Advice: The Basic Cat Diet

Despite what you may think, I am not about to recommend a type of cat food.

For one thing, I believe there is great potential for a future pet food sponsor of this blog, which could result in me receiving free cat food and perhaps my face on the front of their food labels. So I would hate to rule out that possibility by having said something against their brand previously that I couldn’t gracefully retract.

For another thing, different cats respond to foods in different ways, so there is no one food that is the best for every single cat. We are creative, intellient, sensitive beings, not robots with fur. We are not all alike.

That being said, it is very important that you know what goes into your cat – just as important as it is for you to clean up what comes out of us. Determining what is in your cat’s food is simple: it’s printed on the label. Like most food labels, the ingredients are listed from highest percentage to lowest. If the first ingredient is chicken, then there is more chicken in the food than any other ingredient.

The first three ingredients are the most important ones, and ideally two of them will be meat-based. Cats, unlike dogs, are mainly carnivores. We need more protein to maintain our health than dogs do, so dog food is not an appropriate substitute for cat food. The more meat that is in the food, the happier our bodies will be. If our food is mostly grain, it will be like eating a bowl of cereal sprayed with beef broth. We’ll eat it because it smells good, but it won’t be as nutritious.

We like dairy products, but they don’t always like us. A taste of cheese, yogurt, or vanilla ice cream is a wonderful treat, and I highly encourage you to treat your cat companion on occasion, but we can’t drink milk out of a saucer as a meal. Not even kittens. Cow’s milk gives us digestive issues, which will make your experience cleaning out the litter box less pleasant. Trust me. Also, plain boiled chicken or canned tuna are delicious as a meal substitute if, say, you run out of cat food and some great catastrophe happens, preventing you from running out right away to buy more. Overall though, cat food is more nutritionally well-rounded.

In short, choose a healthy, protein-filled cat food and share your food with us sparingly. Treat us occasionally with something we enjoy, and remember, quality in a treat is better than quantity. Your result? A happy, healthy feline friend.

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