The Dry Cat Food Crisis
Provided by Feline Future (http://www.felinefuture.com)
The facts about scandalous and poor quality ingredient components of commercial dry cat foods are no new evidence. One thing seldom discussed, however, is the simple nature of these products of being dry and the severe cumulative side effects this leads to when fed in this manner.
Today, dry, commercial cat food is by far the most popular product to feed to companion cats. The attributes which all brands of this product have in common are: "convenient" and "inexpensive" when compared to other methods of feeding cats. In recent years commercial dry foods have been heavily promoted through advertising and by Veterinarians to be the choice of caring, health conscious care givers.
The truth is dry commercial cat foods are anything but healthy for cats.
First and foremost, the nutritional composition of commercial dry foods does not compare to or reflect the cat's natural diet from which cats have evolved as absolute and true carnivores.
The natural prey diet of the cat contains between 65%-75% water. The cat, having evolved on the plains of Africa, has adapted to quench her water requirements entirely on the moisture content in her prey.
Due to its nature, commercial dry cat food contains no more than 10% moisture.
Cereals create the base of dry commercial foods and make up over half of the foods weight. Cereals frequently used in commercial dry cat foods like corn, rice, and wheat, give the food bulk and structure and represent a cheap source of calories. Cereals are primarily made up of carbohydrates, a nutrient nearly absent in the cat's natural prey diet. The liver and other organs store small amounts of carbohydrates and the cat may receive additional minute amounts of this nutrient through the stomach and intestines of her prey; this however, would never total more than 1-2% carbohydrates compared to the total weight of the prey. However, commercial dry foods may contain as much as 45% carbohydrates. A diet high in carbohydrates will result in obesity, because excessive amounts of this nutrient are converted by the liver to body fat. Since a cat metabolizes primarily fat and protein for energy, most of the carbohydrates in the diet are then stored as body fat.
An analogy:
It is not an exaggeration to compare a commercial dry cat food based diet fed to a cat with a fortified macaroni and cheese dinner diet fed to a human. Both products are overprocessed and based on refined carbohydrates. Added vitamins attempt to compensate for nutrient loss, but the food still lacks many other essentials including enzymes, complete amino acids and fatty acids. Neither reflects the natural diet or nutritional needs of either species. However, in the opinion of the individual consuming it, both taste good . For a more accurate analogy, the macaroni and cheese dinner would need to be modified such that the cheese flavored sauce is a component of the noodles and most importantly these new noodles are served dry to the human!
Water is the most important nutrient. Of course, neither we nor our cats can live on water alone, but its importance is demonstrated by the fact that during the absence of food and water a creature will perish from thirst long before perishing from starvation.
That said, we don't claim that cats die of dehydration when fed on a commercial dry cat food diet, because most cats will have a supplementary source of water available of which they will take advantage. Or do they?
We mentioned previously how cats evolved as dwellers of the African plains and desserts, and their adaptation of stilling their needs for water with the moisture content of their prey. During the past 40 million years, the cat did not need to rely on supplementary water intake and, even if needed, the cat would not readily do so, because to her it is not natural.
1 cup (85 gm) of dry commercial cat food rehydrated with 225 ml water to contain a 75% moisture yields over 2 cups of food.
On average, natural foods contain 70% water. A cat fed a commercial dry food diet will consume approximately one cup of the product per day. For an adequate water intake, the cat would need to drink 225 ml (8oz) supplemental water per day! If she does not consume this adequate amount, dehydration will set in.
This one is a challenge for me. While I can appreciate the true nature of cats, they have evolved beyond their original roots. We don't expect them to still be hunters and live outside, so why would we expect them to eat as if they did? If our cat Aerryn was still living in a desert, I'd be all for her going back to her carnivorous roots. She could eat all the geckos and mice that her litle heart desired. But she lives in a climate-controlled house where she sleeps on carpeting and has food and water in endless supply. I don't have any reason to believe that our veterinarian is being disingenuous by encouraging us to feed her Nutro Ultra dry cat food and offering plenty of water.
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