Cats are carnivores with no nutritional requirements for carbs!

No arguing, CATS ARE CARNIVORES! Not only that, but they are obligate carnivores, they MUST eat meat. 

Cats have no nutritional requirement for carbohydrates. 

The perfect cat diet would be the composition of a mouse! A mouse is 50-55% protein, 22-26% fat, and 3-5% carbs on a dry matter basis.

Cats were never biologically designed to graze in corn fields, so why do most commercially available cat foods have corn as an ingredient (let alone the first ingredient)? The answer is simple… $$$$$$$. The pet food industry is a multi trillion dollar business, not necessarily focused on “healthy species appropriate” food but on fast, cheap and convenient.

The Standard American (Pet) Diet is highly processed, high in bad fats, exceedingly high in carbohydrates, loaded with hormones, chemicals, GMO’s and pesticides and it is killing our fur babies!

Health conscious people know to shop for their food at the perimeter of the store where the fresh food is.  Applying this logic to our pets, we want to “feed a cat from the perimeter of the corn field” (where the mice and rabbits live).  

Cats should eat a meat based diet with no corn or wheat. Don’t be fooled by the term “grain free.” Potatoes and rice have high carbs, contributing to the problems associated with high carb diets such as obesity, diabetes, and gastrointestinal diseases like Inflammatory Bowl Disease (IBD). Proper nutrition based on a species appropriate diet is the key to avoiding these diseases.

• Carbs in cats (like people) digests quickly, flooding the bloodstream with glucose in excess of their metabolic needs. This glucose tide means there is more sugar released than what the body needs at that time. To cope with all the glucose, the cat produces high levels of insulin (produced by the pancreas). The excess glucose is carried by the insulin into the fat cells and stored. The remaining insulin triggers a hunger response to eat more food (just like in people). This cycle repeats itself, resulting in an obese cat.

• The pancreas, which was never meant to work this hard producing excess insulin, can become fatigued and quit making insulin (how a diabetic is born), or inflamed (resulting in a potentially life threatening pancreatitis).

• Cats, being originally from the desert, were designed to be good at water conservation. Studies have shown that cat’s process water more slowly than other animals. When cats are eating a higher carbohydrate diet, they metabolize the food too fast and are unable to process the water efficiently resulting in chronic dehydration. This may explain why kidney disease is the #1 killer of todays cats!

• Feeding a diet with the proper protein/fat/carb balance results in the processing of water and animal protein at a rate that conserves energy and makes the cat extremely efficient at balancing water usage with nutrient intake and digestion.

• High carbohydrate diets lead to over eating and result in over consumption of minerals.  Excess mineral consumption (like Phosphorus) has been cited as a predisposing cause of crystal formation and urinary tract disorders in cats.

• High-carb diets also tend to produce a more alkaline urine.  A slightly acidic urine is desired to help maintain a healthy urinary tract.

• Raw vs processed?

  A “live” diet refers to the fact that the food retains the enzymes inherent in the food.  Processing (the process of heating and extruding) destroys the enzymes that were present resulting in a biologically “dead food.”  A processed diet will result in undue stress on the pancreas to provide all the enzymes needed to break down the meal.

  Feeding raw does not mean buying a piece of meat from the grocery store and feeding it. The meat should come from grass fed, free range animals that are hormone and antibiotic free. The diet should contain the right percentage of organ meat as well as muscle meat, intestines, and bone.

  When you buy an expensive car, you use the fuel and oils the manufacturer recommends in order to maintain peak performance. Though that fancy car will run on a cheaper gas, it may not be as efficient and won’t last as long. Consider the cat an intricate machine. Feed them the diet they were best designed to operate on and they will have markedly fewer health issues resulting in a longer happier healthier life.