Posts tagged "cat food"

Though cats might be (ahem) more difficult to train than dogs, they still deserve tasty, top-quality treats. Whether you want to tell your feline friend "you were very brave at the vet today" or "thanks for using your scratching post instead of my sofa," a delicious snack can be the ideal reward.

But with the range of cat nibbles on the market, selecting the right treat can be a challenge. Our friends at Zootoo rounded up some of their favorite feline treats to give your cat something special to munch on.


Available in Deep Sea Tuna and Roasted Chicken flavors, Semi-Moist Cat Treats from Pet Greens feature wheatgrass, making them healthy alternatives to potentially dangerous indoor plants. Loaded with antioxidants and vitamins, these appealing treats won over our tester cats with the smell and taste of real fish and meat. Also, with a semi-moist texture, these snacks are easier for felines to chew than crunchy treats -- a plus for kittens or senior cats.


For pet owners who are tired of deciphering ingredients lists, the Liv-a-Littles Protein Treats from Halo feature only one ingredient per flavor: "freeze-dried beef" or "freeze-dried white meat chicken." The real meaty taste of these treats appeals to cats -- and the high protein content and lack of additives appeal to their owners. As a bonus, these treats are also suitable for dogs, making them ideal for multipet households.

You want to keep your feline healthy and frisky and you know that good nutrition is essential.

But what makes a healthy cat food? What type of cat food is best for your pet? And do you need to know anything special about storing it? Our friends WebMD Healthy Pets found out what we need to know.

1. What is cat food made of?
In general, cat food consists of water, proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. But how close your cat's diet comes to that of its feral cousins depends on what formula the cat food manufacturer uses.

Proteins are the basic building blocks for cells, tissues, and organs. They can be either animal-based or plant-based, and either type may show up in cat food. Soy, vegetables, and cereals are examples of plant-based proteins. Chicken, lamb, turkey, and fish are examples of animal-based proteins. In addition, cat food often contains byproducts of animals or plants, the parts that people don't normally eat.

Cats are meat eaters. They require two to three times the protein that omnivores, such as dogs or humans, do.

As strict carnivores, cats rely mainly on nutrients found in animals -- high protein, moderate fat, and minimal carbohydrates -- to meet their nutritional needs. Cats' bodies are adapted for metabolizing animal protein and fats. And animal-based proteins also contain complete amino acids -- such as taurine, arginine, cysteine, and methionine. These are essential for cats, whose bodies don't make them in adequate amounts.

We make plenty of mistakes feeding ourselves. We eat too much sugar and salt, we eat too little, then too much. With all the problems we have with our own diets, is it any wonder we make mistakes when feeding our cats?

So what errors are we making and why? Our cats can't tell us, not with words. Sometimes we don't know where we've gone wrong until our cat is sick.

Not to worry. Our friends at WebMD Healthy Pets went to the experts in cat health -- veterinarians and animal nutritionists -- and asked them to outline the most common cat feeding mistakes so that you can avoid them and help your feline friend stay fit, feisty and well-nourished.

The Mistakes

1. Too Much Food
Probably the most common mistake people make when feeding cats is overfeeding, says Joe Bartges, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DACVN, professor of medicine and nutrition, the Acree Endowed Chair of Small Animal Research, in the College of Veterinary Medicine, at the University of Tennessee. "Obesity is the most common nutritional disease seen in cats."

Although a pudgy kitty may look kind of cute, obesity is associated with a host of cat health issues, from diabetes to arthritis, urinary tract disease to heart problems. In fact, Bartges tells WebMD that cats may suffer from something similar to that very human condition, metabolic syndrome.

Ellen DeGeneres has delivered on a goal set in April -- through Halo, Purely for Pets (the pet care brand she co-owns) -- she's provided a million meals to shelter animals this year.

It began when DeGeneres helped promote the United Postal Service's social awareness stamp, Animal Rescue: Adopt a Shelter Pet. The campaign kicked off on April 30 when the talk show host and animal advocate announced that, in celebration of this newly launched stamp, Halo would work though social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and Freekibble.com, as well as contests to feed 1 million meals to shelter dogs and cats. Just before Christmas, that goal was attained.

