There are a wide variety of cat food products on the market today. How do people choose the best food for their feline friends?
Before you head to the store to check out the boardwalk of various cat foods, there are three things to consider.
1. Activity and weight
2. Protein
3. Ingredients
Activity and weight
How active is your cat? Is your cat overweight? While a wide variety of cat food products on the market today classify themselves as “all life stages” foods, you need to consider the current health of your pet. Active cats need more calories to maintain their energy levels, while overweight cats need fewer calories or stay healthy and lose weight. Before you buy, consider the following:
* Does my cat sleep a lot?
* Is he / she active? (Running, playing with toys, etc.)
* Does he / she spend a lot of time in a room or does he / she wander around a lot?
* Is he / she an indoor or outdoor cat?
Through these questions you should be able to understand the type of food you need.
Protein
You scroll down the aisle and see lamb, fish and chicken. .Which one do you choose? If your feline friend is not allergic to food, the choice is easy as you can grab any of them. On a tight budget, chicken is often the cheapest. If your cat is allergic or sensitive to food, lamb is very popular for its hypoallergenicity. If your cat isn’t picky, fish is almost always a good choice, and there are many types of fish to choose from.
Ingredients
We recently learned in the news that “reading labels” is important for us to see what ingredients are in the foods we buy for ourselves. Did you know that reading labels is just as important when choosing food for our pets? Yes, unfortunately some pet food manufacturers fill the jars with “fillers” rather than high quality ingredients that are healthy.
What is a “filler”?
The filler is usually a wheat product, such as rice or corn. Are they really harmful to our cats? Yes, not at all. Fillers are often difficult to digest and do not provide optimal nutrition. You can eat some rice or corn, but like us, everything should be done in moderation. Excess rice and corn can cause many health problems in our cats, including obesity. Cats also develop allergic reactions based on exposure levels, which can cause more problems.
High-quality ingredients are essential for the quality of life of cats. Frugal or thrifty cat food is usually made from inexpensive ingredients and fillers and meets legal requirements for proteins, fats, carbohydrates, etc., but often passes directly through the cat’s digestive system without being absorbed. This means giving your cat more low-quality food to provide a small or normal amount of high-quality cat food. A bag of cheap cat food seems to make sense until you consider how quickly to pass it on, while maintaining the same nutritional level as the more expensive brands that require smaller portions.
Read the label
By law, cat food manufacturers must list their ingredients by weight. It is very important to read the back of the jar or bag. Look for a specific protein meat as the first item listed in the ingredients, such as chicken, lamb, or fish. The specific meat mentioned in the ingredients means that it does not include heads, legs, organs, feathers etc. as they are listed as “meat by-products” or the like.
