Feline Feast: 2023 Republic of Cats Food Review

Cats are known for their discerning palates and their love of good food. With so many options on the market, it can be tough to know what to feed our feline friends. That’s why we’re here to help with our 2023 Republic of Cats Food Review. Republic of Cats promises that your cat will adore their meaty cuisine, which also features its unique blend of crunchy kibble and a range of delectable ingredients. Pet Top 10 evaluates both the food and service in this Republic of Cats food subscription box review. Charlie, my finicky cat, will be my main observer.

First 2 weeks taster box for £7.50 (First cat only)

Owned by Nestle Purina PetCare, Republic of Cats was founded in August 2020. Since Republic of Cats is a relatively new cat food subscription business, you might not have heard of it before. The same group that created Tails.com, a dog food subscription service, also founded the Republic of Cats. The group decided to form the Republic of Cats after realizing that cats required this kind of service too. Their goal is to give your cat wholesome food with added health advantages.

1. Complete Your Cat’s Profile

You need to complete your cat’s profile online to get started. They will ask you simple questions about your cat, such as your cat’s age, weight, breed, health and whether they have been neutered or not. They also need to understand your cat’s preferences. Does your cat like sleeping all day long or do you have a more active cat? Or perhaps a cat what they call a halfway house? Active cats spend more calories than cats who enjoy sleeping a lot. Finally, what’s most important to you? What goals would you like to set for your cat? Is it perhaps to reduce hairballs or manage your cat’s allergies and intolerances? You are able to set two goals for your cat. Republic of Cats will then design your cat’s feeding plan to specifically nail the goals you chose.

My Cat’s Profile – About Charlie

I purchased the sampler package for my cat Charlie. Charlie is a 5-year-old British shorthair cat with a slightly sensitive stomach. His lifestyle is a “halfway house” (he spends his time indoors and outdoors 50/50).

Charlie is a rescue cat and at first, used to eat any cat food I would give him. He was abandoned by his previous owner.  He did not get fed on a regular basis until I found him. It was clear to see he had lived on the streets for a good while. He was very skinny and struggling to survive. 

I soon noticed that he has a very sensitive stomach and changed his food to natural cat food. This changed his food palette too, and he will only eat certain cat foods now. Natural cat foods have worked wonders with his stomach. His sensitive stomach has calmed down a lot with the right diet. I do give him good quality shop-bought food sometimes too, as there is one particular brand he really likes.

He is an exceedingly picky eater. I know he’s not going to eat all the wet food flavours. I decided to check with the Republic of Cats would they be happy to change the taster box flavours? They replied pretty quickly and this is the response I received:

“Ahh, a feline of a sophisticated persuasion – our favourite. You’ll be thrilled to hear that we designed the Taster Box exactly for cats like yours. We find that cats who’ve previously snubbed different flavours, suddenly love them when they try ours. We let you try them all and after 7 days you let us know which ones they loved (and probably which ones they didn’t) so that we can get you the best possible ongoing deliveries. we’re unable to change flavours sent in the Taster Boxes so your housemate gets to try them all”.

Does Your Cat Have Any Allergies?

The next question was about Charlie’s allergies. He isn’t allergic to anything but I ticked wheat, grains and barley as these ingredients are unnecessary for cats. Cats are carnivores. That didn’t work as I got a message “you chose an allergy or intolerance that we can’t currently support”. I then unselected grains and barley. They are able to create a wheat-free blend for Charlie but some of their foods do contain other grains or barley. I’m slightly confused about this because I thought that the nutritionists and chefs would create a unique blend for Charlie. Many pet food subscription services create your pet’s recipe from scratch. If the Republic of Cats is unable to create Charlie’s recipe from scratch then that makes me wonder is the food is already tinned or what is the issue.

Does Your Cat Prefer Wet or Dry Food?

You can choose just wet food, mainly wet food, just dry food, mainly dry food or a mix of both. I chose an equal mix of dry and wet food as recommended by the Republic of Cats. Based on my answers, Charlie needs 251 calories per day. That’s just 1 can of wet food and 3 tablespoons of dry food (To be honest he likes to eat a bit more, so let’s see how he gets on with this. His current recommendation from his vet is 2 wet food pouches and some dry food each day.

Your Cat’s Goals

I’m excited to see how he gets on with Republic of Cats foods. They let you choose some goals for your cat. I chose maintain current weight, manage intolerances and allergies and itch less. 

