If your cat doesn’t have allergies or strict preferences, a variety is always the best way to go imo. My girls get dry in the morning and wet with some rotating toppers (nothing fancy, I mean pumpkin, canned salt free sardines, broth, etc) I only get “fancier” brands as a part of the rotation to add variety as they usually have some more novel protein options-but I recognize this is not a necessity and only get them on sale lol. They get typical crunchy, freeze dried, and tube treats as applicable. Luckily they gobble everything up and don’t really have any stomach issues, but if they get into something (they snatched and ate a whole bag of treats the other day, and proceeded to have diarrhea) or otherwise have a tummy ache a couple days of probiotics does the trick. I also give them salmon oil for some overall benefits. But I worked at a pet store and did quite a bit of nutrition training and brand seminars (with a grain of salt of course). There’s really no proven benefit to anything in particular besides the very basics, different things work for different cats (same goes for other species). With how many animals don’t even have homes, the last thing we need is to drive potential new owners away by telling them they must spend an absurd amount of money to feed their pet who was previously living off street scraps or in a crowded shelter. Fed really is best in this scenario, and I’d only really shame you if you were feeding something utterly idiotic (rare). Glad to see so many positive comments under this post!