The first commercial cat food arrived about 70 years ago. It offered cat owners two important advantages. First, convenience of use and second, the belief that they were proving their cat with a complete diet. The second point is especially important because cat owners don’t instinctively know what is the right nutrition for cats. So, its easy for them to believe that dry food or canned is the answer.
The health issues seen in cats
The differences between biological cats needs and the commercial food format, lead to substantial affects on cat’s health. There is increasing amount of data revealing that commercial foods don’t support optimal cat health. A survey conducted by a pet insurance company in the U.S found that the most common ailments amongst cat between the ages 7-10 are: lymph node cancer, diabetes, kidney disease, excessive thyroid hormone, bladder disease, vomiting and upset stomach, tooth infection and skin allergies.
The Banfield pet hospital published a state of pet health 2013 report, which was conducted amongst 460,000 cats. The report found a few concerning things. First, 58% of cats are overweight or obese. This indicates an increase 0f 90% in only 5 years. The situation is referred to as an epidemic. Second, 67% of cats suffer from arthritis. Third, diabetes cases doubled since the last survey 5 years ago. And lastly, contrary to the claims that kibble is good for cats teeth, 85% of cats over 3 years suffer from tooth and gum problems.
Its true that you cannot blame just the commercial nutrition for all the problems mentioned. But, there is place to think and ask how healthy would we be if we ate just processed food that didn’t fit our biological needs?
The things you need to now about dry food and nutrition for cats
Although cats and human have been close for the past thousands of year, cats still maintain their anatomical, physiological, metabolic and unique behavior structures. This means, cats, were and are still predators. Meaning, their genetic structure mandates they eat almost purely meat in order to thrive.
The need to consume protein from animal source influences all the cats nutritional aspects. A cat fed a diet consisting of fresh meat will receive a highly digestible protein, the needed nutrients in proper ratios, moisture and food compatible with its digestive system.
Contrary to this, when we feed cats kibble, we see a great difference. First, Kibble holds almost no moisture. This is in contrast to cats natural needs. Because cats have little self drinking instinct, they are believed to be in constant dehydration state. With less liquids to wash the urinary tract and kidneys, cats are more at risk to suffer from crystal formation and kidney disease.
Kibble has a large percentage of grains and carbohydrates. Even low carb foods contain around 20-40% carbohydrates. Cats aren’t physiologically built to digest carbs. So, overloading them with carbs may lead to diabetes and pancreas ailments.
Kibble in many cases contains in part vegetable protein. Vegetable protein doesn’t supply the needed amounts of necessary amino acids. Also, because its less digestible than meat protein, it leads to more waist production which may put a lot of stress on the kidneys.
As I’ve written in another article, processed foods contain many synthetic ingredients. These accumulate in the body and burdens different organs, such as the liver and may lead to digestive tract diseases.
Food digestibility and Biological value
Digestibility indicates how much of the food gets absorbed in the gut and blood stream. This is the difference between how much a cat eats and how much is secreted in the feces. For example, your cat eats a can of food weighing 156 grams per day. And he secretes 22 grams of feces. This means your cat digested 134 grams of food. Meaning, the food has a digestibility of 85%.
Biological value indicates the percentage of nutrients absorbed which are carried to destination tissues and are available to be used by the body. Because food with high digestibility provides a higher percentage of nutrients to be absorbed, digestibility is an important way to measure nutritional value and quality of different foods. In general, the more quality ingredients are in the food, so rises the availability of nutrients to the body.
What affects digestibility and why its important?
Food digestibility is affected by factors like protein source (animal or plant), protein quality, macro nutrient content of the food, fiber presence of absence, synthetic material in the food, processing method, cooking temperature and of course the age and health status of the cat.
Raw and cooked food as the highest digestibility, followed by commercial raw, canned food and lastly dry kibble. Meaning is, a cat eating kibble will receive less available nutrients for its body than a cat eating real food.
In conclusion, you cannot underestimate the importance of food for your cats wellbeing and health. Your cat needs quality food that suits his biological and metabolic requirements. As the food will be more fitted to the cats natural nutrition, it will get digested better, provide maximum nutrition and support the cats health.
Proper nutrition for cats should be:
- Made from fresh protein and fats from animal sources in human grade quality. Cats need to eat raw or cooked in low temperatures foods. Remember that even grain free kibble may contain plant based protein such as peas or soy.
- Contain moisture. Feeding low moisture foods may contribute to oral disease and kidney/urinary tract ailments.
- Minimally processed. Processing forces manufacturers to add synthetic substances and we know that its best to consume nutrients in their natural form. Also, heat treatment damages the molecular structure of the ingredients and causes formation of carcinogenic compounds.
- Low in carbohydrates. In order to reduce production costs, manufacturers add large quantities of carbohydrates. This puts your cat in danger of developing obesity, diabetes, and different digestive tract illnesses.
- Low in fiber. Unless your cat currently have intestinal damage, cats don’t require almost any fiber in their diet. Cats have one of the shortest digestive tracts in the animal world; Which, unlike humans, don’t need to ferment fiber and their natural nutrition almost don’t include any plant based materials.
- Almost without any fruits and vegetables. Should only be around 5-10% of the diet. And their only purpose is to provide antioxidants.
- Without thickeners and binders. Its almost impossible to find a canned food without some kind of thickener or binder. These are the ingredients which provide the food with its shape. Some are Tapioca, Corn starch, Guar gum, Locust bean gum, Ager ager, Xanthan gum, Carrageenan and many more. These substances are linked to the development of IBD.
hhttps://phz8.petinsurance.com/pet-health/health-conditions/common-ailments-in-senior-cats
http://www.banfield.com/Banfield/media/PDF/Downloads/soph/Banfield-State-of-Pet-Health-Report_2013.pdf