All Done

All done! The chefs in the cat food science department will now create your cat’s taster box.

2. Receive Your Cat’s Taster Box

My cat’s taster box arrived in two days. You get 28 meals for £5 for your cat, a mixture of wet and dry food. You also receive a personalised feeding plan from their nutritionists.

Charlie’s Taster Box Contents

Charlies’ taster box had eight different wet food flavours: Pate with chicken and pork, pate with fish, shredded pieces with chicken, shredded pieces with tuna, gravies & stews with beef and tomato, gravies & stews with duck and vegetable sauce, gravies & stews with salmon and gravies & stews with chicken & liver. The can size is 85 grams.

I know that he doesn’t like pate and he prefers fish to meat. He won’t eat it if the flavours don’t appeal to him. I already know he’ll adore the stews and gravies with salmon as well as the diced chicken and tuna. Concerning the other flavours, I’m not sure. But this delivery will only set me back £5 and will include enough food for two weeks. That offers excellent value for the money. You may find out what flavours and textures your cat enjoys by getting the sample box.

The Ingredients and Nutritional Information

I wanted to check the ingredients first as many cat food brands contain many unnecessary ingredients for cats. Read more about natural cat food here

Charlie’s tailored blend has 35.5% protein, 14.7% fat, 2.7% fat and 10.8% ash which means the mineral content of food. Ash is just the legal term for it.

Charlie’s personalised dry cat food ingredients:

The dry food packaging didn’t have any labels but you do get the dry food ingredients list for your cat’s tailored blend when you place your order.

Charlie’s personalised wet food ingredients:

The wet food ingredients list is only available on their website. The tins didn’t come with any ingredient labels. This isn’t too convincing to me because I thought that Charlie’s food was supposed to be tailor-made for him. If the ingredients list is available online only does that mean that every cat receives the same blend of food?

Let’s look at the ingredients more closely. I’m slightly disappointed that wet foods contain more animal derivatives than real meat. The chicken content is just 4%. That’s nothing. Animal derivatives are basically a butchered animal’s leftover parts that are not suitable for human consumption. Bones, connective tissue and offal to name a few. To be fair, most well-known cat food brands use animal derivatives, unless you buy natural cat food instead. The recipes also contain sugar which is an unnecessary ingredient for cats.

Learn more about natural cat food here

3. Keep or Cancel Your Subscription

Get your cat to sample each flavour and texture. If you decide to cancel the subscription you must cancel within the first 14 days. After the two-week trial period, Charlie’s regular subscription would cost £22.63/month. That’s just over £5/week.

If you decide to keep the subscription you can still cancel anytime. Cancelling is easy, just log in to your account and navigate to ‘cancel my subscription’. Sorted with a click of a button. It’s also very easy to restart your deliveries if you wish to do so at a later date. Just log on to your account and click the restart my deliveries button.

4. Receive Your Cat’s Food Delivered To Your Door Every Month If You Don’t Cancel

Republic of Cats delivers your cat’s food every 30 days and you don’t need to pay any extra for delivery. Delivery is always free of charge.

My Cat’s Taste Test – Charlie’s Verdict

Republic of Cats recommends blending Charlie’s old diet and the new ones together to start with.

Charlie’s Dry Food

Charlie doesn’t normally like dry food very much but for some reason, he really loved this blend. I suspect it has a secret ingredient added to it, perhaps sugar. Looking at the ingredients list the blend doesn’t seem to contain any nasties. The blueberries and cranberries must have added a nice twist to the taste. My cat just really, really likes this blend. I wish he could speak and tell me what is it about this blend that he’s so crazy about.

Charlie’s Wet Food

As expected, Charlie loved the gravies & stews flavours. He’s a gravy lover. He has never liked pate and did not like the Republic of Cats pate either. He just sniffed it. He tried the shredded pieces but didn’t eat it all. Charlie seems to be able to tell the quality of the meat as he licked the gravy but left a lot of meat bits uneaten.

Trustpilot Reviews

The Republic of Cats food is highly rated on Trustpilot. Over 160 reviewers have rated the food excellent. The overall rating is 4.4 out of 5. That’s impressive.

There are some negative reviews, however. The 1-star reviews rate the food as “Purina gold with a new fancy label”. Another reviewer rants: “Gourmet Gold priced up!” Either way, you can’t get 28 meals of Purina Gold for £5.