: Are higher-cost cat foods any better than ordinary ones? Is it just a sales trick to get us to spend more? What are the ingredients that make it worth the extra money? Would the mid-range food be legal if it was so bad? I

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It's kind of like steak tartare vs McDonald's beef burger, why a difference in cost there? Both are beef? The cheap brands tend to be the 'junk food' of the pet food world.

Cost is not everything, however. Many brands charge a premium for being "grain-free" or "organic" when there is no strong scientific evidence to support claims that they are healthier for pets.

There are many mainstream brands that are fine quality to feed your cat. I usually recommend Hill's Science Diet, but there are many others.

You can compare the ingredients in, for example, Friskies Meaty Bits Chicken Dinner in Gravy:

Water sufficient for processing, chicken, liver, wheat gluten, meat by-products, turkey, soy flour, corn starch-modified, artificial and natural flavors, tricalcium phosphate, potassium chloride, taurine, added color, salt, choline chloride, mono and dicalcium phosphate, thiamine mononitrate, Vitamin E supplement, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, niacin, calcium pantothenate, Vitamin A supplement, copper sulfate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (Vitamin K), manganese sulfate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, biotin, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, potassium iodide.

Compared to Hill's Science Diet Chicken Dinner:

Water, Chicken, Pork Liver, Wheat Flour, Wheat Gluten, Dextrose, Modified Rice Starch, Oat Fiber, Egg Whites, Chicken Liver Flavor, Soybean Oil, Titanium Dioxide color, Dicalcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Fish Oil, Choline Chloride, L-Lysine, Calcium Carbonate, vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vitamin C), Niacin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid), Iodized Salt, Taurine, Guar Gum, Calcium Chloride, Caramel color, minerals (Zinc Oxide, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate), Beta-Carotene.

You can see that, unsurprisingly, many of the ingredients are the same. Not all meat is created equal, and while I cannot say where Friskies sources their meat from, in my opinion Science Diet is likely to be higher quality.

You will, of course, pay more for veterinary diets that are formulated for certain medical conditions – i.e. low protein for kidney disease, low magnesium to prevent urinary stones, low carbohydrate for diabetes, etc.