There are many options for feeding our cat, although how we will see not all are recommended. We all want the best for our cat, the best bed, the best toys and of course, the best food.
A well-fed cat will not only live many more years but also its health will be much better. The chances of getting sick from a healthy, well-fed cat are much lower than those of a poorly fed cat.
Suppose you’re one of those who’ve been guided by cat food ads or the photo on the packaging. In that case, I’m sorry to tell you that you’re possibly feeding your cat very severely, as many trademarks invest in advertising, regardless of the quality. The best food for a cat is not the one that is advertised or published on TV, but the one that offers high-quality ingredients in its formulas.
Let’s go over everything you need to know about cat food in depth. Maybe these two minutes that you’re going to take to inform yourself are the two best minutes invested for your cat’s health. If you want to know which brand is the best and not look into feeding your cat…. this information is not for you then.
The best diet for a cat is a natural food, also known as the BARF Diet formats, which feed our cat fresh and natural products. However, many people either do not see this type of food or do not have time to make it.
There are dry food options known as cat feed and wet food for all these people who cannot feed their cat with BARF Diet, usually in cans like pate or the like.
We must apply the following criteria for both options, which will help us make the best decision when choosing the best food for a cat. It consists of something as simple as reading the label of the ingredients in the packaging itself.
Spanish law states that ingredients must be specified from highest to lowest quantity. If the first ingredient on a label is “CARNE,” this is supposed to be the composition’s majority ingredient.
Unfortunately made the law cheated; many manufacturers diversify the ingredients not to have in the first place, as we will see below with practical examples.
Before moving on to practical exercises that correctly identify labels, we should remember that cats are carnivores. That means we shouldn’t feed a cat with a feed made for “vegetarian cats,” simply because vegetarian cats don’t exist. Not giving meat to a cat means intentionally diminishing their health. It is mere cruelty.
Best dry food for adult cats
Within the ranges of dry food (feed), we have many food brands for minions, but only a few have an optimal level of quality for the health of our cat. These are the brands and ranges that we recommend for their high quality and palatability based on their ingredients. There are cheaper ranges but are they quality?
Acana Pacifica and Grasslands
Pacifica stands out for being composed of fish, while Grasslands is made of meat. Which one does your cat prefer?. Both contain high-quality ingredients in a very accurate proportion.
Orijen Six Fish and Regional Red
Orijen is Acana’s mother’s brand, and it is a higher degree in terms of quality. He uses fresh ingredients in his compositions and always with local raw materials of first quality. Orijen stands out for being one of the best cat food brands in the world.
Origin Six Fish is mainly made with fish, during Regional Red with meats. Has your mining already told you which mining you prefer?
Taste of the Wild Trout and Salmon VS Roasted Deer and Salmon
Another great brand that can feed our cat is Taste of the Wild, which offers two ranges that include fish. The first contains two fish as the main ingredients. While the second makes a subtle combination between meat and fish for cats with the most sybaritic palate.
Applaws with Chicken or White Fish and Salmon
We can also opt for the high quality of Applaws products, cereal-free, with its two main ranges for our cat to choose from if it prefers the taste of meat or fish.
Mid-range dry food for adult cats
Although it is ideal always to feed our cat with high-end products, sometimes the circumstances of life may not allow us to invest so much in its food. That’s why we’ve also compiled some of the best mid-range brands, which include some cereals but not too much.
True Instinct Hight Meat and Original Chicken
This brand offers the right quality products at a reasonable price. In the version of fish or meat, so that our mining does not get bored of always eating the same thing.
Advanced Chicken and Rice or Salmon
The Salmon format is low in calories, so it is ideal for sterilized breeds. The chicken and rice format are for adult cats who have no overweight problem. Both ranges are delicious and generally enchant the cats that try them.
Best Dry Food for Puppies
Within the ranges of cat feed, we find specific products for Junior cats. These types of products have a higher level of nutrients to ensure full development.
Best wet food for adult cats
Wet food is often more delicious for cats due to its intense smell and taste, as it is not comparable to a dry product such as feed. Most cats prefer wet food over dry food, although we should oil well with their favorite flavor.
Purina Gourmet Gold in Bocaditos or Fondant
If your cat prefers to have its fresh food in pieces, snacks are the best option without a doubt. If you don’t have mania and eat anything, pate or fondant may be ideal.
Both options are made with meats and fish, so their flavor is very intense. Very few cats can resist this delicious temptation.
LifeLong in Gelatin or Sauce
As long as the quality is high, the brand matters relatively little. In this case, we’re talking about Lifelong, Amazon’s cat food brand. A white brand was containing high-quality ingredients.
They are seen in boxes of 24 servings, which are varied in terms of ingredients, from Salmon to Turkey or Hake, not forgetting the delicious cod. Your pet will be looking forward to lunchtime.
Selection whiskies for adult or junior cats
One of the most recognized brands in cat food is Whiskas, which presents us with two packs of chickofveal, salmon, or tuna. All packages are varied, so our mini won’t ever get bored of your food.
Wet food for cat cubs
We all know that puppies have a higher demand for essential nutrients so that they can develop properly. It is vitally important to provide them with all the proteins, vitamins, and minerals they need during their growth. That is why it is essential to use a specific food for puppies.