More than 100 shelters across the country benefited from the program. Halo CEO Steve Marton says, "We are thrilled with the success of the campaign and the incredible number of supporters who helped us to achieve this goal. It's our mission to make a real difference for pets, and part of that mission is to ensure shelter pets are provided healthy, nutritious food."

Picture this. You live in a fifth-floor walk-up in a big city. You don't have a car. It's a cold, wet day and you realize your dog is nearly out of food, leaving you with no choice but to trudge to the nearest store and pick up a bag. Lugging home 40 lbs. of dog food presents a physical challenge in addition to an inconvenience, but you love your pet and you do what you have to do.

Or maybe you live in a rural area and there's no store nearby. You don't notice that your cat is down to the last few kibbles until it's too late, meaning you have to make a late-night run to the store, which is pretty much the last thing you want to do at the end of a long day.

In either case, there's a simple solution -- delivery. But as many have learned, the cost of pet food delivery (especially if you've got a large pet or multiple pets and need a large quantity of food) can be steep, and remembering to order and allow time for shipping can be difficult. And that's where PetFlow.com comes into play.

PetFlow.com offers a large assortment of pet food and treats and, best of all, there's a $4.95 flat rate shipping cost on all orders.

On September 23, Diamond Pet Foods issued a voluntary recall of certain bags of Premium Edge Finicky Adult Cat and Premium Edge Hairball cat food due to a lack of thiamine, an essential nutrient for cats. Now, the company has confirmed 21 cats became sick from the dried cat food, but there is no new or expanded recall, according to the Premium Edge Pet Food Web site.

The pet food was distributed in a total of 18 states (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida), but all 21 accounts of thiamine deficiency were reported in New York and Pennsylvania.

All incidents were reported prior to October 19. However, if you've given this food to your cat, it's not a bad idea to be familiar with the signs of thiamine deficiency. The company's Web site states that cats deficient in the nutrient will exhibit neurological symptoms, such as "wobbly walking or muscle weakness, paralysis of the hindlimbs, seizures, ventroflexion (bending towards the floor) of the neck, and abnormal eye movement called nystagmus."

The issue has been rectified through numerous tests -- other Diamond foods do not have a problem -- but if you find that you have any bags with the codes below, you should return the recalled cat food for a full refund to the place where it was purchased, or call 800-977-8797.

Affected codes: RAF0501A22X 18lb., RAF0501A2X 6 lb., RAF0802B12X 18lb (BB30FEB11), RAH0501A22X 18 lb., RAH0501A2X 6lb. The dates of manufacture are May 28, 2009 and August 30, 2009.

Wherein I try to get my pets to a healthy cat weight.

Previously on DeeDee and Tino's Weight Loss Blog, the vet informed me that I was feeding my fat cats too much. Like, way too much. I was advised to dole out two 5.5-ounce cans of wet food each day instead of just a single can plus the 16 ounces of kibble I was allowing my two to graze on all day.

Why 16 ounces of kibble? With an unpredictable schedule, I worried that if DeeDee and Tino didn't have access to food when I was out they'd grow hungry, hurt and distrustful. You've seen these two patheitc creatures -- haven't they been through enough in their lives?

But my vet assured me that the cats would be fine -- the extra protein from the canned cat food would sate them, and the weight would melt off. She even said it was possible Tino's diabetes could reverse itself. With that said, I started the diet ASAP.

The first week of the new diet, I stayed out late one night. I felt guilty and came home dreading what I would find. I pictured the cat equivalent of a Save the Children commercial, with Sally Struthers imploring me to spare 80 cents a day to help the poor emaciated pets inside. Or perhaps they'd cried so loudly that my neighbors had called the "Animal Precinct" on me, who'd be poised outside with elephant guns drawn (that's what kind of weapons animal control officers carry, right?).

Imagine my shock when I walked into my apartment and discovered... nothing. The cats were fast asleep. Not only were they not howling to be fed, they still had some wet food left from their morning feeding. It turns out that sleeping 22 hours a day isn't as metabolically taxing as I'd thought.

This week I learned that my cats don't actually require non-stop food in order to feel cared for; I was projecting my own fear of going three hours without food onto them. Who could have imagined that their diet would result in my Dr. Phil moment? And while I still don't entirely trust the numbers on my bathroom scale, they seem to have started to lose weight.