Cat Behavior

there are 250different species of catnip and when cats consume it they feel high for a while it also causes a mild high in humans too. and its legal so get eating your nip enjoy

it causes a high in some people; about 1 in 7

Cats grow to full adulthood in a year. A 2 year-old cat is not a kitten, it is a fully-grown adult cat. So you can feed it regular adult-cat cat food. As to which brands of cat food are the best, here are some tips:

First of all, the worst food you can feed your cat is supermarket brand cat food. TV commercials for supermarket brand cat food always talk about the "wholesome ingredients" and "choice cuts of meat" in their food, but this is an outright lie. Most supermarket brands -- such as Purina, Friskies, Whiskas, Fancy Feast, Tender Vittles, etc., etc. -- are made with extremelylow-quality "meat." It is actually really disgusting. These brands are made with all the leftover animal parts, including ground-up chicken beaks and feet, cow eyeballs, intestines, and something called "Animal Digest." Animal digest is essentially a mishmash of leftover parts; it can include rats, roadkill animals, and animals that were euthanized at animal shelters -- including dogs and cats. That's right, cats. These brands also include something called "ash," which is burnt animal remains. It is absolutely revolting.

Luckily, there are better foods available, made with high-quality meat that is fit for human consumption. They are more expensive than supermarket brands -- up to $2 a can -- but they will keep your cat healthy, and will add years to his life. It is well worth the money to keep your beloved pet healthy and happy. And in fact, you will most likely save money in the long run: since better cat food means a healthier cat, you will save hundreds, even thousands of dollars on veterinary bills.

High-quality cat food brands are sold at most pet stores, including Petco, Pet Stop, and petnetdirect.com. Some high-quality brand names include: Innova/Evo, Weruva, Max Cat, PetGuard, California Natural, Instinct, Prairie, Natural Balance, Solid Gold, Merrick, Wellness, Eagle Pack, Newman's Own, WYSONG, Precise, etc., etc.

If you really cannot afford to buy this food for your cats, then Iams brand is an acceptable second-choice. Iams is a supermarket brand, but it is of a higher quality than most supermarket brands. It's not as good as Innova/Evo, Weruva, Max Cat, etc., etc., but it is better than the other supermarket brands.

Although it is not strictly necessary, it is a good idea to feed your cat both wet and dry food. Wet food is more fatty than dry food, so a diet consisting of nothing but wet food can potentially cause weight problems. But more importantly, dry food helps scrape plaque off of the cat's teeth, giving him healthier teeth and gums, and better-smelling breath. My personal favorite dry food brand is Innova/Evo: most cats love it, and it makes their coat super-shiny and soft.

Also, although it is not strictly necessary, it's a good idea to give your cat some variety with his diet. Having variety in your diet is good for humans, and for cats too. Also, sometimes cats get bored eating the same thing every day. Whenever I go to Pet Stop to buy cat food, I always buy a few different flavors of each different brand, so as to give them as much variety as possible. My cats get a different wet food every night, and during the day they get Innova/Evo dry food.

In general, the best prepared cat foods are the ones with a very high, named-meat content. Also, they should be labeled by source, such as: Chicken, Turkey, Rabbit, Lamb, Tuna, etc., as the first, or second ingredient.

It is advisable to stay away from brands that include Corn, Wheat, Cereals, Soy and various Sugars in their foods - cats have difficulty in digesting these and do not provide any nutritional value to the cat whatsoever. Wet food with these specifications are much easier to find than in dry food.

The amount of moisture in cat foods is also very important. Dry foods contains no moisture, so they can lead to dehydration and bladder problems. Cats are notorious for not drinking enough water, even when they are thirsty. The ancestors of today's cats lived in arid (very dry) environments, where water was hard to come by. This harsh environment drove their evolution to produce animals that seek live prey, filling their need for moisture from them. Over thousands of years, cats have developed weak instincts for seeking and drinking water from a source separate from their food. Some modern cats will not drink plain water at all.

Canned or pouched food contains 60% to 80% water. A wild cat's prey is around 70% water. So, wet foods with water content this high, provide a cat with enough water in its diet.

Many dry foods and low-quality wet foods are often packed with carbohydrates - "filler" in the way of grains and cereals, none of which cats can digest or gain any nutrients from. Grain is used instead of meat because it is cheaper to produce and helps kibble pieces hold 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 (meaning shorter life span).

Sadly, many vets are not very knowledgeable about cat nutrition. What little they learn is usually funded by big pet food manufacturers just as Hill's and Royal Canin.

Lastly, it has not been proven that dry food cleans a cat's teeth. Kibble is hard and brittle, so it shatters at the tips of the teeth - providing little or no cleaning friction. Dental issues 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 life time, it requires regular dental care.

