Is Wet Food Better For Cats
Yes, wet cat food is a better choice for cats. Wet food contains more protein, moisture, and fat needed for top health.
Most dry cat food uses low-cost plant-based foods. The foods are then flavored to enhance taste and palatability. Although these foods have added vitamins, minerals, and essential amino acids the long-term effect on feline health are less optimal on dry food.
Kidney disease may result from a lack of moisture in the diet, from consuming too much dry food.
Wet Cat Food Is Usually Low In Carbohydrates
Theres absolutely no nutritionally-based rationale behind the high carbohydrate content of dry cat food. These high-carb ingredients exist to bind the kibble, allowing the extrusion process to work. They dont do anything good for your cats health and, indeed, they could make your cats health worse by contributing to obesity and diabetes.
Whether its grain-free or contains grains, dry cat food is typically high in carbohydrates. Across the price spectrum and all varieties, wet food is almost universally lower in unnecessary plant ingredients, starches, and sugars.
Natural Holistic Human Grade Organic Real
Words like natural, holistic, and premium lack regulatory definitions and primarily exist to make mediocre food look like a virtuous choice. If marketers knew shoppers would buy it, these foods would be labeled really good or the best cat food ever.
Thirty years ago, the most desirable pet foods were scientifically formulated and expertly balanced for optimal nutrition. The best cat food was the one you imagined being formulated in a sterile lab and made by a scientist in a white coat. Cat food shelves buzzed with words and phrases like complete, optimal performance, and veterinarian recommended.
But now were going back to nature and its all about ancestrally-inspired food. Behind the recycled packaging and pictures of exotic-looking cats, most natural and holistic foods are no better than the rest.
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Can Cats Eat Steak
Cats can undoubtedly eat steak if it is plain, properly cooked, and contains minimal fat or bones. Just like fat meat is bad for humans, its also bad for your cat. It will, with regular consumption, lead to weight gain and various heart problems.
If you wish to give your cat steak, it’s better if it’s unseasoned and free from other ingredients such as garlic and onions that aren’t suitable for cats.
We Looked For Brands With Excellent Reputations
Remember that youre relying on the cat food company to provide your cat the nutrition they need to stay healthy and vibrant potentially for the rest of their life.
You need a company and a brand that you can trust. While it doesnt tell us everything about the brand, a companys recall history provides key insights into its ethics, safety standards, and the quality of its products.
If a company faces voluntary, or worsemandatoryrecalls every five years, purchasing from that company could subject your cat to three or more potentially harmful slip-ups during their lifetime.
A communicative, transparent company isnt afraid to share information with their customers. We gauged the quality of cat food companies by contacting their customer support lines and evaluating their customer service. We gave preference to companies that responded promptly and were willing to provide key information.
Additionally, we paid attention to what other customers were saying about the brand. Through social media, blogging, reviews on retail platforms, and sites like Consumer Reports, consumers can easily share their complaints or praises with the world.
We read these reviews and used them to assess the customer experience.
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How To Choose The Best Wet Cat Food
We dont just go onto Amazon and pick the foods with the best reviews as many other sites do.
Weve put hundreds of hours of research into our cat food project because weve learned just how important nutrition is to your furry pal.
Years of eating low-quality food could, quite literally, cause your cat to die early or suffer from serious, painful illnesses.
So lets walk through a little bit more on how to choose the right soft food.
What Is Natural And Holistic Cat Food
Theres little regulation backing up the use of the word natural on a cat food label. According to the United States FDA, the word indicates that the ingredients havent been chemically altered. That means that almost all foods qualify for the natural distinction.
The word is primarily used to give you the impression that a given food is morally superior to other products. It says nothing about the quality or species-appropriateness of the ingredients behind the label. A natural cat food product can be a stellar, ultra-digestible formula, or it could be junk food.
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No Artificial Preservatives Or Fillers
Did you know that some popular artificial preservatives like BHA are potential carcinogens?
Meaning that prolonged use could cause cancer in your cat?
We like to see natural preservativesthings like mixed tocopherols.
If it contains an artificial chemical preservative, you can almost guarantee its a poor quality option.
Fillers are those ingredients that are not VITAL to your cats well being.
Theyre usually put in a recipe to fill it up.
As we discovered, cats need meatand thats pretty much it.
So anything thats not meat can be called a filler.
Common fillers are wheat, corn, peas, soy, and a variety of thickening agents.
In small quantities, they probably wont hurt your cat.
But in the long run, these ingredients can cause serious side effects, including kidney and urinary tract diseases that can be fatal.
Some filler ingredients, like cellulose, are made from sawdust.
Even the whole food options like wheat and corn are hard for your cat to digest, and are not as bioavailable as meat. They are NOT good ingredients and will not deliver the nutrition your kitty needs to be fit throughout his life.
Do Life Stages Matter When Youre Choosing Cat Food
Yes and no. Choose foods that meet AAFCO nutritional guidelines for either growth, all life stages, or adult maintenance.
