Wyprowadzanie kota na smyczy - spacery z kotem Reading What to feed a cat? This is what your pet's proper nutrition should look like Next Prawidłowe żywienie Psa – o czym warto wiedzieć?

What to feed a cat? This is what your pet's proper nutrition should look like

Czym karmić kota - kotek wąchający puszkę z kocią karmą

Cat food

Your friend deserves the best! Cats are individualists, having their own distinct preferences and likes in every area of ​​life. What does this mean for us in the context of feeding fur babies?

When choosing cat food, we must pay attention not only to its perfect composition and perfect fit to the characteristics of a given cat, its age, breed, lifestyle and possible special nutritional needs, but also... to its taste. We all know what a cat looks and behaves when it's disgusted (literally!) with our lack of competence in this last issue, right?

Complete or complementary food?

When choosing cat food, you will come across the label: complete food or complementary food. Complete food, as defined by FEDIAF (European Federation of the Pet Food Industry), is food that provides the necessary nutrients in appropriate amounts and proportions, sufficient to cover the daily nutritional requirement (taking into account the cat's age, activity level and physiological condition). Each complete food can be the exclusive food for a cat at every stage of its life. Complementary food is used only as an addition, e.g. when it is necessary to enrich the cat's diet with specific ingredients.

Important! If you decide to introduce a new food to your kitten, remember to do it gradually! Is it like introducing new baby food?

The rule is: the first three days - 25% of new food, the next three days - 50% of new and old food, the next three days - 75% of new food, the last, tenth day - 100% of new food.

Healthy cat nutrition - cat food infographic

Remember that your cat is a carnivore!

Cats are carnivores and in the wild they spend almost half of their waking hours hunting and then eating their low-calorie but protein-rich prey. That's why meat should be the main ingredient of cat food! Only meat can provide your pet with taurine (not synthesized in the body, but necessary for the health of the circulatory system, nervous system and eyesight), specific polyunsaturated fatty acids (AA-n6 arachidonic acid) and vitamin A in a special form, perfectly absorbed by cats. Valuable cat food should contain at least 70% of the product's content of meat and animal products (e.g. offal).

Types of food – what do we have to choose from?

The selection of cat food is huge! Before you go hunting, get to know the basic types of food:

  • wet food - wet food corresponds to the cat's natural eating habits, and its moisture content is as close as possible to the fluid content in the natural prey of a free-living animal;

  • semi-moist – food with increased moisture, covering the cat's water needs to a greater extent (compared to dry food); semi-moist food is also less processed than dry food and more aromatic;

  • freeze-dried – food obtained in the freeze-drying process, which involves drying frozen products; allows you to preserve the natural taste and aroma of the ingredients and their maximum nutritional value.

Other cat feeding models:

  • BARF (Biologically Appropriate Raw Food) - a nutritional model that involves feeding your pet raw meat and offal, the BARF diet requires supplementing it with natural supplements.

  • Whole Prey - a cat feeding model based on feeding the animal whole carcasses that it hunted while living in the wild. Feeds available on the market include: in the form of bird carcasses (one-day-old chickens, quails, guinea fowl), rodent carcasses (feeder mice, feeder rats) and selected fish (whole, of course).

  • Home-cooked - a feeding model in which the cat owner prepares meals for his pet himself. Each meal should be prepared strictly according to the recommendations of animal nutrition specialists, properly balanced and supplemented with the necessary supplements.

Choose wisely - choose quality and perfectly match the food to your needs

When choosing food for your Friend, make sure that it is a product of the highest quality, comprehensively meeting all the cat's nutritional needs, providing nutrients from all groups - of course, in appropriate amounts and proportions.

The food should be prepared from the highest quality, natural raw materials, preferably from local producers and from responsible farms.

The most important rules for choosing cat food:

  • You can choose the food according to the age of your cat - the nutritional needs of junior cats (up to about 12 months of age), mature cats (from 1 to 7 years of age) and senior cats (over 7 years of age) may differ slightly;

  • adjust the food to the individual characteristics and lifestyle of your pet, e.g. sweat after castration - the need for individual ingredients and the caloric content of meals may vary depending on the level of activity, which may be lower in castrated and sterilized representatives of the feline species;

  • adjust the food to your special nutritional needs - you can choose balanced food from a range of specialized products intended for feeding, among others: Neutered, underweight, overweight or obese cats, cats struggling with food allergies or skin problems/poor fur condition;

  • always read and analyze the labels on cat food packaging - the ingredients of the food are listed in order from the highest to the lowest content, choose products with a high content of fresh or dried meat (minimum 70% of the composition - in the best foods the meat content is up to 99%!), give up products containing grains and artificial flavors, dyes or preservatives;

  • remember about deliciousness - your cat master will reward you for it... with purring!

The best wet food for cats

If your cat could choose between wet and dry food, it would most likely choose the first option! The wet food has a consistency perfect for the cat's palate and a tempting scent, which is crucial for the pet (Cats have about 60 - 70 million olfactory cells, while humans have only about 5 million of them).

