Reference Documents: Feeding Cats, Cat Food Labels, Selecting a Cat Food, What’s Really in Pet Food
You are what you eat and that is very true of felines. At the same time it is almost an impossible task to figure out what food should be fed to one's cat. Pet food manufactures present an almost endless array or food choices and to add to the complexity they change the formulation of their foods from time-to-time. Unfortunately many vets often possess minimal knowledge of feline nutrition, They usually sell cat foods at their clinics so there is always a suspicion of bias.
A feline is a obligate carnivore and as such it only requires meat to get all the nutrients it needs to survive. In nature it got these from the prey it ate. Felines have no requirement for carbs or fiber and these ingredients may be harmful to your cat's health. Knowing this you may wonder why pet food manufacturers don't just can some mice instead of offering an an endless array of foods with varying percentages of non-meat ingredients. The answer is likely economics. On one side consumers will pay only so much for pet foods and on the other side corporations are cost driven, i.e. non-meat ingredients are cheaper and they enhance the bottom line.
All pet owners need to be able to understand the food ingredient label on the cans or bags of food they feed their cats. Avoid foods with non-meat protein ingredients (e.g. soy, corn gluten, etc.). Also avoid carbs and fibers unless your vet requires them to be in your cat's diet to treat a medical condition.
Then there are those other attractive ingredients such as apples, cranberries, peas, carrots, etc. Supposedly they are a nature source of needed nutrients but many question if these nutrients are actually absorbed and used by the cat (i.e. bioavailable). Why not feed good meat ingredients if a cat can get all their nutrients from meat? When I examine a label I look at the cost factor of the ingredient, if the ingredient is cheaper than meat I then look for a justification as to why it is used other than simply as a filler to drive down cost.
Cats in the wild eat multiple times a day (10-20 times) so where practical instead of filling up the food dish give them multiple small amounts. Cats also like multiple shorts contacts with humans so while you're in the kitchen and your cat tries to connect with you don't presume that it is begging for food. It may just want a pet.
Water is extremely important to the health of your cat, the more water your cat consumes the better. While dry cat foods are convenient they are, no big surprise, dry and they can deplete water in a cat's body. There is debate as to whether a cat can compensate. At least one study suggest it does not. Consider a predominately (or all) wet food diet. Remember dry food cat foods (aka kibbles) were created as a convenience for the cat owner not to enhance a cat's health. Also natural prey is moist.
Finally the question we always get is what do we feed our Abys? Currently we feed the following:
Abady Canned Foods: Good specie specific cat food. Contains muscle and 'identified' (important) organ meats. Low in fiber. Has some rice.
Innova Evo: Lowest carb dry food.
Oma's Pride: Freeze - dried turkey mix disks and turkey hearts (as a treat). Convienent and well liked but the turkey mix disks are 20% veggies (e.g. squash, beans) which we would rather avoid.
