You can’t take meat or fish or chicken and magically transform it into tiny bits of dry cat food ... or can you? The animal protein found in dry cat foods gets there in the form of meal—beef meal, fish meal, chicken meal. Soybean meal, also high in protein, is a common ingredient (but so is cereal, which cats in their natural state would have no interest in).
Many manufacturers add vitamins and minerals to the mix, and as a final stage in the process, the bits of dry food may be sprayed with a coating of concentrated meat extract, enhancing the nutrition value as well as giving an appealing smell and taste. In short, dry food is meatier than you might have thought.
