First and it’s really important!!
In no way am I going to judge, what you feed your cats!
I think there are as many opinions about what good cat food is as there are cat owners. We all know our cats best, and just like people, cats also have favorite tastes and textures. Some love wet food in sauce, others only eat if it is in gel, some want small kibbles, others want big kibbles etc.
Yes, you’re probably smiling now 🙂 but haven’t we all tried to buy some new food, give it to our cats and then they just look at it scornfully, look back at you and turn their backs on the just bought food? Mine have clearly done it more than once 😉
With that said, I feed my cats according to a fairly “down to earth logic”
- no added salt
- no added sugar
- few additives and preferably no additives (color, taste etc.)
- animal protein as the major ingredient
- high fat content
- as low carbohydrate as possible.
I absolutely do not care what type of carbohydrate, whether it is grains, potatoes, peas, corn or whatever. The hype about “grain-free is the best” is just marketing, grain-free is often worse composed and often significantly more expensive and grains have just been replaced with peas and potatoes*
Why by this logic? Because I know a cat is a carnivore – they are meat eaters. In nature, they feed on mice and small birds, and what do mice and small birds consist of? Yes, that’s right, they consist of protein, fat and a very tiny amount of carbohydrate.
The table below is based on what the American and European authorities recommend cat food should contain, last column is the “ingredients” of a mouse/rat. Whether you want to trust what the authorities say or what the cat’s natural food contains is entirely up to you! 🙂
Therefore, my cats get dry and wet food that consists of at least 20% fat, 40% protein and the proteins come from animal sources.
| Næringsstof | Enhed | AAFCO (Killing/voksen) | FEDIAF (Killing/voksen) | Voksen mus (rotte) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protein | % | 30/26 | 30/25 | 55,8 |
| Taurine i vådfoder | % | 0,2 | 0,25/0,2 | 0,7 |
| Taurine i tørkost | % | 0,1 | 0,1 | |
| Fedt | % | 9 | 9 | 23,6 |
| Mineraler (aske) | % | 11,8 | ||
| Calcium | % | 1/0,6 | 1/0,59 | 2,98 |
| Fosfor | % | 0,8/0,5 | 0,84/0,5 | 1,72 |
| Ca:F-ratio | % | 0,65-1,5/2,0:1 | 1,73:1 | |
| Potassium | % | 0,6 | 0,6 | (1,02) |
| Sodium | % | 0,2 | 0,16/0,08 | (0,43) |
| Magnesium | % | 0,08/0,04 | 0,05/0,04 | 0,16 |
| Jern | mg/kg | 80 | 80 | 137,9 |
| Kobber, vådfoder | mg/kg | 5 | 10/5 | 6,7 |
| Kobber, tørkost | mg/kg | 15/5 | 10/5 | |
| Mangan | mg/kg | 7,5 | 10/5 | 7,7 |
| Zink | mg/kg | 75 | 75 | 67,5 |
| Jod | mg/kg | 0,35 | 1,8/0,6 | |
| Selenium | mg/kg | 0,1 | 0,3 | |
| Vitamin A | IE/kg | 9000/5000 | 9000/3330 | 278272 |
| Vitamin D | IE/kg | 750/500 | 750/200 | |
| Vitamin E | IE/kg | 30 | 38 | 100,4 |
| Vitamin B1 | mg/kg | 5 | 5,5/,56 | (5,8) |
| Vitamin B2 | mg/kg | 4 | 4 | (10,7) |
| Vitamin B3 | mg/kg | 60 | 40 | (156,6) |
| Vitamin B5 | mg/kg | 5 | 5,8 | (54,9) |
| Vitamin B6 | mg/kg | 4 | 4/2,5 | (5,2) |
| Vitamin B7 | mg/kg | 0,07 | 0,07/0,08 | |
| Vitamin B9 | mg/kg | 0,8 | 0,8 | (2,8) |
| Vitamin B12 | mg/kg | 0,02 | 0,02 | (0,02) |
| Kulhydrat | % | 8,8 | ||
| Vand | % | 67,3 | ||
| Energi | kcal/100g | 525 | ||
| Energi | kJ/100g | 2198 |
Therefore, my cats get dry and wet food that consists of at least 20% fat, 40% protein and the proteins come from animal sources. See https://www.chicha.dk/sammenligning-af-toerfoder/ (sorry only in Danish at the moment) for a list of 100+ cat kibbles.
*Grain-free catfood is nothing more than smart marketing. It dates back to the USA in 2007, where a batch of wheat from China had been mixed with melamine and cyanuric acid. The cats died of kidney failure and it was a major scandal.
Yes, I lived in the USA in 2007, I remember it like it was yesterday, I had cats myself and suddenly I hardly dared to feed my cats because, what wasn’t filled with the poisonous batch of wheat?
From there, with the batch of toxic wheat, things just went from bad to worse, but yes, grain-free is not necessarily healthier and is usually more expensive. See more about the process here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_pet_food_recalls
Sources:
– https://www.rodentpro.com/informationcenter/resources/nutrient-composition-of-whole-vertebrate-prey
– https://www.aafco.org/Portals/0/SiteContent/Regulatory/Committees/Pet-Food/Reports/Pet_Food_Report_2013_Midyear-Proposed_Revisions_to_AAFCO_Nutrient_Profiles.pdf
– https://fediaf.org/images/FEDIAF_Nutritional_Guidelines_2020_20200917.pdf