Natural Cat Nutrition: Pros and Cons, Food Choices, Balanced Diet and Vet Recommendations

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Today, almost every second family has a beloved pet that gives its owners a good mood every day. But in order for him to feel as comfortable as possible, he needs to create certain conditions. Keeping pets comes with a lot of challenges. In order for them to grow beautiful, he althy and cheerful, they need proper care. This is especially true of feeding, since it plays a key role in the life of our four-legged friends.

As practice shows, most owners choose the wrong diet for their pets. Many even contain them on purchased feeds, which, although they are balanced and also include the optimal amount of all the necessary nutrients, are far from an ideal option. The best is considerednatural food for cats. The advice of experts on this issue varies, so people have a lot of problems with it, as a result of which innocent animals suffer. Let's try to understand in more detail which products should be given, and which ones are better to refuse altogether.

General information

Cats are predatory animals that are distant relatives of lions, so if you are thinking about how to transfer a cat to natural food, then this fact should be taken into account. For normal growth and development, a pet must necessarily receive animal proteins, which are found in meat. However, they also require the carbohydrates, minerals, and nutrients found in plant foods. Therefore, the daily diet of animals must be balanced.

In their natural environment, cats prey on mice, lizards and other small mammals. In some cases, with great luck, they manage to eat fish. However, at home, predators do not have the opportunity to hunt, so the owners should monitor their nutrition. When compiling a menu for your pet, it is very important to choose products so that the animal receives the required amount of vitamins, minerals and amino acids every day. At the same time, the nutrition of a cat with natural products should not differ much from the nutrition of their counterparts living in the wild.

As a rule, the main component of the human table is fried fish, meat, sausages and sausage, friedor boiled potatoes, all kinds of cereals, as well as fruits and vegetables. Consequently, all this goes to our smaller brothers. But what can be given to them, and what not? Here it must be borne in mind that, like a person, animals need proteins, fats and carbohydrates for normal life, so the diet must be correct. What foods can and cannot be given will be discussed later.

Proteins

These organic substances are the most important building element, since they are involved in the formation of soft and bone tissues, and are also converted in the body into vital energy. Therefore, in any predatory animal, protein must be present in sufficient quantities in the daily diet.

It is found in meat, therefore, when drawing up a natural food diet for cats, the following foods should be included in the diet:

• chicken;
• beef;
• turkey;
• rabbit;
• any lean fish.

Meat is recommended to be given in a boiled form, after pulling out all the bones from it. As for seafood, despite the great predilection for felines, it is allowed to feed them no more than once a week. If animals have any problems with the functioning of the digestive system, then it is better to give ready-made baby purees.

Besides this, the following products will be very useful:

• ryazhenka;
• kefir;
• yogurt;
• homemade cottage cheese;
• hard cheese;
• oatmeal and semolina.

Sour milk is not only easy to digest, but also has a beneficial effect on the intestinal microflora, and cottage cheese contains calcium, which is necessary for the growth and strength of bone tissue. If for some reason the kitten refuses cottage cheese, then it can be mixed with one chicken egg.

It is worth noting that there are various recipes for natural food for cats, the main ingredient of which is meat or fish. Therefore, you can use them so that the diet does not bother your pet too much.

Carbohydrates

To ensure proper, natural, balanced nutrition for cats, these organic carbonyl group elements must be included in their diet. Their main source are products of plant origin. As practice shows, they should be given raw, because this way they are much better absorbed in the body. If a raw food diet is not to the liking of a furry friend, you can boil the vegetables and add a little sunflower oil to them. In case this does not help, you need to prepare a puree consisting of greens and meat.

The following crops are considered the most useful:

• broccoli;
• salad;
• carrot;
• pumpkin;
• beets;
• zucchini.

Many owners also give their pets eggplants and tomatoes, but this is forbidden because they contain dangerous substances that can cause many serious diseases.

Vitamins

Well, what natural food (forcats including) maybe without them? The answer is quite obvious. This group of low molecular weight organic compounds is very important, since the resistance of the animal organism to diseases, viruses and external irritants, as well as the functioning of all internal organs and systems, depends on it. Vitamin deficiency can lead to the development of various serious pathologies.

