What exactly are we feeding our pets?

As a newcomer to cat breeding I decided to research which foods would be best for my queens and their kittens and made some fairly shocking discoveries. (The following information pertains to cat food but I’m sure much is the same for dogs so if you own one you might want to research for yourself.)

Many cat foods (particularly the dried varieties) contain wheat, which is not a dietary requirement but a filler, used to bulk out the product cheaply. Common sense tells us that cats don’t usually eat much wheat when living in the wild so why do they need it when living as domestic pets? They don’t and, in fact, it can cause them all sorts of problems including a full blown wheat allergy which causes pain and, eventually, malnutrition. Please check your cat food to see if it contains wheat of other cereals - rice is safe but there’s no real need for it.

Virtually all pet foods contain “meat-meal”; mechanically removed meat from parts of animals not eaten by humans and not fit for human consumption. Manufacturers are not under any obligation to tell you they use meat-meal in the product and, consequently, they usually don’t. The only way around this is to find one which states it doesn’t use it.

Pet food manufacturers do not have to disclose any additives or preservatives added to any of the ingredients used in the product if they didn’t add them themselves (so if the products they use contain chemicals they can still label as additive-free if they didn’t add them). This means your “additive & preservative-free” food could be full of all sorts of nasties!

Many pet foods contain meats that can cause allergies, such as beef and lamb. While most animals don’t have a problem with these meats they can cause flakey skin, poor coat, etc

Most pet foods contain COOKED meat, as apposed to raw, which - forgive me for sounding surprised - is NOT what a wild cat would eat! (Can you imagine them building a fire with which to roast their prey upon before dining?) In fact, all cats require high levels of taurine which is largely destroyed by the cooking process.

Some pet foods have been found to contain meat taken from euthanised animals collected from vets and zoos local to the manufacturer (this is not known to have occurred in the UK so if that’s where you live don’t panic - you didn’t feed your late pet cat to your current pet dog - isn’t that a disgusting thought?).

The vast majority of pet foods have a product known as “digest” added to improve flavour; without this addition your pet probably wouldn’t even consider eating the stuff!

Most wet food is made from a protein product and contains around 5% meat. This is not what your cat was designed to eat!

While biscuits can be helpful with dental care and reducing odours from litter-trays they are not the best type of food to feed your pets. You should choose a cereal-free, meat-meal free, wet, raw-meat product with added vitamins and minerals. If you keep your pet indoors you should also provide a tray of grass for them to eat from, too - as they would be able to in the wild. Chicken is the safest meat, along with duck and venison. Turkey should not be be fed in large quantities, and pork is the least safe meat for them to eat.

I also supplement my cat’s diet with seaweed and salmon oil.