Choosing food for your cat can seem like a daunting task. There are more cat food brands and styles on the market than ever before. With so many brands out there, it can seem almost impossible to pick the best one for your cat. What to look out for in cat food? How do you know you’re making healthy choices?
Some healthy ingredients to look for:
- Protein sources other than meat
- Ingredients that are low in starch
- Ingredient recommended by the American Association of Feed Control Officials (AAFCO).
Basic Nutritional Needs of Cats
Cats are considered obligate carnivores. This means that they need animal protein in their diet to get enough nutrients because they can’t efficiently synthesize the amino acid taurine from other nutrients. Instead, they need to get it from their diet. Taurine is only found in animal protein, so feeding a cat a vegetarian diet is unhealthy. Cats with a diet deficient in taurine may develop a serious heart muscle disease called dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). In fact, dilated cardiomyopathy used to be one of the most common diagnoses of feline-acquired heart disease until researchers discovered a link between feline taurine deficiency and dilated cardiomyopathy. However, cats fed a diet deficient in taurine are not only at risk of DCM. They may also develop retinal degeneration and reproductive disorders.
Cat Food Labels
The American Association of Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) is an organization of animal feed experts who advise on the ideal dietary composition for different animals. AAFCO provides dietary recommendations that meet the minimum nutrient content to avoid the risk of malnutrition, but does not regulate pet food. Both cat food and pet food in general are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA is responsible for enforcing food safety. If a manufacturer chooses AAFCO recommendations, they will have an AAFCO claim on both their bagged and canned cat food, sometimes referred to as a nutritional adequacy claim. This statement lets pet owners know that the diet is complete and balanced during the prescribed life stages. Wholeness means that all the nutrients needed for the life stage are present. Balanced means that all nutrients are in perfect balance and proportion, so that no too little or too many nutrients are provided.
The current AAFCO-recognized life stages are growth/kitten, adult/maintenance, and all life stages. The FDA regulates the nutritional requirements required for these life stages based on AAFCO recommendations.
The AAFCO statement will also let you know if the diet has been formulated or if it has been tested for feeding. Formula feeds are species-specific nutrient content requirements (as opposed to ingredients) and include the minimum requirements for adequate nutrition and development for the animal, as well as the nutrients needed to avoid malnutrition.
Feeding trials are clinical studies that aim to demonstrate the effects of a diet on a group of animals and allow pet food companies to demonstrate the healthiness of a diet. This is important because while multiple proteins may be sources of the same nutrient, nutrients may be absorbed differently for one protein and another. In addition, different components may interact differently once they are broken down into nutrients, which can also affect how the cat actually absorbs nutrients.
A Word About the Ingredients
In recent years, many pet food companies have utilized reading ingredients in their marketing to prove their healthiness to pet owners. The ingredients for pet food will be listed in descending order by weight, with the first ingredient listed weighing the heaviest and the last ingredient weighing the least. That’s why a lot of pet food products will list meat as the first ingredient, because whole meat contains a lot of water, which adds weight. Some companies will tell you to steer clear of “meat meal”, “chicken meal”, etc., but the word “meat meal” simply means that all the moisture in the meat has been removed. This can actually make it a more protein-dense ingredient than the whole source ingredient and may also contain other nutrients such as glucosamine to help improve joint health.
Although foods with chicken as the first ingredient may seem like a healthy choice, if the next few ingredients are more related to starch and less to animal protein, then it may actually have a lower nutrient density than pet foods with different protein sources. The level of digestibility of meat meal and chicken meal is comparable compared to the other.
Pet food companies can also label entire source ingredients as individual things. For example, the label might say “corn flour”, “corn gluten meal”, etc., instead of “corn.” Pet food companies do this for the same reason they might leave a complete source of protein instead of as a meal. Since ingredients are listed by weight,”corn” as a whole ingredient may end up higher on the ingredient list than pet food companies might like. By breaking down the ingredients, individual items (i.e., ground corn, corn flour, tortilla flakes) can appear lower on the ingredient list. This is also why some pet food ingredient labels may list derivatives of corn or other starch more than once.
Canned Goods vs. Kibble
For a long time, until today, there has been a debate about whether cats should be fed dry coarse food or canned food. Dry cat food is relatively inexpensive and easily allows for “free choice” feeding. Dry foods have a long shelf life, but once opened, they should still be kept in an airtight container and used for about a month after opening. If food is stored in the open for a long time, the vitamins and minerals in the dry food will begin to degrade, even in airtight containers. This will make it no longer complete or balanced, as vitamins and minerals are no longer able to be absorbed by cats.
Warning: Dry food that has been left open for a long time can also go bad because the fat in the food can become sour very quickly.
Dry foods are more cost-effective than canned foods, and proponents of canned foods are concerned that dry foods contain more unnecessary carbohydrates than canned foods. However, going back to what we know about pet food labels, if dry food is labeled as “complete and balanced,” that statement in itself trumps any concerns about too many carbs in the diet. Again, this is because a complete and balanced diet will contain all the nutrients that the cat needs, and that all nutrients will be in the right proportions.
The moisture content of canned food is 75%. This makes it an important source of water for cats, but how much of a help this is debatable, as some cats may reduce their water intake when eating canned food. Some people believe that this increase in water levels is beneficial for cats that may not drink enough water, especially if they have kidney disease or bladder inflammation, and that consuming more water will better flush the urethra. Uneaten canned food should be picked up after a few hours. In addition, canned food does not provide a hard surface to chew on, which can also affect dental health.
Grain-Free vs. Grain-Contained
Grain-free diets have been around for more than a decade, and this popular fad has been shown to pose significant health risks to pets. They are advertised as a “premium” and “whole” diet for pets, but it should be noted that AAFCO does not regulate either of these terms, so what they really mean is what pet food companies want you to believe. It has been observed that there has been an increase in the number of pets with dilated cardiomyopathy among pets fed grain-free, boutique or exotic diets. While diet-related DCM has been known for some time, a link has been established in recent years between grain-free diets and DCM in diets deficient in taurine or protein. While most studies have focused on diet-related dilated cardiomyopathy in dogs, there have been some case reports of cats.
Raw Food
As cat food delivery services have become commonplace, raw food has become increasingly popular. These can be frozen raw foods, freeze-dried raw foods, or even raw kibble foods. Proponents of raw food feeding tout the many benefits. Unfortunately, the benefits of raw foods have not been scientifically proven. On the other hand, there is always a risk of pathogenic bacterial infections from raw food.
Choosing the right diet for your cat can be a daunting task. There are now more brands and types of cat food than ever before. Choosing the healthiest diet can seem almost impossible, but there are a few things that can help you distinguish a healthier diet from other, less healthy diets. Certain health requirements also have stricter dietary requirements. Consider looking for a diet with an AAFCO statement and seek advice from a veterinary professional.