Finding The Best Healthy Cat Food For Your Overweight Cat

Overweight pets are a real problem in modern day society.  Like overweight people, the extra pounds on your cat can predispose him or her to health problems, as well as making day to day life uncomfortable. It can be hard to figure out what to feed your cat, however, when there are so many choices on the market:
Appropriate High-Quality Ingredients

The ingredients in pet food are listed in order by weight. This means that the first ingredient is the most plentiful. However, if this ingredient is fresh meat, which is mostly water, it may actually be less important than the next several ingredients.

Byproducts are the edible parts of an animal that humans don’t eat. They are a bit controversial in pet food, but many experts consider them just fine. Animals in the wild would eat these parts, so there is little reason that our domestic cats should not. Identified meat meals are also good, high-quality ingredients that should be near the top of the ingredients list.

One thing to look for on labels is the name of the product included. ‘Chicken byproducts’ identifies the animal and thus is better than an ingredient such as ‘meat byproducts’ or ‘animal digest’. The latter two can contain any type of animal, including roadkill and euthanized pets, not just animals raised for food.

Wet versus Dry Foods 

It used to be that kibble was considered the best choice for pets, as it was thought to clean the teeth when it forced pets to chew. However, cats do not drink often in nature, and research has shown that domestic cats do not drink enough to compensate for the lack of water in their food when fed kibble. For this reason, most experts now recommend wet food.

Diet and Reduced-Calorie Offerings

Cats are true carnivores that were built to eat a lot of protein in the form of meat. While some cats can eat this way and get fat, most of them do well on a high-quality, protein-rich wet food. However, not all cats will eat this, especially those that have spent their lives eating kibble, also to keep your cats in a healthy weight they also need plenty of exercise and for this and that’s when getting a stylish cat tree for sale can really be useful to have your cat healthy.

Wet and dry food are both available for cats in reduced-calorie forms. Usually the goal of these foods is to provide bulk without too many calories. Vegetables are a good way to do this. Beware of grains, as some cats may turn carbohydrates into fat. The best food in the world may not work for you if you cat won’t eat it.

The best way to proceed for many people is to make a list of acceptable healthy cat food options, and and explore products until you find one that meets your needs. Just remember to change foods slowly, so as to avoid any upset tummies.

Photobucket

10 Responses »

  1. Oskar,
    Thanks for visit us on our blog. I have 3 kitty brothers and 1 stinking Diva kitty sister. BOL! Thanks for the info on helping them get skinny!
    Julie

  2. My humans are SUPER picky about my food. When I have friends over to stay the night, they say, “NO NORA! You can’t eat THAT food.” I don’t get what the big deal is.

    Ugh.

    Nora
    Nora recently posted..About BorisMy Profile

  3. I think that it don’t matter how good the food is, if they don’t eat it or it doesn’t agree with them, it’s not right for your pet. Graybie Baby will only eat Purina One. Not the worst by far, but he turns up his nose at Royal Canin to get it! So there!
    RumpyDog! recently posted..Doing Right By Pigs!My Profile

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge