Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition. Lisa A. Pierson, DVMIf you do not want to read this entire webpage, please review this shortened version: Feeding Your Cat – Short version – 4 pages (updated November 2. Many readers of this website have kindly donated their valuable time to translate this important information into various languages. That may sound like a very obvious and basic statement but if you think about it. What does it mean to be an ? It means that cats lack specific metabolic (enzymatic) pathways and cannot utilize plant proteins as efficiently as animal proteins. It is very important to remember that not all proteins are created equal. Proteins derived from animal tissues have a complete amino acid profile. It is the protein’s biological value that is critical. Let’s ask ourselves the following question: How many cats become ill or die from these species- inappropriate diets yet the patient’s diet is never even questioned as a possible cause of the illness or death? You would never see a wild cat chasing down a herd of biscuits running across the plains of Africa or dehydrating her mouse and topping it off with corn meal. In the wild, your cat would be eating a high protein, high- moisture, meat/organ- based diet, with a moderate level of fat and with only approximately 1- 2 percent of her diet consisting of carbohydrates. Once you’ve established a diet which seems to have improved your pet’s health, it’s time to challenge with foods and look for symptoms to return. Homemade dog and cat treats are super simple to make! These recipes are a great way to make your own pet treats, especially if your pet has allergies! The average dry food contains 3. Why are we feeding such a species- inappropriate diet? However, is a carbohydrate- laden, plant- based, water- depleted dry food the best diet for our cats? Water is an extremely important nutrient that contributes to overall health in every living creature. The cat’s lack of a strong thirst drive can lead to low- level, chronic dehydration when dry food makes up the bulk of their diet especially if they have any level of kidney insufficiency. A cat’s normal prey contains approximately 7. Please keep in mind that when your cat starts eating a more appropriately hydrated diet of canned food, his urine output will increase which is a very good thing for bladder health. Free-Range Raw Chicken Cat Food Made with HPP'd chicken thighs and organs. Organic chicken thigh and leg meat, organic chicken heart, organic chicken liver, filtered. Because of this increase in urine production, litter boxes need to be scooped more frequently or more boxes need to be added to the home. Please see The Litter Box From Your Cat’s Point of View for reasons why I strongly feel that clumping litter is the only sanitary choice of litter to use for cats. He is 1. 8 years old and still runs around like a kitten. Learn How To Read a Pet Food Ingredient Label. For more details regarding pet food ingredient labels, see Commercial Foods. Note: If you are tempted to write to me to ask what food you should feed to your cat, understand that specific advice cannot be provided via email. Homemade Cat Treats; recipes to spoil your kitty without spoiling his diet! We will be talking about homemade cat food recipes that you can make at home. Here are also some useful tips and tricks you can follow. Not Difficult at All. Recipes for homemade cat hairball remedies are extremely easy to follow. They typically only involve getting your cat to eat the right things. We have a 20-year old cat, Smoki, who is a bit finicky, so I went looking for a recipe he would like. This one is my modification of Tuna Patty Treats for Your Cat. Making your own cat food is certainly a compromise from the 'ideal' diet for a cat. But unless you're willing to capture wild field mice and small birds and let your. This is why it is important to not just consider the list of ingredients but to also look at the Cat Food Composition chart, or call the company for the information. A good example of the above issue is a food like canned Wellness. At first glance, this food may be dismissed as inappropriate for a carnivore because it contains several high carbohydrate ingredients in the form of fruits and vegetables, including potatoes which are very high in starch (carbohydrate). However, the low carbohydrate level (3- 5%) tells us that the amount of fruits and vegetables is very low. Again, we would like to stay under 1. Grains and potatoes should be absent from a cat’s diet but, unfortunately, they are cheap so they are included in many commercial cat foods. Grains/potatoes are cheaper than meat. Stay away from food with gravy and sauces because they usually use high carbohydrate thickeners. Soy contains phytoestrogens and soy also negatively influences the thyroid gland. Given how common hyperthyroidism is in the cat, soy has no business being in cat food. Unfortunately, soy is a common ingredient used by many pet food manufacturers – especially Purina – because it enhances their profit margin. When considering allergies, the ingredient list is useful since we don’t care how much of the offending ingredient is in the food. In fact, they can be extremely nutritious. However, there is more variability when quality is being considered when compared to muscle meat. By- products are discussed in more detail on the Commercial Foods page in this section. The higher priced canned foods that I referenced above, have a muscle meat listed as the first ingredient. A muscle meat will be listed as “chicken,” or “turkey,” etc., not “chicken by- products” or “chicken by- product meal,” or “chicken broth” or “liver”.