California Cat Kitchen, a new sister brand to California Dog Kitchen, has announced a vegetable-free, gently cooked frozen food line for adult cats. The brand soft-launched its website for pre-orders, with direct-to-consumer shipments scheduled to begin July 15 and pet distributor shipments scheduled to begin Aug. 1.
California Cat Kitchen and California Dog Kitchen operate as sister brands under parent company Dog Kitchen, LLC, with both registered as DBAs of that entity. The brand was co-founded by brothers Ilya Altshteyn, CEO, and Sasha Altshteyn, COO.
"Cats are carnivores, so we wanted to build California Cat Kitchen around meat-forward recipes without vegetables," said Ilya Altshteyn, co-founder and CEO. "Our goal is to make frozen cat food that's less intimidating for people who are used to more traditional cat food formats — that's why we put it in a 5 oz. tub, with traditional texture options."
The launch includes two recipes — Beef & Pollock and Chicken & Salmon — both using wild-caught fish and available in smooth and ground textures. Both recipes are formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Cat Food Nutrient Profiles for adult maintenance.
"We were able to leverage our existing cooked, frozen pet food production line to make these new products zero additional investment in equipment," said Sasha Altshteyn, co-founder and COO.
Products are cooked, frozen and packaged in a 5-ounce tub format with an MSRP of $7 per tub. The cup-style packaging is produced by Huhtamaki. California Cat Kitchen products are manufactured at the company's FDA-registered pet food facility in Vista, Calif.
The company plans to sell direct-to-consumer online and through independent pet retailers. California Cat Kitchen is in discussions with several existing distribution partners across the Pacific Northwest, California, Arizona, Colorado and the East Coast.
