Original Choice
Meow Mix Original Choice is a dry adult cat food with grains. Its first ingredients are ground corn, chicken by-product meal and soybean meal. It has an Ingredients score of 40/100, a Nutrition score of 5.6/10 and 5 items on our Avoid List. The lowest price we found is $1.00/lb (30 lb bag at Chewy).
Label checked Oct 24, 2026 · Price checked Oct 26, 2026
How It Scores
The first 5 ingredients count for 70%, the rest for 30%.
- Ground Corn
- 1 / 5
- Corn
- Chicken By-Product Meal
- 2 / 5
- By-product meal
- Soybean Meal
- 1 / 5
- Soy
- Corn Protein Meal
- 1 / 5
- Plant protein concentrate
- Beef Tallow (Mixed Tocopherols Used As A Preservative)
- 4 / 5
- Named animal fat
- Other ingredients
- 2.5 / 5
- Average of the other 21 ingredients
Avoid List
5The label lists ethoxyquin (synthetic preservative), Yellow 6 (artificial color), Red 40 (artificial color), Yellow 5 (artificial color), Blue 2 (artificial color).
The number of unwanted additives on the label, counted separately from the two scores: 0 is best. How we score
Adult targets. Values as listed on the label.
- Protein 30%
- 4 / 5
- Full points between 35% and 45%
- Fat 11%
- 3.9 / 5
- Full points between 15% and 22%
- Carbohydrates 36%
- 2.8 / 5
- Full points between 15% and 25%. Our estimate: the label does not list ash.
- Fiber 4%
- not scored
- Shown for information.
- Unnamed animal source
- × 0.75
- Ocean Fish Meal does not name the animal. Score before: 7.5/10.
What Is in It
Dry matter means the food with the water taken out. It lets you compare foods with different moisture fairly.
| On the label | Dry matter | |
|---|---|---|
| Protein (min) | 30% | 34.1% |
| Fat (min) | 11% | 12.5% |
| Fiber (max) | 4% | 4.5% |
| Ash | not listed | - |
| Carbohydrates (estimate) | 36% | 40.9% |
| Moisture (max) | 12% | - |
| Calories | 3,496 kcal/kg · 308 kcal/cup | |
Label numbers are limits, not exact amounts: protein and fat are minimums, fiber and moisture are maximums.
Labels do not list carbohydrates, and this one does not list ash either. We estimate carbohydrates by assuming 7% ash, a typical value for dry cat food, and subtracting everything else from 100.
First 5 Ingredients
Ingredients are listed by weight, heaviest first. The first few usually make up most of the food.
- Ground Corn
- Chicken By-Product Meal
- Soybean Meal
- Corn Protein Meal
- Beef Tallow (Mixed Tocopherols Used As A Preservative)
All Ingredients (Label Order)
Ground Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal, Soybean Meal, Corn Protein Meal, Beef Tallow (Mixed Tocopherols Used As A Preservative), Natural Flavor, Turkey By-Product Meal, Salmon Meal, Ocean Fish Meal (Ethoxyquin Used As A Preservative), Calcium Carbonate, Phosphoric Acid, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Choline Chloride, Salt, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Dl-Methionine, Taurine, Minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Manganous Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Iodate), Yellow 6, Red 40, Yellow 5, Lactic Acid, Potassium Chloride, L-Lysine Monohydrochloride, Blue 2, Rosemary Extract
Estimated Monthly Cost
By your cat's weight, using the maker's daily amount and the cheapest bag. Your cat may eat more or less.
The maker gives the daily amount as a range by weight. We worked out the amount for each weight from that range, so it is an estimate.
Bags and Stores
Prices were checked by hand on the date shown and may have changed. Store links may earn us a commission at no cost to you. How this works
Similar Price, Better Ingredients
Same age group, a higher Ingredients score, a Nutrition score no more than 0.5 lower and no more unwanted additives, at most 20% more per pound.
Last checked: Oct 24, 2026 ·Maker's page ·Suggest a correction