Cat Food & Feeding

First-time cat owner Jack Franken, 27, of Brooklyn, New York, was initially startled at how indifferent his calico cat, Dusty, was toward food.

Cat owner Amy Morgan, 32, of Brooklyn, New York, has gone to great lengths to eat a balanced diet.

An indispensable guide to the requirements and function of protein, fat, minerals, vitamins and water in your cat’s diet.

Ever wonder whether you’re feeding your cat the right food? The proof might be purring at your feet right now. Even if you conscientiously scour pet food labels and do your research, your own cat can offer the best evidence of the nutritional value of the food you dish out.

So, what’s the big deal about food? Why does it have such a huge influence on a body’s health? Well, simply put, food is body-fuel. It nourishes each and every cell in the body and creates the energy necessary for life to happen. It’s an overly simplified analogy, but food is to living beings like gas is to cars. If you put the wrong type of gas in a car, it won’t run well. But if you put in the correct fuel for that car, it runs better.

When Cleveland, Ohio cat owner Ingrid Danziger’s mom was diagnosed with Type II diabetes, Danziger became worried not only about her mother, but also about her cat. "Like my mom, Sam was really overweight. I couldn’t go back and rewrite my mother’s history, but I could try to do something about Sam’s size before it was too late," said 38-year-old Danziger.

As many lovers of both cats and houseplants know, cats seem to enjoy munching on greens. No one is really sure why these obligatory carnivores are drawn to a variety of plants, but they certainly are.

When you feed your cats, is it a mob scene? Do the cats rush their bowls, with the more dominant cats pushing the timid ones away?

Mother Nature never intended cats to live without meat. To start with, cats are adapted to using protein for energy, rather than carbohydrates. They have evolved so that their liver makes glucose (the major energy source for every mammal body) primarily out of the amino acids in protein. In the process, they have lost the ability to adapt to a low-protein diet. If we eat a diet that’s low in protein, we simply stop metabolizing it. But your cat can’t do that, and will begin to metabolize her own muscles. This really is as bad as it sounds.

Cats are strict meat-eaters, carnivores, and they require relatively higher amounts of dietary protein and fat than do omnivores such as dogs and humans. However, carnivores do not live by meat alone; they still have complex nutritional needs, and cats must be fed a diet specifically formulated and balanced to meet those needs.

Just as with people, cats have a very intricate and complex network of body mechanics that must keep running in tip-top shape if the cat is to be her best. Some of the barometers of good health are relatively easy to see: shiny hair and clear skin, bright eyes and good mobility.

Although we think of cats as meat-eaters, many are fond of vegetables and other plant material. Although food preferences vary with individual cats (as cat owners know all too well), many cats sample a plot of grass outdoors, the leaves of a potted houseplant indoors, or even a leaf of lettuce from your salad bowl.

The label and the advertising shows us images of plump chicken, juicy steak and fresh caught fish. What is inside the can are the parts of the animal we do not want to eat (and parts we don’t even want to think about). One pet food company advertised its food as better than its competitors’ products because it used poultry meat as their main ingredient while the competitors used feathers.

Cats are naturally careful eaters as their digestive system is not good at breaking down toxins. Because cats are so sensitive to poisons, their senses of taste and smell must prevent them from eating food which could be harmful to them. An excellent sense of smell warns them of stale or contaminated food and if their sense of smell fails, so does their appetite. Unfortunately, the same mechanism which helps cats avoid harmful foods can turn it into a faddy eater.

Have you ever wandered round a supermarket or store abroad and found yourself in the cat food aisle wondering what foreign felines eat? I invariably check out the cat foods – or lack of cat foods – available abroad. I soon noticed how closely the flavors mirrored the cultural diet of the country I was visiting.