Coles & Woolworths: Both major supermarkets are the primary stockists for the famous wet food tins and pouches. It is extremely easy to add to your weekly grocery shop.
• PetCircle & PETstock: As Australia’s leading specialty pet retailers, both chains carry the complete Applaws range, including the larger bags of dry food that you might not find at the supermarket.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I feed my cat only Applaws tins?

No. You absolutely must not. This is the most important takeaway of this entire review. The majority of their famous and popular wet food tins and pouches are “complementary” foods, not complete meals. Feeding your cat only these can lead to serious, life threatening nutritional deficiencies.

Which Applaws cat food is a complete meal?

To ensure you are buying a safe, daily food, you must look for the words “Complete” or “Complete & Balanced” clearly printed on the front of the packaging. Applaws’s entire range of dry food is complete, and they offer a separate, clearly labelled line of “Complete” wet food tins and pouches.

Is Applaws a good brand?

This is a complicated question, but my verdict is yes, it is a good brand that sells a confusing product. Their ingredient quality is exceptional and their safety record is excellent. Their “Complete” dry food is one of the best value for money products on the market. However, their reliance on a “complementary” product as their flagship offering is a major and potentially dangerous flaw.

Is Applaws made in Australia?

No. While it is extremely popular here, Applaws is a UK based company. The wet food products sold in Australia are primarily manufactured in Thailand, while their dry food is often manufactured in Australia. This is a complex global supply chain, not a simple “Made in Australia” story.