Cats require the following in their diet:
- Protein from a meat source
- Taurine, an essential amino acid (for heart & eye health)*
- Certain other vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and fatty acids (for skin, coat, joint & overall health)*
- Water
Cats do not need carbohydrates. Carbohydrates can be in the form of the following: corn, corn meal, wheat, gluten meal, soy, rice, barley, oat, potatoes, etc. And they are often found in the ingredient labels on cat foods.
Not only do cats not need carbohydrates, many of them are allergens and difficult for cats to digest. Of these, corn, corn meal, gluten, soy, and wheat are the worst offenders. And they are the most common ingredients in cheap, "supermarket" brand cat foods, used as "fillers", making these brands of cat food little more than meat-flavored cereal.
Unfortunately, virtually all commercial cat food contains some amount of carbs as fillers and to help hold food together (particularly dry food varieties), but some are better than others. Rice, barley, oats and potatoes are the lesser of the evils. Cats are far less likely to be allergic to them, and they are easier to digest. Still, the further down the ingredient list they are, the better.
Ingredients on pet food labels, like in human foods, are listed in order from most to least. So when you're reading your labels, be aware of that. Are you seeing things like "corn meal", "corn", "gluten meal" towards the top of the ingredient list? If so, it's a low-quality brand of cat food.
Ideally, it is said that an obligate carnivore's diet should consist no more of 10-12% carbohydrates. Anything over 20% is considered too high. Cats can't really store and convert carbohydrates that well, and while cats need fat calories in their diet, fat should come from animal sources, not plant-based sources (like grains).
Next, there's protein.
As obligate (true) carnivores, a cat needs protein, and a high-quality source of protein. Cheap cat foods may contain protein (enough to get the AAFCO "stamp of approval"), but what is the source? Let's look at the ingredient list.
Are you seeing things like "meat by-product", "poultry by-product", "meat and bone meal", "animal digest" in the ingredient list?
- Meat "by-product" (which includes all named "by-product" sources, such as poultry, lamb, beef, etc) is the "leftovers" or offals of processed meat animals. Sometimes, it's not even identifiable. Sometimes, it's roadkill. Sometimes, it's manure, feathers, blood, feet, beaks, tails, and other ingredients unfit for consumption. This is not a high-quality meat source, it's utter crap (literally!)
- "Meat and bone meal" is the lowest quality meal source. It's basically ground up bones and meat from an unidentifiable animal source.
- "Animal digest" - as you can probably guess, often contain the insides of an animals stomach, and is often made into a broth to put into pet food.
Not sure if what you see on your pet's food label is good or evil? A good glossary of common pet food ingredients can be found here: http://www.petfoodratings.net/glossary.html
Surprisingly, a LARGE amount of pet food on the market is "sub-standard". Brands like "Friskies", "Whiskas", even "Science Diet" have reported these low-quality ingredients in pet food! Unfortunately, these brands are often the most readily available and the cheapest. They're available at almost all supermarkets and pet stores for less, making their accessibility even greater to the average, uneducated consumer. These cheap, cereal-like cat foods are akin to fast food for humans. They may taste great (and your cat may love eating them), but nutritionally, they're garbage. Studies show that cats that are continually fed a diet consisting mainly of low-quality dry food are more likely to develop feline diabetes, obesity, urinary tract problems, kidney problems, liver damage, cancer, and other serious illnesses.
So what can you feed your pet? What is healthy? What should you look for on a cat food label?
- For starters, you should be looking in a pet store, not a supermarket. "Petco" pet stores carry a large amount of pet food by many brands. You can use the site's "store locator" to find a store near you, or shop online at petco.com.
- Next, picking up a cat food, you should check the label and see what is listed as the first ingredient. If it's not an identifiable animal source ("chicken", "lamb", "rabbit", etc), put it back. Optimally, you should be looking for a cat food that contains most of its protein from identifiable meat sources. Meals are okay, too, as long as they come from identifiable animal sources (i.e., "chicken meal"). Avoid anything that's labled as "meat meal" or "by-product".
- Fish ingredients should be minimized. Somewhat surprisingly, fish is said to be dangerous for cats in high amounts. I would recommend against feeding anything with fish (fish meal, fish meat, including salmon, herring, oceanfish, etc) too close to the top of the ingredient list on a daily basis. Fish oil is okay. You can read more about why fish is dangerous for cats here (written by a vet): http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=whyfishisdangerousforcats
- As discussed earlier, avoid anything that has "gluten meal", "corn", "corn meal", "soy", "wheat" in the label. These are cheap carbohydrate "fillers" found in low-quality cat foods, offer no nutritional value, are high on the allergen list, and are hard for cats to digest. Grains like rice (brown rice is best), oat, barley are okay, and better if they are lower down the ingredient list.
- Avoid chemical preservatives like BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin, or propyl gallate. These are carcinogenic and unnecesscary in pet food.
- Avoid added artificial flavors, sugars (including corn syrup), and salt.
- Look for added taurine, omega 3s, omega 6s, flaxseed, and vitamins A, E, and B. Cats produce their own Vitamin K & C, so they're not necesscary ingredients, although a lot of cat food (even high quality cat food) contains Vitamin K & C supplements. Vitamin D is often added as well, although many cats can gain enough Vitamin D from basking in the sun. ;)
- If you're able to find a cat food of this quality, the chances are good that it will be approved as "complete and balanced" by the AAFCO. But as we've seen, simply relying on this 'stamp of approval' to tell us what's good and what's not is not a good way of determining quality pet food, as even the "junk" cat food gets the stamp of approval by the AAFCO.
Example of an "low quality" cat food: Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Ground Yellow Corn, Brewers Rice, Powdered Cellulose, Beef Tallow Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols (Source of Vitamin E), Soybean oil, Turkey By-Product Meal, Salmon Meal, Fish Meal (Source of Oceanfish Flavor), Brewers Dried Yeast, Gelatin, Calcium Carbonate, Phosphoric Acid, Potassium Chloride, Animal Digest, Yetra Sodium Pyrophosphate, Choline Chloride, Salt, DL-Methionine, Taurine, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Citric Acid, L-Alanine, Niacin, Manganese Sulfate, Red 40, Vitamin E Supplement, Yellow 5, Lysine, Blue 2, Copper Sulfate, Calcium Pantothenic, Vitamin A Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Sodium Selenite, Folic Acid, Calcium Iodate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Biotin, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source of Vitamin K Activity).
| Example of a "high quality" cat food: Deboned Turkey, Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Whitefish Meal, Potatoes, Salmon Meal, Natural Chicken Flavor. Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, a natural source of Vitamin E), Tomato Pomace, Cranberries, Chicory Root Extract, Salmon Oil, Flaxseed, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Thiamine Mononitrate, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Beta-Carotene, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin B-12 Supplement), Choline Chloride, Minerals (Zinc Proteinate, Zinc Sulfate, Iron Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Manganese Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Yucca Schidigera Extract, Dried Kelp, Taurine, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Enterococcus Faecium, Lactobacillus Casei, Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Rosemary Extract. |
