Food for Cats: All You Need for a Happy Meow

 As cat lovers, many of us tend to treat our feline friends as family members. We want to meet all their needs and take good care of them at every stage of their life. Bringing home a furry ball full of meows will bring happiness to your life, but it will double up your responsibilities as well. Selecting an appropriate diet is the most important step to ensure your cat gets proper nutrition and live a long and healthy life. 

A good quality commercial food is high in nutritive value and can fulfil your furry pal’s needs. There are various options of food for cats out there and choosing what’s good for your cat can be a daunting task. Luckily, it’s not as hard as it seems to get to the bottom of the different types of cat food. All you need is a basic understanding of your cat’s needs and how each type of food meets the requirements. 

Types of Cat Food 

It’s vital that your cat receives the complete balance of nutrition it needs, but keep in mind that a cat’s nutritional needs change during their lifetime. Therefore, you’ll need to make adjustments to their diet as they grow older. A kitten needs around twice as many nutrients per pound of body weight compared to an adult cat. That means kitten food should be purchased until your cat is one year old. A pregnant or lactating cat, on the other hand, needs more nutrition to help her stay strong while taking care of her babies. 

The safest thing to do is to choose a cat food that has been specifically designed to meet your cat’s needs at whatever stage it is. Moreover, you can select food for cats that can help with sensitive skin, weight control, dental issues and more. Cats are obligate carnivores and rely on nutrients found in animal products.  

They evolved as hunters that consume prey that contains high amounts of protein, moderate amounts of fat and a small number of carbohydrates. These are the general proportions of a healthy cat diet, but also, they need vitamins, mineral, fatty acids and amino acids. The following are the three main types of cat food available on the market and what you need to know about each one of them.  

Dry Cat Food 

This is the most common choice of cat food available. It’s an affordable option with a long shelf life. Make sure to keep it in airtight containers and store it in a cool, dry location to prevent spoilage. However, this type of cat food is not very palatable, and if your cat is a fussy eater, chances are they will turn their nose up at it if their diet solely consists of dry food. 

Dry cat food contains from 6 to 10 percent water and depending on the formulation, a mixture of ingredients is combines, extruded and dried into the bite-sized pieces. The most common ingredients that dry food has are meat, poultry, grain, fish and fibre sources. Usually, they’re coated with flavouring agents such as animal fat to enhance the taste. 

Wet Cat Food 

Cats love this type of food. Don’t be surprised if this is your cat’s top choice. It’s easy to eat and they find it very tasty. Wet cat food has a moisture content of at least 75 percent, which makes it a good dietary source of water. Cats have finicky water drinking habits and having water in the food helps them stay hydrated. 

Wet cat food is highly palatable and there are many different types available to suit different cat’s preferences. Any unused portion of wet food should be refrigerated to keep the quality and prevent spoilage. Generally, this type of features meats, such as liver or kidney, taurine and whole meat or fish as a primary ingredient.  

Semi-Moist Food 

Semi-moist cat food contains around 35 percent water. Semi-moist grain free food contains meat, such as beef, lamb or chicken as a primary ingredient. Compared to dry cat food, this type provides moderate water content and high palatability and digestibility.  

How to Choose Cat Food 

For a cat owner, buying cat food is one of the most important expenses, together with veterinary care. A proper diet can eliminate or delay veterinary expenses for some medical conditions your cat may have, save you trips to the vet keep your cat happy. Here are a few tips that can help you make the right choices when it comes to selecting cat food. 

 The ideal diet for your feline companion is one that’s high in animal-based proteins. Furthermore, taurine is an essential nutrient for your cat’s heart and brain health and it comes from, animal-based proteins. In their natural setting cats wouldn’t consume high levels of carbohydrates that can be found in many commercially available foods. Cats don’t have the enzyme pathways to digest and utilise dietary carbohydrates, therefore diets high in carbohydrates can lead to diseases such as diabetes, obesity and others. 

A strict carnivore such as the cat requires a moderate amount of fat in their diet. It provides most of the fuel for the cat and is also important for the taste of cat food. Meat-based diets provide animal fat supply and nutrients that are essential to your cat’s health needs.  

In the end, keep in mind that cats may become bored with the same food every day and they can stop eating it. So, make sure to give your cat access to different types of food and flavours.