What ingredients should bring the best cat food?
Like any other animal, cats have precise dietary requirements and should be the primary source of meat or fish proteins. So the composition of a good feed should be about 30% meat proteins, 10% – 15% digestible and healthy fats, and the rest should consist of fruits, vegetables, and a small number of carbohydrates.
Meat and fish
Quality proteins must come from meat sources, meat/fish or both. But look, it’s not the same as on the label put:
The meat’s quality is differentiated by its origin so that meat and fresh fish are the highest quality sources. Followed by dehydrated meat and finally meat meal. Besides, if they are hydrolyzed, they are much more assimilated by our cat.
It is not the same as on the ingredient label put “chicken meat,” which indicates that it includes meat… For example, that put “chicken,” which results in them being organs and debris, like skin.
So, here’s the list in order of the highest quality meat ingredients:
- Fresh chicken meat / Fresh meat from ….. / Fresh fish meat
- Dehydrated chicken meat / Dehydrated meat from ….. / Dehydrated fish meat (be careful because if you only put fish, it may just behead, scales, or scrapes).
- Meat flour
We should keep in mind that fresh meat is possibly about 70% water, so 30% fresh meat on a label can be similar to 10% dried meat. In this case, the quantities have a significant influence when talking about new products. We must be aware that after evaporation during processing, the amount can be much lower.
If on the label we read something similar to “meat by-products,” “meat proteins,” “bird proteins,” or “flours” without specifying whether they are meat, we must escape that food because their quality is very low, lousy.
It must be specified which animal is the meat, in this way we will know what we are giving to our cat. Feed that does not define these details is unreliable simply because they are most likely made with very low-quality products.
Fats
At general levels, cat feed adds animal fats for two reasons: to reach the right composition when it comes to fat levels. The second reason is to give aroma and flavor to the feed, and no cat would eat dinner if it did not smell good, so the meal is sprayed with animal fat.
Fats should be as unsaturated as possible, although, in reality, this is something that no specific feed manufacturer. Since at general levels, they are usually saturated fats.
Salmon oil or even olive oil (always virgin) are examples of healthy fats and are highly recommended for our cat (such as the one used by Cats Health of NFNatcane). However, animal fats, the most commonly used in feed, are quite the opposite.
Fruits and Vegetables
Just because a cat is carnivorous doesn’t mean it doesn’t need to eat fruits and vegetables. If the cat were to feed naturally, hunting prey in the middle of nature, its target would have a stomach full of food.
Most preys are mice and rabbits, which are herbivores. So when a cat eats its target, it also eats the vegetables in the cat’s stomach.
A cat needs a small amount of fruit and vegetables among the ingredients in its feed to stay healthy. The number of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids they provide merely is essential.
The fiber that these fruits and vegetables provide is also essential to help eliminate hairballs and improve intestinal transit.
Carbohydrates
Some people believe that cats do not need to eat carbohydrates, while others advocate their use. The truth is that a small number of healthy carbohydrates, such as those offered by rice or potato, are not harmful to our cat.
They are even recommended, as long as it is rice as it is highly digestible and assimilable. However, we must escape all feed that includes cereals such as maize or wheat among its ingredients, as these cereals are not beneficial to the cat.
Wheat and maize are used as filler ingredients for their low economic value; an economically produced feed leaves more room for profit, although it offers worse quality. Besides, they have a rather negative effect on the cat’s health as they will make our cat acquire an excess of weight.
We can assure hairlessly on the tongue that the best food for a cat is that it does not include corn or wheat, that is, the one that is free of these cereals. In the same way, if possible, avoid feed containing any grain.
How to interpret the label of a good cat feed
This is where we should be careful not to fall into the numerous trichiñuelas offered by some cat food manufacturers. Because while it is true that labels must be in order from highest to lowest…. products can also be divided to disguise.
Example of a very poor quality feed:
Chicken 15%, wheat 14%, animal proteins, corn 10%, vegetable proteins, barley 7%, bird proteins, etc..
What can we appreciate on that label? Well, for starters, it doesn’t specify whether it’s fresh chicken meat, dehydrated chicken meat, or it’s just chicken, which can be waste as organs.
So, to start, the first ingredient is already poorly specified. As we have said, we continue with cereals; corn or wheat are useless in feeding a cat. If you look good and add up all cereals (14% wheat + 10% corn +7 barley), we have a total of 31% bowls of cereal.
This manufacturer tries to trick us into believing that its feed’s main ingredient is chicken when the main ingredient is cereals. Without a doubt, it is a feed of terrible quality, and nothing is recommended feeding a cat.
The best meal for a cat is the one that offers these characteristics, which without plugs informs us correctly in its labeling of the ingredients contained in the feed in question.
How to choose the best-wet food for a cat?
In the same way, we have chosen a good feed, reading the product label. No matter if the cat food is dry or moist, they are all governed by the same rules when making them and must specify the ingredients on their labels.
So the best-wet food for a cat is the one that contains fresh animal meat and fish, fruit and vegetables, maybe some rice and/or potato, etc…
If we must choose between dry feed or wet food, we recommend the dry feed option since it is usually made with better raw materials than typical cat pate cans.