“Chicken meal” is technically a muscle meat but the term “meal” denotes that it has been rendered (cooked for a long time at very high temperatures) and is lower in quality than meat that has not been as heavily processed. A “meal” product is more commonly found in dry foods. By- products can include feet, intestines, feathers, egg shells, etc., which are less nutritious (less biologically valuable/digestible) than meat. Avoid foods listing “liver” as a first ingredient. Liver is cheaper than muscle meat so it will increase a company’s profit margin when used in high amounts. Preservatives are important ingredients that we need to pay attention to. This label originally started out in the dry food market but it has now made its way to canned food labels. A Siamese is no different from Persian or a Maine Coon – or an . No matter the breed, the cat is still an obligate carnivore. Royal Canin was one of the first companies to come out with these breed specific diets as a marketing gimmick. The labels on Hill’s over- the- counter products contain a statement that says “Veterinarian Recommended.”Unfortunately, many of my colleagues do, indeed, recommend products made by Hill’s (as well as Purina, Iams, and Royal Canin) and this is a testament to the fact that most veterinarians are not well- versed in proper feline nutrition and simply defer to these large companies that have huge marketing budgets. Back to top. I have never received an answer and the VIN threads have had Hill’s representatives participating. This field of study is not emphasized in veterinary schools and the minimal course work that is required, is often taught by people who have strong ties to the pet food industry. These are also usually the same people who are advising general practitioners on all matters of nutrition. In addition, they are simply not necessary and do not optimally address the problems they claim to treat. Add to this the very high price tag on these diets and we have what I consider to be a very big . Canned s/d is occasionally used but only temporarily (~2- 4 weeks) pending re- evaluation of the patient. Instead of defaulting to the . Since 2. 00. 3, I have spent a few hours in the kitchen 4- 6 times a year making food for my cats which is a very small price to pay for the control that I have over what goes into their food bowls. I do not feed any commercial food to my own cats and I would definitely never feed them any “prescription” diets. I would love to see veterinarians stop being so . This often leads to obesity. Fat cells produce a substance that makes the other cells in the body resistant to insulin. I strongly suggest that all caretakers of diabetic cats home- test to monitor blood glucose levels using a standard glucometer as a matter of routine. Please also note the following list of the first four ingredients of Hill’s dry k/d after reviewing this section on reading a pet food label – and bearing in mind that your cat is a carnivore. This diet (or any other dry . The rise in creatinine and BUN, and muscle wasting, can lead to an often- erroneous conclusion that the patient’s CKD is worsening. Of course, the same deterioration can occur in any cat that is not consuming enough protein, but the level of protein in these diets is not only at anextremely low level, it is in an incomplete form for a carnivore. The first paragraph on that webpage states: If I could have the reader take away just one word from this discussion, it would be “water”. Stones are also very common and can lead to a life- threatening urinary tract blockage. I sincerely hope that these pictures of Opie make a huge impact on anyone who is still not convinced that dry food causes significant suffering in many cats. However, they can become a problem if Man continues to insist on feeding the cat a water- depleted diet. Mindy and Mikie. Urine p. H is also often considered when discussing urinary tract problems but we really need to stop focusing so heavily on p. H. Again, a proper amount of water in the diet is the important issue here – not urine p. H. Many of the often- prescribed feline lower urinary tract diets are formulated to make the urine acidic but it is thought that these low magnesium, acidifying diets may actually exacerbate painful cystitis. Also, these acidifying diets often end up promoting calcium oxylate stone formation and can also lead to hypokalemia (low potassium in the blood) which can cause or exacerbate kidney disease. It is also important to note – for those people still stuck on worrying about the urine p. H – that there are many factors which determine the p. H of urine and only one of them is diet. Urine p. H varies throughout the day and using one p. H measurement from a single urine sample is very misleading and is not terribly helpful information. With regard to dry food and urinary tract health, aside from the lack of water in this type of diet, there is also a correlation between the consumption of a high carbohydrate diet and the formation of struvite crystals as shown by this study because carbohydrate diets promote an alkaline urine. Veterinarians often prescribe Hill’s Prescription dry c/d for urinary tract problems but again, these diets are only ten percent water and contain a high level of species- inappropriate ingredients and questionable preservatives. When this happens, the abuse of antibiotics continues. Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD): IBD can cause vomiting, diarrhea, and/or constipation in the cat.
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