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Senior Member
 
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| As carnivores, cats need a diet that is rich in digestible protein to thrive. From playful kittenhood through curious adulthood and into the senior years, cats’ nutritional needs change with each life stage. Special formulated diets help with certain conditions, such as hairballs, obesity, diabetes, digestive problems or kidney disease. Do you read cat food labels and pay attention to the list of ingredients? Do you know the purpose and benefit of each ingredient on the label? Did you put more thought into your cat’s diet when she was a kitten? Have you had to adjust your indoor adult cat’s diet to maintain optimum weight? Do you know about and have you used special formulated diets to treat specific feline conditions? How helpful were these diets? How about your senior cat? Have you found a diet that seems supportive of your cat’s less-active lifestyle or age-related conditions? Tell us how you approached your feeding decisions.
Purrs,
CAT MODERATOR
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Supreme Being
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As a vet tech student, I have to decide what direction I want to take my career after I graduate. Luckily for me, my friends, family and you guys I am specializing in Cats as well as Nutrition.
My first approach to selecting a cat food is IF YOUR CAT WON'T EAT IT, DON'T BUY IT. IT'S BETTER FOR KITTY TO EAT SOMETHING RATHER THAN NOTHING. Luckily, I have had few issues with my own cats in this department.
I learned a lot about nutrition from a Hills Science Diet Nutrition Representative that was a guest speaker at my college. It's what first got me interested in nutrition. I've also learned through discussions on the forums that not everyone is as well versed as others in what is good to feed their pets- my mother is a perfect example who only feeds her one indoor cat, and it gets some dog food and table scraps; the rest of the cats have to fend for themselves outside! I made it my mission to help educate the public about proper animal nutrition. Some things are more surprising than others.
Did you know that some corn in your cat's diet is not a bad thing? If they only are eating cat food and get no meat table scraps or catch their own prey outside, they aren't getting the fiber they need to push the food through the digestive tract properly so it can be absorbed optimally. The key is to look for the percentage of these grains in your cats diet. They should not exceed 25%, and if the number is higher, the moisture content should be higher as well.
Also, did you know that cats cannot produce an essential amino acid called Taurine? This is one reason why cat food is more expensive than dog food- that and the higher amount of meat/protein per serving. This amino acid has to be added to their diet. Dilated Cardiomyopathy was common until recently when nutrition experts figured out what the problem was. When they added taurine, low and behold, the cats were not contracting the disease nearly as much!
As many of you know, kittens go through growth spurts. You may see this in the beginning as periods where the kitten will be very sleep for about a week, and may not want to be handled as much. Give your kitten a little extra food during these time periods. Kittens usually stop growing around the 1 year mark- depending on the breed. So if your kitten is starting sleep more when they reach this stage and a little after, get them up and moving with cat dancers, feather wands and laser toys- don't let them turn into couch potatoes! This will enhance the bond between the two of you, allow your cat to keep fit, and help relieve stress for you as you laugh at your kitty's silly notions.
Did you know that Senior pets require lower amounts of carbs and fats, but increased proteins, vitamins and minerals once they reach 7-8 years of age. Look for these on the food label.
If you don't know how to read a food label, here's a helpful tip: DON'T READ IT LIKE YOU WOULD A HUMAN FOOD LABEL! Ingredients on pet foods are listed 99% of the time by weight, not amount. So even though there may only be 1/4 cup of meat and a 1/2 cup of corn by-product, the meat will be listed first, NOT the corn. This can be very deseving. I always suggest reading the side panel that lists the major ingredients by percentages.
Is your cat prone to UTI? Instead of putting them on a prescription diet all the time, try maintaining them with a diet that contains low amounts of ASH or MAGNESIUM. I suggest Dad's Indoor Cat Food. It's also really inexpensive!
I hope these tips may prove useful to you!
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Supreme Being
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Is your cat prone to UTI? Instead of putting them on a prescription diet all the time, try maintaining them with a diet that contains ASH or MAGNESIUM. I suggest Dad's Indoor Cat Food. It's also really inexpensive!
I thought ASH or MAGNESIUM was BAD BAD BAD for cats w/UTI and crystals/stones? I think you need a food LOW in those. I'm thinking it was a typo -- otherwise excellent advice Vettech!
- SuperCat
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Supreme Being
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yes, that is what I meant by low amounts of ash or magnesium. You usually can't avoid having this in most cat foods. it's a filler and helps hold the kibble together. So look for foods that have LOW amounts of ash or magnesium. It should be as far down on the ingredients list as you can find.
Got Facebook? Join my group, FeLV Advocate, and support pro-life beliefs for feline leukemia cats!
