Cat Food Data Review

Although I didn't post a Sciencey Friday post yesterday I promise I was performing stupendous mental feats of scientific review of cat foods. Having had three cats die of cancer in four years has to make one think. In Calvin and Layli's cases one must wonder about a genetic component since they were litter mates. In Teddie's case? Who knows. Who knows what leads one cat (or one human for that matter) to get cancer and not another. Certainly environmental circumstances could be at play. Organisms are often subjected to or ingest substances that are harmful to them. With cats you wonder about their food and perhaps the dust in the litter in which they dig around. It shouldn't surprise you then that I, the woman who has tried to get everyone to read Dr. David Servan-Schreiber's book Anti-Cancer: A New Way of Life, am trying to adjust our cats' environment to make it a bit healthier.

There is an excellent website, catinfo.org, written by a very thoughtful veterinarian, Dr. Lisa Pierson, who graduated in 1984 from UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. Although her area is equine medicine she loves, rescues, and has cats. How she came to be interested in feline nutrition and health is an enjoyable read. I have spent several days this week reading up on her advice regarding the best foods, litters, litter boxes, vaccines, etc. and have spent probably 48 hours seriously calculating which of the foods is the best that we can actually afford.

At one of our recent visits to our kitties' local vet, Dr. Ferguson said that although the vet community has been advising dry food for decades it appears that dry food is actually not at all healthy for cats and he has started suggesting to customers that even lower end canned cat food is probably better than dry. This is exactly what Dr. Pierson recommends as well.

Unlike dogs and humans, cats traditionally got all their liquids from the prey they ate and actually drank very little water. As obligate carnivores they eat primarily small mammals such as mice which are about 70% water. Dry foods have only about 10% water. No matter how much they drink from the water bowl the concern is that they are chronically dehydrated. They were never meant to eat grains either, and most dry foods are high in grain. Some canned foods also have grains (corn, rice, wheat, etc.) so you have to be careful. Cats ideally eat at least 50% of their calories from protein, no more than 40% from fat, and less than 10% from carbohydrates, ideally about 3 to 4 % carbs. The optimal diet then is a carefully concocted mixture of raw meat and bone and organs in the percentage makeup of a mouse body (you can't just feed them raw chicken from your grocery store because it's lacking in essential nutrients that the cat would normally get from the non-muscle parts of the body.) Sorry Chappu, no more cereal from Daddy's bowl.

Dr. Pierson makes her own raw cat food and although it's expensive you can order frozen raw cat food that's delivered to your house. Way too expensive for us. She says that the crappiest canned food is still better than the best dry food. So as I've been doing my research on cost (it'll make you cry) I've been repeating her mantra... any canned food is better than dry... any canned food is better than dry... any canned food is better than dry.

It's impossible to distill 48 hours of intense study into small soundbites but if I had to I'd say this:

• buy canned not dry
• no grains
• avoid beef and fish, choose poultry and rabbit
• avoid artificial colors, preservatives, and other non-food additives

So at the end of the day I presented my partner in crime and general keeper of the monies with a proposal to either feed our six remaining sweethearts the best of the horrible foods for $7 a day, or a really good canned food for $14 per day. We've selected the really good canned food, Wellness brand Chicken Recipe, and plan to cut back expenses in some other area of our lives. Looking at Obi's shabby coat it feels that time is of the essence.

I remember when I first started reading about what happens to factory farm animals who become the meat on our plates. Once I knew those things I couldn't choose eating meat any more. It's like choosing directions to get to work. If I know that driving on Main Street to get there means running over a dog, but choosing Oak Street to get there means NOT running over a dog... I choose Oak Street. Now that I know what I know about cat food I 'd have a very hard time choosing the low quality stuff. I suppose I would if I had to.

Now comes the hard part, maybe. Some cats have a hard time transitioning from one type of food to another. I know that Obi and Frosty like canned food but I'm not so sure about the others, so this will be science project #2. Wish me luck!