How The Experts Choose Cat Food For a Balanced Cat Diet

by Yamini Rai Consultant

After your first decision of bringing home a feline and making her your new family member, choosing a cat food is the second most important decision you will have to make. The right food can help keep her healthy, energetic and active at a good weight throughout her life. The food should be such, that she looks forward to eating it and you feeding it to her feels right.

 

When you search for cat foods, it can be difficult to know which one is the best for a feline. There are several brands, flavours and formulas that can become confusing and overwhelming to find out the best one.

 

To simplify it, here’s how to choose cat food for a balanced diet like an expert.

 

Age

 

A feline under one-year-old is a kitten. Ideally, the food she eats should be a kitten formula based food, unless the veterinarian advice switching to an adult cat food. Felines between the age of 1 - 7 years old should eat an adult cat food. Senior felines should start eating a senior cat food after the age of 7.

 

Activity Level

When choosing cat food, it is important to consider the activity levels of a feline to make sure she is getting the right amount of calories according to it. If the feline is generally active and healthy in terms of weight, an adult formula cat food will be best for her.

For less active indoor felines that have excessive weight, look for a limited-ingredient formula cat food. These cat foods are made with limited amounts of ingredients and have a lower fat content that prevents weight gain.

Health Issues

If a feline is dealing with problems like food allergies, sensitivities, obesity or urinary tract issues, it is best to consult the veterinarian for any potential changes in her diet. Together with the help of the veterinarian, a feline parent can know the reason behind her health issue before going ahead to solve the problem through new cat food.

Additionally, honest cat food manufacturers are introducing special formulas that cater to a variety of health issues affecting felines.

Ingredients

It’s important for feline parents to read and familiarize themselves with cat food labels. Starting with the most common ingredients found in each type of cat foods - dry and wet. When reading a cat food label, keep in mind that the first 3 - 5 ingredients listed are the most essential because they make up a large percentage of the cat food.

Cats are carnivores, therefore the first or second ingredient listed should be real animal protein meat. i.e chicken, lamb, tuna, etc. To help differentiate between a good cat food from a bad one, here are some basic things to keep in mind when reading the label.

Things to Consider

●      Real meat as the first or second ingredient

●      Cat food that contains superfoods, fruits and vegetables

●      Vitamins and Minerals like vitamin A, taurine

●      Homegrown organic cat food

●      Cat food made with natural oils like sunflower or fish oil

●      Food should be grain free wet cat food and dry cat food

 

Things to Avoid

●      Cat food made with fillers such as corn, wheat or soy

●      Cat food that contains “By-products”

●      Cat food that contains artificial colours, flavours or preservatives

Budget

 

Generally, high-quality cat foods tend to be costly. The reason is their ingredients have high-quality meats, natural ingredients with fewer fillers and natural preservatives like vitamin E. Each pack or box of these foods provides more nutrition than a low-quality cat food loaded with corn, wheat or by-products. Choosing low-quality cat foods based on affordability can put your feline at a lifelong risk.

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Created on Aug 22nd 2020 02:39. Viewed 234 times.

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