Cat Nutrition

Cats Love Fresh Meat

Cats love fresh meat for sensible reasons. A cat dies if it doesn’t eat meat. Cats cannot break down certain essential amino acids and fatty acids found in vegetable matter. They can only get them from eating mammals, birds, reptiles and fish.

Cats Need ‘essential’ Nutrients

Animal fat contains essential fatty acids (EFAs) such as arachidonic acid and linoleic acid. The cat can’t manufacture these nutrients. A cat’s natural diet, small rodents and birds, contains a good balance of these essential nutrients, as well as essential amino acids such as taurine and arginine. So does fish, not a natural diet for cats but an extremely good one.

Cook For Your Cat

Your cat will probably love you even more if you cook fresh food daily for it. There is information on home cooking on the internet, for example at www.cats.com
If you want someone else to do the cooking visit www.marro.com. We suggest feeding freshly cooked meals for your cat, supplemented with high quality dry food and bones such as chicken necks as treats.

Raw Food Can Be Risky

Raw food from the most reputable manufacturers is nutritious but we don’t recommend it. While it may be ‘natural’, there is the obvious risk of Salmonella bacteria in raw poultry and the additional risk from the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis. Eating undercooked or raw meat is the most common way we contract toxo but we can also contract it from cat faeces during the weeks after a cat first consumes this parasite. Recently there were several instances of cats contracting tuberculosis from raw food containing venison. Feeding fresh cooked food eliminates this risk.

How Processed Commercial Cat Food Is Made

Dry food is prepared by cooking then drying under pressure and spraying with fat to add stimulating odour to increase palatability. A preservative is added to prevent that fat from spoiling. Wet foods are cooked, heat sterilised and sealed in sachets or tins. Because wet foods are vacuum-sealed preservatives aren’t necessary. Nutritionally, one type of diet is no better than the other. Dry food is popular because it can be left in the bowl all day for your cat to graze on – and cats enjoy grazing – and it can also be used as hidden treats in activity toys or in paper bags, for your cat to actively search and find.

Cheaper commercial foods have variable formulas but usually a set level of protein, fat and calories. More expensive foods are made from exactly the same ingredients but to set formulas. Even more exacting recipes are used for the variety of ‘veterinary’ diets fed to prevent or treat certain diseases.

Nutritional Needs Vary Throughout Life

Growing kittens have higher energy demands than typical adults so kitten foods contain higher levels of vitamins and minerals and more protein than diets for adult cats. At the opposite end of the spectrum, older cats need more cellular protection so cat food providers increase the levels of free radical scavenger vitamins and minerals in their diets. They claim that ‘senior’ diets are also more digestible. Longhair cats, because they swallow more hair while grooming themselves are more prone to hairballs than other cats. Because most indoor cats are relatively inactive and neutered, manufacturers market a variety of calorie-controlled diets euphemistically labeled as ‘neutered cat’ or ‘indoor cat’ diets.

Special Veterinary Diets Control Medical Conditions

Some cats are genetically predisposed to develop a variety of urinary problems, lumped together under the acronym LUTD, lower urinary tract disorder. LUTD is more likely to develop in overweight, lazy, indoor, tom cats that eat dry food. It causes pain or life threatening urinary blockage. Good cat food makers formulate diets to prevent LUTD. They also produce ‘renal diets’ for cats that develop age or breed-related kidney failure together with various other wet and dry ‘veterinary diets’ to help cats lose weight, recover from serious illness or surgery or overcome gastro-intestinal disturbances. We can advise you whether a special diet may be beneficial for your cat.

Bones Can Be Beneficial

Gum disease is the most common reason we are obliged to anaesthetise cats. Most tooth and gum disease can be avoided if a cat learns early in life to eat bones. We advise starting kittens at eight weeks of age on cooked chicken bones. There are possible drawbacks. Raw chicken bones may carry Salmonella bacteria, potentially dangerous to your cat and to people. A raw or cooked bone might get caught between the teeth in the roof of the mouth. This is exceptional and the benefits to a cat from gnawing on bones outweigh the risks.

