What is the Best Diet for Cats?


Owning a cat for the first time can be exciting and challenging in equal measure! One of the main challenges is finding the best diet for cats, as they are notoriously fickle creatures! This is our guide to choosing delicious, healthy food for cats, that they will love.

When you bring a new cat into your life your entire focus goes on making them feel welcome in your home, getting them used to using their litter tray, and ensuring they take to their food. But what’s the best thing to feed them and where can you find healthy food for cats? Read on to find out the answers to all your questions.

What is the Best Diet for Cats?

When choosing the best diet for cats, it’s important to understand what healthy food for cats is available. Firstly, the biggest staple of a healthy cat diets is water. Regardless of what food you choose it’s crucial to ensure they have fresh water available to them at all times.  You may need to leave tap water -depending on the area you live in- for up to 24 hrs, to allow chlorine in the water is dissipate before your cat will drink it. Best of all, if you can buy a cat fountain this helps to remove chlorine in the water quicker and cats are also drawn to moving water.

Cats thrive on food that’s full of rich, high-quality protein and judge their food not just on taste, but also texture and smell. High carbohydrate content does not match your cat’s nutritional needs, so it’s important to avoid these foods if you want your cat to have a healthy diet.

Here are just some of the healthy cat diets available to help keep a spring in your cat’s step:

Raw cat food diets – Because cats are obligate carnivores, they love meat and need it to survive. Raw diets are seen as one of the most natural ways to meet a cat’s desire for protein delivered from uncooked muscle meats. Raw diets are made up of uncooked contents, which include important amino acids, vitamins and minerals that can have positive impacts on a cat’s health. However, raw cat food should be fed with caution, you need to ensure it has the correct balance of ingredients as too much of certain offal’s can affect your cat’s health.

Natural cat foodNatural cat food diets are made up of 100% natural and ethically sourced ingredients. Similarly to raw diets, these are made up of high-quality animal protein that provide your cat with a natural source of amino acids and omega oils, to keep them happy and healthy.

Limited ingredient cat food – One of the key things to bear in mind when raising a cat is that they can often suffer from food allergies. Although you cannot immediately detect what ingredient your cat is allergic to, limited ingredient cat food can help you to scale back on ingredients and reduce the chances of your cat having a negative reaction.

What isn't healthy food for cats?

Now that you have three healthy cat diets to bear in mind, it’s also just as important to consider what you should avoid when choosing your cat food. Foods containing high levels of carbohydrates (usually called cereals or wheat) should definitely be avoided. Cats are obligate carnivores, so only need very small amounts of carbohydrate in their diet, excess levels can put unwanted stress on the liver and kidneys.

Other foods to avoid in your cat’s diet include onions and garlic, grapes, raisins, currants, milk and other dairy products, and mushrooms. All of these foods contain harmful toxins or other such substances that can cause harm to your cat.

Encore cat food is made with 100% natural ingredients and up to 75% real meat. Each recipe is wheat and gluten free, making it easy to digest and prefect for cats with allergies or sensitivities. We have a wide range of healthy cat food to choose from and you can add them to your supermarket shop, direct from our website.

Encore's Guides to the best diet for cats
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