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Best Cat Food, learn how to feed cats
You needn't know a lot about cat food when choosing the best cat food.
What you need to know, however, is your cat. What's his age? Life
stage? Health history? Body type? When you can answer these questions,
choosing the best cat food will be a relatively simple choice.
Today, most cat food is optimized for the life stage of your pet.
These fall into three general categories: kitten, adult cat, and senior.
When choosing the best cat food you need to make sure it is nutritionally
designed to meet your pet's needs at each stage of life. In addition,
there is cat food designed to help your pet lose weight, or to account
for medical conditions like kidney failure, allergies, or digestive
problems. Ask your veterinarian if you have any questions about your
cat's health, and about which of these cat food choices is appropriate
when choosing the best cat food for your feline friend.
when choosing the best cat food, look for an emphasis on natural ingredients,
and few artificial colors, flavors. Food ingredients are listed according
to the amount present in the food, so if the first ingredient on the
label is a rich protein source like eggs or meat, you can be reasonably
sure you're getting a quality cat food.
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Cat Food & Nutrition, What Should You
Feed Cats?
Your cat's nutritional needs will change as she grows from a kitten
into an adult. Providing her with a premium cat food formula for
each stage of her life gives her nutrition that will help her stay
fit and healthy.
Types of Cat Foods:The three main types of cat foods are dry, soft-moist
and canned products. With today's advanced technology, all types
of cat food products can be formulated to provide complete and balanced
nutrition for your cat.
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Types of Cat Foods.
The best cat food contains the highest quality ingredients.Although cats are carnivores, most commercial cat food contains both animal and plant material, supplemented with various vitamins, minerals and other nutrients.
Dry
food:Dry products consist of crunchy kibbles, which
help reduce the build-up of plaque and tartar on a cat’s teeth.
Dry foods also have the advantage of staying fresh longer than soft-moist
and canned products once the package is opened.
Soft-Moist
food: Soft-moist cat foods generally offer higher palatability
as compared to dry diets, are convenient to serve and store easily.
Canned
food: These diets generally offer the highest palatability
when compared to the dry and soft-moist products. Once a can is
opened, unused food should be stored in the refrigerator.
Dry cat food vs.canned cat food: Most cat owners prefer dry cat
food, which stores easily and makes litter boxes easier to clean
up. Dry cat food is great in terms of cost and handling, but canned
cat food is closer to raw food and contains a lot of water, which
helps cats get the hydration they need. Canned food also generally
contains less filler and carbohydrates, though reading the labels
carefully is key.
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Some cat owners forget that humans require
a variety of foods to ensure the consumption of nutritionally balanced
meals. A quality cat food has the proper balance of all the nutrients
a cat requires together with a high level of palatability. Adding
human food to a nutritionally balanced commercial cat food may upset
the nutrient balance of the diet. |
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Milk is a food and not a substitute for
water. As a food, milk is incomplete and does not provide a balanced
diet. Milk contains lactose, which requires the enzyme lactase for
breakdown in the intestinal tract. If the intestinal tract does not
contain sufficient lactase, consumption of a high level of lactose
can cause diarrhea.
Although we may associate meat or meat by-products with a cat's nutritional
needs, it must be combined with other ingredients to provide complete
nutrition. Raw meats may contain parasites, and cooked meats can be
high in fat and do not contain a proper balance of nutrients.
Some cats owners believe that additional calcium, and possibly other
minerals, should be added to the diets of pregnant and nursing females
and growing puppies and kittens. It is true that more minerals are
needed at these times, but they are normally obtained through increased
consumption of a high quality, nutritionally balanced diet. Adding
them out of proportion to other nutrients can contribute to skeletal
deformities and other problems. |
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