Cat Nutrition - Must Have Ingredients For Kitty

When you have a pet at home, you should also make sure that is gets all the nourishment it needs. Making sure that you feed your pet with healthy food at all times can do this. But it is difficult to understand what can be described as healthy food for a cat. There are a wide variety of cat foods that are available in any pet store. Before purchasing the food, you should check the contents of the food to make sure that it contains all the nutrients necessary for a cat to live a healthy life. Some of the nutrients that your cat needs are:

Vitamin A - Both humans as well as animals need a lot of Vitamin A. But animals cannot convert the carotene that they get from plants into Vitamin A like humans. They are able to derive Vitamin A from different kinds of meat like kidney and liver. So you should make sure that you cat food contains enough quantities of liver and kidney. A deficiency of Vitamin A in the food of the cat can lead to serious health problems. The cat might start losing weight, his cell membranes might get damaged and his growth might get stunted. His immunity levels might also come down and female cats might experience irregular menstrual cycles. When a female cat does not get the required amount of Vitamin A then she could get pregnant with an embryo that might have not have been implanted properly and she could have a miscarriage. If they still manage to deliver the kitten, then it could have certain birth defects like a cleft palate.

Niacin - Like other animals, cats cannot process the niacin that is present in tryptophan and they should obtain niacin from animal tissues. If the diet of a cat is deficient in niacin, then it could lose weight and also lose its hunger. It could also have wounds around its mouth and also have rough fur.

Essential Fatty acids - the diet of a cat should also contain animal fat since animal fat contains a fatty acid otherwise known as arachidonic acid. The cat may suffer from reproductive problems like dermatitis if the required amount of animal fat is not present in its food.

Taurine - High amounts of Taurine need to be consumed by cats and this can be found in muscle foods, fish and also shellfish. Cats may suffer from blindness or Central retinal degeneration if it does not get the adequate amount of Taurine. It could also develop reproductive issues and diseases in the heart muscle if it does not get enough Taurine.

Protein - the right quantity of proteins should also be available in the diet of a cat. Cat food should at least contain 12% proteins while food for a dog should contain just 4% protein. A protein rich diet is good for a cat though it is not the same case for other animals. This will provide that cat with all the essential vitamins that it needs and also give it all the energy and calories that it needs to be happy and healthy.