What should you feed your cat to
make sure he or she will have the necessary nutrition? What is the ideal mix of
food to help your cat live to the limit of it's life span?
To answer these questions, one
should look at the diet of a feline in it's natural habitat. In the wild, a cat
eats almost exclusively animal tissue. However, they would normally eat the
entire body of the animal, including it's stomach contents, which has many nutrients that are simply lacking
in an animals muscle tissue.
Another question some cat owners
have is: Is fresh meat the best possible food for cats? Not necessarily. Fresh
meat will not provide a balanced diet for a cat, as they are extremely protein
dense while being very low in vital nutrients such as calcium.
Conversely, some cat owners have
asked, "Is it alright to feed my cat a completely vegetarian diet?"
The answer to that question is a clear cut no. Cats cannot produce the
nutrients it needs from an exclusively vegetarian diet in the same way that
humans can.
Being a very specialized hunter, it
has actually lost that ability during the course of it's evolution. Certain
skin problems are sometimes the result of a deficiency in certain essential
fatty acids which can be found in animal flesh alone. Another problem is that a
deficiency of the amino acid taurine, a major building block for proteins of
the body, which can cause both blindness and heart failure. Cats are simply
born carnivores.
Is it o.k. to give a cat only dry
food? According to petshub, the answer is yes, providing that you ensure that
fresh water is available at all times.
Dry food is generally more
convenient, hygienic, and affordable than canned or fresh food. It also
exercises the teeth and reduces the buildup of tartar, which can grow into a
severe problem in cats that are fed a soft and mushy diet.
Credit: A.M. Wilmont
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