Hi, I’m Dr. Karyn! Read my introduction to learn more about me and meet my five hilarious cats: Clutch, Cyril, Alex, Zelda, and Zazzles.
One of the vital common questions I get asked by pet owners is: What Is The Best Food For My Cat? The honest answer is that there isn’t a one food that’s the very best. One of the best food on your cat could be the worst option for the cat living round the corner.
There are actually lots of of various pet food brands and varieties because every cat is different, every household is different, and each budget is different. So, how do you make the precise alternative on your cat?
The very first thing to know is that I’d rarely classify any cat food as “bad”, but some are definitely higher than others. Provided that you just are purchasing FDA and AAFCO-compliant cat food from a good source, you’re purchasing a product that has been tested as secure for cats. But identical to with human food, being “fit for human consumption” doesn’t necessarily equate to “good for you.”
The overriding good thing about feeding your cat a business weight loss program over a home-prepared food is that they’ve undergone evaluation to make sure they contain the suitable balance of fats, protein, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals. This could be achieved with homemade foods, however it does require loads more planning. So today, I’m just going to concentrate on business, aka store-bought, cat food.
Classic dry food has its benefits…
There Are So Many Options – How Do I Select?
One in every of the only pieces of recommendation for selecting the very best food on your cat is to pick the best quality food you may afford. This obviously implies that the higher the standard, the upper the worth, but I don’t necessarily agree that the costliest food is at all times the very best food, and it definitely may not be the very best food on your cat.
So how will we know which food to decide on? I prefer to ask a number of inquiries to narrow down our selections.
- What life stage is your cat? Kitten, young adult, mature adult, or senior?
- How lively is your cat?
- Is your cat obese or underweight?
- Does your cat have any health conditions or potential health issues because of their breed or genetics?
- Does your cat have any allergies?
- Does your cat go outdoors or are they strictly an indoor cat?
- Do you have got a preference for wet food or dry food?
- How concerned are you about litter box odor?
- What’s your budget?
Wet vs. Dry
Which is best? Again, it relies on your cat. Some argue that wet food is healthier for hydration and kidney health, while others recommend dry food for dental health. Each and neither is true.
Dry food is barely good for teeth whether it is a large-size kibble designed to get cats chewing the food, otherwise there may be actually little or no chewing involved with dry food.
Wet food is generally around 80% moisture, so it could possibly be method to boost your cat’s hydration, however the flipside is that cats that eat dry food are inclined to drink more water, whereas cats on a wet food weight loss program rarely visit the water bowl unless there may be an issue.
Some cats prefer wet food over dry, some appear to vomit or regurgitate dry food, others don’t tolerate wet food too well. So the choice to feed wet or dry, or a mix of the 2, is one for you and your cat to determine.
Alex having fun with his scatter-fed dry food
Raw Feeding
That is something that has gained popularity over recent years, and there may be a right and fallacious method to do it. Cats fed a raw weight loss program are at the next risk of being infected with internal parasites and pathogens, but this risk is minimized with appropriate preparation and storage.
Again, the very best method to be certain your cat’s raw weight loss program incorporates the precise balance of nutrients is to source it from a good pet food provider. Just feeding your cat raw meat alone will result in serious nutrient deficiencies and could be dangerous.
Why Does Price Matter?
What this comes all the way down to is the standard of the protein (meat) used, how much “other” ingredients are included, and the way mass produced the product is.
As you may imagine, a cat food produced from prime quality veal, with minimal additives, which is produced in smaller batches to permit for stricter quality control procedures, goes to cost loads greater than foods which can be based totally on meat meal and carbohydrates, and mass-produced in large batches. Again, these foods are secure, they’re just not nearly as good.
One other thing to look at out for are foods that look appealing. When business cat food is ready, it often undergoes heat treatment to eliminate any potential pathogens, and this process leeches many of the natural pigments from food. That is why you’ll often notice that premium and veterinary diets are a sea of brown and beige. In the event you see vivid oranges, reds, or greens in your cat’s food, it’s due to artificial coloring, and that’s done to appeal to us, to not our cats.
To provide you an example, here’s a comparison between two dry cat foods.
The one on the precise is a premium brand often beneficial by vets (additionally it is one which I feed my very own cats).
