Meat Mates Lamb Treats – The Best Cat Food Reviews (2023)

Last Updated on June 17, 2024 by Indy the Cat

History

If you have a canine companion, you might be quite familiar with Meat Mates dog food already. However, on the cat side of things, Meat Mates is the newest kid on the block and has quickly risen in popularity among the cat community. From the makers of Feline Natural, Meat Mates is their latest brand under the parent company Natural Pet Food Group Company.

Originally starting with dog food in 2016, the brand expanded to cat food in late 2019/early 2020. It’s a welcome addition given the track record of the Natural Pet food Company in the premium pet food space. At the time of publishing, the Meat Mates cat food lineup consists of wet canned foods, freeze dried dry food and freeze dried treats.

As a New Zealand manufactured brand, they pride themselves in sourcing quality natural New Zealand ingredients following in the footsteps of its sister companies. This is evident from the named ingredients in their products – for example, free range chicken and pasture raised animals. All their wet foods are single protein formulas making it optimal for cats with allergies.

Furthermore, Meat Mates also meets AAFCO standards and all their product lines follow the Natural Pet Food Group mantra. Thus you will find their food are GMO free, grain free, and free from artificial preservatives, fillers or flavours.

Recalls

To date, Meat Mates has not been recalled, however in 2018, one of its sister brands – K9 Natural voluntarily recalled some batches of their frozen raw food. In Australia, pet food recalls are only mandatory for brands that have decided to work within the Australian Standard for Manufacturing and Marketing of Pet Food (Standard AS5812:2017). All members of the Pet Food Industry Association of Australia comply with these standards and Natural Pet Food Group is a marketing member of the Association. 

Product Line Commentary

Hot on the heals of our last Meat Mate’s review, today, we are looking at the Meat Mates Lamb Treat formula. Similar to the Meat Mate’s wet and freeze dried food product lines, their treat flavours include lamb, beef and chicken. All treats are single source protein products, which are perfect for cats with specific protein allergies.

What to Look for in a Treat?

Like any food, as cats are obligate carnivores, we want to look for treats that are meat first. Ideally, we prefer minimal ingredients beyond meat but additions such as taurine and other essential nutrients are okay. However, we would tend to avoid any treats that have ingredient lists that run off the page (up to 5 seems like a reasonable number).

We would also like treats to be lower in calories when possible. The general guideline is to never feed more than 10% of the cat’s caloric intake but honestly, 10% is actually quite a lot. Treats are exactly that. Treats. Subsequently, they should be given occasionally and to reward things like good behaviour or during special times like training. Moreover, over feeding treats (of any type) may cause your cat to become addicted and lead to behavioural problems. It also leads to increased calorie intake, which could create unexpected weight gain. Let’s see how Meat Mates Lamb treats stack up.

Simple all meat ingredient list

Meat Mates is considered a premium brand of cat food and that is no different for their treats. Going above and beyond the industry standard, Meat Meats continues to use quality ingredients to their advantage. Unsurprisingly, each ingredient is clearly named and all meat sources are sustainably sourced from grass-fed and/or free range animals.

With only 4 ingredients (lamb, lamb heart, lamb kidney and lamb liver), the list is simple and easy to understand. Despite being a treat, this is “healthier” than many other treats and dry foods out there (Reminder: Treats, even healthier ones are not complete and balanced so cannot be fed as replacement for meals). Furthermore, as an all meat ingredient list, this is very species appropriate for our feline friends.

These treats are created through a process known as freeze drying. It’s exactly as it sounds. First the treat is frozen, then it is stored in a vacuum to dry out most of the moisture. Moreover, this type of food has far less processing and is a nice change from conventional dry kibble. The end result for Meat Mates treats is a texture which is a bit like a soft crumbly pellet.

Generally freeze dried food/treats can be rehydrated with some water if you choose to do so. For a treat, we wouldn’t bother, but for dry food, this is a nice way to add hydration to a cat’s routine. At 4708 kcal/kg, it works out to approximately 3kcal per full sized treat (you’ll find that many of them break into smaller pieces). For those that are apprehensive about feeding a raw diet, this treat also taps into the raw diet inspiration, so you can feel good about feeding it to your cat!

Guaranteed analysis

Crude Protein (min) – 40%

Crude Fat (min) – 38%

Crude Fibre (max) – 2%

Moisture (max) – 8%

Additional Nutritional Profile Information

Unfortunately, Meat Mates does not provide additional nutritional information on their treats.

Where to Buy and Cost

Unlike Feline Natural, Meat Mates is carried by a smaller subset of online pet stores and retailers. At the time of publishing, the treats can be found at leading retailers including: Pet Circle, PetHouse and occasionally Amazon.

In addition, Meat Mates cat treats are usually priced around $7/packet (50g). Compared to other treats, they are considered moderately priced. Given the quality of the treat, we consider them to be great value for your money.

Ingredient List

Lamb, Lamb Heart, Lamb Kidney, Lamb Liver

Nutritional Information

Lamb – source of meat protein

Lamb Heart – source of protein (considered as muscle meat in the raw diet)

Lamb Kidney – source of protein and as an offal, it offers a natural form of essential vitamins/nutrients

Lamb Liver – source of protein and as an offal, it offers a natural form of essential vitamins/nutrients

Indy’s Review

So does Indy the cat like it? 

Yes! Indy is always extra excited to be rewarded with these treats! They are among his recent favourites and we almost lost a finger after he got a taste for these pellets.

Without a doubt, Meat Mates continues to impress both myself and Indy and we highly recommend this one for your feline family member!

The good

• All quality named meat ingredients
• Very species appropriate treat with no additives or junk ingredients
• Highly palatability for a treat
• Moderately priced

The bad

• Nothing to dislike on our end

Rating 

• Species appropriate (weight 0.3) – 10 / 10
• Ingredients (weight 0.3) – 10 / 10
• Recall Track record (weight 0.2) – 9 / 10
• Price (weight 0.2) – 9 / 10

Average Score – 9.5 / 10

Weighted Score – 9.6/ 10

The Bottom Line: A very palatable treat boasting quality ingredients at a reasonable price. Highly recommended!

If you spot an error in this article, please do not hesitate to let us know!