What's In My Pet's Food?

Most cat owners know the feeling: Lingering in the pet food aisle bewildered and befuddled. You want to feed your cat the kitty equivalent of your favorite foods (shrimp scampi, filet mignon, buttered Brussel sprouts and baked Alaska come to mind), but you don’t want to be responsible for the hardening of his arteries or the widening of his girth.

You want him to share in your love of food, but odds are not one of those complete diet in a bag appeals to you – which makes the choosing all the more difficult. If you own a cat who’s happy if he manages to swipe a tidbit from the trash and mud-puddle water, you don’t truly have to fear going wrong in the palatability department. But if your cat turns her nose up at economy-brand canned tuna or turkey from the wrong deli, then you’ve got the flavor issue to contend with as well. Most of all you want to ensure that your pet’s nutritional needs are being met – and unless a trusted veterinarian has given you explicit instructions about what to feed your cat, you’re not likely to have a whole lot of confidence in your ability to make the best possible decision. What’s really in those foods, anyway?

The Recipe
“The first and most important ingredient in pet food is an understanding of the nutritional needs of pets,” says Dottie LaFlamme, D.V.M., Ph.D., a veterinary nutritionist with Ralston Purina. “Knowing that, we start selecting the ingredients.”

The main components of your cat’s packaged food are not unlike those of human diets: carbohydrates, including corn, rice and wheat; proteins (from poultry, meat and bone meal) and fats (soybean oil, canola oil, and fats from meat and poultry) comprise the rest in close to equal proportions. The basic formula for cat foods is something like 30 percent protein, 15 percent fat, and 55 percent carbs. In order to round it out, as with a healthy diet for a human, a variety of essential vitamins and minerals including zinc, iron, and potassium, compliment the main ingredients. At Purina, the premium Cat Chow? brand cat food also includes added Omega 6 fatty acids which contribute to your cat’s healthy immune system and promote a thick, shiny coat.

Variations
Every good recipe has its variations, and pet foods are no different. Premium brands typically contain more fat and more protein per serving than economy brands, dictating that owners don’t have to feed as much to offer the same level of nutrition. Weight loss and senior diets tend to have high protein content, but less fat.

One of the biggest differences between pet foods and people foods is in the complete nature of prepared pet diets. “We’re looking for a variety of foods for pet diets,” says LaFlamme, who nevertheless cautions against frequently changing pet food products or brands, as it can upset a pet’s digestive system. “Just as people need a variety of ingredients for complete nutrition, animals need variety as well. The difference is, they get it put together for them in a complete product.” The rest of us have to do it ourselves.

_{Excerpts from Article "What's really in Your Pet's Food" by Sarah Rudnitsky in the Fall 1998 Issue of Pet Life Magazine}