About Meow Mix
Meow Mix traces back to 1973, launched under the Ralston Purina Company (now Nestle Purina) and built around a jingle-driven ad campaign that became one of the most recognized in American advertising: the 1974 television commercial made cats appear to sing 'meow, meow, meow' to the tune, and it stuck around long enough to anchor the brand's tagline, the only one cats ask for by name. Over the following decades the brand changed hands several times, passing through Del Monte Foods, the private equity firm Cypress Group, and Big Heart Pet Brands before The J.M. Smucker Company acquired Big Heart Pet Brands in 2015 and folded Meow Mix into a portfolio that also includes Milk-Bone.
The current lineup centers on Original Choice, the brand's original chicken, turkey, salmon, and ocean fish dry formula, alongside Tender Centers dry kibble with a soft filled center, Tenders in Sauce wet food, and Irresistibles soft treats. It remains a mainstream, widely stocked grocery-aisle brand rather than a boutique one, and that scale shows up in its Amazon review counts, which run into the tens of thousands on its most popular formula.
Brand website: meowmix.com
What Meow Mix makes
Meow Mix's range runs wider than the products we review. The lines we know best from our own testing are marked with a star:
Original Choice
the brand's original chicken, turkey, salmon, and ocean fish dry kibble, one of our top picks — featured on House of Mittens
Tender Centers
dry kibble with a soft, flavor-filled center in chicken, tuna, beef, and salmon varieties
Tenders in Sauce
wet cat food with real meat, poultry, or seafood pieces in a lickable sauce
Irresistibles
soft cat treats made with real chicken or salmon
Why we recognized Meow Mix
The House of Mittens Top Brand recognition isn't paid for and can't be applied for. We award it to the brands whose products consistently stand out in our vet-reviewed category guides. Meow Mix earned it on the strength of the products below, evaluated the same way every product on this site is: assessed against feline-health criteria, used with real cats, and judged on merit.
Meow Mix products we rated highly
Meow Mix Original Choice Dry Cat Food
Recognized in our dry cat food reviews for the lowest cost per pound of any formula we evaluated, this kibble is complete and balanced for adult maintenance with added taurine, so the low price doesn't skip the amino acid cats can't live without. It carries a 4.7-star average across more than 50,000 ratings, reflecting the strong real-world palatability the brand has built its identity on, and its wide grocery-store availability makes it easy to keep in stock for a multi-cat household.
Read the 9 Best Dry Cat Foods of 2026 guide →What earned Meow Mix the recognition
- Original Choice, an AAFCO complete-and-balanced adult maintenance kibble with taurine added, earned a place in our dry cat food reviews on the strength of its price and palatability.
- A 4.7-star average across more than 50,000 Amazon ratings, reflecting decades of real-world use across multi-cat households.
- One of the most recognized cat food brands in America, built on an advertising legacy stretching back to a 1974 jingle campaign and the tagline 'the only one cats ask for by name.'
- Backed by The J.M. Smucker Company's household food manufacturing and distribution infrastructure, keeping the formula consistently available on grocery and Amazon shelves alike.
- A straightforward, widely available formula that gives cost-conscious and multi-cat households a legitimate complete-and-balanced option.