Beef Fat

Not when it is preserved with mixed tocopherols, which are natural vitamin E. This keeps it fresh without chemical preservatives.

Beef fat, also called beef tallow, is rendered fat from cattle and is used in dry cat food for energy and flavor. Like other animal fats, it supplies some arachidonic acid. A 1984 study in cats found they convert almost no linoleic acid into arachidonic acid, so they need it from their diet. For a cat with a medical condition, ask your veterinarian before choosing a food.

Source: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Beef fat is in cat food mostly for calories and taste. Tufts veterinary nutritionists note that fat provides more than twice the calories of protein or carbohydrate, so a modest amount raises the energy content of a dry food. Fat also makes kibble more appealing. Pettings notes that this can help cats with a poor appetite accept their food.

Source: sites.tufts.edu

Ask your veterinarian first. Beef is one of the common food allergen sources in cats named by the Merck Veterinary Manual. Rendered fat contains far less protein than beef meat, but it is not guaranteed to be protein-free, and labels do not report how much remains. During a strict elimination diet trial, check with your veterinarian before feeding any food that lists beef fat.

Source: merckvetmanual.com

On cat food labels there is no real difference. Both names describe fat rendered from cattle tissue, and tallow is simply the traditional word for rendered beef fat. Either term tells you the species, which a generic animal fat does not. You may see either name on a bag, sometimes followed by the preservative used to keep the fat fresh.

Beef fat gets 4 out of 5 from Pettings, which lists it as a named animal fat. It shows up on 32 of the 149 dry cat foods we list. Each food's page shows how the whole recipe scores, so one ingredient score is only part of the picture.