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       I can no longer recommend the foods listed in these articles because either they have been changed since the article was written, or they no longer exist. However that does not mean that the information on choosing foods will not be of benefit to you and your pets. Thank you.




Suggestions on Feeding Cats - Part I

WHERE TO START

Premium or super premium? Senior or mature cat? Baby versus kitten food? Hairball transit system or skin and coat formulas? What on earth does it all mean? First, every manufacturer doesn't mean the same thing when using the same terms; there are no guidelines set out by pet food regulators as to what such descriptions say about the actual product contents. The consumer is on their own in deciding which products would actually supply the best sources of nutrition for their cat at its particular stage in life, and taking into account its lifestyle (indoor or outdoor, neutered or unaltered, etc.) and factoring in any health problems.

The most important thing you can do when choosing cat foods is to read the labels and learn how to decipher them. As in human foods, the amount of the contents are listed from the greatest to the least. Foods that say "with chicken," may actually have very little chicken, so check where this is on the list. I always choose dry foods that have at least two good whole sources of animal protein in the first four ingredients listed. These would include chicken, beef, lamb, whole egg, and any of the above as meal, eg., lamb meal. By-products are not of themselves evil; the cat would after all ingest them when eating a mouse, but he would be getting the whole mouse - not just blood, bone, and skin. I choose tinned foods without wheat and soya, and which have mostly sources of meat not just by-products. Cats are true carnivores and need a diet composed mostly of meat and not grains and by-product as their only source of protein. Dry foods normally contain a lot of plant materials, and none of these contain all of the amino acids needed to sustain feline life over time. Tinned foods, while more expensive, tend to have a much higher animal based protein level, which is more readily digestible by cats.

A veterinary nutritionist stated at a recent conference in Whistler, British Columbia, that mice, a cat's natural diet, contained only 2% carbohydrate. Why then are many manufactured cat foods composed of diets that may contain up to 50% of their calories from carbohydrates? Because the plant materials the carbohydrates are derived from are much cheaper. Plant-laden and carbohydrate-rich diets may in fact be a major cause of the obesity rampant in our cats today. The cat has to eat a good portion of unnecessary calories in the form of carbohydrates in order to eat enough of the cat food to obtain the animal protein and fat that should be its main source of energy and building blocks for repair and growth.

Think about having to subsist on McDonald's burgers with fries and soft drinks. How many unnecessary calories would you have to ingest to obtain the vitamins and minerals you need from the small amount of vegetable garnish on the burger? How many extra calories from fat and sugar would you get in order to meet your daily requirement of protein?

FILLERS - HOW MANUFACTURERS SAVE MONEY

Wheat, soya, and corn were the main plant sources initially used by pet food manufacturers. Next rice, was added and it was considered to be better for cats who might have allergies. Barley, oats, and flax have also been showing up in a few select products. In recent years some products like Innova have started to add fillers like apples. Apples have even less protein than the original fillers, and like some of the fancy herbs put in food are meant to appeal to the human who buys the pet food, not the cat itself. Mother Hubbards tinned cat food contains sweet potatoes, cranberries, blueberries and yellow squash. Looking at the digestible calories per 5.5 ounce tin, there are only 168 in Mother Hubbards. Compare this with a much cheaper product, 150 for Whiskas, and a same-priced product like Sensible Choice which has 280 calories in the same size tin. Think about it. It seems from the ingredient lists that we have gone from the mistaken belief in the 80's that we can feed cats like small dogs, to the just as misinformed belief that we can feed them as if they are human. Products labeled as "organic" or with similar buzz-words seem especially prone to appealing to human notions of nutritional needs instead of actual feline requirements.

QUALITY DOES COUNT

Sometimes just looking at the ingredient list to compare brands and formulas of pet foods is not enough. A major issue is the wholesomeness of the ingredients in the product. There is a local pet food manufacturer in Chilliwack near me. Carcasses not fit for human consumption are dumped by farmers and then routinely lie on the ground for several days at a time unrefrigerated until the staff return to make a new batch of pet food. This food supposedly meets the Canadian Veterinary Association's minimal standards for tinned food made up to meet its nutritional profile. You can also have problem batches of product that are normally excellent choices. Over the last 20 years I have heard of many batches of cat and dog foods being recalled. In one case it was because double the normal amount of fat was added to a dry dog food, possibly causing the food to go rancid more quickly, and leading to some upset stomachs. In 1995 whole batches of Natures Recipe dog and cat foods were recalled because a low quality wheat containing mycotoxins, which are not destroyed by cooking, had contaminated the food.

Although animals may be made ill by recalled pet foods, no health warnings are issued to the public who might have purchased the products. People who have indoor-only cats may have wondered what their cat could have ingested to cause their illnesses. I have also personally purchased cans of tinned cat food that were obviously not made to the regular specifications of the food manufacturer and could literally be poured out of the tin. Other times the cats noses have told me the food wasn't fit to eat. I have found that this seems to be more of a problem with fish based tinned cat foods, and as my cats readily eat cooked human grade fish, the flavour is not the problem. Because of this I now avoid fish flavours with the exception of Excel tinned. I keep my receipts for all pet food purchases and if there is a problem such as mentioned above, return the product to the store for a refund. The so-called premium brands sold only at pet food stores also accept the return for refund of unused portions of dry foods that were tried and that the pet refused to eat.

