My girlfriend Lynn and I share a chubby 9
year old female cat named Raja. We became worried about her weight after her
last vet visit. In one year she gained over 2 pounds! Wow! That's like a 120
lb. person gaining 24 pounds!
When Science Fails...
We promised the vet we would put her on a
diet, which consisted of senior and weight-loss formulas from a
"scientific" brand of cat food. We continued to feed her dry cat food
because she liked it fine and it was convenient for us. One small bowl a day
and she and we were satisfied. We also started measuring her food to prevent
overeating, according to the vet's instructions.
After a couple of months, we and guests
to the house noticed that she seemed even fatter and more lethargic. We became
very concerned, but still trusted in our "science" dry food.
Then, I just happened to come across a
book at the local library while browsing the new book section. It was called:
"Your Cat: Simple New Secrets to a Longer, Stronger Life." I decided
to look up "obesity" in the index and found some very shocking
information.
According to the author, Elizabeth M.
Hodgkins, D.V.M., the dry food we were feeding Raja was not only the cause of
her weight gain and laziness, but it had the potential to cause more severe
problems, like feline diabetes! I was surprised to learn that cats are not like
us or even like dogs... they are "obligate carnivores", which means
they get their entire nutrition from meat. Unlike us and dogs, who are
omnivores, cats can't process grains and other carbohydrates very well. Their
bodies just aren't built that way.
Guess what the main ingredients of those
"scientific" diet foods we were feeding Raja? Corn, wheat and other
grains! She need to go on a "Catkins" diet and fast!
The Ideal Cat Diet
The ideal diet for any cat is protein,
fat, moisture and low carbohydrates... just like the makeup of their natural
prey: small animals and birds. If left outside, cat's eat what they catch and
they don't chase after corn on the cob! They prey on mice, chipmunks, birds,
etc.
The only cure for feline obesity
according to Dr. Hodgkins, is low carbohydrate, high protein wet cat food. She
insists that all cat owners drop dry cat food altogether. So, armed with this
new information, I went on a quest to find readily available canned cat food
that consisted of decent meat ingredients and that had carbohydrates at the
recommended amount: 10% or less.
My Search For Healthy, Low Carbohydrate
Cat Food
It took a while, but I found quite a few
flavors of Fancy Feast, Petsmart's Sophisticat Supreme, Wellness Core, and
Innova Evo's Cat and Kitten that met the low-carb, high protein, healthy
ingredients criteria.
I discovered that it's important to read
the labels of the canned foods you feed your pet and not trust any brand
totally with your pet's health. Even within the above mentioned brands, there
were flavors of canned cat food that were too high in carbohydrates or that had
low quality ingredients.
How To Read A Cat Food Label
The key to reading labels is to make sure
the food has decent ingredients and low carbs.
Here are the ingredient criteria you
should look for:
1st 2 ingredients must be some form of
meat, and NOT meat or fish by-products. (by-products are poor sources of
protein and should not be the main ingredients in any quality cat food.)
No corn or corn meal in the list of
ingredients. Corn has a high-glycemic index which means
it is too readily
converted to sugar in the body... VERY high in unnecessary and dangerous
carbohydrates.
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| Cat Losing Weigh |
No rice, or other grains in the first 5
ingredients. (Same problem... too easily converted to sugar & too high in
carbohydrates.)
No bone meal or bone phosphorous in list
of ingredients. (Bone meal and bone phosphorous may contain harmful and
poisonous chemicals.)
Actual carbohydrates 10% or less.
Limit feeding of canned food with fish
ingredients to no more than 3 days per week. (Fish has mercury which is
poisonous to your cat.) NOTE: Be vigilant when reading cat food labels. I was
surprised to find that some non-fish flavors of canned food contained fish
somewhere in the ingredient list. This is ok, but just be sure to limit feeding
of fish-containing foods to 3 times per week to be safe.
How To Determine The Carbohydrates In
Canned Cat Food
By law, each can of cat food must list
the "Guaranteed Analysis" percents for protein, fat, fiber, moisture
and ash. There is no requirement to list carbohydrates, so those must be
computed from the other guaranteed analysis percentages.
Yikes, math! No sweat, the math is simple
enough. Just add up the percentages for protein, fat, fiber, moisture and ash.
If the total is 98% or higher, then carbohydrates will be 10% or less, which is
what we want. (This assumes the usual moisture content of 75-80%). The carbs
will vary somewhat if the moisture percent is not in the 75-80% range so you'll
have to re-compute.
Lessons Learned...
We were relieved that we had found a way
to prevent feline obesity, diabetes, and other diet-related maladies that our
cat might have contracted if we had remained with her inappropriate dry food
regimen.
So if your feline friend is getting lazy
and fat in his/her old age, try switching to healthier wet food and put your
pet on a "Catkins" diet for the rest of his/her happy life!
Tom Thomas is the co-owner of a chubby
adult cat named Raja. Rather than let her get more obese, I decided to do some research
into cat diets and nutrition to solve her weight problem and make sure she
didn't develop a more serious condition, like feline diabetes.
After weeks of visiting pet food stores
and reading cat food labels I came up with a list of brands and flavors of wet
cat food that are healthy and tasty for Raja and hopefully for your cat too.Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/843092
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