Milk Occasionally Causes Diarrhea

Cats love milk and cream but dairy products occasionally cause diarrhea. That’s because while kittens produce an enzyme called lactase to digest lactose, the sugar in milk, some adult cats don’t. They don’t have enough of the right bacteria in their intestines to do so. If milk upsets your cat’s digestion and causes diarrhea, offer it either ‘cat milk’ or ‘lactose-free milk’, either of which is available from large supermarkets.

Tackling Obesity

Like us, fat runs in families. A cat’s body condition is influenced by what you feed but also by genetic factors. An indoor, urban lifestyle is not what cats were made for. It can be tedious and dull living in luxury so the most exciting event is feeding time. Deep down, most cat owners understand this. We know we aren’t providing our cats with the type of physical exercise they really want. While many owners of obese cats know they are living with unhealthy companions, some people don’t recognise when a cat is simply overweight.
Keep a record of exactly what your cat eats, including all the titbits. This makes you more conscious of all the extras it receives. Cut out titbits but if this is not possible replace them with bits of dry kibbles. We can provide you with a diet formulated to help your cat lose weight.

Cats Can Develop Food Allergy And Food Intolerance

A food allergy occurs when a cat’s immune system reacts to a component of its food. Food allergy usually causes itchy skin or diarrhea. Food intolerance is a reaction that does not involve the immune system but may cause vomiting, diarrhea or other clinical signs. Any cat at any age may develop a food intolerance.

Food allergy is diagnosed by feeding a novel and unique diet that your cat has not eaten before for at least six weeks. If skin disease or diarrhea resolve then return when the former food is fed this confirms true food allergy. We advise feeding a home cooked or commercial diet consisting of nutrients known not to cause allergy. The processing procedures used to produce commercial cat food may somehow increase the antigenicity of some foods. This may lead to processed food triggering an allergic response while fresh food using the same ingredients does not. We will help you through this maze for resolving food allergy or food intolerance.

Picky Eaters

Finicky eaters are made, not born. Don’t turn your kitchen into a feline restaurant with your customer choosing from a varied menu. From early in life offer your cat a fresh, tasty and nutritious diet. Home cooking, by you or a commercial business is best. As time moves on, modify that diet according to your cat’s unique demands. If your cat goes outdoors, provide more nutrients as the weather gets colder. Weigh your cat routinely. Steady weight is just about as good a simple sign of good health as there is. Weight increases or losses mean that the natural balance has been upset. Almost certainly something is wrong and central to resolving the problem may be changing nutrition.

Weight Gain After Neutering

Weight gain after neutering is simple to prevent. When your male or female cat is neutered make sure you know his or her exact weight and arbitrarily reduce food consumption by 20 percent. Chances are your cat will retain its pre-surgical weight. If it is losing weight, return to the former meal size.

Changing Your Cat’s Food

Plan diet changes to occur over a four day period. Sudden diet changes affect the living environment of microorganisms in your cat’s intestines and the demands on digestive enzymes. Digestive enzymes need time to adjust to new food. Begin by adding a little of the new food to your cat’s existing diet. Gradually increase the proportion of new food over the following days.

Special Veterinary Diets Control Medical Conditions

A variety of health problems from obesity to kidney disease to bladder stones to diabetes can be partly treated through diet.
Good cat food makers formulate diets to treat or control a variety of health problems. We often use special diets provided by the French pharmaceutical company Virbac. https://uk.virbac.com/home/veterinary-hpm.html
We can advise you whether a special diet may be beneficial for your cat.

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Cat Nutrition

Cats Love Fresh Meat

Cats Need ‘essential’ Nutrients

Cook For Your Cat

Raw Food Can Be Risky

How Processed Commercial Cat Food Is Made

Nutritional Needs Vary Throughout Life

Special Veterinary Diets Control Medical Conditions

Bones Can Be Beneficial

Milk Occasionally Causes Diarrhea

Tackling Obesity

Cats Can Develop Food Allergy And Food Intolerance

Picky Eaters

Weight Gain After Neutering

Changing Your Cat’s Food

Special Veterinary Diets Control Medical Conditions

Our Testimonials

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