To replenish their balance, it is recommended to give your ward the following:

• fresh cut green grass;
• oats;
• yeast;
• beef liver;
• legumes;
• fresh fruits;
• eggs;
• milk;
• fish meal.

If for some reason you are unable to fully provide the cat with natural nutrition, then in this case special vitamin complexes for animals come to the rescue. However, one should be quite careful with them, since hypervitaminosis is a very serious pathology that can cause great harm to the he alth of the animal.

In addition to the diet, it is very important to monitor the water balance of your pet. The liquid also contains a large amount of various minerals, so it is necessary to regularly change the water in the cat's bowl to keep it fresh.

Feeding routine

Planning to transition cats to natural food? The menu for the week (start small, you can gradually expand and improve the diet) should be varied, it is important that it is not only balanced, butand regular.

Vets recommend the following feeding tips:

1. Three-month-old kittens should be fed 6 times a day.
2. At the age of 3 to 4 months, the number of meals is reduced by 1.
3. From 4 to 5 months they are already fed 4 times.
4. Starting from six months, they are transferred to a three-time feeding regimen.

Feeding cats with natural food should be done at the same hours. It is recommended to preheat the food so that it is not cold. If you have several pets, it is best to feed them in different rooms.

What foods should be eliminated from the diet?

Let's take a closer look at this. Feeding a cat with natural products is a very difficult task, because not all of them are suitable. This is due to the fact that not all food that people eat will be tasty and he althy for animals. Certain foods can harm your furry friend's he alth.

On the banned list are:

• fried and too fatty food;
• too much seafood;
• s alted and pickled lard;
• confectionery;
• potato;
• cabbage;
• animal bones;
• baked goods;
• onions and garlic;
• food prepared with spices and herbs.

All of the above products are strictly forbidden to give to cats, because they are not only poorly digested, but also very harmful. So if you value your he althyour wards, then completely exclude them from the daily diet of a four-legged friend.

Composing a useful menu

Where to start? When planning to switch cats to a natural diet, the menu should be designed in such a way that it is he althy, balanced and varied. At the same time, it is important to take into account the individual gastronomic preferences of the animal, since each of them has a different taste. So that the diet does not become too boring for the fluffy, and he consumes the food offered to him with pleasure, it is recommended to periodically make adjustments to the menu. It is best to make four different options and rotate them throughout the week.

If you find it difficult to create a competent and thoughtful menu on your own, then here's a great example for you:

1. Breakfast. The first meal of the day is best to start with light ingredients that are well digested, such as low-fat cottage cheese mixed with an egg, yogurt with cereals, or liquid semolina. Also, any porridge cooked in milk will be a good option.
2. Lunch. During the day, animals do not need a lot of food, but only need a little refreshment to replenish their strength, so you can give fermented baked milk or a balanced dry food rich in vitamins and minerals.
3. Dinner. This meal should be the most dense and high-calorie, because cats, as you know, are predators, therefore they are nocturnal. The best option as food would be meat with vegetables, served boiled.

You don'tbe sure to cook food for your pets every day. You can do this with a margin, and then send the food to the refrigerator, where it will not be lost, and also retain its taste and nutritional qualities. After returning home, all you have to do is warm up the food. Thus, natural nutrition for cats will not only be he althy, but will not cause you too much trouble.

Cooking tips

In order for an animal to eat everything you give it with pleasure, you need to make the food fragrant and appetizing. As mentioned earlier, there are various natural cat food recipes that you can safely use. The most interesting and original among them are the following:

1. Meat balls. Take ground beef and mix it with pre-cooked carrot puree, boiled oatmeal and raw egg yolk. Small koloboks are formed from the finished mixture, placed on a wooden board and sent to the freezer. If necessary, they are defrosted and cooked.
2. Meat with broccoli. Cut the meat into small pieces and mash the cabbage, then mix them until smooth and add a little sunflower oil.
3. Chicken liver. Finely chop the liver, a small piece of hard cheese and half a banana. Prepare carrot puree and boil oatmeal in milk. Mix all the ingredients well and simmer a little over low heat. At the very end, add a small piece of butter.
4. Vegetable stew with cereal"Hercules". Boil one kilogram of beef or chicken, then take it out to cool. Meanwhile, simmer any frozen vegetable mixture in the remaining broth. Pour boiling water over Hercules flakes for ten minutes. Finely chop 300 grams of meat, fill it with a small amount of the remaining broth and add some vegetables.

