Feeding Your Feline: Do's and Don'ts

Unfortunately, there’s so much myth and misinformation about pet food, and with hundreds of brands to choose from, it’s hard to know how to make the best choice for your cat. To keep it simple, most veterinarians are recommending Purina Pro Plan, Hill's, Royal Canin, and Iams. These brands literally write the book on pet nutrition, as they perform most of the diet research that exists. They also typically have way better quality control than most companies, which is super important, especially for pets with food allergies.

Wet Vs. Dry Food

Dry food is important for keeping teeth clean, but wet food helps keep kitties hydrated, which supports their urinary health. We also know that infected teeth significantly increase the risk of urinary disease in cats, so keeping your cat's mouth healthy will also help support the urinary system. I personally prefer feeding cats dry food or a combo of dry and wet, unless you're cleaning their oral cavity with a toothbrush at least daily, which almost no one does. Also, my cats require 4 meals a day (otherwise they chew cables, knock things off countertops, etc) and my job as a veterinarian keeps me at the hospital for very long hours, so we need the convenience of an automatic feeder which only accommodates dry food. If you aren't familiar with the Portion Pro Rx, I highly recommend getting your hands on one ASAP, it has been the best investment I have ever made for my kitties. You can encourage hydration without wet food by providing your cat with a ceramic or stainless steel cat fountain, and clean the bowl and fill with fresh filtered water daily. Whether you choose to feed wet or dry, or a combination of both, is obviously up to you, but being aware of the differences between wet and dry food is important so you can more closely monitor and fine-tune your cat's health.

Lifestages

It is best to choose a diet that supports your cat's life stage (kitten vs adult vs senior), but there are not major nutritional differences between feline life-stage diets, so it’s not critical.

A few general rules include that your cat should want to eat it, tolerate it (no vomiting or diarrhea), and it’s something you can consistently afford and access. If your pet is not already on a prescription diet, talk to your vet about switching to a prescription dental diet to help delay dental disease and related diseases in your cat.

Major cat food DOS

• Properly portion your cat's food with a portion pro rx or use a kitchen scale

• Feed a diet formulated to meet AAFCO's recommendations

• Use a ceramic, glass, or stainless steel dish

Major cat food DON'TS

• Raw: feeding a raw diet is a huge public health concern, and puts you and your household at risk of food borne illness, and does not meet the nutritional requirements for your cat

• Home-cooked: a recent study of hundreds of pet foods formulated by a variety of resources, including top veterinary nutrition experts, showed that only 9 (8 of 9 made by vets) of 200 diets met the nutritional requirements, but none of the cat diets met their requirements! Plus, home cooking daily for ourselves is hardly sustainable with our current lifestyles, let alone for our pets.

• B.E.G diets: boutique, exotic meat, grain free diets are highly correlated with heart disease in dogs in recent news, and while this hasn't been yet reported in cat's, it is best to avoid 'fad' diets with misleading marketing.

• Switch diets entirely overnight. Be sure to gradually introduce new foods to ensure your pet's tummy can tolerate it.

• Free feeding aka filling the dish. This is a sure-fire way to predispose your pet to obesity.

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