Why Cat Diet Choices Matter

Studies Show What Cats Want To Eat

We like to use data about what cats eat in the wild as a baseline. After all, the wild is all about survival, and animals are biologically programmed to eat the food most likely to give them long, healthy lives. If we can figure out what cats choose to eat when their lives are on the line every day amongst predators and harsh living conditions, we should have a pretty good idea as to what kind of food we should be feeding our cats. Luckily, two important studies have been done. This study in the British Journal of Nutrition (2011), shows the breakdown of what cats eat in the wild, and the macronutrient profiles of those foods. Wild, feral cat colonies around the world eat a diet that is almost exclusively made up of animal meat.

The macronutrient profile, based on a calories, looks like this (on average):

• 52% Protein
• 46% Fat
• 2% NFE (carbs, ash, and other minerals)
• 
  

What this shows us is that cats consume about half of their energy (calories) from protein, and half from fat. This is a far cry from the carb-loaded recipes that line the cat food shelves in the grocery store!

The most common foods for these cats are:

• Rabbits
• Rats
• Mice
• Voles
• Birds
• Reptiles

Cats also tend to eat the organs of these prey animals, because not only are they high in protein, but they also have much higher vitamin and mineral levels than muscle meat. Another fascinating study by Hewson-Hughes et al, called "Geometric analysis of macronutrient selection in the adult domestic cat", gave indoor cats the choice of a number of foods to choose from. The foods they gave were all from a large pet food manufacturer. That makes the results all the more surprising!

Limit Carbs

Cats self-selected a diet that was as high in protein and fat as possible, limiting their carbs as much as they could.

Without being able to perfectly control what they ate, they still self selected a macronutrient profile like this (on a calorie basis):

• 52% Protein
• 36% Fat
• 12% Carbs

What these studies show us is that when given the choice, cats don't like carbs but they love protein and fat. The food you choose should be very high in protein and fat, but very low in carbs. And you should try to ensure the ingredient list includes a lot of meat, and very little carb-based fillers. Organ meat is an added bonus.

The Ingredients Matter

Other than the macronutrient levels on your cat food's label, pay special attention to the ingredient list. This is often where you can confirm that a food is good, or figure out if the company is trying to be a bit too sneaky. You want to look for a lot of meat, first and foremost.

If the food does not list a meat ingredient as the first ingredient, pass on it. If the meat ingredient is a by-product or an "unnamed" meat (i.e., "animal by-products" or "poultry"), pass on it. This is because pet food laws and regulations do not stop manufacturers from including some, shall we say, less than ideal ingredients. I won't go into it here, but if you're not squeamish and want to know more about the things that can go into pet food without penalty, the Dog Food Advisor has an article.

Check Available Resources

look for a food that has very limited filler ingredients. The fewer the better, and the farther down the list, the better. But watch out for this tricky tactic: sometimes manufacturers break up an ingredient into several parts. For example, pea protein, pea fiber, and peas, can all appear on the same label. At first glance, it looks like a great food because the filler ingredients are farther down the label. But in many cases, if you included them all as "peas" and weighed them again, they would be the first ingredient.

Other things to watch out for are harmful ingredients, which we've discussed here. Things like artificial preservatives and colorings can be particularly harmful. Meet Emily Parker: Emily is a cat mom to two black cats, Gus and Louis. She is the cat expert behind Catological.com, where she's helped hundreds of thousands of pet parents love their kitties better. When she's not writing about or researching cats, she loves to spend her time searching her neighborhood for the coolest (cat) cafes.

Should You Feed Wet Or Dry Food?

Unless your cat has an unusually high thirst drive, you should feed your cat a wet diet, as it's much more biologically appropriate. We talked to a number of vets and they all told us the same thing.

Here's what Dr. Jennifer Coates, DVM, told me when I asked her if wet was any better than dry, "Wet food is often the best option for cats for two main reasons. First of all, wet food has a much higher water content than does dry. When cats get a lot of water with their food, it's easier for them to stay well-hydrated. This is especially important when a cat's kidneys are not functioning well, since the kidneys are responsible for preventing excessive water loss through the urine.

Secondly, wet food tends to have a lower carbohydrate and higher protein content in comparison to dry food. This more closely mimics the natural feline diet and may help prevent and/or manage common diseases like obesity and diabetes."

Why A Good Quality Diet Makes A Positive Health Difference

First of all, a good cat food will not include ingredients that are known to, or are suspected to, cause cancer or otherwise give your kitty some health issues. Second, prolonged exposure to a kibble-only diet has been shown to lead to diseases such as FLUTD. Beyond that, if you feed your cat too much food, particularly one high in calories and carbohydrates, their risk of obesity and diabetes significantly increases.

Statistics show that upwards of 60% of all cats in the US are obese! You can think of it in the same way you'd think of your diet. We all know that person who smokes a pack a day for 60 years, eats fast food every day, and is still alive into their senior years. However, we also know that these cases are NOT the norm. Eating junk food every day of your life will seriously increase your risk of disease and you probably won't live as long.

So while bad food won't necessarily hurt your cat, it will not provide the basis for the best health possible. A good cat food will better increase the chances that your cat is strong, active, healthy, happy, and alive well into her senior years to be your constant companion.

You don't have to be perfect, and you don't need to buy the most expensive cat food!

But what you can do, now that you have this basic information on the ideal feline diet, is just find a way to do a little bit better.

• Mix in a good quality wet food with their kibble now and then.
• Add a little bit of a freeze-dried raw food topper to their kibble.
• Read the ingredient lists of some foods you can afford and select one that's better than what you're currently feeding.

Even a small change can help your cat when it's compounded over their entire life!