There are many types of cat food. The first important thing when choosing cat food is to be healthy. Natural food without additives is the first choice. Secondly, when choosing cat food, you need to choose based on your cat’s special situation. Consider your financial situation and see if the ingredients on the food bag are good for your cat.

Criteria for selecting cat food

Cat food can include two concepts, one is pure brand cat food, and the other is a general term that refers to all foods that cats can eat. Currently, there are many simple cat food brands on the market, and the prices range from tens to hundreds of yuan. For all cat parents, the principle of choosing cat food is appropriateness and health, and the consideration of brand price should be secondary. At the same time, the cat food chosen by parents should be based on the actual physical condition of the cat and their actual economic situation.

1. Protein ratio: Usually the higher the better, but when it exceeds 40%, cats may also suffer from diarrhea due to indigestion. Cat food with less than 30% is definitely not much better.

2. 2. Raw materials: wild meat (usually fresher)>meat (fish is more expensive than poultry, but poultry has a better nutritional ratio)>meat meal>carbohydrates (not just grains, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc. yes). The proportions in the recipe table decrease from front to back.

3. Omega3 (containing linolenic acid, epa, dha): To be honest, I think it doesn’t matter. It is not an essential nutrient. There is no such ingredient in aafco’s nutrition table. Fish contains more omega3, so probably cat food manufacturers will promote omega3. Benefits to boost sales of fish cat food. A small number of studies in humans suggest that epa can protect cardiovascular systems and dha can promote cognition in infants and young children, but this is not known in cats.

4. Omega6 (containing linoleic acid and arachidonic acid): Linoleic acid and arachidonic acid are essential amino acids in humans (they cannot be synthesized by themselves and must rely on diet), and this may also be true for cats. AAFCO stipulates that linoleic acid in a cat's daily diet should be greater than 0.5, but strangely I have not found any cat food with omega6 reaching 0.5. Maybe there are other sources of linoleic acid. For the time being, the higher the omega6, the better.

5. Calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium: I checked the formula table and found that all cat foods can meet the requirements. Too high a content will increase the burden on the kidneys, so it can be considered that the lower the better, and most importantly, the higher the label, the higher the burden. The clearer the better.

6. Cranberries, pumpkin seeds and other fiber can be used for laxatives.

7. Carbohydrates: There is no requirement, but you can eat some.

Avoid additives in cat food

Adverse effects: Adding undesirable ingredients that are harmful to cats to cat food for the purpose of "increase" and "aroma" may damage the health of your cat.

The carbohydrates contained in "grains" are harmful to cats. It is important for cats to choose cat food that does not contain grains as much as possible. In addition, it is well known that synthetic additives such as "BHA", "BHT" and "ethoxyquin" used as antioxidants are carcinogenic and harmful to the kidneys. The ingredients of the dye have also been confirmed to contain carcinogens. "Propylene glycol", which is widely used as a humectant, has an impact on red blood cells in cats. These are all common ingredients in cat food sold on the market. There are very few cat foods that do not contain the above substances at all.

Cat food ingredients should be beneficial to cats

Does cat food have any effect on cats’ fur? Ingredients that are good for fur - OMEGA 6, OMEGA 3, vitamins A, B, and E. Cat food has a great impact on the condition of your cat's fur. Because the cat’s physical health will be reflected in its fur. If you are worried about the condition of your cat's fur, please feed your cat a nutritionally balanced cat food. What cats need to maintain their skin and pores are called essential fatty acids. Among them, "OMEGA6 (linoleic acid, arachidonic acid)" and "OMEGA3 (α-linolenic acid, EPA, DHA)" need to be taken in a balanced manner. "Vitamin A, B, E" are also effective in regulating metabolism, so the maintenance of fur is very important. The packaging of cat food has an ingredient list, so cat lovers should remember to refer to it when choosing!

Choose cat food based on the cat’s physical condition

Does cat food have any effect on defecation? The ingredient that improves defecation - dietary fiber. There are two reasons for poor defecation: "insufficient water in the body" and "insufficient dietary fiber". Many cats will suffer from constipation due to insufficient water intake. You can re-select cat food to supplement dietary fiber, which may improve defecation problems. It’s just that carnivorous cats have difficulty digesting dietary fiber. Excessive intake may have counterproductive effects.

Don’t just choose the taste of cat food

At the same time, there are many different flavors of cat food on the market. For example, chicken flavor, beef flavor, etc. And it will be clearly stated on the cat food packaging bag. What parents need to note here is that although the cat food is chicken or beef flavor, this ingredient ratio may not be ranked first in the nutritional ranking. This is something parents need to check clearly. At the same time, in order to ensure that the cat has a good eating habit, do notSymptoms of picky eating may occur. When choosing cat food, you can regularly change the flavors. For example, alternate chicken and beef-flavored cat food to feed your cat.