
Amy Brown-Towry / Cats.com
We’ve taken the deep dive on Applaws cat food, learning about its recall history, where Applaws is made, and more. Keep reading to get the scoop.
The Cats.com Standard—Rating Applaws on What Matters
We’ve analyzed Applaws and graded it according to the Cats.com standard, evaluating the brand on species-appropriateness, ingredient quality, product variety, price, customer experience, and recall history. Here’s how it rates in each of these six key areas.
Ratings
- Species-Appropriateness – 7/10
- Ingredient Quality – 9/10
- Product Variety – 7/10
- Price – 4/10
- Customer Experience – 9/10
- Recall History – 4/10
Overall Score: 6.6/10
We give Applaws cat food a 40 out of 60 rating or a B- grade.
About Applaws
Applaws first appeared in 2006, at first populating pet specialty retailers across the United Kingdom before expanding throughout western Europe, North America, and Australia. The brand is owned by MPM Products, which continues to market Applaws as a “high‑quality, 100% natural, ethically sourced” premium pet food.
In 2024, Applaws underwent the largest rebrand in its history, updating its packaging and visual identity across more than forty countries. Despite the revived look and fresh marketing language centered on “natural curiosity” and “feline foodies,” the core claims remain the same and like most buzzwords in the pet food world, they don’t tell us much on their own.
To decide whether Applaws is a desirable choice for your cat, we must look beyond the branding and examine the ingredients, nutritional value, and recall history.
Let’s start at the source.
Sourcing and Manufacturing
Applaws sources ingredients from around the world, working with suppliers that meet international safety and welfare standards, including those set by Thailand’s Department of Livestock Development, the British Retail Consortium, and the International Labour Organization. Their seafood suppliers are typically affiliated with sustainability organizations such as the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), the Earth Island Institute, or the Thai Tuna Industry Association (TTIA).
According to Applaws’ most recent manufacturing disclosures, most of their wet food is produced in Thailand and Ecuador in facilities accredited under GFSI or IFS food‑safety standards. Historically, Applaws dry food sold in the United States was manufactured domestically, but the company has not confirmed whether this remains the case following their 2024 global rebrand.
Has Applaws Cat Food Been Recalled?
In June 2021, several UK‑manufactured Applaws dry cat foods were voluntarily recalled after products made at the Fold Hill Foods facility were potentially linked to a surge in feline pancytopenia cases. The Royal Veterinary College conducted an extensive investigation and later reported that while a definitive cause could not be confirmed, mycotoxins, specifically T2/HT2 toxins, were considered a contributing factor. No additional recalls have been issued since this event.
What Kinds of Cat Food Does Applaws Offer?
Applaws produces both dry and wet cat foods, along with a growing range of broths and toppers. Their dry foods are formulated as complete and balanced diets, while most of their wet foods remain simple, limited‑ingredient recipes intended for supplemental feeding.
Applaws dry cat food is available in several varieties, including grain‑free, limited‑ingredient, and “complete” formulas fortified with vitamins and minerals. These recipes feature named animal proteins and contain no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. All Applaws dry foods are nutritionally complete and appropriate to feed as your cat’s primary diet.
Applaws wet foods are known for their extremely short ingredient lists, often containing nothing more than meat, broth, and a thickener. In the United States, nearly all Applaws wet products are complementary foods, meaning they do not include added vitamins, minerals, or amino acids and are not considered complete and balanced.
In some international markets, Applaws has introduced a small number of complete wet recipes, but many of their wet foods remain toppers rather than full meals.
Applaws dry food can be fed as your cat’s sole source of nutrition, while Applaws wet food is best used as a topper or treat alongside a complete and balanced diet.
Applaws Cat Food – Top 3 Recipes Reviewed
| Product Name | Food Type | Price | Our Grade |
| Applaws Tuna Fillet Canned Cat Food | Wet | $0.93 per oz | B‑ |
| Applaws Tuna Fillet & Salmon Mousse Wet Cat Food | Wet | $0.88 per oz | B‑ |
| Applaws Adult Complete Chicken Recipe with Country Vegetables Grain‑Free Dry Cat Food | Dry | $4.27 per lb | B‑ |
| Applaws Chicken Breast Recipe in Broth Wet Cat Food | Wet | $1.04 per oz | B‑ |
What Do Customers Think of Applaws Cat Food?

