Nutritional Feeding Recommendations For Pet Cats If you are a pet lover you will know that your cats and dogs have completely separate dietary requirements and shouldn't be confused. Cats in particular have special needs in their diet; here are some that you may not know.
Overfeeding is a common problem is that people think their cats are too thin. Cats are meant to be lean, so make sure you give it the amount of food that it requires. A general rule is that a cat needs about ½ ounce of food for every pound of its body weight. So an average 8lb cat with no special dietary needs only requires 4 ounces of cat food.
Nutritional Feeding Recommendations For Pet Cats As well as not over feeding, it is very important that you feed your cat a good quality food. These should be very high in vitamins and minerals and not loaded with chemicals and additives that your pet doesn't need.
An essential ingredient in your cats food is the amino acid Taurine. Unlike humans and dogs, cats are unable to synthesize it for mother sources, so it has to be present in their food. It is so vital that if it is missing from their diet your cat can develop a serious eye disease that can lead to blindness.
Nutritional Feeding Recommendations For Pet Cats Cats also need a steady supply of Vitamin A. Other animal simply synthesize this vitamin for caratenoids, but cats are unable to do this so we must ensure that they get it in their food.
One way of giving them Vitamin A is by giving them raw liver to eat, however many cats, and their owners, don't like to do this. The simplest way to make sure that your cat has all the Vitamin A that they require is to add a small amount of cod liver oil to their feed. You can do this daily or a few times a week.
Nutritional Feeding Recommendations For Pet Cats Although there are feeding guides on all cat food, these are just general and there are a lot of other things that you should take into consideration. For example, an older cat will probably require a smaller amount of food which may also need to be lighter. The breed of your cat can also having a major bearing on this and the fact that your cat in an individual.
The most important of all, of course, is that you must avoid over feeding at all costs. Our modern pets have never had it so good, but rich treats are detrimental to their well being.
