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| Cat Food |
Cat Food
Before buying food for your favorite tom or tabby, you need to understand certain things about their instinctive habits and nutritional needs, so that you can make a proper selection based on information.
Unlike dogs, cats are not pack hunters whether in domestic contexts or in the wild. Wild cats do not hunt in packs. An individual cat hunts for its own sake. It takes the prey to a place where they can devour it comfortably. They do not start eating until they are sure that the prey is completely dead. They first take the prey and walk to such a place where it can eat it without suffering from undue anxiety about it being snatched away by a more powerful predator.
This is also applicable to cats who are allowed to go outside for walks and food and mating. Even in cases when a cat gets sufficient food from the house where it lives, it habitually roams here and there and hunts small prey. Why do they do this? Read also: Cat Food - Homemade vs. Commercial.
One thing that has been noticed about cats is that they keep eating even when hunger has been satiated, and they are quite full. They keep eating until and unless they get the nutrients that are necessary for the proper functioning of their essential biological processes.
Inexperienced, first-time cat owners sometimes try to buy cheap processed dry cat food for their pets. This is not at all advisable, because these products mostly do not contain what the cat really needs. You have to remember that the cat is a carnivorous animal and can derive its energy and nutrition properly only from animal protein. Cheap commercial dry food varieties often ignore this fact, and as a result the cat will continue to eat long after it has filled its stomach. This may in turn lead to serious illness, and the money you intended to save by buying cheap will be spent several times over on the vet's bill and cost of medicines. So avoid this hazard in the first place, and get your pet the best cat food that you can afford.
Cats that are allowed to go out during certain of hours of the day shall somehow manage this deficiency of diet that they experience at home, by killing small prey and eating them, and thus making up for the shortage of animal protein. But the case is still more serious with cats that are confined to the house, and not allowed to go out at all. They have to depend completely on the food provided at home, and have no opportunity to make up for the deficiency by hunting independently. In these cases the owner should be extra careful about their pet's diet. Trying to force an unnatural eating habit on it amounts to cruelty towards animals, and should be dealt with as such. Read also: Organic Cat Food.
Cats usually take frequent small meals. Animal tissue is an essential dietary ingredient for their overall health. The bones and viscera of other animals provide them with minerals and vitamins. There are six essential nutrients for their growth and reproduction: protein, fat, carbohydrate, vitamins, minerals and water. Moreover, taurine and arginine are two amino acids which are essential for cats. Deficiency of these two acids will cause blindness, problem in reproduction and several others.
You may often have seen cats eating grass. Cats confined to homes and having no access to grass will often eat potted plants of their owners. Why do they do this? Common wisdom has it that they use grass as an emetic, to induce themselves to vomit up a hairball or some other disturbing thing that may have entered their digestive system. The scientific truth is, however, that cats do this in order to derive folic acid from green leaves. This is something they need for a healthy life, and the development of their reproductive systems. So when you buy cat food, make sure that folic acid is included in the list of ingredients. For more details and information about Cat Food, click here.