Chicken Neck

Chicken neck holds bone, cartilage and muscle together, so grinding it gives nutrition close to the whole prey a cat would eat in nature.

Chicken neck is a mix of bone, cartilage and muscle, and cat foods use it ground. Ground bone is a natural source of calcium and phosphorus. Tufts veterinary nutritionists describe a Cornell study that cultured viable bacteria from all forms of raw cat food, so how the neck is processed matters. Ground neck inside a cooked dry food is a different product from a raw neck. For a cat with a medical condition, ask your veterinarian.

Source: sites.tufts.edu

Chicken neck brings muscle, cartilage and bone in one ingredient. Ground up, it supplies protein from the muscle and calcium and phosphorus from the bone, so the result is closer to the whole prey a cat would eat. The muscle also contains taurine, which cats must get from their diet.

By AAFCO's description, necks are one of the parts that can go into poultry by-product meal, along with feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines. When a label lists chicken neck by name, you know exactly which part was used, which is not the case with by-product meal. Pettings scores named chicken neck 5 out of 5 and chicken by-product meal 2.

Source: aafco.org

Chicken neck has cartilage, and cartilage naturally contains glucosamine and chondroitin, which are building blocks of joint tissue. The amount that ends up in a finished cat food is not listed on the label. Pettings rates chicken neck for its protein and minerals, not for joint claims. If your cat has joint problems, your veterinarian can advise on its diet.

Pettings gives chicken neck 5 out of 5 and lists it as a named animal protein. It appears on 1 of the 149 dry cat foods we list. The ingredient score covers only chicken neck. Each food's page shows how that food scores overall.