The most important thing to keep in mind when we think of the best composition of a cat food is that all cats are strict carnivores. That is, they are forced to obtain all their food from meat. In other words, the entire nutritional spectrum necessary for the proper functioning of the cat organism is contained in fresh meat. This includes everything: mineral salts, vitamins and the broad spectrum of amino acids needed to make all their proteins.

So that you do not have doubts about whether your cat is having the best nutrition, in this article we will detail the best composition of a good feed for cats.

Interpretation of the cat feed label

Trademarks are required to indicate on the packaging the composition of all products, so it is essential to know how to interpret it:

• The products appear named according to their proportion within the composition. They are arranged in descending order. The majority ingredient will be the first to appear.
• Being clear that the felines are carnivores, we must observe that the greater percentage, that is to say the ingredient that leaves first, is meat.

Types of meat that make up cat food

It is very important to note the difference between reading 30% of fresh chicken meat than 30% of animal byproducts. In the term subproducts of animal origin, manufacturers can include any type of waste from the cutting of meat or fish. The factories of human feeding generate some waste not apt to feed to the humans that, later, they sell to the factories of animal feeding. Here heads, picks, nails are included. parts that normally a cat would not eat.

Types of proteins found in cat food

The cats must ingest proteins of animal origin which are the ones that have all the amino acids they need. The proteins of vegetable origin do not provide all the necessary amino acids in the synthesis of their proteins. To understand better, it is worth mentioning that proteins are composed of amino acids. After digestion the animal recovers the separated amino acids and synthesizes new proteins. It could be a simile that the amino acids are letters and the words proteins, after the digestion the separated letters are obtained and organizing them new words are composed.

Ingredients not needed in the cat’s diet

Another ingredient that is not needed in the diet is the beet fiber, that only provides structure to the stool. This fiber comes from the sugar companies that once they have extracted all the juice from the beets, obtain a paste of vegetable fibers, which again end up buying the animal feed companies.

By adding more structure to the feces, it makes us think that our animal has an optimal intestinal transit with this type of feed.

Example of labels in a high quality cat feed

In this label it specifies what type of meat makes up each percentage. Most are ingredients that we associate with a balanced diet. They are easy to interpret names that do not sow doubts about what we are buying to feed our cat.

Example of labels in a low quality feed

In these two labels we observed that the first ingredient is no longer of animal origin, which would be what our cat needs. And most of the animal components are cited as by-products of animal origin, not like fresh meats or dehydrated meats.

The State University of Costa Rica has found extensive studies collected in Animal Nutrition [1] in which they give great importance to the use of different flavorings in the different ages of the animal to, thus, make the feed more palatable according to the biological demands of age of the individual. This study is something that big brands of animal feed know well.

The importance of water

We can not forget that the fresh meat that a feline would eat in its natural environment contains from 70 to 80% of water. When feeding our cat with dry feed, we only provide 5-10% water. Animals do not have the sensation of thirst like humans and, therefore, do not drink enough water to compensate for the difference. Thus, feeding a cat with dry feed alone is not recommended, because it would be poorly hydrated and this will cause kidney problems in the future. This is the subject most insisted on by feline nutrition experts, such as Dr. Lisa A. Pierson in her studies [2], a veterinarian specializing in cat nutrition.

That said, we hope that this article has helped solve your doubts about proper feeding in cats and know how to choose a good feed for cats. You may be interested in knowing some recipes of homemade wet cat food or the article on “How to detect kidney stones in cats”.

If you want to read more articles similar to Composition of the feed for cats, we recommend that you enter in our section of balanced diets.