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Supreme Being
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| I'm a label reading nazi, my rule of thumb is that meat has to be the first two ingredients of any type of food i buy for my fur family- even my ferals, which gets really pricey quick! I read down until I need a chemistry degree to figure out what the supplements they put in there are. I like Wysong Canine/Feline canned varieties because the ingredients list is Meat, water sufficient for processing, animal plasma, that's it! Nature's logic is like that as well, but sadly my indoor fur family won't touch either of them. While Vettechgirl, is right they do need some carbs, i don't like corn in cat food, oats, rices, even peas, but not corn. I love petfooddirect, because i can read labels, percentages et al from the comfort of my computer, before I even leave my house- which also helps tell me where to shop too since not every chain carries every label.
My cats own my house they just permit me to live there. Only cat lovers know the luxury of fur-coated, musical hot water bottles that never go cold."
- Susanne Millen 
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Junior Member
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Last Login: 1/6/2009 5:32:09 PM
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| Right now I mainly feed my cat dry food, but he also likes a little bit of wet food. However, it seems to me that canned foods must be full of preservatives (like canned human food), so I want to switch to him to raw food or dehydrated food. Does anyone have a recommendation? Thanks a lot.
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Supreme Being
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Nature's Variety. You have to keep it frozen, and then it takes a while to thaw. You have to pull out however many servings your cat will get in a day the day before.
My four cats would each get one patty twice daily- So I had to pull out Thursday's meals on Wednesday morning so they could thaw. A bit of a hassle, but worth it if that's where you want to go.
Got Facebook? Join my group, FeLV Advocate, and support pro-life beliefs for feline leukemia cats!
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Supreme Being
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Vinnie251 (10/18/2008)
However, it seems to me that canned foods must be full of preservatives (like canned human food)Actually, canned food (human or pet food) does not contain a lot of preservatives, because the canning process preserves the food without added chemicals. There may be concerns about canned food being overprocessed, because the canning process does heat the food to evry high temps, but preservatives are not usually used in canned foods.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------Educate, don't amputate! Don't de-claw your cat! http://www.declawing.com/ http://www.pawsneedclaws.com/
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Member
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Last Login: 11/20/2008 8:00:02 PM
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Do you read cat food labels and pay attention to the list of ingredients?
Yes
Do you know the purpose and benefit of each ingredient on the label?
More or less.
Did you put more thought into your cat’s diet when she was a kitten?
She is a kitten, but no. I feed a grade of food that does not need to be fed in stages.
Have you had to adjust your indoor adult cat’s diet to maintain optimum weight?
I feed her according to the label on the bag. Not free choice.
Do you know about and have you used special formulated diets to treat specific feline conditions? How helpful were these diets?
Never had to do this. All of my previous cats were very healthy as is Chloe.
How about your senior cat? Have you found a diet that seems supportive of your cat’s less-active lifestyle or age-related conditions?
I have not had a cat past age 8 yet. So far no special dietary needs.
Tell us how you approached your feeding decisions.
My cat is fed California Natural dry food as well as a weekly treat of wet food and occasional raw meat scraps. I came to this choice after reading a lot about food labels on dogfoodproject.com and coming to understand animal nutrition due to a dog with allergies and immune system issues. High grad food saved my dog and I think that if it could improve the life of a sick animal how much more could it do so for healthy ones.I spend a lot of time reading and researching and talking to other pet owners on the internet as well.
http://www.catchannel.com/blog/viewbio.aspx?apid=110347
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Junior Member
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Do you read cat food labels and pay attention to the list of ingredients?
I did until I stopped feeding commercial foods.
Do you know the purpose and benefit of each ingredient on the label?
Of course, I'm planning on becoming a animal nutritionist so I'm starting to learn and form my own opinions before I get the Science Diet b.s. pitch
Did you put more thought into your cat’s diet when she was a kitten?
Hermes is a kitten and he's one of the many reasons that I switched to raw. He had horrible diarrhea on and off for almost a month and stopping it was as simple as getting rid of the kibble.
Have you had to adjust your indoor adult cat’s diet to maintain optimum weight?
Many times. Calypso is genetically prone to obesity even though she's very active.
Do you know about and have you used special formulated diets to treat specific feline conditions? How helpful were these diets?
I haven't used any special diets because I knew they were a waste of my money. I would rather feed my cats fresh meat than give them unnamed animal waste and unneeded fillers and fiber.
I guess that most people can tell that I'm not a supporter of feeding commercial foods. I've been struggling for almost 2 years with Calypso's weight, anal gland problems, and skin sensitivity. She's had to be sedated more than any cat should be and her problems only got a little better with premium quality foods. I'm just starting raw feeding (which my vet approved by the way) but they already have more energy and the litter box is a lot easier to clean. I also get the comfort of knowing exactly what my cats are eating, down to the organs.
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