Hi everyone,
Please find below some useful tips in form of a Guest Post by the team from Pets at Home:
It can be hard keeping track of a cat’s diet – especially outdoor cats who are incredibly skilled at hunting, or encouraging the kindness of strangers! But for indoor cats, and when exploring felines are making a stop off at home, making sure cats are getting a balanced, nutritious diet is really important – as important as it is for humans!
There are plenty of options out there for cat menus, with wet food and dry food – not to mention treats! – tempting owners’ wallets and cats’ bellies. While there are plenty of arguments to be had over the best food to feed your cat, we’ve got a few tips on making sure your kitty eats healthily.
Much like with humans, cat nutrition goes through its fair share of trends. At the moment, there’s plenty of aficionados pushing the benefits of a totally raw cat diet, and its underlying principle that meat is one of the best things for cats is certainly the right idea.
Wet food, packed full of fresh meats for carnivorous cats to get their teeth into, is a strong foundation for a feline meal plan. Rich in protein and fats, cats’ digestive systems are designed to break down meats, and get the most from them.
Still, dry food has plenty of benefits – good for grazing throughout the day, and can sometimes help with cleaning kitty fangs thanks to its crunchy texture, it also keeps a lot longer than wet food does.
But it’s not just fat and protein that cats need. Whatever food you’re giving to your four-legged friend, make sure that it’s a complete diet, with a balanced amount of vitamins and minerals.
We all know that cats love treats – small doses of fresh meat and fish, cooked eggs and cheese in addition to their meals can be great motivators during playtime, or a way to reward good behaviour, but should only be given in moderation to avoid weight gain. At all costs, avoid raisins, grapes, chocolate, caffeine and onions, as they can all be harmful to cat bellies!
Making sure cats are eating healthily is an essential way to keep them in good health, with strong bones, healthy joints, and at a weight that lends itself well to leaping about the house!
For more advice about caring for your cat, visit Pets at Home’s cat nutrition website here.
Good topic to bring up. So many pet owners know next to nothing about animal nutrition, and it’s important if for no other reason than to help keep the furry guys healthy and away from the vet.
One thing not mentioned about canned food is that since it contains more liquids, it can be helpful for kitties who need a lot of water. You can add water to the food and stir it in for even more liquid intake. 🙂
Parker
Good idea about the water part! This can vary from food to food btw. I feed mine chicken cooked in its own juices so it has a bit of fat and oil but not as much liquid as some other wet food.
Well, kitties are little compared to us, so what seems like a small amount is probably proportionally large for them?
That is true indeed. I was listening to some cat care tips at a conference yesterday and they drink small amounts often normally. 🙂
Reblogged this on MoéGrrL.
Thank you! 🙂
I really appreciated this information, thank you! (My cat was a street lass who wandered in, my knowledge of cats was minimal.)
You are welcome ^^
It would be so great to see articles about feeding cats high content meat food, my cat Bella passed due to kidney failure and I was advised by the vet that whiskas and Felix was not what I should be feeding my cats and the High content food is what I should be feeding, so Molly my cat now gets hilife. Unfortunately people feed whiskas and Felix because of the marketing. Hilife is 60% meat content and so it more what your cat needs, it also helps to keep them full, whiskas and Felix are 4% meat/fish derivatives which actually means no meat content just all the end bits left over. I think there should be more education on what people should be feeding cats, or at least an industry wide standard
There certainly should be… I feed mine canagan and applaws which is pure meat. Unless you go for things like chicken with pumpkin for obvious reasons 😉 not commonly known but both Felix and Whiskas also have a premium range which is the same meat content as hi life. The problem here are mainly the supermarkets not selling it as the markup on the premium range is appalling for them!
I can not even find the premium range of whiskas and Felix on their own websites! Well I am certainly happy I feed hi life as it us the same meat content as the 2 foods you feed so I must be doing it right 🙂 also worth mentioning is feline fayre cat food that I beleive is around 40-50% meat content and priced on par with Felix and whiskas 🙂
How odd… Maybe they only do the premium versions in Germany O.O. That’s where I saw them 🙁
Yes well you are in the UK now lol we never get the same things, also maybe they are better educated in Germany and so the market calls for a premium version 🙂
XD. Quite possibly… I’ll have a look though now LOL
Very informative article thanks for posting! I know I have a pair special needs cats and they only can eat fresh warm milk, hamburger and little bits of goat cheese. Cow cheese has large fat molecule that can cause blockages so be careful when feeding small or sickly cats cow milk.
Oh wow. Mine love cheese too!
Yeah they go nuts for it! It is there breakfast every other morning <3
Mine get cheese as treats only 😮
Great info! My cat doesn’t eat wet food, it just falls right out of his mouth. :S But the vet says he’s healthy, phew.
Some cats don’t like wet food for odd reasons… It took me loads of trialling to find a wet food that my two will eat without leaving most of it on the floor after sucking out the flavours LOL
Good to know! My cat will lick up all the saucy parts but leave everything else, ha ha. I might keep trying though. 🙂
That’s the problem we had originally. Have you tried one that’s just meat cooked in its own broth?
No, I haven’t tried that yet. It’s a good idea, though. Something I would cook myself?
You could. Though I buy mine in ready cooked tins from canagan and applaws. I’ve reviewed both on the blog so if you type that in the search box you should find them. If not let me know and I can dig them out. 🙂
Oh perfect, I’ll look into it. Thanks so much! 🙂
You are welcome. 🙂
Thanks for the info! We changed our cats to a dry food with meat as the first ingredient and every Saturday, they get wet food. They LOVE the wet food! And for some reason, they seem to know when Saturday comes around too. LOL
Haha. My two get wet in the morning and dry in the evening just because I want them to have a balanced diet. I also feed pure meat rather Han the supermarket wet food. Their fur has gotten so soft and shiny from the oil in the chicken it’s amazing. 🙂
Cats go nuts for the wet food. I’ve found that the cats we had for years suffered from lack of nutritious food and exercise. They literally lived the lives of fat cats.
Ma balanced diet is just as important for them as is for us yes.