Vocab word of the day bonus with this fun fact! Cats have very long medullary nephrons (the functional part of the kidney) which allows them to increase or decrease their urine concentration depending on their hydration levels!
Why is your cat’s diet so important?
As an obligate carnivore, or “true” carnivore, cats are an animal that thrives on a meat-based diet and require nutrients found only in animal flesh to survive. While they might be able to ingest small amounts of certain plant matter, they lack the physiology to fully digest it. Cats not only have an underdeveloped thirst mechanism (they don’t realize they’re thirsty), but their livers are tiny; like really teeny.
Fun fact time? Cats’ saliva can break down wet food, but it doesn’t contain enzymes to break down carbs!
Obligate Carnivore…yah, cool, so what?
While we’re sure it would be a whole lot cheaper for the Zoo’s to feed all the Lions and Tigers corn, peas, legumes and soybeans, cats are designed to run off protein and live prey, not carbs and veggies. Cats (big, small and in between) are built to receive all their fluid intake & hydration from the blood in a live kill. Between not realizing they’re thirsty, not receiving moisture from a live kill (or what we call “wet food” on the house-cat front), and not being able to break down the dry kibble with their saliva, house cats get chronically dehydrated. When eating a dry-only meal, cats’ bodies need to pull moisture from their body to moisten the food enough during digestion to soften it.
Love these fun facts? Us too! A recent study found that 79% of cat owners thought their cat was drinking enough water, but only 37% knew how much water their cat needed. (It’s estimated to be around 47 million cat owners in the US! That’s a lot of thirsty kitties!)
Double the fun break? A healthy cat should drink four to five ounces of water per 5 pounds of body weight per day! (Bad at math? That’s about 2.5 cups of water per day for a 15-pound cat)
Don’t know where to go from here? Good news, WE DO!!
Step 1: Read the ingredient labels! All kibble must have a carb as a binding agent and filler. Who wants to try to get a cat to eat powder, right? “Wait, didn’t you say cats can’t digest carbs?” We did. We also feed our own cat’s kibble. The trick? Look for food that uses rice as their carb filler, not corn or wheat. “They make grain free kibble; that’s gotta be better, right?” Wrong. Grain free kibble still needs a carb as a binding agent, so they substitute things like peas, legumes and soybeans, which can cause vomiting, GI issues and allergies. I’ll give you one guess as to what filler is the easiest to digest and has no allergic reactions? Rice!
Step 2: Read the ingredient label again! This time make sure meat is listed as the first ingredient, then make sure there is no [insert animal here] bi-products. “Why?? I thought they need animal parts in the wild?” Yay! You paid attention! They do! That’s why “meat” in the ingredients is so important. Bi-products, however, aren’t that kind of meat; think of it as the cheap-o, off brand of hot dog filler. Yuck. *we would like to take this time to add that there is one and only one bi-product we recommend as ok to include: chicken meal.
Step 3: Ensure your cat is hydrated. If you’ve made it to page 2, we’re sure you’ve gotten the hints about wet food for cats, but incase you’re skimming, here are the highlights:
Wet food has more meat and protein in it that cats need nutritionally, as well as additional moisture. Since cats are obligate carnivores, water fountains in lieu of bowls are great as the noise naturally attracts cats, reminding them to drink! The movement and filtration also helps to make sure the water is clear of harmful bacteria those little-liver lovies we have are super susceptible to!
Some cats just won’t eat wet food. And that’s OK. We suggest giving your cats a Churu treat! Churu’s come in all sorts of flavors, specialty treats (hairball help, kittens, seniors), and come in super easy to store little tubes. Another good trick is feeding your cat a soaked dry diet. If your cat loves it, you can always increase the amount of water added gradually to maximize the likelihood of acceptance. (Storing a soaked dry diet can be hard; if you have a cat that loves this method of hydrating, the most convenient way is to work up to make it into a thick “soup” via blender)
