CAT CARE

FEEDING YOUR CAT

Good nutrition gives your cat the means to fight off infection and illness. Just like people, a healthy diet, combined with exercise gives a cat that glow of physical and mental well-being. Feed your cat a diet of high quality premium cat food that contains no meat by-products, indigestible fillers, dyes or chemical preservatives. Even though these kinds of food may cost more, your cat will eat less, be more satisfied and you will be able to see the results-- glossy coat, smooth skin, alert, shiny eyes.

A good or bad diet is quickly reflected in the main organ of the cat's body, the skin. Together with the cat's fur, which grows an amazing amount per day, one can easily pick the well-nourished cats from those lacking in basic nutrients or not eating high quality food.

Cats are carnivores and most commercially available cat foods have sufficient protein levels. Canned cat foods should list animal protein as one of the first two ingredients. Dry foods should list animal protein as one of the first four ingredients. Approximately 40 per cent of a cat's food calories should come from fat, ideally animal fat. Cats do not really require carbohydrates in their diets.

Natural diet
While the world gets more high tech and "advanced", it also gets more removed from nature. Many people have realized that the secrets to maintaining health and energy, often lie in nature rather than in technology. As people turn to natural remedies and healthy eating, they've also found that their cats can benefit by natural diets too!

In our country people normally do not prefer feeding their cats canned food and like to feed natural diet. But what is important is that the diet should be balanced and complete. When making your own food, it is crucial to achieve the correct balance of nutrients. This is not easy. Too much or too little of necessary nutrients can actually make your cat ill. There are several books available that deal with natural nutrition and health that can be helpful.

Biologically, a cat's body is designed to eat raw meat. Published studies have indicated that raw meat may actually be more digestible than cooked meat. Raw meat is also an excellent source of taurine, an essential amino acid. Fat, whether animal or vegetable is easily digestible and does not need to be cooked when fed to cats. Some of the feline nutritional requirements for fatty acids can be obtained from vegetable fats. However, arachidonic acid, an essential fatty acid, only comes from animal fat.

Vegetable starches when fed to cats, must be cooked to be easily digested. From protein, cats bodies can manufacture sufficient quantities of sugar to maintain blood glucose levels, so they may not require carbohydrates in their diets. Use whole grains to get the benefit of vitamins, minerals and fiber. When using raw meat in cat diets, it is recommended to buy meat from reliable sources. Always use high quality ingredients. Expensive, lean cuts of meat are not necessary - animal fat is good for cats.