It is not news that many pet food brands promote that they provide healthy diets and that as guardians we try to provide the best for our cats, so how can we make it easy on ourselves while we assess the current diet we provide them with and what do we need to be looking for? 3 questions need to be the cornerstone of our rationale: Is the water content too low? Is the carbohydrate load too high? What type of protein are they eating - too high in plant-based versus animal-based proteins But why do we need to concern ourselves with all this? A lot of people will say: “My Cat is Doing Just Fine on Dry Food!” However consider the following: Every cat suffering from diabetes was “fine” until we started to recognize the signs of diabetes. Every cat with a blocked urinary tract was “fine” until they started to strain and urinate and either died from a ruptured bladder. Every cat with an inflamed bladder (cystitis) was “fine” until they ended up in pain, passing blood in their urine, and missing their litter box - soiling the home through no fault of their own. Every cat was fine until the feeding of species-inappropriate caught up with him and he started to show signs of food intolerance, inflammatory bowel disease or asthma. Every cat was fine until that kidney or bladder stone got big enough to cause clinical signs. The point is that diseases brew long before being noticed by the living being. So bottom line, we need to focus on preventative nutrition. All urinary tract systems are much healthier with an appropriate amount of water flowing through them. Painful, life threatening and very expensive-to-treat urinary tract obstructions commonly occur when cats (especially males) are fed dry food. Urinary Tract Diseases are serious medical emergencies but are extremely uncommon among cats fed canned food - especially if extra water is added to the canned food. Also, cats (males and females) that are fed a water-rich diet of canned food are much less likely to end up with painful cystitis. Cats inherently have a low thirst drive and need to consume water with their food. A cats normal prey is ~70 - 75% water; dry food is only 5-10% water. Contrary to the wishful thinking of cat guardians, cats do not make up this deficit at the water bowl. Several studies have shown that cats on canned food consume double the amount of water when compared to cats on dry food when all sources (food and water bowl) are considered. Carbohydrates wreak havoc on some cats blood sugar/insulin balance predisposing them to diabetes. Dry foods, as well as some canned foods, are high in carbohydrates with some much worse than others. Note that “grain-free” does not always mean “low-carb” since potatoes and peas are often used instead of grains. Cats are strict carnivores, which means they are designed to get their protein from meat – not from the high level of grains/peas/potatoes found in dry food. Source: 1- Summary of Dr. Lisa Pierson’s research published Nov 2013. So while all the information is great, what can we do about it? We need to look for a balanced diet; a mix of wet and dry food is needed. It is understandable that sometimes dry food cannot be eliminated from a cat’s diet, mainly due to convenience, and not everyone has the time to cook fresh food for their pets’ every meal, and let is face it, it is not that we have an abundance of affordable options in the UAE market. So the best we can do at the time being and given the financial and availability constraints, is to always make sure that cats get a healthy wet food breakfast and dinner, and that good quality dry food can be made available for them to nibble on during the day. When looking for a wet food brand, make sure you cover the second and third question, look at the carbohydrates content, protein source and ingredient list, and a home cooked meal a couple of times a week will do your cats a lot of benefit.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 03:35:12 +0000
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