On the left is a well-liked brand stocked by pet stores and supermarkets. Each are certified as secure for cats, and there isn’t a danger in feeding your cat the food on the left, unless they don’t tolerate it well. Nevertheless it does offer you an idea of what you’re paying for.
| Budget Dry Food Ingredients | Premium Dry Food Ingredients |
| Ground Yellow Corn, Corn Gluten Meal, Poultry By-Product Meal, Soybean Meal, Animal Fat Preserved With Mixed-Tocopherols, Liver Flavor, Meat And Bone Meal, Ocean Fish Meal, Phosphoric Acid, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Choline Chloride, Salmon Meal, Tuna Meal, Shrimp Meal, Dehydrated Seaweed Meal, Taurine, Minerals (Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Vitamins [Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin (Vitamin B-3), Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate (Vitamin B-5), Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B-1), Riboflavin Supplement (Vitamin B-2), Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B-6), Folic Acid (Vitamin B-9), Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Biotin (Vitamin B-7), Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Vitamin K)], Yellow 5, Dl-Methionine, L-Tryptophan, Red 40, Blue 2. | Dehydrated poultry protein, rice, maize, vegetable fibers, wheat, vegetable protein isolate*, animal fats, hydrolysed animal proteins, maize gluten, beet pulp, yeasts and parts thereof, minerals, soya oil, fructo-oligo-saccharides, fish oil, psyllium husks and seeds (0.5%).
Vitamin A: 14000 IU, Vitamin D3: 700 IU, E1 (Iron): 33 mg, E2 (Iodine): 3.3 mg, E4 (Copper): 10 mg, E5 (Manganese): 43 mg, E6 (Zinc): 129 mg, E8 (Selenium): 0.07 mg |
This Isn’t a Guilt Trip!
Let me be clear: I’m not attempting to make you’re feeling guilty in case your cats are on a lower budget food. You will not be putting them at risk, you will not be a foul cat parent. And in case your cat is joyful and healthy and thriving, then there isn’t a reason to repair something that isn’t broken.
But I see quite a lot of otherwise healthy cats which can be at all times hungry, and passing quite a lot of loose and smelly poops, and more often than not, this could be addressed with a change in weight loss program. That doesn’t mean it’s essential start buying the costliest food within the shop, but chances are you’ll wish to spend just a bit bit more.
It All Comes Out within the Box
The litter box, that’s. Identical to with us, when our cats eat foods that contain quite a lot of additives and ingredients which can be surplus to requirement, we see the outcomes at the opposite end. In case your cat farts loads, poops greater than a couple of times a day, and clears a room once they use the litter box, it’s an indication that they aren’t digesting their food well. This might mean that they’ve a health problem, or it might just be an indication that they aren’t eating the precise food for them.
My home office doubles as our cat room, and the litter boxes are right beside my desk. With five cats, litter box odor and hygiene are a priority for me. Due to the style of food my cats eat, and the style of litter we use, their poop only smells for a minute or two. So if I’m not within the room in the intervening time they go, I don’t notice any smell—and I actually have quite the sensitive nose.
So I do spend a bit more on food and litter, but in case you’re not spending the day sitting next to a litter box, you may probably get away with spending a bit less.
Price vs. Value
One major consideration when selecting the precise food on your cat is price. Obviously, the upper quality foods cost more, BUT more often than not, you furthermore may feed loads less.
In the event you take the food examples we checked out earlier, the quantity of the budget food needed to feed a 10-pound cat is around ¾ to 1 cup per day. The identical sized cat would want ½ to ¾ of a cup per day of the premium brand. It would still cost you more, but each pound of food will last twice as long.
In the event you saw my video on Scatter Feeding, you would possibly have noticed that I took one scoop of food from the bag. That scoop measures just over 1 cup, and that’s for all five cats. Yes, a single cup for five cats, twice a day, which works out to about half a cup per cat per day. They don’t go hungry, they usually’re all in good body condition. Aside from Cyril; he really skews the figures!
Hey Dr Karyn – what’s the very best food for my cat?
Sorry folks, there isn’t a right answer. But hopefully, this may help guide you to seek out the precise food on your cat and your budget. Consider your cat’s age, health, and preferences. Work out what features are essential to you, spend a while looking over the ingredients, and find the very best product inside your budget that your cat enjoys eating.
Consult with your vet and be certain there aren’t some other specific needs you need to be addressing on your cat, and use tools like body condition scoring to make sure that your cat is on the precise amount of food too – overfeeding results in overspending, and obese cats.
Next time, I’ll talk over with you about find out how to select the precise cat litter, one other feature that is essential for me in my office/cat latrine!