Amy Brown-Towry / Cats.com
Applaws receives predominantly positive customer reviews. The brand’s simple, often single-protein, recipes make Applaws a popular choice among cats with food intolerances and health issues.
The biggest concern among people writing about Applaws is the fact that their wet foods aren’t nutritionally adequate for long-term feeding.
Positive Reviews
“My kitties love Applaws, both wet and dry- although I mainly use their broths as treats or for supplemental feedings to keep them excited about their food. I was buying Fromm, but Applaws was a great alternative for me price and ingredient wise. It is primarily made from nourishing animal ingredients- not low value animal by products, and is free from any artificial colors and flavors. It’s important to me that my kitties eat a natural diet and while they get wet food twice a day, they love their dry kibble at lunch time and it helps my wallet tons.” – Morgan, reviewing Applaws Chicken Recipe with Country Vegetables Dry Cat Food on Feb 4, 2026
“We have 6 cats. They are snoopy about food. Every one of them likes this. That’s high praise.” – David, reviewing Applaws Tuna Fillet Canned Cat Food on Feb 19, 2026
Negative Reviews
“They hardly ate it even though I combined it with their usual kibble. They didn’t like the size or hardness of it; they simply took it out of their bowls and dropped it aside. This is a good product, simply one my cats don’t prefer” – Kathy, reviewing Applaws Chicken Recipe with Country Vegetables Dry Cat Food on Jan 12, 2026
“I was buying the plain tuna fillet cans at a local pet supply store and was happy to find larger quantities available on Chewy. However the contents of the cans look more like the tuna and crab or tuna and shrimp cans that we tried. My cat didn’t like those flavors as much so she hasn’t been gobbling down the tuna cans from Chewy. Maybe the cans were mislabeled by the manufacturer?? I don’t know if I want to reorder this product again.” – Gabriella, reviewing Applaws Tuna Fillet Canned Cat Food on Dec 13, 2025
How Much Does Applaws Cat Food Cost?
Applaws dry food is moderately priced, and you’ll spend about $0.70 per day to feed a 10‑lb cat. Their wet food, however, is considerably more expensive. With most recipes costing $0.78 to $0.89 per ounce, Applaws wet food is pricier than comparable brands like Tiki Cat or Weruva.
Applaws wet food isn’t nutritionally complete. You’re paying premium prices for a simple, limited‑ingredient product that’s more like canned tuna than a full cat diet.
Where To Buy Applaws Cat Food?
Applaws cat food is available in pet stores around the United States, England, Italy, France, Spain, and Australia. Click here to find an Applaws retailer near you. If you’d rather shop for Applaws online, you’ll find it on Amazon, Chewy, Petco.com, PetSmart.com, PetFlow, and other web retailers.
Overall, Is Applaws a Good Choice?
Applaws cat food is an interesting option.
In addition to a small variety of dry foods, Applaws brings you a vast selection of wet foods in textures and tastes that cats love. Though they make scrumptious, cat-approved treats or once-weekly meals, Applaws wet foods are both too expensive and too nutritionally incomplete to be a viable option for a long-term diet.
And their dry foods? Applaws dry food may be a good option for some cats, but they’re nothing special compared to other foods in the same category. If you’re a kibble lover, Applaws dry food is worth trying, but it doesn’t come with an enthusiastic recommendation.













Can you please do a review of schesir wet cat and kitten food? It’s one of the better brands available in my country, but I would want to know more.
You’ve given 9/10 for no recall here. Also chicken & rice is a good option for cats with sensitive stomachs. I’ve been using this for 2 years along with True Instinct (just 2 flavours). Applaws have some truly crazy other recipes- Pumpkin & Chicken and my cat won’t touch those but you’ve actually reviewed & downgrades the best. It does say clearly on every box & packet complimentary cat food. Think you e been rather harsh. You can also get 26 packs for the price of 20 at the major U.K. pet stores.
Thank you for the comment and insights, Sue!
Can you please review CARNILOVE? I can hardly find any reviews about it!
Lulu, we’ll consider it! Thank you for the comment.