For high-quality Cat food there is: Blue Buffalo, Felidae, Weruva, California Natural, Instinct, Prairie, Natural Balance, Eagle Pack, Wellness, EVO, Bozita (the canned stuff is 90+% meat and can be bought from zooplus.co.uk), Applaws (70+% meat and comes in both tinned and dry), HiLife (60% meat), Feline Fayre, to name a few.

"Dry food doesn't, in fact, clean the teeth. This is like saying eating cookies or other hard, crunchy food keeps OUR teeth clean!"

Crunchy foods DO help keep human teeth clean. Haven't you ever noticed that, when you eat carrots or dry cereal, there is less plaque on your teeth afterwards? Again, I didn't say that dry food would clean a cat's teeth. I said it HELPS clean their teeth.

Not all cats will allow you to brush their teeth. I have tried to brush my cats' teeth many, many times, and they just will not let me do it. So the only thing I can do is give them dry food. It doesn't clean their teeth like a toothbrush and toothpaste would, but it HELPS.

Also, cats who eat nothing but wet food always have terrible, terrible cat food breath, while cats who eat dry food don't.

Like I said in my original answer, it's not strictly necessary to feed your cat both wet and dry food. But it's a good idea. Not just for their teeth and their weight, but for when you are not around. When wet food is left out in their dish, it becomes dry and crusty, and then they won't eat it. But dry food doesn't get all gross like that. So when you know you're going out and you won't be home for 14 hours, a plate of dry food to snack on is the perfect solution.

And Innova-Evo dry food really does make their coats super-soft and shiny. It's amazing. And the cats love it; mine are really picky eaters, but they never get tired of their Innova-Evo dry food.

I guess we will just have to agree to disagree. You sound like a very responsible pet owner, so I'm sure your cats are perfectly happy and healthy.

Amended to add: I was just going to let this go, because I really didn't want to get into a serious debate about freakin' cat food, you know. But the more I think about your argument, the more I have to say.

I have also posted the following argument in the question "Is soft food good for a cat or not?"

First of all, even cookies or dry cereal will scrape plaque off your teeth. Any crunchy food will help scrape the gunk off your teeth and your tongue. It's just that scraping plaque off your teeth and tongue doesn't get your whole mouth clean. I'll admit that dry food doesn't do a good job cleaning their teeth. My point was just that it's better than nothing. Since my cats fight me so violently whenever I try to stick a toothbrush in their mouths...I don't see any alternative besides dry food.

Yes, cats have a low thirst drive. What that means is that they don't drink liquids merely for the pleasure of it, the way humans do. They drink water only when their body signals to them that it needs water. If the cat eats dry food, and gets dehydrated, then its body will tell it to drink more water. It won't walk around dehydrated for the rest of its life, because it doesn't know it's thirsty. That doesn't make sense.

It's just irrational to say that an animal could remain dehydrated for the rest of its life, just because it's eating different food. Life on this planet would never have survived if animals were so incapable of adapting. Animals can go weeks without food, but not very long without water. If an animal didn't drink water unless it was provided for it in its food, then it would die. Our bodies -- humans and animals -- will do anything to survive, and are very good at survival. Which means that the urges to find food, water, and sex are extremely powerful.

Bottom line is, if an animal's body -- any animal's body -- needs more water, then it will alert the animal's brain that there is an extra need for water. This is absolutely crucial to any animal's survival.

In fact, I have actually heard this "dry food makes cats dehydrated" argument before. And I don't mean to be insulting -- I really, truly don't -- but the only people who ever make this argument are really elderly cat ladies who have all sorts of other "unique" ideas as well. No qualified veterinarian has ever had anything negative to say to me about dry food, and I have had many, many discussions about food with my vet over the years.

And -- just so you won't think my vet is some guy who works out of a 2nd-floor office somewhere in Queens -- my family and I have been going to one of the top veterinary clinics in New York City (Animal General) for over 30 years.

Your second argument -- about dry food being made with poorer-quality ingredients and cooked at a higher temperature which destroys nutrients -- does not apply to Innova-Evo dry food, or Back to the Wild dry food, or other similar high-protein, no-grain dry foods. Innova-Evo, Back to the Wild, etc. all make their food with the same high-quality ingredients -- NO grain -- that their wet food is made of. And they cook it at a very low temperature, to ensure that nutrients aren't destroyed.

I agree that a cat's diet should not be made up of just dry food. The thing is, I also think that a cat's diet should not be made up entirely of wet food, either. A healthy balance of the two is ideal, in my opinion.