Wet food effectively hydrates our pet's body, covering up to 90% of the daily water requirement, and therefore has a positive impact on the health of the urinary system, helping to prevent, among others: urolithiasis.
In addition, wet food is less energetic than dry food and is recommended for maintaining the correct body weight of your cat and preventing obesity. It is also worth adding that this type of food is more similar to the natural way of eating of wild and free-living cats.

Wet food for cats it is also the most convenient solution for you! Wet food is most often available in single-portion packages (sachets) or daily packages (cans, trays). They are easy to administer and effectively meet your cat's nutritional needs for a specific period of time. The temperature of the food is also important for your friend - Cats in their natural environment eat freshly hunted, still warm mice or birds. Give your cat wet food at room temperature - be sure to warm up the portion taken from the fridge to a temperature of about 18-22 degrees Celsius, thanks to which it will regain its delicious smell.

Cats eat 24 hours a day! The menu prepared by Mruczek would include up to a dozen or so small meals. However, due to the work and lifestyle of cat owners, the correct way to feed a pet cat is to feed 5-6 portions. An average-sized, mature cat should eat about 320-400 g of food a day.

Always follow the nutritional guidelines on the product label, and consult any changes in the daily amount and calorie content of the food with your veterinarian/dietitian. It is also very important to observe the cat - if it is gaining weight, reduce the portions and introduce more exercise and play. Sometimes tests will be necessary to find the cause of excessive body weight.

At Animal Island, we know that cats love wet food, and you want to provide your friend with the best. That's why we have developed the highest quality, perfect balanced wet dishes for cats . This includes: chicken and duck, chicken and salmon, turkey and quail meals, filled to the brim with human-grade meat that could be… on your plate! It is 100% natural ingredients, as much as 99% meat and no unnecessary fillers!

This is a nutrition concept based on the way animals eat in their natural environment. Cats are predatory carnivores that eat their prey whole. If our pets lived outside the home, their main food would be mice, which are a rich source of taurine (mice meat contains five times more taurine than beef!).

Feeding a cat based on the BARF scheme consists in feeding the animal raw meat and offal and supplementing it with natural supplements. The safety of the BARF diet depends on properly balanced meals and the use of only fresh meat from proven sources. Due to the microbiological risk, specialists often advise against using the BARF diet in cats.

The best dry cat food

An alternative to wet food may be dry cat food, which, however, should not be the only food for our pet. Apart from exceptional situations, when, for example, we have to leave the Pupil for a few hours, it is strongly recommended to feed him only wet food or to use a mixed feeding model, which involves combining wet food and dry food (of course in appropriate amounts and proportions!).

The most popular dry foods are highly processed and high-calorie products. They contain a lot of fillers, mainly grains that are completely unnecessary in a cat's diet. Not only do they provide your pet with carbohydrates, the excess of which may lead to overweight or obesity problems (and as a result: diabetes), but they may also contribute to the development or manifestation of food allergies (including gluten).

Feeding your cat only with dry food also generates additional responsibility for proper hydration of your pet's body. Dry food meets only a small percentage of water needs (it contains approximately 14% water), which means that the cat should replenish water in its body by drinking.

This issue is not obvious to a cat, which, not feeling hungry, rarely uses a bowl of water. Remember that when using dry food, you must strictly control the amount of water your pet consumes - it is at least 240 - 300 ml.

When choosing dry food, choose a new generation product! These are grain-free foods containing a maximum percentage of meat, offal and fish. The composition of dry food should include: taurine, omega-3 and omega-6 acids, vitamins (mainly: A, D3, E, B12), minerals and trace elements.

This food is a good solution for those caregivers who spend a large part of the day outside the home. You can place dry food in an automatic dispenser that will release a precisely measured portion for your furry friend at the right moment.

A place for the Cat to eat - let him choose it

Have you already chosen the best cat food? Analyze where your furry friend will eat his meals. The cat's dining room should be located in a quiet and peaceful place, away from drafts, passageways and the litter box. You can also let the cat choose its own place to feast. Place a few bowls and saucers around the house and watch your little one. Remember that the food and water bowls should be far apart. If there are more cats living in your house, provide them with separate bowls and saucers and separate eating places.

A good practice is the so-called active feeding , thanks to which you can effectively prevent your cat from becoming overweight and obese and satisfy its natural hunting needs. How to encourage your cat to search and hunt? You can hide small portions of meals in different places in the house. It is also useful to use interactive toys/food dispensers from which the cat can "release" its food.

Time to sum up - plan the optimal diet for your cat!

The health and well-being of your cat depends largely on how and what it eats! We are convinced that your goal is to choose a diet that will fully meet all the needs and expectations (including taste) of your pet!

The best cat food it is made of excellent quality ingredients, with a high meat content, without unnecessary grain fillers and artificial colors, flavors and preservatives. Remember that food for cats should always be selected according to their age and specific nutritional needs and lifestyle. Also remember about water - proper hydration is very important for the health and life of your little one.

Remember that what you feed your pet is also very important! Glass bowls and plates that do not irritate cat whiskers can be found in our offer. This is a guarantee that each meal will taste exactly as it should!

Are you wondering what else to give your little one? Will raw meat or milk be good for him? What is the situation with food that is inadvisable and dangerous for a cat? You will learn about it in the next article -> What to feed cats apart from food? What products are banned?

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