I buy it constantly, and so far i am happy with it
What are your thoughts on Applaws Tuna loin, Salmon loin Chicken loin treat as an everyday choice along with a good balanced dry food and a wet food as a diet ( my concern is sodium in their loin options ) Thank you
I have bought Applaws can food for my cat for very long, but today I noticed one can (Sardine with Schrimp in Jelly (product of Thailand) mainly contains jelly (>70%) instead of meat. It is kind of cheating and I am angry since we are loyal customers but treated like this. Pls help look into it and reply to my email. Thanks ! I feel bad for my dear cat.
Thank you for your comment! That is a generous amount of jelly and potentially excessive, but I’m not sure that it’s much different from typical wet cat food. This recipe is at up to 84% moisture total, which is common among wet foods. It’s also important to note that this Applaws recipe is also not a nutritionally complete and balanced diet.
Here in Melbourne Australia we buy the Applaws Tuba in Jelly kitten food (it’s the only kitten option at the local supermarket) and the ingredients include vitamins, minerals and taurine. It is labelled a complete food. Perhaps they are starting to address the issue of the other varieties being for supplemental feeding only.
I have the applaws chicken dry food , but the packaging and ingredients seem to be completely different. Can you please review it, thank you !
https://applaws.com/uk/cat/kitten-food/dry-kitten-chicken/
Hi Mouza! Thank you for commenting. Overall, this food looks decent—it seems to be primarily made from meat ingredients, formulated for kittens, and it provides prebiotics and probiotics, which, in theory, could be beneficial for overall health. It’s always very difficult to rate a cat food based on the label alone, but at first glance, this does appear to be a fair dry food for kittens.
I had not realized Applaws was not nutrionally complete until I read this article a couple months ago. I have tried EVERYTHING and my kitties will not eat any other food. No gravies, no mousses, no pate. I’m going broke feeding them Applaws, but what else am I to do? Mixing in a little bit of another food doesn’t work either. I appreciate any solutions!
Thank you!
Hi Donna, where are you located? I know that in the UK and perhaps some other locations outside of the United States, Applaws and other nutritionally-incomplete foods are the only wet option available, but in the United States, you should be able to find a number of other foods with a similar taste and texture to Applaws. You can consider Fancy Feast flaked food, Weruva, Tiki Cat, and Soulistic.
My cats also have been eating this canned appawz for a year. Plus dried food kibble. This is literally all they will eat. I purchased so many other soft expensive foods. They reject them all. Uggg
FYI – the manufacturer of Applaws has issued a product recall for some of it’s dry food.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57486596
Thank you for letting us know! I’m updating the review accordingly.
My cats went off of their food and completely stopped eating. I purchased this because it had few ingredients. They are eating again and I wanted to order more but I ran across this article. Thank you very much! I didn’t realize that it is for intermittent feeding. I will throw it into the mix with regular food to help keep things interesting.
I give my cat a 70g tin of Applaws per day plus she has her dish always full of go cat biscuits ..I,m reading the Applaws is not a complete meal for her .Why has it not got the required nutrients in it as it certainly is expensive enough .
Applaws tuna fillet and prawn is the only one she will eat ..now I am worried I am giving her the wrong food ..and will have to experiment very carefully to find a complete food for her ..
Hello Marian, where are you located? I’m happy to recommend a complete and balanced food available in your area.
I am searching all over the place for the best wet cat food for my cat, Luna. Lots of reviews are US based and the UK ones don’t help a lot either. The only wet cat food I have found both in reviews and in my country (Romania) is Wellness Core (the classical one, not the complete) and the Applaws, both grain free.
Luna has been fed with various Schesir types until August when she had some stomach problems (diahreea) and since then we are giving her Royal Canin Gastrointestinal Gravy . The reason was a possible parasite.
I want to choose something better than Schesir and feed her the best food I can. Can you please help me find something suitable in my country?
I don’t know if it matters but as a dry food I have selected a mixture between Purina Beyond Grain Free and Hills Indoor Cat.