Kittens and pregnant or lactating cats should eat food formulated for growth or all life stages. Adultscats over the age of oneshould eat meals formulated for all life stages or adult maintenance.
Other than these three categories, you dont need to choose your cats food based on life stages. Seniors, for example, dont usually need a senior-specific food. Most of these labeling ploys are in the same league as indoor cat food, hairball food, and breed-specific formulations.
Theyre easy to buy and feel like a little bit of personalization, but they jump straight to the personal details without nailing nutrition basics. How can you address the unique needs of a 7-year-old indoor-outdoor Persian without first acknowledging the fact that shes a carnivore?
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Buyers Guide: Selecting The Best Wet Cat Food
Now that youve seen our roundup of the top 10 wet cat foods available on the market today, how do you choose which one is going to suit your cat the best? We created this buyers guide to answer exactly that question. Lets look at the different features of wet cat food to help you better understand how to compare them.
Open Farm Catch Of The Season Whitefish Review
Open Farm is another Canadian pet food brand and they are based in Toronto. All of Open Farms formulation, development, and distribution takes place within Canada but some of their production takes place in the United States.
You can read more about the Open Farm brand here.
While Open Farms cat food range isnt quite as large as their dog food range, there is still substantial variety including both dry cat food and wet cat food. The above Catch of the Season recipe is one of our favorites.
Open Farm has a unique trait when it comes to its Whitefish recipes. The variation of the whitefish catch from the fishing industry means that the exact fish and the ratio of each in their Whitefish recipes vary. This unique makeup means that each batch of the recipe that is produced is slightly different.
This variation in fish ingredients could be very appealing to cats who would normally eat an almost identical meal every day. However, it may not be ideal for cats with easily upset stomachs.
Open Farms dry cat food contains a mix of legumes like Peas, Chickpeas, and Lentils, which are extremely popular in the industry. While these ingredients are not ideal additions to a cats diet, the portion size of each is modest and not excessive.
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Orijen Cat & Kitten Review
It wouldnt be a review of Canadian pet food without including a recipe from Orijen. Orijen is well-known worldwide for producing its super-premium brand of pet food.
Each of their recipes contains 10+ meat or fish ingredients in huge proportions that sum up to 85% of the total recipe. This is unprecedented in comparison to most of its competitors.
You can learn more about Orijen in our in-depth review of the brand here.
The above Cat & Kitten recipe is a prime example of Orijens traits and contains large portions of poultry and fish ingredients like Chicken, Turkey, Eggs, Flounder, and Herring.
These poultry and fish ingredients are excellent additions to a cats diet and high-quality sources of protein and fat.
Orijens use of Eggs is notable, and they are an ingredient that is underutilized across the industry. Eggs contain a fantastic balance of nutrition and are extremely bioavailable, which means that nutrition will not be lost during digestion.
There is only a small portion of plant-based ingredients present in all Orijen recipes. This particular recipe includes Lentils, Peas, Chickpeas, and Beans.
This mix of legume ingredients provides a modest proportion of carbohydrates and fiber that is not excessive and far smaller than portions found in most dry cat food recipes.
Is Raw Cat Food Healthy
According to the World Small Animal Veterinary Association , theres no evidence that raw diets are healthier than commercial or homemade diets created by board-certified veterinary nutritionists.
It depends on how the food is prepared and who formulated the diet, says Bartges. If done by a board-certified veterinary nutritionist, then it should be complete and balanced and would be able to carry a nutritional adequacy statement, and with good hygiene and common sense, would be no more risky than feeding a commercial food.
The good hygiene part is the crux of the issue. What makes raw cat food potentially unhealthy is its high risk of bacterial transmission.
Continued
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Its Free From Potentially Harmful Additives
The best foods are free from artificial and potentially harmful ingredients.
- Ethoxyquin, BHA, and BHT. These preservatives have been linked to organ disease, cancer, and skin problems. Instead, look for mixed tocopherols or vitamin E. This is an effective natural preservative found in most cat food products today.
- Artificial colors. There are indications that some artificial colors may cause health issues in humans and animals.
- Carrageenan. This seaweed-derived ingredient is a thickener and binding agent used in many canned cat foods. It may increase inflammation and is a suspected carcinogen. Look for foods that contain agar-agar or guar gum in lieu of carrageenan. Better yet, opt for a food made without any thickeners.
In addition to performing our own qualitative analysis of the brands reviewed here, we submitted samples for analysis at an ISO 17025 certified food testing and analysis lab.
We bought the products at full retail price, and the entire testing process was funded by All About Cats without direct input or influence from the companies involved.
Analytical testing in a food chemistry lab gives us the exact macronutrient and micronutrient content of each recipe. The tests also look at microbial content, yeast, mold, and heavy metals, helping you ensure that youre only putting the best in your cats bowl.
