What Are the Benefits of Healthy Cat Food?

Figuring out exactly what you should feed your cat can be more challenging than determining what to make your family for dinner. Pet stores offer aisles upon aisles of various types of cat food, varying drastically in price. Premium cat foods use top-of-the-line ingredients and tend to be healthier for your kitty than supermarket brands, offering several benefits for your beloved chum.

  1. Less Waste

    • Premium cat foods will have some kind of protein -- chicken, lamb, turkey or beef, just to name a few -- listed as the very first ingredient. If you see some kind of grain or corn listed close to the top of the ingredient list, the food is full of fillers. Your furry companion can̵7;t process these fillers and just passes them out through stool, making more mess for you to clean out in his litter box. Felix̵7;s digestive tract absorbs a large amount of the nutrients from the meaty ingredients. If you opt for a high-quality canned food, or kibble instead, or feed him high quality meats you̵7;ll have less of a mess to dispose of when it comes time to scoop his litter.

    More Meat

    • Cats require a diet high in quality fats and proteins. Healthy cat foods will often say ̶0;chicken cat dinner̶1; or ̶0;tuna cat food̶1; right on the package. This statement means that the food must have at least 95 percent of that particular ingredient, after it is cooked and processed so the moisture is removed. Inferior brands change the wording a little bit. You might see ̶0;made with tuna̶1; on the label of a cheaper variety. While the food certainly must contain tuna, it only has to have 3 percent. While you assume you̵7;re getting a fishy food for your purring pal, you̵7;re really just giving him a bunch of fillers that smell and taste a bit like tuna.

    Better Protein Sources

    • Cats need a slew of specialized proteins, known as amino acids, for muscle, brain and other vital body processes. One amino acid in particular, called taurine, is essential for your kitty̵7;s vision and heart. Top-shelf healthy foods tend to be more expensive because they are made with large amounts of quality meats, ensuring your pal gets just the right amount of each amino acid, including taurine. Often cheaper brands use fillers, like ground corn or grains, to bulk up the food, rather than adding in more meat. These foods also tend to have meat by-products, which contain random animal parts, like beaks, bone and skin -- none of which are high in amino acids. While inferior brands still have to have certain amounts of amino acids, they may only contain the bare minimum. Felix could be missing out on some of the amino acids he needs to thrive if he isn̵7;t on a sound diet.

    Buyer Beware

    • Beware of marketing gimmicks that are designed to lure in pet owners. Reaching for the most expensive bag on the shelf doesn̵7;t equate to top-notch nutrition for your kitty. Cat foods should be meat based. If you see blueberries, apples carrots, peas or other produce item pictured on the package, it looks healthy to you, but your cat doesn̵7;t need it. They are, in a sense, high-quality filler ingredients and unnecessary for a feline diet. Foods labeled as ̶0;natural̶1; have to be minimally processed, contain to artificial flavor, no coloring ingredients, no preservatives and no artificial ingredients.