Chicken Liver

Liver has a strong, rich flavor that many cats find very tempting. That flavor can help a cat with no appetite start eating.

Chicken liver is an organ meat that cat foods use in small amounts for nutrients and flavor. It holds a lot of vitamin A. The Merck Veterinary Manual describes hypervitaminosis A, a bone and nerve disorder in cats whose diets contain too much vitamin A, and gives diets with a large quantity of liver as an example. Complete cat foods balance the amount. For a cat with a medical condition, ask your veterinarian.

Source: merckvetmanual.com

Chicken liver adds vitamin A, vitamin B12, iron and folate in a small amount of food. The Merck Veterinary Manual explains that cats cannot convert beta-carotene from plants into vitamin A, so they need a preformed source such as liver. Liver also has a strong taste that many cats like, which helps with food acceptance.

Source: merckvetmanual.com

Yes, too much liver over time can be a problem. The Merck Veterinary Manual says hypervitaminosis A develops in cats whose diets contain excessive vitamin A, such as diets with a large quantity of liver. It causes bony growths along the spine and joints, and the skeletal changes are generally permanent. Liver as a minor ingredient in a balanced food is a different situation from feeding mostly liver.

Source: merckvetmanual.com

It is the same organ with the water taken out. Dehydrated, freeze-dried and freeze-dried chicken liver all start as chicken liver, and drying concentrates the protein and vitamins by weight. Pettings counts these label names as one ingredient, so they share the same score. The drying method changes texture and shelf life more than what the liver is.

Pettings gives chicken liver 5 out of 5 and lists it as a named animal protein. It appears on 10 of the 149 dry cat foods we list, including its dehydrated and freeze-dried forms. The score is for the ingredient alone. Each food's page shows how it scores overall.