Thanks in advance,
Monica
Hello Monica, thank you for commenting! Yes, it is difficult to find information on cat food sold outside of the United States, Canada, and the UK, and that’s something we’re working on currently. Anyway, I am unfortunately not very familiar with the Romanian cat food market and don’t have a lot of access to information on it. Would it be possible to send me a link to a popular Romanian cat food seller? I would be happy to evaluate the foods listed there and give you my thoughts on which would work best. For now, though, the best advice I can give you is to evaluate foods on a product-by-product and brand-by-brand basis. Just as we did in this review of Applaws, look at the company’s background, determine whether or not it’s been involved in a lot of recalls, and find out where it’s manufactured. Look at the product itself. Make sure that it’s nutritionally complete and balanced for Luna’s life stage, and check the guaranteed analysis to evaluate its levels of protein and fat. Look at the ingredient list. The food should contain animal-derived ingredients early on the list with an emphasis on protein from animal sources. You can use this process to evaluate any cat food on the market. I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help, but I hope this points you in the right direction. Please feel free to respond if you’d like to look into this deeper.
Best,
Mallory
Hi, I was about to buy Applaws cat food but I decided to do some research and stumbled upon this article. I was wondering if you could recommend me a complete meal for a cat. I’m located in Australia. Also are supermarket wet food for cats not a complete meal? I normally consider buying cat food from Woolworths or Coles but I’m not sure if they have all the nutritional properties.
Hey there, Ashleigh. You’ll get answers to all of these questions (and more!) in our article on the best cat food in Australia. Hope you find it helpful!
Thanks for this review. I looked it up because Applaws chicken in gravy is closest to the Schesir wet cat foods available in my country. Limited ingredient, natural foods but not nutritionally “complete” foods. I have been feeding my cat Schesir wet food along with Orijen kibbles and hope that’s considered ok as far as his nutritional needs are concerned. Would really appreciate a review of Schesir food as some others have written above. Sharing a link here of the extensive varieties available in India. It’s also made in Thailand like the Applaws reviewed here.
https://headsupfortails.com/pages/search-results-page?q=schesir+cat+food
My cat LOVES APPLAWS canned food. She’s very fussy so I’m happy she likes it. WHAT EXACTLY is
the ingredient missing? She only eats one other food, Fancy Feast Chicken Tuscany, but it’s hard to find.
PLEASE HELP!!
Andy, I’m afraid I can’t tell you exactly which ingredients are missing; you’d have to do a nutritional analysis of the food to find out exactly what its nutrient composition is and then fill in the gaps using supplements. What we know for sure is that food like this will be deficient in taurine, which is an amino acid essential to heart health, and it will also be deficient in B vitamins that are destroyed during the cooking process. Vitamin A also needs to be supplemented, as well as calcium and other minerals that would be present in bone. I would not recommend trying to supplement the food on your own since you don’t know what your starting point is. They’re more expensive, but you might also try Weruva or Tiki Cat food. Both of them have a similar texture and taste that your cat might like.
Mallory is there a best way to introduce to a “nutritionally complete food.” My 6 year old Savannah has been eating Applaws wet (Tuna with Crab); and recently started vomiting after eating. She also gets Acana Kibble and seems to like it. But want to make sure she eats nutritionally complete wet food to ensure she gets hydrated … picky drinking water too. Thanks. Kathy
Hi Kathy, there shouldn’t be any additional acclimation period from a “supplemental” diet to a “nutritionally complete and balanced” one. Some cats need a gradual transition, but since yours already eats a varied diet, I don’t think you should run into any issues switching to another food with a similar texture (and, perhaps, taste). You can start by mixing in a little bit of the new food in with the old and slowly increasing the percentage of new food, or you can put out a new food for her to try. If you’re weaning her off of the Acana, I’d advise moving to meals fed over a limited period of time (no free feeding), and then mixing the new food into the dry food in increasing portions until it’s eventually replaced.
Good morning! I live in central New jersey, USA and I have 2 cats. I’ve been struggling to find them a good wet food that doesn’t have carageenan in it and is balanced food. I was giving them fancy feast pate flavors and and I wanted something new. I’ve been buying Applaws but i don’t like that it doesn’t have any nutrients. I also don’t want a grain free food. Can you please help me. I appreciate all the research you do for all of us thank you so much
Ever since I got my Torti kitten from a shelter over a year ago, she has been a problem eater. I have tried every wet cat food under the sun, but she would leave everything untouched. Finally, I stumbled upon Applaws. This is absolutely the only food she will touch. And only fish , absolutely no meats. And only broth. And only the style in the flat package, NOT the can. Since she won’t touch any other wet food, I really have no other choice. The price is ridiculous, but I can deal with that. My worry is the missing nutritional supplements she’s not getting. She does eat Blue Bufffalo kibble for her other meal , for now. My question is: as long as she is eating the kibble once a day, can I continue to feed her the Applaws Wet Tuna as a regular second meal?
