The single most important thing you can do to keep your new kitten or cat healthy is to feed them a quality WET FOOD diet. This may surprise some of you, but dry cat food, or kibble, is not the best thing to feed your cat. There are several reasons for this, but the most concerning issue with a kibble diet is the fact that it leaves your cat dehydrated constantly. Dry crunchies are OK, but including wet food is essential. Cats are carnivores, so they need a meat source for protein.
Problems with Dry Food Only Diet
Only feeding your cat dry cat food can lead to problems since it does not sufficiently nourish your cat, but mostly just fills them up. Cat crunchies mostly contain carbohydrates (carbs) that have little nutritional value. Too many carbs can lead to obesity, allergies, and constipation since cats need moisture, which is in wet food. Cats are not very good about drinking water from a dish, and in the wild they gain much of their needed hydration from their prey. Indoor cats need to get moisture from their food.
If your cats get dehydrated, this causes their urine to become more concentrated. This, in turn, requires their kidneys to work harder. which wears on cats health over time. Concentrated urine Is more likely to form crystals, which cause serious irritation to the lining of the tube leading from the kidneys to the bladder, and out of the body. This tube is extremely narrow, and the crystals can actually cause a complete blockage, which means the cat is unable to urinate. A blockage is a very serious and expensive medical emergency, requiring hospitalization. For male cats, urinary difficulties and blockages can become a big problem on a dry-food-only diet.
The simplest way you can help to avoid these serious complications in your cat is to keep them on a predominantly wet food diet. We even recommend adding a little extra water to your cat’s wet food to assure they stay well hydrated.
Pet food is a multi-billion-dollar a year industry and there are hundreds of foods to choose from—some of them can be harmful to your pet’s health. How to decide? First of all, READ THE LABELS. That fine print on the back of the can gives you a wealth of information about what you are putting into your cat.
- Cats require lots of animal protein in their diet, so the first ingredient you should see listed should be chicken, turkey, beef, or fish. Look for food where protein is also listed as the second, and hopefully, third ingredient. Pet food companies will often list a meat source as the first ingredient on the label, followed by grains as the second, third, and fourth ingredients. If you add up the grain sources, they most likely will far outweigh the meat ingredients in the food! Avoid these pet foods, if you can.
- Many pet foods include grains because they are cheaper than meat or fish, and act as a “filler,” but are not nutritious. Many cats have allergy issues with grains as they are not a normal part of their instinctive diet. Try to avoid foods with grains such as corn and wheat. For a dry food, make sure the protein content is at least 18% or more.
- Avoid foods that list “meat by-products.” Basically, this is the garbage remnants from the slaughterhouse industry that can legally be used in pet food. Meat by-products can cause big health issues.
It’s not a good idea to feed your cat canned tuna, even though cats are drawn to it because of the smell. Canned tuna has a high salt content and heavy metals. Cow’s milk is not a good idea either and often causes digestion problems because many cats are lactose intolerance. Goat’s milk is okay. If you would like to add some meat to your cat’s diet, boiled white meat, such as chicken, is a good option.
Set Meal Times
Establishing a feeding schedule for your cat is a good idea. Avoid “free feeding.” Several smaller meals, perhaps three or four a day, are preferable to one or two large meals a day. It is an especially good idea to give your cats a small meal before bedtime, perhaps some crunchies, so they are more likely to sleep through the night without waking you for food.
The cat’s natural cycle of activity is HUNT – KILL – EAT – CLEAN – SLEEP. Giving your cat a short play session with a wand toy prior to feeding them their meal allows them to express their hunting instincts, topped off by the reward of a yummy meal.
Deciding What Pet Foods Work for Your Cat
Food choices for your cat will be determined in part by your pocketbook. As much as you can, look for wet food that has higher protein levels. The same goes for cat crunchies. When possible, look for grain-free crunchies.
United Paws is not endorsing any particular brand, but we will mention a couple of foods we often use—above average, but not “top of the line.” We have used Blue Buffalo Kitten wet food, which is less expensive, but has a good level of protein. We also use Chewy.com brand of wet food called American Journey, which is good. Another option is Nulo, available at Tillamook’s Farmer’s Coop. If money is not an obstacle, you can read up on high end cat foods such as Honest Kitchen, which uses only human-grade foods, or Wellness, or Weruva. Again, read ingredient labels and let that be your guide.