The scores
Tiki Cat Born Carnivore Indoor Health Chicken & Turkey: B (79/100) — Good. Chicken first, chicken meal second, with peas, turkey meal, and chickpeas rounding out the top five. Dried pumpkin for hairball fiber, menhaden fish meal for omega-3s, and a grain-free legume base.
Instinct Original Grain-Free Recipe with Real Chicken: B (78/100) — Good. Chicken and chicken meal lead, with freeze-dried chicken, chicken liver, and chicken heart added back to the baked kibble for a raw-adjacent profile. Fish oil for omega-3s and no grains.
How the ingredients compare
The top five ingredients:
Tiki Cat: Chicken, Chicken Meal, Peas, Turkey Meal, Chickpeas
Instinct Original Cat: Chicken, Chicken Meal, Sweet Potato, Fish Oil, Mixed Tocopherols
The one-point difference reflects protein architecture in the top ingredients. Both lead with whole chicken plus chicken meal — identical for positions one and two. At position three, the formulas split. Tiki Cat goes to peas (a legume carbohydrate), then turkey meal (a second animal protein) at position four, then chickpeas at position five. Instinct goes to sweet potato at position three — a whole-food carbohydrate — then fish oil and mixed tocopherols round out the top five before any additional protein source.
Tiki Cat’s dual-protein approach delivers chicken plus turkey inside the top four ingredients. That’s a wider amino-acid spread than Instinct’s single-protein top five. Instinct compensates with its signature raw inclusion — freeze-dried chicken, freeze-dried chicken liver, and freeze-dried chicken heart arrive at middle positions, adding muscle meat plus organ nutrition in raw form to a kibble base. That’s a genuine functional inclusion that Tiki Cat doesn’t match, but it doesn’t move the rubric score the way a top-five protein slot does.
Beyond the top five, both formulas add menhaden fish meal for marine omega-3s (Tiki position nine, Instinct position seven). Both include tomato pomace, montmorillonite clay (a mineral binder), and taurine — which is essential for feline cardiac and retinal function. Tiki Cat includes dried pumpkin explicitly for hairball-fiber management, relevant for indoor cats. Instinct skips pumpkin but includes pumpkinseeds further down.
Where Tiki Cat pulls ahead
Dual animal protein in the top four ingredients. Chicken, chicken meal, and turkey meal all inside positions one, two, and four. For obligate carnivores — which is what cats are — getting two species’ amino acids from the top of the ingredient list is the cleanest architecture. Instinct’s chicken-only top five is functional but narrower.
Dried pumpkin for hairball fiber. Tiki Cat’s indoor formulation explicitly includes dried pumpkin at position eight — a fiber source that helps move swallowed fur through the digestive tract. Indoor cats are especially prone to hairball formation, and the pumpkin inclusion is a functional design choice. Instinct Original is not specifically indoor-formulated.
Explicit indoor-cat formulation. Tiki Cat Born Carnivore Indoor Health is built around the reality of indoor life — lower activity, higher hairball risk, different caloric needs. Instinct Original is a general-purpose grain-free formula. For owners of indoor-only cats, Tiki Cat’s targeting is a real advantage. Shop on Amazon →
Where Instinct Cat holds its own
Signature freeze-dried raw coating. Instinct’s differentiator is the freeze-dried chicken, chicken liver, and chicken heart pieces added after the baked kibble is extruded. Organ meat — liver and heart — carries micronutrients like taurine, vitamin A, and B12 at levels that muscle meat alone doesn’t match. The raw form preserves enzymes and heat-sensitive nutrients that standard extrusion destroys. Tiki Cat doesn’t include any raw component.
Sweet potato, not legume-only carbs. Instinct uses sweet potato as the primary non-protein ingredient at position three — a whole-food carb with fiber and phytonutrients. Tiki Cat’s carb base is peas plus chickpeas plus (further down) chicken fat preserved in similar tocopherols. For owners concerned about legume-heavy diets in cats, Instinct’s sweet potato anchor is a cleaner choice.
Brand commitment to raw feeding. Nature’s Variety (Instinct’s parent) also makes the Instinct Raw Boost and Instinct Frozen Raw Medallion lines. For owners exploring a transition toward raw feeding, Instinct Original is a deliberate middle step between standard kibble and full raw. Tiki Cat is a premium kibble and wet-food brand, not a raw-feeding ladder. Shop on Amazon →
The bottom line
If dual animal protein in the top four ingredients and indoor-cat formulation matter more, Tiki Cat Born Carnivore is the B/79 pick. If you value the freeze-dried raw coating (organ meat plus muscle meat in minimally processed form) and a sweet-potato rather than legume-only carb base, Instinct Original is the B/78 alternative. Both are legitimate premium grain-free cat formulas — the choice is protein breadth vs raw-ingredient inclusion. See our best cat food guide for A-tier options like Orijen (A/91) and Acana (A/90).