dry cat food = des croquettes?

Both Larousse (online) and wordreference give one meaning of croquette as dry (animal) food; wordreference specifically mentions cat and dog food.

https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais-anglais/croquette/20548

Wordreference is generally better than the online translators for idiomatic speech or short fixed expressions. It is not perfect, but nothing is. 

Hi Lawanya,

https://www.costco.ca/kirkland-signature-maintenance-chicken-%2526-rice-formula-cat-food.product.100380649.html?langId=-25

The best way to get an accurate description is to look at how retailers will describe this product.

Have a look at a typical retailer and you will see that "Nourriture sèche pour chat"  is the most likely accurate translation.  Nourriture is the food actually eaten/consumed.

Alimentation is a more general term related to feeding as opposed to consumption.

Hope this helps.

Jim

Des croquettes is widely used in France.

Maarten,

Merci beaucoup! Your clarification has helped me. Thank you for sharing  the link from www.frenchtoday.com. I will read the material on it carefully. Thanks as well for sharing the inputs and digital links for Larousse and Wordreference. I  have bookmarked both these links. They will come in handy for Kwiziq writing exercises. 

Lawanya

Jim, Merci beaucoup! Your clarification has given me very clear insights on how to navigate contemorary usage of everyday FRENCH. The link you have shared will be very useful indeed. Thanks as well for sharing the digital link for COSTCO. It will help me get more insights on how to glean information from product labels in French. I have bookmarked this link as a go-to-resource for Kwiziq exercises. 

 Lawanya

There is usually more than 1 way to say just about anything !