RECIPES FOR CAT FOODS

In North America pet foods were originally formulated following yearly recommendations of the Committee of Animal Nutrition of the National Research Council of the National Academy of Science, or NRC for short. They were unaffiliated with the producers of the pet food products. The NRC developed a "gold standard" for pet foods which involved feeding trials to make sure the ingredients in formulas were actually sufficient for good health, and also that the ingredients were actually bioavailable to the pet eating it. This means that necessary nutrients can be digested and utilized in the form presented in the food, and will not just be excreted.

In 1985 when the NRC changed dog food requirements, challenging some existing formulas as incomplete, the pet food industry fought back. By forming their own regulatory group, the Association of Feed Control Officials, AAFCO, the pet food manufacturers decided to set their own standards. In this way they could make cheaper pet foods by not meeting NRC feeding trial regulations or recommendations as to daily feeding requirements for good nutrition. Pet food packaging in North America now states it meets AAFCO standards, not NRC standards.

The cheapest way for manufacturers to make up pet foods is to follow nutritional profiles set up to meet basic minimum standards. Manufacturers don't have to prove the cat/dog can actually digest the ingredients and this has led to deficiencies and in some cases malnutrition, especially in cats. Certain types of plant materials have protein not readily utilized; keep in mind that crude protein is not the same as digestible protein. I will go into this more in the section, "What to Avoid in Cat Foods."

Test feeding of foods is the second method of formula approval certified by AAFCO methods. Most generic brands of pet food are never test fed even for the minimum of several months required to claim that AAFCO trials took place because doing so is costly. One exception in Canada is the Safeway's Select own brand, which I gather is actually produced by some major manufacturer in the US for them. It is priced at about the same rate/pound as a medium priced pet food store product and the ingredient list appears to be good quality.

The second method of pet food assessment mentioned above and similar testing procedures have not always turned up problems in pet foods because some deficiencies take six months or longer to show up in an animal being fed this single food source. In the 1980's it was estimated that tens of thousands of cats a year in North America were dying from dilated cardiomyopathy caused by a lack of meat protein in pet foods. A lack of taurine, an essential amino acid, was the cause. The existing taurine was leached from the cats muscles, including the heart and uterus etc., leaving them weakened. Since then similar discoveries regarding previously unknown requirements have been made by veterinary nutritionists.

The third and most expensive method of pet food testing involves the company maintaining an ongoing colony of cats and raising cats of all ages on their formulas. When considering pet foods then, read the label for the ingredient list and the method of testing done to verify the nutritional safety of the formula. The 800 phone numbers on cat food packaging are a good source of information, and many of the companies that manufacture premium foods will answer questions and send out printed information and coupons if you request it. Specific brands and formulas will be addressed in part two. I personally avoid the following in cat foods I choose to feed on an ongoing basis ---

VARIETY - THE SPICE OF LIFE

I have never found that serving a varied diet has made my cats fussy eaters, or upsets their stomachs. If anything, my cats look forward to their food and inhale it when it gets put down three times a day. In assorting the foods I use I include tinned and dry foods from several brands. Tinned food tends to have more animal protein than most dry foods and is a good choice for at least one meal a day. Even cats who tend to eat to fast and then regurgitate tinned foods will usually have one brand and several flavours that stay down. I have found that the fish flavours seem more suspect in the quality of the ingredients, perhaps because good quality product is less available and thus more expensive.

Consider also that manufacturers frequently change their flavours and formulas. They are less likely to announce that they have made a change on the bag if they have down-graded the quality or reduced the amount of animal protein in the product. Examples in recent years have been Nutro's Natural Choice, and more recently Iams products. I keep old labels and brochures for comparison; companies' sales reps may deny there was in fact a change. Periodically check the labels even for brands you've used for a while. Proctor and Gamble bought out Iams pet foods a number of years ago, and products changes have occurred. I found in spring 2002 that my own cats were no longer interested in the Iams tinned after eating it for many years, and would frequently vomit it up if they did eat it. Other cat owners have experienced the same thing. If my cats had been conditioned to eat only this product I might have had difficulty in then getting them to eat a replacement food. Mars Inc. bought out Royal Canin International Foods in the last year, manufacturers of Sensible Choice and Excel as well as some other pet food lines. The Sensible Choice and Excel products are the same as of this date. There have been some major changes, and not necessarily for the better, in the Royal Canin line. One new product in particular, labelled for Indoor Cats, has such a low protein level I would not recommend it for any cat.In a phone conversation with an RCIF representative, I was informed that any formula changes in their products are unrelated to the buy-out.

Serving a variety of different food brands and flavours may also help to reduce the chances of health problems by mitigating any negative results.

Part two will include a discussion of various pet food manufacturers' lines of products, pricing of foods, and some suggestions on the foods I use with my own cats, listed with a calorie count for comparison. It will also include information on appropriate treats,  including cooked meats and some veggies, and a discussion of the perils of serving solely homemade diets.


Continue to Part II


Copyright Shelley Hlady, October 2002

This article is based on current veterinary journal articles, information supplied by the manufacturers, and the following veterinary texts: Feline Husbandry, Niels Pedersen, editor; Canine and Feline Nutrition, Case, Carey & Hirakawa; and Home Prepared Dog and Cat Food, Donald Strombech.








All material and photos are copyright Shelley Hlady, all rights reserved.