What is Good Cat Food?

(this 5-minute article covers the must-know information about the quality of cat foods needed for you to decide on what foods you want to feed your beloved companion)

Most of the cat food offered on the market - unfortunately also including all known brands as seen on TV - does not consists of high-quality meat, but of a mixture of cheap waste of meat industry, such as cadavers, slaughter offal, waste products of the food industry which are not healthy for any living being. 

Things to consider before buying cat food: 

1) Good cat food consists of meat!

How much meat is really included in the cat food? Checking the label is a must-do. 

2) By-products are NO meat!

Does the food consist of meat - or only of a mixture of meat and animal by-products?

If no exact information is printed regarding the meat included or the percentage is only specified together in meat and animal by-products, without any further details, this is an indication of very inferior food you should not feed to your cats - animal by-products, as they are most used in factory cat food are usually by-products of the classification 3 - i.e. by-products which are not allowed for human consumption, thus no meat but slaughter offal, for example dead animals, intestines, ears, eyes, hides, hooves, horns, blood, urine, plumes and quills, stomach, lung, greaves, sinews, cadavers, claws and meat and bone meals, whereat the last one is mainly used as an ingredient to hide something even worse.

+NO SUGAR! (very often hidden in beet chips, beet leaves, beet greens, sucrose, caramel, molasses, raw cane sugar, fondant, syrup, glucose, dextrose, galactose, maltodextrin, soft brown sugar, fructose, glycogen, hexose, isoglucose, rock brown sugar, sorbitol, xylitol, etc.) NO CEREALS, NO RICE, NO SOYA! and NO BY-PRODUCTS!  

Here are some negative examples of ingredients contents of very inferior quality food:

----- Meat and animal by-products (of which 4% is beef), herbal extracts of protein, fish and fish by-products, minerals, sugar

----- Meat and animal by-products (among others 4% beef), cereals, herbal by-products, herbal extracts of protein, minerals

---- Meat and animal by-products, herbal extracts of protein, fish and fish by-products (at least 4 % of the above mentioned type), minerals, additives: vitamin A (1,110 IU/kg), vitamin D3 (140 IU/kg), vitamin E (10 mg/kg), copper (as copper sulphate (1.1 mg/kg) with dye colouring (EC-additive)

3) Avoid cereals if possible

It can be clearly seen from the relative length of intestine of a mammal what type of food is well adapted to the organism. For a simple understanding: short intestine = carnivore / long intestine = herbivore - all in between are omnivores. The length of intestine of living organisms is mentioned below in relation to their body length. Pure carnivores, like cats, dispose of a length of the intestine at a ratio of 3:1 to the body length (intestine only three times longer than the cat). In case of an omnivore preferring animal food, such as human beings at a ratio of 5:1, dogs at a ratio of 6:1 and in case of a pure herbivore like a sheep at a ratio of 24:1. The reason for this is that raw herbal substances take much more time before being digested and able to be metabolised by the body. Therefore cats are not able to metabolise cereal parts of the food with their very short intestine. This presents a considerable risk for the kidneys and the whole organism and without any benefit for the cat.

4) Why do many factory foods contain sugar, although it makes the cats sick?

The producers act like this for three reasons. First of all it is addictive - not the taste of the sugar (cats are in fact not able to taste sweet), but the metabolism of the cats develops a dependency of sugar. Secondly - and this is the most important reason, inferior quality food smells better to the people and it looks much better due to the sugar. The sugar is often used in caramelised form and gives the greyish pale animal by-products a nicer colour (caramel colour), a nicer consistency and shine - the feed seems to be quite delicate for us. Thirdly sugar is e.g. in form of sugar beet chips (see picture) a very cheap filler not only for tinned food but also for provender, because it is a waste product of agriculture. In this case the shredded parings, leaves and roots of sugar beets are used as these are not suitable for the sugar production. Sugar could cause diabetes, diarrhoea and severe dental diseases with cats. It is a fairy tale of the provender industry telling you provender is good for the teeth - quite the contrary: the mash of the chewed provender sticks to the teeth and can cause severe diseases.  

5) If it tastes fine to my cat then the food must be good!?

Unfortunately, it is a popular fallacy! Nowadays most Sof the factory foods contain artificial enzymes and flavourings, which pretend to be good food for the cat. Because of these additives, the cat food for the cat may be as delicious as chips, pizza and chocolate is for us. The truth is, we cat owners have finally the responsibility for the food of our animals - because cats eat what they are accustomed to - it is up to us what kind of food we get them used to. 

SUMMARY: a truly top-quality cat food should:

• Use named meat protein sources
• Contain no by-products
• Contain no fillers such as corn, wheat or soy
• Contain no artificial ingredients or preservatives

Since ingredients are listed by weight, a look at the first five ingredients in any brand will give you a good idea about its true quality.