Choosing cat food is one of the most important decisions you will make when it comes to your cat.
Proper nutrition can help keep your cat healthy, full of energy, and happy for the rest of its life. You should also want to ensure your cat looks forward to eating it and you feel good about giving it to them.
When you walk down the aisle, it can be very difficult to know which is the best food for your cat. There are so many types of products, varieties, flavours and formulas that can make it tricky to know what is best for your cat.
To make things easier, here are five important things to consider when choosing your cat food.
The age of your cat
If your cat is less than one year old, it should be eating cat formula unless the veterinarian tells you to switch to an adult formula. Cats between the ages of one to seven should eat an adult formula. Cats should start eating a high-formula at the age of seven. After seven years of age, cats are considered senile therefore their diet needs to be changed to cater for different needs; in fact usually over 7 food have less salt, they focus on digestion and kidney problems.
The level of activity of your cat
When choosing a diet, it is important to consider how well your cat is working to ensure that it gets enough calories (and not too many). If you have a healthy and active cat that is not accustomed to weight loss, a standard adult formula would be the best choice. For less active, indoor-only cats, they tend to put a lot of weight on eating adult cat food regularly. In-home formulas have low-fat content and can help prevent weight gain.
What Health Problems Does your cat have?
Many cat food companies specialise in formulas for catering to various cats. When talking about problems such as food allergies, sensitive stomachs, urinary tract problems, hairballs, or obesity, it is best to discuss any possible dietary changes with your veterinarian.
It is also important to make sure that you know exactly what is causing the health problem before trying to solve the problem by buying fresh food. It is easy to make the mistake of cleaning the cat regularly after a meal because of an allergy or a sensitive stomach when it is actually an unrelated thing. If in doubt, consult your veterinarian.
Here are some common special formulas. They are made from many different products and are available at pet food stores and other grocery stores.
Weight loss formula: Cat food for obese cats has lower fat content than indoor formulas. Some have high protein content and extra fibre to help the cat feel full while losing weight. Obese cats need to lose a little weight to avoid major health problems, so be sure to ask your veterinarian to find the right amount to feed your cat and find out how much weight they should lose each week.
Critical stomach / digestive formula: Like other people, some cats have sensitive stomachs and can benefit from foods that will not interfere with their diet.
Combination formulas for cats that are allergic to food: If you have a cat with allergies or sensitivity to common ingredients found in cat food, limited formulas can help eliminate those problems. Not only do they have a few ingredients, but some have high levels of protein and other grains such as duck, venison, green peas, and potatoes.
Urinary tract health formulas: This type of diet is a good way for cats with recurrent urinary health problems. It can contain cranberries and other ingredients that can help prevent urinary tract infections.
Hairball Formulas: If your cat constantly coughs hairballs, it is worth looking at foods that can help with this problem.
Ingredients
If you don’t read food labels, now is a good time to start learning how to. You should know the most common ingredients found in dry or wet cat food so that you can easily tell the cat good and bad food in the store.
When reading the label, keep in mind that the first three to five ingredients listed are very important because they make up the largest percentage of all foods.
Because cats are carnivorous animals, there should be a real meat or meat meal (eg turkey meal, chicken meal, lamb meal) on the first or second ingredient list.
Helpful tip
Once you have found the type of cat food you plan to stick with, go to the company’s website and subscribe to their e-updates or newsletter (if available). That way, you’ll get the latest product news, tips, and coupons, and you’ll be notified if you have any memories.
Your Budget
Often, better quality food is usually more expensive, as with everything in life. While we all want to give our furry friends the absolute best on offer, we have to draw the line somewhere. Remember, this isn’t a one-time thing, this is going to be your pets everyday food for the foreseeable future and they don’t want to change every week.
Why is more expensive food better? High-quality meat, natural ingredients, and natural preservatives (such as vitamin E) are very expensive. Better quality food also has fewer additives which are also important for your cat.
Your cat is an extension of your family, and they deserve the best food. However, when deciding what is the best food to give them things can get a little bit complicated. There are many things to take into consideration to make sure you are serving your cat the best and cleanest vitamins and nutrients for their breed and age. You should take into consideration any health problems they have, how active they are and how much they weigh as this will determine what food and how much of it they should eat.