Complete foods should make up at least 90% of your cat’s diet, so splitting evenly between the Blue Buffalo and Applaws doesn’t sound quite right. I would check the calorie content of both meals and build up the Blue Buffalo to make up more of that daily intake. Alternatively, have you tried the fish-based foods from Tiki Cat or Weruva, or the Fish & Shrimp Feast from Fancy Feast? I wonder if she might accept these as well as the Applaws food.
Thanks for this review. I looked it up because Applaws chicken in gravy is closest to the Schesir wet cat foods available in my country. Limited ingredient, natural foods but not nutritionally “complete” foods. I have been feeding my cat Schesir wet food along with Orijen kibbles and hope that’s considered ok as far as his nutritional needs are concerned.
https://remediovet.com/product/applaws-all-natural-tuna-fillet-with-prawns-in-broth-cat-wet-food-70g/
I always had cats with long lives, One was 25, two lived over 20 years, I had a 19 year old, a 16 year old, and unfortunately a 7 year old. She had a tumor that paralyzed her and along with the cancer in her lungs, and liver. Currently I have a 14 year old and a 4 year old. My senior cat was getting to skinny and Apple paw wet food is the only brand he gobbles up. I’ve tried them all. He’s put on weight and has a spring in his step since he’s been eating apple paws. . My 4 year old is fat. I believe it was from the garbage kibbles I was feeding her. My cats do not get junk food. I just bought apple paws dried food. How do I get the young kitty to lose weight while not starving my senior cat. I understand that apple paws wet food is not nutritionally complete. I do give him fancy feast wet food too to help with this but he will throw up the fancy feast from time to time as opposed to Apple paw. Currently I’m enjoying watching him put on weight and not throwing up. At the same time, I have a puggy cat. Any advice?
Hi Anne, thank you for the comment! You’re going to need to separate the two cats’ foods. The overweight cat should be given a good, low-calorie wet food (perhaps one of the options in our list of the best cat food for weight loss). I would also like to confirm that the older cat doesn’t have any health issues causing her to lose weight. Addressing that underlying issue should be the top priority.
Sporadically, over the summer I had to supply and oversee the feeding of my sister’s cats. Discovered that one of them particularly liked the Applaws chicken in broth recipe (which is actually chicken and rice in broth). It was served mixed with a nutritionally complete pate. Recently this cat was diagnosed with diabetes. (For many years my sister had fed her cats cheap carb-packed dry food as the primary food.) I contacted Applaws to find the carb levels of the chicken&rice and chicken with gravy recipes. In my request I stated that I understood that it was a nutritionally incomplete food, and that I would like to continue using it as a supplemental food for a diabetic cat. They said that they said, “As the food is complementary, we cannot guarantee the specific level” (of carbs). “As your cat has specific dietary requirements, your vet can advise if our food is suitable for your cat and also provide detailed feeding guidance.” I had already received desired carb levels for this cat from the vet. I told Applaws again that I was aware that it was a complimentary food, but that I could not even use it as a topper unless I knew the carb levels. They responded with the same canned response.
What a frustrating response! Unfortunately, we are not able to get a precise carbohydrate value, either, as this information cannot be fully inferred from the guaranteed analysis and would need to be provided by the company.
My cat loves the Applaws Natural Cat foo Chicken Selection in Broth. However, this morning I opened a new can and it was very very orange and yellow color instead of the white color – I threw it out. I am scared to feed her anymore cans of this food – has there been any recalls –
Oh no! Could it have been one of the recipes that contains cheese or pumpkin that gave it an orange color? It doesn’t look like there have been any recalls since the 2021 recall of Applaws dry cat food in the UK (link: https://applaws.com/uk/drycatfoodproductrecall/).
I started using Applaws wet cat food for my cat a few months ago. My cat was throwing up and I tried many different cat foods including ones for sensitive stomach. I’m knocking on wood however my cat has not thrown up Applaws cat food as of yet. I do notice she seems still hungry after a can. I just give her extra protein such as turkey and treats that agree with her.