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Instinct vs. Vital Essentials

In this comparison article for Instinct vs Vital Essentials, we'll highlight the key differences between these two pet food brands. To properly compare Instinct and Vital Essentials, we'll use up-to-date nutritional and price information.

There are many factors to consider when choosing the best pet food brand for your pet. Factors such as ingredient quality, guaranteed analysis, product safety, brand history, and cost are among the most important factors to consider.

Throughout this Vital Essentials vs Instinct comparison, we've utilized average data to make general comparisons. If you'd like to see individual product reviews, visit our Instinct Review Page or Vital Essentials Review Page.

Guaranteed Analysis: Vital Essentials vs. Instinct

According to AAFCO, all pet food labels must provide a guaranteed analysis of nutrient content. The analysis must provide guaranteed minimum percentages of crude protein and crude fat, and maximum percentages of crude fiber and moisture.

All percentages used in this comparison are averages reported on a dry matter basis.

Instinct Dog Food vs. Vital Essentials Dog Food

Dry Dog Food	Instinct	Vital Essentials
Crude Protein	36.2%	52.2%
Crude Fat	24.1%	28.7%
Crude Fiber	4.4%	4.1%

Wet/Canned Dog Food	Instinct	Vital Essentials
Crude Protein	42.1%	53.7%
Crude Fat	27.7%	31.0%
Crude Fiber	10.0%	5.6%

Crude Protein Comparison For Dog Food

Protein is an extremely important part of your dog's diet. Without sufficient protein, dogs can develop a wide-range of serious health problems.

Vital Essentials dry dog foods clearly provides more protein than Instinct. In fact, the difference between the protein content is roughly 15.96%, which is a significant amount. Similarly, Vital Essentials wet dog foods provide significantly more protein than Instinct wet foods.

Crude Fat Comparison For Dog Food

Dietary fats serves a multitude of roles in the proper development and function of our canine companions. Here are some of the benefits (not exhaustive):

Help produce prostaglandins, which reduce inflammation among other critical functions.
Aid in the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins
Improve skin and coat health
Improve the palatially of your dog's food

Instinct dry recipes contain 4.51% less fat than Vital Essentials dry recipes. This difference in fat content is a notable difference between Vital Essentials and Instinct. For wet dog foods, Vital Essentials typically provides a little more fat (about 3.26% more).

Both brands provide roughly the same amount of crude fiber. For wet dog foods, Instinct provides more fiber (about 4.32% more).

Instinct Cat Food vs. Vital Essentials Cat Food

Dry Cat Food	Instinct	Vital Essentials
Crude Protein	43.7%	54.0%
Crude Fat	25.4%	27.5%
Crude Fiber	3.7%	5.1%

Wet/Canned Cat Food	Instinct	Vital Essentials
Crude Protein	47.1%	50.6%
Crude Fat	25.0%	18.8%
Crude Fiber	8.6%	2.5%

Crude Protein Comparison For Cat Food

Protein is an extremely important part of your cat's diet. Without sufficient protein, cats can develop a wide-range of serious health problems.

On average, Vital Essentials dry cat food recipes contain 10.33% more protein than Instinct recipes. Clearly, there is a significant difference between the protein content of Instinct and Vital Essentials. For wet cat foods, Vital Essentials typically provides a little more protein (about 3.50% more).

Crude Fat Comparison For Cat Food

There are many ways in which dietary fat contributes to the overall health of our feline friends. Here is a short list of benefits provided by fats (not exhaustive):

Aid in the digestion and absorption of fat-soluble vitamins
Improve the health of skin/coat
Slow the growth of yeast infections
Slow the development and spread of certain type of cancers.
Maintain healthy blood pressure

According to our average data, Instinct typically provides less fat than Vital Essentials. However, this difference is relatively small and doesn't represent a significant difference between the two brands. In addition, Instinct wet cat foods also provide more fat than Vital Essentials wet foods.

As you can see, Instinct and Vital Essentials guarantee a similar amount of crude fiber. For wet cat foods, Instinct provides more fiber (about 6.16% more).

Instinct Pet Food Ingredients vs. Vital Essentials Pet Food Ingredients

Here are some of the controversial ingredients used only by Instinct.

Garlic

Canola Oil

Pea Protein

Tomato Pomace

Dried Tomato Pomace

Canola Oil (Preserved With Mixed Tocopherols)

Canola Oil (Preserved With Mixed Tocopherols And Citric Acid)

We believe that certain pet food ingredients are linked to adverse health affects; these ingredients are classified as harmful.

Here are some of the harmful ingredients used only by Instinct.

Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex

Product Safety: Recall History of Instinct & Vital Essentials?

Instinct has been recalled 2 times.

July 24, 2015: Salmonella
Feb. 15, 2013: Pieces of clear plastic in bag

Vital Essentials has been recalled 4 times.

July 8, 2015: Listeria monocytogenes
Jan. 15, 2016: Salmonella
Feb. 24, 2018: Salmonella
April 16, 2018: Salmonella

Price Comparison: Which Brand Is More Expensive?

Dry Dog Food	Instinct	Vital Essentials
Per Pound	$8.93	$37.19
Per Calorie	$0.0044	$0.0186

Dry Cat Food	Instinct	Vital Essentials
Per Pound	$11.49	$39.03
Per Calorie	$0.0057	$0.0200

The average cost-per-lb is heavily influenced by the varying amounts of moisture present in each brand's food products (wet vs. dry food, dry vs. freeze-dried food, etc). However, the average cost-per-kcal eliminates the influence of moisture. Therefore, the average cost-per-kcal is the better metric to consider.

If you'd like to calculate the average cost-per-day or cost-pet-year of feeding Instinct or Vital Essentials, input your pet's weight into our cost analyzer widget.

Averages price data can identify whether or not there exists a significant price difference between two brands. However, the actual price that you'll pay for Instinct or Vital Essentials will depend on your shopping habits.

Pet owners who use our price comparison feature typically save more than 25% off retail prices for Instinct and Vital Essentials. In addition, we currently have some great coupons for our readers.

Disclosure: PawDiet has an affiliate relationship with stores featured (or linked-to) in this article. We are compensated for referring customers. Thank you for shopping with our retail partners!

Where To Buy Instinct Pet Foods

You can purchase Instinct pet foods from the following stores:

84 Recipes In-Stock Today

59 Recipes In-Stock Today

67 Recipes In-Stock Today

17 Recipes In-Stock Today

Where To Buy Vital Essentials Pet Foods

You can purchase Vital Essentials pet food products from these retailers:

47 Recipes In-Stock Today

43 Recipes In-Stock Today

21 Recipes In-Stock Today

23 Recipes In-Stock Today

Type Of Pet Foods Available

Product	Instinct	Vital Essentials
Dry Dog Food	37 Recipes	None
Wet Dog Food	10 Recipes	None
Dog Treats	None	30 Treats
Dry Cat Food	20 Recipes	None
Wet Cat Food	16 Recipes	None
Cat Treats	None	8 Treats