What Cats Eat and Why—Part 1

The old adage in veterinary medicine is that cats are small dogs.  As the field advances, we are finding that to be further and further from the truth!  While the general workings of the body remain the same, diseases, reactions, and medications for cats and dogs can differ greatly between the two. 

The most common misconception is that the metabolism of cats is the same as dogs, and that what type of food will work for a dog will also work for a cat.  Once again, not true, although this sort of information has only been coming out in the past 5-7 years. 

A species’ metabolism depends a lot on its’ ancestry.  Dogs were pack animals, and tended to hunt together and have a large meal every five to seven days, obtaining water from ground sources between hunting.  Cats, on the other hand, were very solitary, hunted and ate up to thirty times daily (usually small meals), and got a majority of their water from their meals, having descended from desert animals. 

Since cats are descended from desert animals, their bodies (specifically, the kidneys) are made to concentrate urine, eliminate wastes, and conserve as much water as possible.  If a cat is being fed a diet that consists of 1-2% moisture (most dry diets), it can cause the cat to be chronically dehydrated and that places more stress on the kidneys. 

Cats are also not used to carbohydrates—rodents, birds, and small reptiles, their ancestral food, does not have that many carbohydrates in it.  They can tolerate small amounts, but dry diets are between 30-60% carbohydrates—much more than most cats can handle.  Studies have shown a link between high carbohydrate diets and insulin resistance and diabetes in cats, so a lower carbohydrate diet will accordingly lower the risk of this disease. 

So, a low carbohydrate, high protein diet is most commonly an attribute of wet food.  Yes, wet food is actually better for your cat! 

But what about the teeth?  Aren’t dry foods better?  Unfortunately, no.  Simple mechanical crunching does not remove plaque from the teeth, so most dry diets do nothing to help keep the teeth clean.  It would be equivalent to us eating Kix cereal instead of brushing our teeth.  Only three dry diets have actually been proven to remove plaque and tartar from cats’ teeth.  So if you’re going to feed dry food, a dental diet is highly recommended. 

Look for more in the next article on nutrition!