The Way of Cats

Do we have a fat cat? Are they overweight, or just “big-boned?”

It has come to my attention that a lot of vets just aren’t giving the right advice. They say to get the cat to play more, restrict the cat’s food, or give them the “diet” food they sell. But there’s only one thing wrong with this advice.

It’s wrong.

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Cats get fat when they eat stuff they can’t digest. That would be grains, or to the diet conscious, carbohydrates.

Cats don’t have the enzymes to digest carbohydrates. They even lack the amylase in their saliva that helps break down plant starches. So when we feed a cat such food, it only turns to fat.

There’s your problem!

So on top of the cat eating food that can only turn to fat, there’s also the hungry problem. Since cats won’t get the signal to turn off their appetite until they get enough protein and fat, they won’t get the signal when they are eating foods low in protein and fat. So they eat even more… of the food that’s making them fat.

What’s a pet parent to do?

For cats, the solution is to feed canned. Canned foods have much more protein and fat than any dry food. This gets the nutrients into the cat, and turns off their “hungry” switch.

How much? As much as they will eat within an hour. How often? Twice a day, morning and evening. If they bother us for more food, we can feed more often. Hungry problems aren’t solved by not giving the cat food!

We don’t restrict the food. We just give them more of what their bodies are crying for. After all, the cat didn’t get fat by eating too much. The cat got fat by eating the wrong thing.

Canned also has a high water content, which helps the cat’s digestive processes work well.

If our cat, like my two older boys, is used to having a bowl of dry food out all the time, it can be a challenge to get rid of it. Mine weren’t fat, but my research convinced me that they needed a more natural diet for their health. So I switched their dry to Innova EVO, the lowest carb dry food I could find. They like it, and we don’t get the anxious the bowl is missing! activity.

Mr. Bond got a little trimmer. Puffy actually lost weight, but his tiny-boned frame doesn’t need much. Which only convinced me that I was doing the right thing.

It will work. I’ve seen it work.

Too bad more vets haven’t seen it work. Show yours!

This vet agrees.

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There’s more ways to care for our cat with The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See all of my posts on FEEDING THE CAT.

Cats are hunters. Their original environment had little vegetation and lots of small animals. Thus, cats are almost solely dependent on meat, and its main components, protein and fat, for what their body needs. Feeding the cat their environmentally proper diet is also known as “Catkins.”

more cat pictures

When I became aware of how cats must have eaten in the wild, I started reading the labels for the food I’d been feeding my cats. I was truly astonished at how many ingredients were grain based, and how low down the list I had to go before the meat products appeared. It’s not like the label makes it easy. Pet food regulations do not allow the word carbohydrate on the label. What the hey!

To get the carb content, pet parents have to take a calculator to that information on the label: 100- (protein+fat+moisture+ash+fiber) = carb content. Those bags I was buying at the supermarket were not much more than enriched, meat frosted, breakfast cereal.

In fact, that’s exactly what it is.

Just as the food industry wanted us humans to eat more convenient, processed foods, the growing number of dogs and cats in urban areas created the same potential market. Thus the pet food industry sprang into action to lecture us about not feeding people food to our pets, and instead buying their product.

Just like with people, the cheapest source of food is grains. Cats, in particular, do not see the appeal of grains. A pioneer father never came back in the cabin to exclaim, “That mountain lion’s gotten into the wheat field again!”

We might get sticker shock comparing the prices of the better food to what we get at the grocery store. But with the high quality food from specialty pet stores or feed stores, we are getting what we pay for. It’s not as expensive as it might seem. My cats ate less of the nutrient dense, better food. I wasn’t going out and having to get it as often.

So when we go searching for better foods, don’t go by reputation or marketing. Go by what the calculator tells us. The less carbohydrates in the food, the more protein and fat we are actually buying. That’s what we should be paying for, since cats need the protein and fat.

The rest will only make them sick.

Got here from a Link or Search?
There’s more ways to care for our cat with The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See all of my posts on CAT CARE.