If we are what we eat, shouldn’t the same also be true for the pets we love and for whom we are responsible? Before buying your next bag or can of cat food, give some serious thought to and study what foods cats are designed and need to eat as well as how best to provide that nutrition for your furry friend.
Cats Are Meat Eaters
Cats were created by Mother Nature to be obligate carnivores. An obligate carnivore is designed to derive its nutrition and water needs from the meat of the prey they catch. Birds, rodents, lizards, and such provide a meat diet that is high- moisture and high protein with only a moderate fat level and less than two percent of their overall calorie consumption deriving from carbohydrates of any kind.
Modern house cats of course no longer feed themselves in this manner (except as a hobby or delightful snack if they find a lizard or rodent in the house). Further, the proteins cats derived from animal tissues they consumed had a complete amino acid (or whole protein) profile. Whatever we provide our cats in the way of nutrition must provide for those dietary needs if our cats are to be healthy and happy.
The Case against Dry Kibble and For Grain Free Wet Cat Food
Cats stand a much better chance of achieving optimal health if they are fed the healthiest wet cat food available. Any kind of wet canned food is healthier by far for cats than even the best dry kibble, recommend a growing number of knowledgeably up-to-date veterinarians for a variety of critical reasons.
One of the most significant is the fact that cats don’t have much of a thirst drive compared to humans, dogs, or many other species. They must get plenty of water from their food. When they eat prey in the wild, they get as much as 70 percent of their water from their meat sources. Domestic felines must ingest it from a substitute water-rich daily diet. This needs to be cat wet food.
Besides the water content of dry food being too low for the nutritional and health needs of cats, there are other problems with dry cat food. The carbohydrate level loaded into dry food is too high and the protein included in the formulas is based too heavily on plant-based and not animal-based proteins. Low water content leads to urinary health issues.
Too many carbohydrates cause intestinal disease, diabetes, and obesity. Plant-based proteins don’t have the complete complement of amino acids obligate carnivores need resulting in a low biological score as far as food-worthiness goes and only help the profit margins of pet food companies. Cats cannot be healthy on a vegetarian diet.
Heavy processing and preparation of dry cat food at high temperatures for prolonged times also destroys many of the food’s nutrients. Dry food is often contaminated with fungal mycotoxins (from grains), bacteria, storage mites, and cockroaches (and feces from them) because of long storage periods in warm warehouses or on store shelves.
Compare and contrast this information to the nutrition in high-quality canned wet cat food. Only three to five percent of the calorie content will be from carbohydrates (compared to 35 to 50 percent in dry food). Wheat is a known cat allergen so canned foods do not include it. Wet food contains a moisture content of as much as 78 percent, depending on the brand.
Wet food contains more animal protein. The best wet cat food contains the right blend of proteins, vitamins, carbohydrates, and minerals that is closer to what a cat would consume in the wild.
Tips on How Much Wet Food to Feed a Cat
Scientifically it is possible to use equations that consider feline activity, individual metabolism, the subject’s climate, and other factors to determine a specific cat’s food needs in order to provide the needed energy for the cat. Or you can simply evaluate your own fur baby by viewing your cat’s silhouette and then touching its belly from the top down the sides to see if you can feel ribs.
If you can’t, reduce portions as your cat is getting a little pudgy. Like today’s humans, one in every five cats in modern industrialized nations is obese. Actually, there are several points to keep in mind when planning feeding amounts and times for your cat(s).
The richness of the wet food, whether the cat has been neutered (if so, they are as much as four times more likely to pack on the pounds), the activity and play level of the feline, and when breakfast and dinner are all work together for or against the cat. You may choose from three different feeding methods:
• Free-Choice Feeding: Cat food (usually dry, since wet has to be kept refrigerated after opening) is out and available for dining 24-7. This works well for cats with finicky appetites so they can eat when they finally get around to it. It is a necessity for nursing mama cats. It is a problem for furry friends who lack self-control.
• Portion-Control Feeding: Cat food is measured out and served at a certain meal time. This works well for those pets with poor self-control as well as for a weight control regime.
• Timed Feeding: To encourage reluctant eaters to get on with it, food is placed out at a certain time and a certain place then remains out for a certain amount of time. Then it is removed. The cat learns he or she must eat when the food is available or do without for a long time. The interval is usually around 30 minutes but can be adjusted to suit any cat’s need.
Many vets recommend portion control feedings done twice a day, morning and evening. Eight to twelve hours apart is the appropriate time spacing between the meals. You can adjust meal portions as you learn your cat’s ideal maintenance food portion amount. Treats are okay during the day as long as they are under ten percent of the cat’s daily calorie intake.
How to Pick the Best Wet Cat Food for Your Cat
With more than 1000 different cat foods on today’s market, it’s hard to decide which is the best canned wet cat food for your feline friend. There are several websites devoted to amateur wet cat food reviews if you would like to conduct an in-depth study of your own. For a quick in-the-grocery-aisle means of product evaluation, here are some terms you may see on lists of ingredients and what they actually refer to or mean for your cat.
Meat can refer to anything from any animal. Safer ingredients name the source (chicken, duck, beef, and salmon). The term By-Products refers to any part of an animal except the hoofs, horns, hair, and teeth. Corn, grain, and wheat gluten are poor sources of protein and carbohydrates, may be allergens for some cats, and can create gastrointestinal problems when consumed.
Cellulose, Tapioca Starch, Guar Gum, and Carrageenan have thickening properties that are used as fillers and bulking agents. Almost all foods have them but there are concerns among cat lovers about them. Beware of egg or egg-based ingredients unless they say “food safe for human consumption”.
Preservatives such as Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, and others as well as vitamins like Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex/Menadione Dimethylpyrimidinol Bisulfite (a substitute for Vitamin K) are used in cat food but many cat lovers are not happy about it.
The best wet cat food brands by best sellers on Amazon.com include well-known brands like Fancy Feast (Gravy Lovers, Gourmet and Grilled selections), 9 Lives (Variety Packs and Meaty Pate Favorities), Purina (Friskies as well as Pro Plan), IAMS, Wellness Complete, and Whiskas.
Among the top fifteen bestsellers, one of their common strengths is that each specifically names their meat sources: beef, chicken, turkey, ocean whitefish, cod, sole, salmon, tuna, and shrimp; chicken or beef broth. Another is that the meats are listed within the first five ingredients on the label, which comprise the majority of the contents of the can. They all also have that high moisture content all cats need.
Cats are natural carnivores and need meat protein plus a lot of water in their daily food. Wet can food provides for their nutritional needs better than dry food does for the long haul. Select the food with the best ingredients plus the taste your cat prefers and you can’t go wrong.
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