What are the most nutritional foods for your cat?

Answer 1

Cats, being strict carnivores, are designed to eat a diet of meat. They get all their energy from Protein and Fat which is abundant in meat. A pet cat that has access to outside might hunt and eat small birds, mice, voles and other small wildlife animals.

In a domestic setting, there are several types of food cats can be fed, with the three main ones being Raw, Wet (canned) and Dry.

A Raw diet (including muscle meat, organs and bone) is often seen as the best food for a cat or kitten as this mimicks what a cat would eat in the wild and provides nutrients in the most natural way possible. Owners that feed raw prefer this as they know exactly what they are feeding their pets.

Commercial cat food, however, is usually fed by most. In general, the best prepared cat foods are the ones with a very high, named-meat content. They should be labeled by source, such as: Chicken, Turkey, Rabbit, Lamb, Tuna, etc., as the first or first two or three ingredients. Reject brands with ingredients such as Grain, Corn, Wheat Gluten, Cereals and Various Sugars as these ingredients have very little or no nutritional value for cats. Wet foods are often much easier to find than dry foods with these specifications.

The amount of moisture in cat food is arguably one of the most important parts of a cat's diet. Dry food contains no moisture, so is quite dehydrating and can cause bladder problems. Cats are notoriously bad drinkers, even when they are thirsty. This is because they have evolved to get all their needed moisture from their prey (their ancestors were cats that lived in very dry and arid environments where water was hard to come by), so therefore have a low "thirst drive" and will not often seek out water on their own. This is a trait that has been passed down over the thousands of years.

Canned or pouched food has anywhere between 60 to 80% water. Seeing as in the wild a cat's prey is around 65%-75% water, wet food provides a cat with more than enough water each day.

Many brands of dry food, including but not limited to; Purina, Friskies, Whiskas, IAMS, Science Diet, etc., regardless of price, contain high concentrations of carbohydrates, or fillers; such as corns, grains, and cereals. Cats can't digest these, and often gets stored as fat or expelled. These fillers are used instead of meat because, compared to meat, it is less costly, and helps to hold the kibble together. However, some high quality dry food brands such as Orijen, Innova and Applaws are free of grains and cereals.

Cats need meat-based protein, not plant-based protein. Cats will often overeat on lower quality foods because they are not getting all the nutrients they need, which can result in obesity and other health problems which can drastically shorten a cat's lifespan and overall quality of life.

Many feed dry food on the sole belief that dry food cleans the teeth. This, in fact, has not yet been Scientifically proven. Kibble is hard and brittle, so it shatters at the tips of the teeth - providing little or no cleaning friction. Dental issues in cats usually start at or under the gum line, so kibble is usually ineffective. Some cats don't even chew; they will just swallow the kibble whole.

However, some cats will have perfect teeth while the dental health in others will deteriorate, no matter what food they eat. If a cat's teeth are to last through its lifetime, it requires regular dental care. Some owners brush their cat's teeth, while others give their cat a raw meaty bone (often in the form of a chicken wing or neck) once a week to keep their cat's teeth as clean as possible.

For high-quality Cat food there is: Blue Buffalo, Felidae, Weruva, California Natural, Instinct, Prairie, Natural Balance, Eagle Pack, Wellness, EVO, Grau, Animonda Carny, Bozita, HiLife, Feline Fayre, to name a few.