Caring For Your Cat: Diet, Food and Nutrition
Caring for your cat’s diet, food and nutrition can be difficult with all the different kinds of food available these days. Good nutrition makes for a healthy, happy cat with a glossy coat and plenty of energy. Newborn kittens, weaning kittens, young cats, adult cats, pregnant and breastfeeding mother cats and old cats all need slightly different diets. In general, all that you need to do is to check that you are buying cat food that offers ‘Complete’ nutrition, and which also is designed for the right age of cat! But, if you want to learn more about the fascinating world of cat nutrition, just read on.
Protein
Cats need protein: it is essential for the growth and repair of their cells as well as for a whole host of other things. That is not the whole story, though: cats also need ‘complete’ protein: proteins which give them all of the amino acids that they need to survive and thrive. One example of such an acid is taurine. In the past, taurine was not known to be an essential food for cats, but now it has been shown to be an important part of cat nutrition it will often be added into cat food.
Complete proteins can only be derived from animals, so you should be extremely warm of feeding your cat vegetarian cat food. If you do want to feed them a vegetarian diet, you will need to pay extra frequent visits to the veterinarian and make sure that they get supplements for taurine and the other amino acids that it is hard for them to get from non animal sources.
Fats and oils
In the right amounts, fats and oils are essential for boosting your cat’s immune system and giving them a lovely glossy coat. Many cat foods seek to replicate the nutrients that cats would get from their ‘natural’ diet (i.e. the diet that cats would ideally get if they were living out in the wild with plentiful prey to hunt). This is certainly the case with the essential fatty acid known as omega 3, which cats can derive from the bodies of herbivorous prey such as mice.
Vitamins and minerals
Just like you, cats need an array of vitamins and minerals: everything ranging from iron to calcium. Vitamins and minerals perform a variety of functions in your cat’s body, such as maintaining a healthy nervous system, enabling blood to clot, and regulating sleep.
Water
A cat’s diet is not all about the solid food you know. Cats need plenty of fresh water available at all times. So make sure to have a bowl of fresh water within reach on every floor of your house, and replenish it daily so it does not go stale.
I live in an old apartment and am worried about rodents. Should I feed my cat a little less to encourage her to catch mice?
Absolutely not! Starving your cat to encourage them to go out is never a good idea as it will deprive your kitty of the essential minerals and other nutrients that she needs. Cats are playful animals and will hunt even when they are not hungry.
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Meow for now … Kristian Taylor
