Cat Food and Nutrition

If you are concerned about the kind of cat food your kitty is eating, these resources will help you learn all you need to know about cat food and nutrition in order to make educated choices of food for your cat, by learning to read cat food labels and understanding the meaning of the ingredients.

Food Choices - Adoption - and Compromises
While in a perfect world people would feed their cats the best possible foods, there are times when this is impossible, for a variety of reasons. Would a cat in a kill shelter be better off left there because a potential adopter couldn't afford the best foods? Look here for a discussion of compromises in cat food choices that might be necessary at times.

Quick Tip - Making Water More Interesting to Cats
Here's a quick tip for stimulating your cat's interest in drinking water during hot summer months.

The Role of Food in Your Cat's Health
Outside of regularly veterinary care, the food your cat eats is the most important factor to his health and longevity. These lessons will teach you everything you need to know about cat food: how to read labels, how to choose it, and foods you should avoid, and why.

Tips for Choosing Cat Food - Learning the Basics about Cat Food Labels
The ultimate purpose of this series is to help you learn how to read cat food labels to make your decision process easier in choosing the best foods for your cat

Understanding Cat Food Labels - the formulas you need
Learn how to analyze cat food labels to better understand the meaning of the "Guaranteed Analysis" section, and exactly what the AAFCO can and cannot do in regulating cat food.

Natural Raw Food Diet for Cats - The Hows and Whys of Feeding Cats Raw
A carefully home-prepared raw food diet closely approximates the diet cats would get in the wild; the diet to which their physiology is naturally attuned.

Why All the Fuss About Cat Food?
Retail cat food sales alone accounted for an estimated 8.2 billion dollars in 2002, according to Ann Gurkin, writing for the Petfood Industry magazine. It is therefore unfortunate that some of the top-selling pet foods may be doing cats an injustice, and in some cases, may actually be harming them.

Cat Food Ingredients to Avoid - Cat Food FAQ
What cat food ingredients should I avoid? Questions and Answers from About Cats email box.

Human Foods for Cats?
Let's face it: some cats are inveterate "bums" and will beg and plead most appealingly while you try to eat. While I will (rarely) give a cat a tidbit of chicken or turkey from my plate, it's a practice I don't encourage as a regular habit for a few reasons.

Focus on Food - Index of Articles - Top Picks - Reviews of Cat Foods
To help readers in their search for information about cat foods easier, here is a "shortcut" of all the original articles, cat food reviews, and top picks of premium cat foods on the About Cats Site, organized a bit differently from the Categories.

A-Z Cat Food Brands Comparison
Help for those who prefer the convenience of opening a can of cat food or a bag of dry cat food in the form of an A to Z list of all brands of cat foods, including the manufacturers' ingredients listings and guaranteed analysis (where available) for each food.

Human Foods to Avoid for Cats - Toxic Foods
Let's face it: some cats are inveterate "bums" and will beg and plead most appealingly while you try to eat. While I will (rarely) give a cat a tidbit of chicken or turkey from my plate, it's a practice I don't encourage as a regular habit for a few reasons. Find out which foods are absolute no-nos for cats.

Should I try a Vegan Diet for my Cats - Cat Food FAQ
Vegetarian and Vegan diets are becoming more popular among both animal activists and others concerned about health. The question often arises as to whether they should involve their cats in their vegan philosophies. Read the detailed answer to this question by HOSTBarb, host of the About Cats Forum

What's In Your Cat's Water
Could your municipal water source impurities or minerals that could adversely affect your own health or that of your cats? Find out the importance of obtaining a report and what it might mean.

What's wrong with by-products in cat food - Cat Food FAQ
Most cat experts recommend premium brands that avoid things like by-products and chicken meal, etc. However, I was thinking about how feral cats eat a whole rodent, or whole bird. It seems like the cheaper brands would be closer to a natural diet than the premium brands in this case.