Are You Feeding Your Cat The Right Food?

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

Analysis of Cat Behavior

The most important thing to remember in analyzing the behavior of your cat
is that your pet is not a human. Cats are not rational beings and their
actions are not based on emotion. Changes in his behavior are not stemmed
from any repressed anger with you; your cat is not trying to get revenge on
you for being away from home too much or bringing a new baby into the house.

Negative changes in cat behavior are typically cause by stress or anxiety
for the cat. It is easy to see why pet owners tend to conclude that the
cat's feelings toward them are causing the behavioral differences; it is
human nature to correlate two unrelated events. In reality, there is a
missing link: your behavior may cause the cat physical anxiety, thus the
cat's behavior alteration is based on physiological changes in his body.

One common complaint among cat owners is that their cat has suddenly chosen
a new favorite place to deposit wastes instead of his litter box. This
could be a result of a few factors.

First, it may be a medical problem.
Cats are prone to urinary track infections that make it extremely painful to
urinate. Cats then associate the pain of urination with the litter box, so
they do not like to visit their designated urination station. If your cat
has stopped using the litter box, your first step should be to take him to
the vet and have a thorough check-up run on him. Cats also have natural
preferences for certain textures and smells, so if you have recently changed
the type of cat litter you use, the cat may be showing that he does not care
for the new feeling or smell of his litter. In avoiding the litter box, the
cat may have become attached to new textures and locations around your
household, perhaps the soft living room rug or bedroom closet.

The best
strategy is not to punish the cat; he will not understand. Rather, have a
medical check up, switch litters, and continuously reintroduce the cat to
his litter box. Reward him for using it, just like he was a kitten again.

To relieve any anxiety your cat may be feeling, carefully analyze any
changes that have occurred in his life as of late. If a new baby or
roommate comes into the house, your cat may feel threatened, so be sure to
give him extra attention. If you suddenly have to spend more time away from
home than normal, consider getting a second cat so that your cat does not
spend his days alone. Although the cat is not having emotional reactions,
his body feels different due to changes around him.

Be in tune with what may be causing your cat to feel anxious, analyze the situation, and do the
loyal owner duty of relieving his stress.

Credit: Keith Kingston

Cat Psychology - Is My Cat Happy?

As cat owners, we do worry that our cats are happy and want to do whatever we can to make them so. One of the best ways to make sure your cat is happy is to understand their body language and the signs of happiness to give you reassurance and to help spot potential problems.

Signs of happiness

Cats are quite good at body language because that's how they communicate with other cats. Cats have a range of vocalizations that they use to tell the world what they fell and think and when it comes to happiness and contentment, the purr is one of the most obvious. Cats purr when they are happy, feel loved and are comfortable and even if you can't hear them, you can always feel a purr as it rattles through their whole body. Other little noises can be signs of happiness, depending on the cat, little trills and chortles that show they are relaxed.

The physical signs of happiness in their body language is also quite obvious, more for their lack of signs. An angry cat is visibly angry with erect fur, wide eyes, ears forward and a tail slashing the air. Likewise a frightened cat may make themselves small, curl their tail around themselves and duck down to be submissive and less threatening. Yet a relaxed and cat happy cat will have their ears erect to listen to what's going on or swiveling around to follow the conversation. They will tuck their tail loosely around them or leave it lying across the floor. Their fur is smooth and their whiskers sit comfortably.

Happy behaviors

A sleeping cat is often a happy cat as this means they feel comfortable enough in their surroundings to have a nap. If they felt threatened or in danger, they would remain awake and on guard. Similarly, grooming is a sign of being happy. Cats groom themselves to keep their coats in order and do derive pleasure from the act. By concentrating on their grooming and not their wider environment, they are vulnerable to attack therefore will only focus wholly on their grooming when they are happy in their home.

Eating properly is a sign of happiness and healthiness. While cats might try to 'greed' from people for treats or other morsels, this isn't because they are hungry but more a type of game. They may really fancy a little of the fish you are eating but not because they are desperately hungry. A happy cat is one that eats normally, though different cats have a different sense of normal. Some eat their meals in a single sitting while others are grazers who come and go to the food bowl.

Happy kittens

Sometimes with kittens, they may seem angry or vexed at something but this may merely be a part of their play. Kittens learn about the world around them through play and most everything around the house will be a part of this. So while they might hiss or spit at something, whip their tail around or even bite and scratch something, this doesn't mean they are angry and unhappy but simply that they are working their instincts.

For all things cat from food to litter to toys, please see my articles at http://www.petcarechoice.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/productcategory.cat

Credit: Angela Tempest