Feeding pets with special food is beneficial and, according to the assurances of veterinarians, correct from the point of view of pet health. Every pet store, every supermarket has a decent assortment of cat food. How, in all this abundance, can you find the food that is necessary for your beloved kitty? What are the criteria for choosing?
Instructions
Step 1
Expensive or cheap? There are four main classes of feed - economy, commercial, premium and super premium. The higher the class of the feed, the higher its price. For economy class feed, the price is up to 100 rubles per kilogram, commercial - up to 130-150 rubles / kg. What else is the difference between them? Economy and commercial feeds are often not balanced, they are replete with food additives, dyes and other chemicals. Commercial (advertised in the media) food is slightly higher in quality than economy food, but an excessive amount of "chemistry" in them can harm the cat. The digestibility of economy-class feeds is 30%, of commercial feeds - 70%. This means that the cat will eat such food more often and more. This is fraught with obesity for the pet, as well as the ingestion of a large amount of indigestible harmful chemicals into the animal's body. Premium and super-premium feeds cost from 150 to 300 rubles per kilogram. These complete foods are of good quality and can meet all the nutritional needs of your cat. These feeds are balanced and 90% digestible by animals. It is also worth knowing that premium and super-premium feeds are more economical than others, because they have a higher energy density. So, an animal weighing 5 kg per day needs up to 90 grams of premium feed and up to 140 grams of economy feed.
Step 2
For adults or kittens? When choosing food, you should focus on the age of the cat. Indeed, at different ages, a pet has different needs for vitamins, minerals and even calories. Manufacturers indicate on the label the age of the animal for which the product is intended. It can be food for kittens, adult or senior cats (animals over 7-8 years old).
Step 3
Dry or Wet? When choosing dry or wet food, remember that you cannot combine them in the diet of the same cat. Everything else is only a matter of your preferences with the cat and the size of the budget, since dry food, whatever one may say, is cheaper than wet food.
Step 4
And what is on the label? And, of course, before buying a feed, you should definitely familiarize yourself with the label. What should be indicated on it? First of all, meat and its type (for example, chicken). And it is meat, not “meat and offal”. Offal is a useful thing, but who knows what the manufacturer meant? What if it's not a liver, a heart, and the like, but tails, hooves and horns of cattle? Next - vegetables and cereals. Their optimal content in the feed must be 25-50%. Any food must contain vitamins and minerals, which is also indicated on the label. The list of chemicals includes flavorings, dyes, antioxidants, preservatives. There are practically no flavors and colorants in high-class feeds, or their percentage is very insignificant. Therefore, expensive food has a natural reddish color and does not have excessive flavor of granules, while economical food consists of granules of all colors of the rainbow and smells even through a sealed plastic bag. It is worth knowing that some antioxidants (E321, E320 and others) can cause in cats diseases such as cancer, allergic reactions, organ dysfunction, liver damage. In addition, food often contains ballast substances (a cheap, absolutely unnecessary component that serves exclusively to fill the volume of the cat's stomach), natural preservatives, as well as sugar and caramel that are absolutely unnecessary for the animal.