To access the lab reports for each food reviewed here, click the view lab report link in the product review.
How Do I Make Food More Appealing To My Cat
Heating wet cat food to a warm temperature is more appealing to cats.
Keep your cats food warm before serving and add warm water if your cat prefers increased moisture.
Adding a topper with quality ingredients might also help increase food intake. Another idea is to add a delicious chicken broth to the meal.
Also, think about how you are serving your cats food. Picky cats may prefer a clean and shallow plate to eat off, as this doesnt cause friction on the whiskers.
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Organ Meats & Your Pet’s Diet
Organ meat or offal is essential to your cat and dog’s health. We’re talking about the real organs from other animals such as liver. Other animal organs support your pet’s health as they are full of essential nutrients that are hard to find in other types of food.
Eating organ meats and raw bones, follow the natural law for carnivore animals and some raw meat and organ meat should be included in your pet’s diet daily. Those pets fed a dry or processed diet suffer the majority of health problems found in pets as feeding anything other than raw, is counterintuitive to what your animal actually needs to support health and vitality.
Food is incredibly powerful as a preventative against illnesses and disease and also acts to heal the body of ailments. Food isn’t dry kibble or processed packaged food. Real food for your pet are things like, raw beef or chicken meat, raw bones, raw vegetables, raw fruits, organ meats, etc.
One of the greatest things you can do to benefit your cat or dog’s health is to feed them some form of raw real food every day. This is something that has been done for thousands of years and it’s only in the last 60 years or so when more dry food and kibble brands have come onto the market, that pet owners through mass marketing have been wrongly led to believe that kibble and processed foods are great for pets.
Are There Any Risks To Feeding Your Cat Organ Meat
There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, and this extends to organ meat too. Overdoing it with organs can cause stomach upset in some felines.
Likewise, feeding your cat too many animal hearts can cause excessive sodium levels, which over time can contribute to high blood pressure. Too much liver can also cause vitamin A toxicity in cats. Because of this, liver should make up no more than 5% of a cat’s daily caloric intake.
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Heres A Feast Of Options For Your Cat
Our editors independently research, test, and recommend the bestproducts youcan learn more about ourreview process here.We may receive commissions on purchases made from our chosen links.
The Spruce / Chloe Jeong
If you want your cat to have a dietary experience that mimics feline food hunted in the wild, you might consider serving up raw food in your pets dish.
While you can make raw food on your own, if you would rather leave the nutritional requirements and sanitization procedures for serving raw foods to the experts, you might consider opting for commercially prepared foods.
Here are the best frozen and freeze-dried raw cat food options.
This raw cat food recipe from Stella & Chewys mixes two proteins: salmon and chicken. This manufacturer offers other protein options, too. This freeze-dried food includes organs and bones, as well as pumpkin seeds and probiotics, which can be helpful for your cats digestion.
You can serve this food as-is or add water to rehydrate it. If youre rehydrating it, use cool water, not hot. If you use hot water, you will cook the food, which defeats the purpose of serving raw food. Another con of cooking or using heat is that it dries the ground bone in the food, making it brittle.
Stella & Chewys food is made in the United States, does not include grain, gluten, filler, artificial preservatives, or food coloring. Plus, this food seems to taste delicious. Even picky cats scarf it up.
Food For Nursing Cats
Nursing cats should be fed with high-quality kitten formula food. It is important to remember that nursing cats need more water than adult cats.
The following are the ingredients contained in kitten formula:
- Content high in calorie
- Vitamins and minerals
- High water content for wet cat meal
A cat weighing 15lbs having 3-4 kittens should eat 800 kcal per day. A cat weighing 10lbs having 3 kittens should be given 600 kcal per day. Nursing cats can be fed on kitten meals but in higher amounts.
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Best Wet Cat Foods In 2021 Reviews & Buyers Guide
While it might be great fun choosing beds and collars for your cat, nothing is more important for their health and wellbeing than the food that you choose for your furry friend. If youre considering switching cat foods or are deciding on a brand for your new kitten, youve probably noticed that this market is completely flooded with a huge range of options.
It can feel a little overwhelming, especially if youre not sure how you should go about deciding whats going to be the best choice for your cat. Luckily, weve done the hard work for you and selected the 10 best wet cat foods on the market in 2021. Our reviews will take you through each of these in detail, so by the end of this article, youll have no trouble deciding which is best for your cat!
Who Should Buy Raw Cat Food
Anyone with a cat in their house, vicinity, or rescue shelter should buy raw cat food. Raw cat nourishment is an excellent dietary fulfillment for felines. Raw food may or may not be beneficial for all cats, but it gets digested easily for every cat. If you are someone who is a cat parent and has a full-time job, raw cat feed can be an easy go-to option to feed your cat timely to avoid any deficiencies in its body. Existing deficiencies can also be a trigger to buy raw cat food to replenish every nutrient that kittens lack.
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