Cat food is food manufactured for consumption by cats from the age range of just a few months. Although cats are obligate carnivores, most commercial cat food contains both animal and plant material, supplemented with vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. Cat food is formulated to address the specific nutritional requirements of cats, in particular containing the amino acid taurine, as cats cannot thrive on taurine-deficient food and go blind when fed with dog food
- Commercial cat food
- Dry food
- Wet food
- Homemade food
- Vegetarian or vegan food
Most store-bought cat food comes in either dry form, also known as kibble, or wet canned form. Some manufacturers sell frozen raw diets and premix products to cater to owners who feed raw.
Major brand-name dry cat food manufacturers often use primarily grain-based ingredients like corn and rice with meat by-products or animal digest making up the meat ingredients. Some manufacturers offer 'premium', 'natural' or 'holistic' formulas that are by-product free and contains less or no grains. Grain-free dry diets still contain carbohydrates, from sources such as potato or tapioca as the starch in those ingredients is needed to allow the kibble to hold its shape. Cats have no metabolic need for carbohydrates as the feline system prefers to create glucose from protein.
Dry food is generally made by extrusion cooking under high heat and pressure. It may then be sprayed with fat to increase palatability and other ingredients to complete its composition.
Pet owners often prefer dry cat food due to the convenience and price. Besides usually being significantly cheaper, dry cat food can also be left out for the cat to eat at will over the course of several days; whereas, canned or raw cat food spoils or becomes unappetizing after several hours.
Dry food is recommended by some based on the idea that cats break apart dry foods with their teeth, which causes the food to scrape off dental calculus.The degree of benefit this provides has been disputed in recent years.
Many dry foods use meals as protein source, such as meat meal, chicken meal, fish meal, or corn gluten meal. This allows manufacturers to produce cheaper foods.
Canned or wet food generally comes in common can sizes of 3 oz (85 g), 5.5 oz, and 13 oz. It is also sold in foil pouch form by some manufacturers.
Owners and veterinarians who recommend a diet consisting largely or entirely of canned, homemade or raw cat food point to higher water content of such food and the increased total water consumption in comparison to a dry food diet as an important health benefit.Wet food also generally contains significantly less grain and other carbohydrate material, although many are made with fish ingredients.
Many pet owners feed cats homemade diets. These diets generally consist of some form of cooked meat or raw meat, ground bone, pureed vegetables, taurine supplements, and other multivitamin supplements. Although cats are naturally resistant to many of the bacteria that raw meats contain, meat can sometimes also contain parasites and other harmful organisms and for this reason raw meat is sometimes frozen for periods of time before being used.Some pet owners use human vitamin supplements, and others use vitamin supplements specifically engineered for cats. Veterinarians sometimes recommend including digestive enzyme supplements in a homemade diet. Some pet food manufacturers offer packaged versions of a raw food diet that closely resembles such homemade diets. These packaged versions are generally kept frozen, with individual portions being thawed in advance.
Vegetarian or vegan cat food has been available for many years, and is targeted primarily at vegan and vegetarian pet owners. Most veterinarians recommend against vegetarian diets for cats, as cats are obligate carnivores and require nutrients (including taurine, arachidonic acid, vitamin A, vitamin B12 and niacin) found in meat sources that cannot be obtained in sufficient amount in plant sources, although many can be synthesized. One study evaluated cats fed commercial and homemade vegetarian diets. The study found that all cats had serum cobalamin (vitamin B12) and 3 of 17 cats had serum taurine values.