Your cat brings so much sunshine into your life. You want to feed her the best, healthiest diet you can find. There are several brands available. What do you need to look for when choosing her cat food?
No one brand can be labeled the best for every cat. Cats have their likes and dislikes just like we do.
- Your cat does have some nutritional requirements. Cats do need to have more protein in their diets. They need certain amino acids, and fatty acids. When looking at your choices for cat food, make sure you find a food that is specifically food formulated for cats.
- When browsing through the many choices of cat food, make sure you find one that is age appropriate for your cat. Your senior cat may need a diet specially made for older cats. Your adult cat needs adult cat food and your kitten will need food specifically for kittens to make sure she gets the vitamins and nutrients she needs for healthy growth.
- Turn the bag or canned food over to the ingredients label; you are looking for the highest quality ingredients that will be essential for it to be a healthy food. Look for fiber, carbohydrates, protein, fat, nutritional value, etc. You want to also check the label for fish, egg, meat, meal or fish meal as the first or second ingredient.
- When you have chosen a nutritious well formulated cat food, give your cat time to make a move from her current food to her new food. You can do this by putting 75 % of current food and 25% new food in her bowl; feed this mixture to her for three days. Then you want to feed her 50% of each food and do this for three days. Lastly, feed her 75% new food and 25% old food for three days. After this she should be able to tolerate the change over to her new food without causing any digestive problems.
You should give your cat a good exam after about 30 days of her eating the new food. This is to make sure the cat food you chose is well balanced for her. You are looking for her coat to be shinier and her eyes to be brighter. You want to be sure that she is at a good body weight (not too thin or too heavy) and her energy levels are still going strong. This check up will give you peace of mind that you chose the best food for your cat and she´ll thank you for it.
