You are what you eat, and this is totally true for the cats that depend on us for "room and board". It is true, cat food is one of the most important expenses of feline guardianship, next to veterinary care. It is important also to note that wellness cat food can minimise or delay veterinary expense for a number of serious medical deseases.
The aim of this article is to help you learn how to pick up from cat food labels important imformation to make your decision process easier in choosing the best foods for your cat.
Cats' Basic Nutritional Needs
* Protein from a meat, fish, or poultry source
* Taurine, an essential amino acid
* Certain other vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and fatty acids
* Water
Those are the main points. Cats do not need carbohydrates, but corn, wheat, and/or rice are used as fillers for both canned and dry cat foods. Other ingredients, such as binders, flavoring, and coloring, are added by cat food manufacturers to satisfy the aesthetic feelings of the consumer. Despite the fact that preservatives are necessary, to keep foods fresh for our cats, canned food should not be allowed to remain out for any length of time, in any case.
Many nutritionists agree that cats should get holistic food, both dry and canned, for several reasons:
* While dry food is convenient, and can be left out for more time
* Canned food contains water, and many cats do not drink water on regular basis
* To ensure that your cat gets the right amount of nutrients. That "near-perfect" food you've selected might be adding too little (or too much) of certain minerals and/or vitamins.
* Cats may actually become bored with the same food day in and day out, and simply refuse eating. Face it, would you enjoy chips morning, noon, and night, for years?
* To head off possible allergies to certain ingredients. Cats (like humans) develop allergies over a period of time. Although the incidence of food allergies in cats is not so often, cat owners might want to remain on the side of caution, particularly if their cats have shown evidence of allergies in the past.
* To prevent "food addictions." The Whole Cat Journal, in its October, 2001 issue, cites the case of a cat that was addicted to a particular flavor of a particular brand of cat food, right down to a specific factory and lot number! This kind of addiction can be difficult to deal with when that last can is gone from production, but can be easily avoided by feeding dufferent kinds of foods from the start.
Cheaper Brands are False Economy
Many novice cat owners, in an attempt to hold down expenses, buy the cheapest food for cats they can find. This is false economy for many reasons. First, research has shown that cats eat as much as they need to get the nutrients they require. Therefore, they might eat twice as much of that generously-carbohydrate-filled store brand to get the nutrients they need in a normal feeding of premium food. Second, the continued feeding of substandard foods over a period of years will heavily contribute to, or even cause, serious medical conditions that will require expensive veterinary care.
For these reasons, the old saying, "You get what you pay for," is particularly true where it comes to cat food.
What to look for on the label
* Compliance with AAFCO's requirements for "Complete and Balanced," as evidenced by that wording on the label.
* Named protein source - look for "chicken, lamb, or beef," rather than generalised "meat."
* On canned food particularly, the protein source should be at the first place
* Check the shelf life
What to avoid
* Words such as "By-products," "meat and/or bone meal," "animal digest," most other descriptions including "digest" or "meal," and added sugars.
* Chemical preservatives, along with BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin, and propyl gallate
* Corn meal as a filler
* Excess of carbohydrate "fillers" (Dry food can contain as much as 50 percent grain)
Cats are Obligate Carnivores, and cannot thrive on vegetarian diets, although most vegetables can be added to cats' diets, either by the manufacturer or the consumer.
Pet food manufacturers cannot print "complete and balanced" on their labels unless one of the following criteria is met:
* The food must pass feeding tests for the life stage recommended on the label
* The composition of the food must meet or exceed nutrient levels established by AAFCO
* Preservatives, at the level included in commercial pet foods, have never been scientifically demonstrated to cause any problems in pets (or people) at less than 100 times the levels found in such foods. On the other hand, the current trend for many cat food manufacturers is toward using natural preservatives, such as vitamins C and E.
Kitten Food
Kitten care is based on different principles than general cat care.
Kitten needs more nutritional food while it grows as the first year of life is the most important period of pet development. That is why you can easily find special food for kitten in any brand of feline food.
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