Oh my, are there are lot of choices when it comes to cat food these days. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. It probably means there are more excellent food choices for our cats and also more inferior foods that could actually be causing some of the health maladies cats are contracting as they age. Or are we seeing more illness in cats simply because they’re living longer?
Feeding cats has become difficult on many levels. Do we feed what they’ll eat or what we believe is good for them. Certainly, if they won’t eat it, they won’t get any benefit from it. But who wants to give their cats food with no real nutritional value?
How do you choose your cat’s food? Price? Tradition? The label? What the cat will eat? Or have you actually gone to the trouble of learning about your cat’s intricate nutritional needs?
Maybe your cat is like so many now, she requires a special dietary formula for diabetes,
kidney issues, or urinary tract problems. I have a friend whose veterinarian said her cat could no longer have fish in her diet because it was causing crystals in the urinary tract. Our Lily is on a special low protein diet because she has kidney disease. So is over-the-counter cat food harming our cat? Is the higher priced cat food actually healthier for every cat?
I did some research and I’ve provided you with some great resources below. Ever hear of the AAFCO (Association of Feed Control Officials). Some say that your cat food should have their seal of approval on the package. What is this association all about? They establish nutritional standards for complete and balanced pet foods. According to experts, you want to buy a product that says on the label, “complete and balanced” and/or that has the AAFCO stamp.
Interestingly, one concern with cat food today is over nutrition rather than under nutrition. Can you believe that? Experts say that this is actually a bigger problem with pet foods today. Here’s an in-depth article about pet food standards. It’s designed to help you determine which is the best cat food for your cat by label-reading. When you’re ready to study the labels on your cat’s canned food cans, get out your magnifying glass. You may have noticed that the print is ultra-tiny. https://www.petcoach.co/article/cat-food-standards-by-the-aafco/
Here’s a separate article listing the best brands of cat food for 2018. Is your cat’s food on this list? https://www.petcoach.co/article/cat-food-standards-by-the-aafco/
It really is baffling trying to figure out which is the best food for our cats! Little also has kidney issues, but some vets are now saying low protein isn’t the way. ??
PS: Your link is a good article, but I think both are the same.
Hi Mollie, my vet said she read the same study about protein being too important to eliminate from a cat’s diet and we put Lily back on an over-the-counter food. We tested her in 3 months and her numbers were going in the wrong direction. So she (the vet) suggested feeding her half and half. I was a bit skeptical, and I decided to go 3/4 prescription food and 1/4 regular food. She also gets only prescription kibbles. Is fed wet food 3 times a day. Her latest test shows no weight gain or loss (she’s still a bit of a chunky girl), and her numbers are rising ever so slowly, which, the vet says is good as her body is then able to adjust. Lily is 9 and she may have been born with kidney disease–she showed signs from a very early age–so she’s had it for most of her life. It took them a while to diagnose it for some reason. She was still only around a year when they finally did the tests to discover it. Thank you for your input–I’m always eager to learn more about this deadly disease.