Re: Which cat food is best for your cat?

This question is a little bit tricky. Any pet food that says it’s “Complete and Balanced” has all of the nutrients that your pet needs. Pet foods are regulated by our government’s Food and Drug Administration www.fda.gov , so they can’t print that on the bag unless it’s true. However, there are differences in the diets. There are two pet food brands that I highly recommend. The first is Science Diet www.hillspet.com and the second, Purina Pro Plan www.purina.com . They are the two leading companies (in my opinion) in the pet food industry. They both offer a variety of foods depending on the age and condition of your pet. Science Diet goes a step further and has developed diets for pets with a variety of needs, like kidney disease and heart disease, to name a few. These diets are only available through your veterinarian and are known as prescription diets. Science Diet was one of the first diets available with Taurine which is an enzyme that was recently discovered as something cats need in their diet (some enzymes animals can make naturally, some of them they need to get by eating a proper diet). Then there’s the question of whether to feed dry or canned food. Dry food is better for the teeth and gums, but canned food provides more water in the diet. Dry food is convenient, because large amounts of food can be left out for the cat, but if the cat overeats, it may be better to give them a certain amount of food once or twice a day. As long as they are getting the proper nutrition, it doesn’t make too much difference whether they get a dry or canned food. The best diet for your cat is one that provides a complete and balanced diet and is made from good ingredients. The label may read “Chicken” but that could mean any part of the chicken. The higher quality diets use the meat of the chicken, not the leftovers form the meat factories. The label may read 20% protein, but if that protein came from old shoe leather it won’t be digested well. Take a look in your cats litter box. Is the feces normal looking? It should be formed and have a normal light brown color. If it looks dark or is runny, you may want to try some different diets. There should be no more than one bowel movement a day. Too much tells you the diet is not being absorbed by the body, but passing through too quickly. If you decide to change diets, add the new diet to the old over a week (a little more each day). Then give the cat a couple of weeks before making a judgment of whether this changed anything. Hope this helps. Janet Hoff