Sunflower Oil

No. It can complement animal fat, but it does not provide the arachidonic acid cats need.

Sunflower oil is a plant oil pressed from sunflower seeds, and in cat food it supplies energy and linoleic acid. Tufts veterinary nutritionists say linoleic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid, is essential for all animals. Sunflower oil has no arachidonic acid, which cats get from animal fats. If your cat has a medical condition, ask your veterinarian about its food.

Source: sites.tufts.edu

Sunflower oil is a source of fat calories and linoleic acid. A 1984 study in cats found that a diet lacking essential fatty acids caused skin and organ changes, and that adding linoleic acid prevented most of them. Sunflower oil is one of several plant oils that supply this fatty acid in dry food, usually next to an animal fat.

Source: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

High-oleic sunflower oil comes from sunflower varieties bred to contain mostly oleic acid, an omega-9 fat, and much less linoleic acid than regular sunflower oil. It resists oxidation better, which is why food makers use it. A cat food label that says only sunflower oil does not tell you which type is in the bag.

Very little. Regular sunflower oil is mostly omega-6 linoleic acid, and high-oleic sunflower oil is mostly omega-9 oleic acid. Neither type adds much omega-3. In cat food, omega-3s come from fish oils and algae oil, which supply EPA and DHA, or from flaxseed and canola oil, which supply the plant omega-3 ALA.

Sunflower oil gets 2 out of 5 from Pettings, which lists it as a vegetable oil. It shows up on 13 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.