Please leave a comment to welcome Amanda Johnson to That Mutt. She has two kitties named Shelly and Sylvester.
Years ago, during my college years, I had a sweet tabby kitty named Boba Fett.
Yes, he was named after the infamous star Wars bounty hunter as a kitten because the fur aligned around his jaw like a helmet and his coloring was a near-perfect match.
He was found in South Austin by a fantastic animal rescue organization during the glaring heat of summer in a trailer park with a few of his siblings.
A scrappy little guy, he stole my heart instantly at first sight, and I took him home to my college house that same day. He would accompany me through the most hectic years of my life in school and on a cross-country relocation from Texas to California.
I have to admit that I was a bit clueless and not very observant in my 20s, so I could have missed some things about his health that may have changed his fate; but I never saw the signs that he was ill.
At only 6 years old, he unexpectedly passed away. There was a awful argument as to how and why, but I always wondered if his diet was partly to blame. I fed him entirely dry food and water and was racked with guilt for not seeing the signs or catching it in time.
Needless to say, when I finally became a cat owner again, I was (heck, I still am) obnoxiously paranoid about their diet, veterinary checkups, sleep, flea meds… you name it.
One of Amanda’s current kitties, Shelly
And of course, the first thing I did upon getting my new fuzzy little bears was to obsess about their diet, do tons of research and hound their veterinarians at every checkup.
So here’s the low down on which food is best for cats:
1. Cats have a low thirst drive
Cats don’t get thirsty in the same way we do. They are developed to get the majority of their moisture from their prey. That implies if they’re an inside cat that eats solely dry food, you’re betting on them to drink lots of water to satisfy what their bodies need in terms of liquid to stay healthy.
Dry food is comprised of about 10% moisture, whereas wet food on average includes 78%. Dlaczego to jest ważne? because a lack of moisture contributes to chronic dehydration, which can easily turn into feline kidney disease, diabetes and/or urinary tract infections that can threaten your cat’s life.
In fact, in numerous cases where cats have been diagnosed with kidney disease, they’re placed on wet food diets high in water-soluble vitamins, fiber and high antioxidant concentrations. Cambridge university studies have shown that cats fed solely dry food have a lower water intake and lower urine volume than cats on a wet food diet, even if they have constant access to fresh water.
In addition, a study from the national research Council’s committee on animal Nutrition found that regardless of a cat’s total food and water consumption, the proportion of water in the diet is higher for cats fed wet food than for cats fed dry food.
2. often too numerous carbs in a dry-food-only diet
An interesting fact I learned from my vet: cats can’t taste sweetness. That’s got to suck.
This is because they don’t have taste receptors dedicated to tasting sweet like they do for salty, sour, bitter or savory. Their systems are not intended to consume carbohydrates. In the wild, cats only consume carbohydrates through the minute stomach contents of their prey (I know, gross).
They aren’t equipped to metabolize carbohydrates like other animals can, and the carbs really go to their bellies, even much more than they do to ours. With some dry foods including as much as 40% carbohydrate content, you could be opening your cat up to unintentional health issues by feeding them solely dry food.
3. dry food isn’t necessarily evil
When my sweetheart and I first got our black and white tuxedo kitten Sylvester, he had some digestion issues caused by tape worms that chose to burrow in his young tummy. The vet bill was fun.
Amanda’s cat, Sylvester
Our vet instructed us to feed him a premium dry food, specifically developed for gastrointestinal issues. It’s not cheap either, but the specially-formulated crunchy stuff soothed his tummy and helped him to pass normal, healthy stools while his digestive system healed.
Our other cat, Shelly, a tortoise shell female that’s just a year older, started eating on the premium stuff too, and both cats became hooked. Out of paranoia, I called my vet directly to find out if it was alright for both cats to eat, and he said he would recommend it as a source of good nutrition for any cat.
Another reason why a little dry food is a good idea is that some studies show a small dental benEfit do suchej żywności w diecie kota z powodu naturalnego ścierania płytki nazębnej z ich dziąseł w trakcie chrupania zębami. Kwestie dentystyczne są powszechnym problemem dla starzejących się kotów, więc posiadanie odrobiny suchej żywności w ich diecie może pomóc w utrzymaniu zdrowia chompersów.
Które jedzenie jest najlepsze dla kotów? mokry czy suchy?
Więc po moich pozornie nieograniczonych badaniach karmy dla kotów opracowałem formułę, która moim zdaniem działa dobrze dla obu naszych małych potworów.
Formuła – karmienie suchej żywności i mokrej pokarmów kotom
Karmieję je dwie puszki dziennie wysokiej jakości mokrej jedzenia w puszkach; Raz rano i raz wieczorem, z około filiżanką premium suchego jedzenia podzielonego między dwie miski i pozostawione przez cały dzień.
Oczywiście każdy kot jest inny i możesz zdecydować o zupełnie innej formule po dyskusji z weterynarzem. Każda historia medyczna, którą twój kot miał, będzie ważnie w dyskusji i może unieważnić niektóre z punktów, które tu zrobiłem.
Ale na podstawie tych zaleceń, wybierając jedzenie, pamiętaj, aby zapoznać się ze składnikami, unikając wypełniaczy, takich jak kukurydza lub ryż. Chcesz, aby mięso było pierwszym składnikiem dowolnego mokrego pokarmu i niższych stężeń węglowodanów w suchej żywności.
Karmienie kota co najmniej częściowa dieta na mokrej pokarm w puszkach oferuje wymaganą wilgoć do odżywiania kota.
Podsumowując, przemyślane badania i dyskusja z weterynarzem ustanowi twojego kota na zdrowe, długie życie wygodnego towarzystwa.
I chociaż ten post nie dotyczy surowej żywności dla kotów, Mutt wspiera surową dietę dla zwierząt domowych. Możesz rozważyć dodanie surowej żywności do diety kota lub zapytanie weterynarza o tę opcję. Istnieje wiele marek surowych kotów do wyboru, takich jak Darwin’s, Raw Paws lub Raw Cat Food Jimbo.
W komentarzach daj nam znać, jak wybrałeś dietę kota i czy masz jakieś pytania.
Pochodząca z Texan, Amanda Johnson, pisze kilka publikacji online i mieszka w Południowej Kalifornii ze swoją ukochaną i dwoma rozmytych niedźwiedzi, Shelly i Sylvester. Możesz być zainteresowany krótkim artykułem Amandy o tym, co robić, gdy jeden z twoich kotów jest łobuzem.
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