If you use the recipes described above, the cat's diet on natural nutrition can be made complete, tasty and he althy, so the animal will grow up he althy and will certainly thank you with its caress.

When do you need special meals?

Feeding natural food to pets is much better than giving them all kinds of canned cat food and dry food. However, when compiling the menu, be sure to take into account the he alth status of pets and other factors.

Vets recommend taking the following into account:

1. Purebred individuals should receive a large amount of animal fats and vitamin E daily.
2. When feeding pregnant cats, reduce portion sizes but increase portion sizes.
3. It is best for older pets to give small amounts of light food.
4. Special attention deserves the nutrition of a sterilized cat with natural food. The fact is that due to hormonal imbalance, they are prone to excessive weight gain, so it is worth giving low-calorie, but nutritious foods rich in vitamins and nutrients.
5. If an animal has any disease, thenfor any questions related to proper nutrition, a qualified veterinarian should be consulted.
6. It is recommended to feed kittens with homemade food rather than commercial food, as it is more balanced and he althy, but it is better not to give them fish until six months.

Once again, it is worth noting that the natural nutrition of a sterilized cat should be dietary so that it does not get too fat. Obesity negatively affects the he alth of animals and can cause various serious problems.

A few words about dry food

If for some reason natural food is not suitable for cats, and you plan to feed your pet with store-bought products, then you should know something about them. Among the positive aspects, one can single out the fact that dry food is already balanced, there are no harmful synthetic additives and preservatives in their composition, and they also have a long shelf life. In addition, the choice of flavors is simply amazing. However, there is one important nuance. As practice shows, it is rather difficult to choose a specific product for an animal. Very often, feeds lead to food allergies, so they should be introduced into the pet's diet gradually and in small quantities. In this case, you need to monitor the condition of the cat after eating. If any symptoms of an allergic reaction appear, then the food you have chosen should be discarded.

If you have been feeding your pet with commercial mixtures for a long period of time, then giving them homemade food is not recommended, because inin this case, the likelihood of developing various problems with the digestive system is high.

As for the choice of specific feeds, cheap options are not even worth considering. They are made from scrap meat and are not as well balanced as products from well-known manufacturers. Therefore, in this case, saving is not the best option. In this scenario, gradually transfer the cat to natural products.

Recommended by professionals

Earlier we have already mentioned that natural food for cats is the best. The advice of veterinarians only confirms this.

But in order to avoid any problems, you must adhere to the following recommendations:

1. Fish should not be given to cats too often and in large quantities, as it contains a substance called thiaminase, which helps to flush out vitamin B1 from the body, which, in turn, will lead to its deficiency over time. In addition, the risk of developing urolithiasis is significantly increased.
2. Both fish and meat should be subjected to heat treatment (it is best to cook), because raw foods may contain parasites that will subsequently start in the animal.
3. Fruits and vegetables, on the other hand, are best eaten raw as they are richer in vitamins, minerals and nutrients.
4. Never mix dry food and canned cat food, or add any other food to them.

If you follow these simple tips, your furrythe four-legged friend will receive proper and nutritious nutrition necessary for normal growth and development.

How to accustom an animal to homemade food?

Many people are wondering how to transition a cat to natural food.

The following tips from felinologists will help you with this:

1. In order for the animal to quickly get used to ordinary food, a little catnip should be added to it in the first stages.
2. At first, you can put a few pieces of dry food in your food.
3. To maintain the intestinal microflora, which suffers greatly when changing diets, animals need to be given probiotics. This will reduce your chances of developing food allergies.

If you follow these recommendations, transferring your pet to a natural diet will be very easy and fast. Feed your cats the right way and let them grow up he althy and cheerful.