The scores
Purina Cat Chow: D/37
Friskies: D/39
A 2-point gap — within rubric noise. Both are budget cat foods from Purina/Nestlé, and the small spread tells you these formulas land at the same tier. Neither formula puts a named whole meat anywhere near the top of the ingredient list, and cats are obligate carnivores whose primary need is animal-derived protein.
How the ingredients compare
Here are the key ingredients side by side:
Purina Cat Chow: Chicken By-Product Meal, Ground Yellow Corn, Corn Protein Meal, Whole Grain Wheat, Rice, Soy Flour, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed-tocopherols), Chicken, Fish Meal, Liver Flavor, Calcium Carbonate, Phosphoric Acid, Salt … and, last on the list, Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 2
Friskies: Ground Yellow Corn, Corn Gluten Meal, Chicken By-Product Meal, Soybean Meal, Beef Tallow (preserved with mixed tocopherols), Meat and Bone Meal, Ocean Fish Meal, Animal Liver Flavor, Phosphoric Acid, Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Added Color (Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 2, plus “Other Colors Added”)
Neither puts a named whole meat first — cats are obligate carnivores whose primary nutritional need is animal-derived protein, not corn or soy.
Where Purina Cat Chow holds its own
Whole grain wheat. Cat Chow includes whole grain wheat alongside its less desirable ingredients. It remains a plant filler in a cat food context — cats are obligate carnivores — but whole grains supply more fiber and B-vitamins than the meat-and-bone-meal-plus-byproducts stack that fills out Friskies’ deeper list. Shop on Amazon →
What Friskies offers
Price. Friskies is typically the cheapest cat food on the shelf, often undercutting Cat Chow by a noticeable margin per pound. If absolute lowest cost is the only constraint, Friskies delivers calories for less money.
Availability. Friskies is sold in virtually every grocery store, gas station, and dollar store in the country. Cat Chow has wide distribution too, but Friskies edges it out for sheer ubiquity. Neither food requires a specialty trip to purchase. Shop on Amazon →
The bottom line
Friskies narrowly wins this comparison by 2 points. The small spread reflects what these formulas have in common: byproduct meals and zero whole meats in the top five. Cats are obligate carnivores; neither formula’s grain-and-byproduct architecture aligns with that biological need.
The more impactful change is upgrading past both — a higher-scoring cat food like Wellness (B/78), Blue Buffalo (B/75), or Taste of the Wild (A/90) costs more per bag but delivers named meats first.
Read our full reviews of Purina Cat Chow and Friskies for the complete ingredient breakdowns.
Corrected 2026-10-19: we removed study and guideline citations we could not verify, and claims we could not support; we corrected factual errors, and grades and score comparisons that did not match our current scores.