A Few Concerns About Cat Foods
It's not the case that all cat foods are the same.
Some use better quality meats and other ingredients, while others use ingredients that owners would shrink from if they knew all of them.
There's so much to be aware of, such as the debate over dry versus canned food, whether a non-conventional cat diet is healthy or not, what really are the best ingredients, and so on.
And a pet owner has no option but to become informed on all of these things, because now they know they could also be faced with cat food recalls.
Some vets have begun to advocate pet foods that have a lot more moisture in them, like canned food or food with a sauce in pouches.
The overly high carbohydrate content in dry kibble has a tendency to make a cat obese unless it is kept very active, something that not all cat owners are able to ensure.
And carbohydrates are not natural cat foods, so their pancreas has difficulty processing the sugar that the carbohydrates are turned into.
Unconventional foods like vegetarian or raw food diets create another set of potential problems.
Even among vegans and vegetarians there is a heated debate about whether cats can survive on a vegetarian diet created more for political or environmental reasons than because they suit a cat's needs.
With a cat eating either a vegetarian diet or a raw food diet, there are questions about whether the animal is receiving all its nutritional needs.
Some cats can actually suffer malnutrition while filling their mouths, if the food doesn't have the balance it needs.
The choices among types of cat foods may seem difficult, but the pet deaths and huge food recalls of 2007 demonstrated how important it is to find out what's in the various types of foods.
To let a cat feed on just anything is not a responsible choice, and could end up harming the animal.
Good pet owners need to keep on top of the latest information as much as they can, because the well being of their feline may depend on their vigilance.
Some use better quality meats and other ingredients, while others use ingredients that owners would shrink from if they knew all of them.
There's so much to be aware of, such as the debate over dry versus canned food, whether a non-conventional cat diet is healthy or not, what really are the best ingredients, and so on.
And a pet owner has no option but to become informed on all of these things, because now they know they could also be faced with cat food recalls.
Some vets have begun to advocate pet foods that have a lot more moisture in them, like canned food or food with a sauce in pouches.
The overly high carbohydrate content in dry kibble has a tendency to make a cat obese unless it is kept very active, something that not all cat owners are able to ensure.
And carbohydrates are not natural cat foods, so their pancreas has difficulty processing the sugar that the carbohydrates are turned into.
Unconventional foods like vegetarian or raw food diets create another set of potential problems.
Even among vegans and vegetarians there is a heated debate about whether cats can survive on a vegetarian diet created more for political or environmental reasons than because they suit a cat's needs.
With a cat eating either a vegetarian diet or a raw food diet, there are questions about whether the animal is receiving all its nutritional needs.
Some cats can actually suffer malnutrition while filling their mouths, if the food doesn't have the balance it needs.
The choices among types of cat foods may seem difficult, but the pet deaths and huge food recalls of 2007 demonstrated how important it is to find out what's in the various types of foods.
To let a cat feed on just anything is not a responsible choice, and could end up harming the animal.
Good pet owners need to keep on top of the latest information as much as they can, because the well being of their feline may depend on their vigilance.
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