Sadly, most of us have no idea what goes into our cats' diets. We trust the cat food manufacturers to produce a healthy and nutritionally balanced product, and that's precisely what they print on the bags. "Nutritionally Complete!" "Nutritionally Balanced for Your Cat!"
Oh really? Do you know what goes into this stuff?
It's horrendous, and is an atrocity to the trusting, pet-owning public. It's anything but healthy, and whatever their definition of "nutritionally complete" is defies the truth.
If something is not fit for human consumption, why does anyone feel it's OK to feed it to their pets?
OK, first thing to do is to read the ingredients on the bag or the can. If corn is listed first, in any form (meal, mash, etc.), then corn is the primary ingredient. Since when did cats become grain-eaters? Cats are CARNIVORES, not CORNivores.
Next, watch for "meat byproducts." Do you know what a byproduct is? It can be anything... anything at all... EXCEPT good meat. Mostly, it's "floor sweepings" from the processing plants (feces, urine, feathers, feet, plus scraps of whatever). Or, it's the mixed, mashed and cooked collection of dead animals collected from some very unsavory sources: veterinary offices (euthanized animals), restaurants (spoiled, discarded foods - not always meat), road kill, etc. Many are mixed in and cooked with their flea collars and tags still on!
Is this what you want to feed YOUR loveable cat?
I was first outraged when I discovered that the "filler" often added to pet foods (for weight) was plastic beads, ground into powder, from the recycling of milk jugs, for example. It's basically an inert ingredient and simply passes on through the animal's digestive tract. It has no nutrition in it whatsoever, and only temporarily satisfies their hunger. While it's not full of toxic chemicals, like those found in flea collars or euthanized pets full of the chemical used to kill them, it's atrocious that it's in there at all. (Would you feed your family shredded cardboard just to fill them up, while saving money on groceries?)
If your cat regularly vomits after eating, it's time to re-evaluate his diet, because he's being poisoned. This will shorten his life. More pets are turning up at veterinary offices with cancers and dying much younger, like 7 or 8 years old. The lifespan of a HEALTHY cat is closer to 20.
Concerned pet owners who learn of this have been switching to either premium products with guaranteed ingredients, or, as I am doing, preparing my own pet foods.
I used to think it was too expensive to buy the premium products. But you can look at this like this: a longer and healthier life for your cat, with fewer visits to the vet (which are expensive). I also learned that while it's more work to make it yourself, it's often less expensive than even the cheapie foods found at the store.
Now, I cut up a whole chicken every day. I found a source of antibiotic-free chicken for 43 cents a pound. Some of the supermarket brands of dry kibble, which are usually crap, can be as much as two bucks a pound, but the cheapest of them is still close to a dollar a pound.
Search around for pet food recipes online and investigate the costs and convenience of buying a good product that will keep your cats healthy. Aren't they worth it?
Pick up my free petfood recipe collections here:
The Problem Cat.
(Scroll down the center column of "Free Reports.")
Also, go to Amazon.com and look for the book, Food Pets Die For, by Ann Martin. Much of this information has been researched and documented in there, in case you want some proof.
