Grain in Cat Food - Why It Is Bad For Your Cat
Stop! Go read the nutrition label on your cat's food bag.
Does it list some kind of grain in the ingredients list? Keep reading and let me tell you why this might not be the best for your cat's digestive tract and overall health.
Obligate Carnivore Your cat is an obligate carnivore.
What does this mean? It means that your cat cannot survive as a vegetarian.
Your cat must eat meat.
As an obligate carnivore, your cat does not and cannot process the proteins from grain products well enough to gain significant value from them.
This is because the proteins in grain products such as corn, potatoes, and soy lack various amino acids, the building blocks of protein, that are found in meat.
While herbivores and people are able to make these missing amino acids themselves, cats cannot.
A cat is fully reliant on his diet to obtain these crucial amino acids.
Because of this, you now have the responsibility of feeding a proper diet to your carnivorous friend.
This includes giving your pet the necessary meat that he needs in his diet.
The majority of his diet should therefore be meat.
Very little should come from grains and vegetables.
Some is okay, your furry friend just won't gain as much nutrition from them as he would from a good chunk of meat.
Reading Labels So, your job when it comes to purchasing cat food is to read through the ingredients list to see if it contains the necessary meat component.
What does this include? It includes looking for meat as the first several ingredients.
The more ingredients that you can read, the better.
I mean the less chemical sounding the ingredient, the better.
Grains and vegetables should be lower in the ingredients list and there shouldn't be too many of them.
Meats should be first.
Meat or By-Product When it comes down to it, purchasing food containing meat by-products will be more nutritious for your cat than if you purchased foods that contained more grains.
Meat by-products are just the leftovers from the meat processing industry.
This means the feet, the bones, and all the parts that humans don't normally eat.
While not as nutritious as muscle, your cat's digestive system will still gain more nutrition out of these than grains.
Ideally though, you'd want to see ingredients such as chicken, beef, turkey, and the like listed at the beginning of the list.
You'd want to see ingredients such as corn meal, rice, and potatoes towards the end of the list.
Does it list some kind of grain in the ingredients list? Keep reading and let me tell you why this might not be the best for your cat's digestive tract and overall health.
Obligate Carnivore Your cat is an obligate carnivore.
What does this mean? It means that your cat cannot survive as a vegetarian.
Your cat must eat meat.
As an obligate carnivore, your cat does not and cannot process the proteins from grain products well enough to gain significant value from them.
This is because the proteins in grain products such as corn, potatoes, and soy lack various amino acids, the building blocks of protein, that are found in meat.
While herbivores and people are able to make these missing amino acids themselves, cats cannot.
A cat is fully reliant on his diet to obtain these crucial amino acids.
Because of this, you now have the responsibility of feeding a proper diet to your carnivorous friend.
This includes giving your pet the necessary meat that he needs in his diet.
The majority of his diet should therefore be meat.
Very little should come from grains and vegetables.
Some is okay, your furry friend just won't gain as much nutrition from them as he would from a good chunk of meat.
Reading Labels So, your job when it comes to purchasing cat food is to read through the ingredients list to see if it contains the necessary meat component.
What does this include? It includes looking for meat as the first several ingredients.
The more ingredients that you can read, the better.
I mean the less chemical sounding the ingredient, the better.
Grains and vegetables should be lower in the ingredients list and there shouldn't be too many of them.
Meats should be first.
Meat or By-Product When it comes down to it, purchasing food containing meat by-products will be more nutritious for your cat than if you purchased foods that contained more grains.
Meat by-products are just the leftovers from the meat processing industry.
This means the feet, the bones, and all the parts that humans don't normally eat.
While not as nutritious as muscle, your cat's digestive system will still gain more nutrition out of these than grains.
Ideally though, you'd want to see ingredients such as chicken, beef, turkey, and the like listed at the beginning of the list.
You'd want to see ingredients such as corn meal, rice, and potatoes towards the end of the list.
