It sure can be overwhelming you're standing in the middle of the pet store, surrounded by every kind of cat food imaginable. Should you get the wet or dry food? Chicken or beef?And would your darling cat prefer morsels in gravy, or P? While there are a lot of options, you just need keep a few key things in mind when selecting a cat food.
What to look for
In a word, meat! Your cat is an obligate carnivore, meaning that she is a strict meat-eater who gets all the nutrients she needs from her prey.According to Check the Ingredients
A recent study from Reviews.com consulted 97 veterinary professionals and concluded that the most important factor in choosing a cat food is whether meat is the first ingredient.Cats thrive on a diet that is high in animal-based protein and contains as few carbohydrates and starches as possible. What you're looking for, according to Laurie Goldstein from The Cat Site, is food that mimics your cat's natural diet as closely as possible.That means reading a lot of ingredients lists, but don't worry - as this video explains, the top three or four ingredients are the most important:
What About By-Products?
Many commercial pet foods include ingredients like by-products or by-product meal. We pet owners are left wondering is any of this actually good nutrition for our cats?The answer is yes and no. As Dr. Hofve explains, it's hard to tell just what is included in these by-products, so the nutritional value could be very different depending on just which off-cuts are included.Dr. Coates adds that cats in the wild consume almost all of their prey, so off-cuts can be considered a very natural part of the feline diet. The best bet is to make sure that the main part of your cat's diet is a named meat like chicken or turkey.
Wet, Dry, or Raw
Wet or raw foods are definitely the most healthful for your feline friend. While dry food is often cheaper, it has a lot of disadvantages for your cat. Dry foods are more likely to include low-quality ingredients, have higher amounts of carbohydrates, and are processed at very high temperatures, resulting in less nutritious food.Worst of all, according to The 10 Best Cat Foods
