Maybe everyone who takes the initiative to raise cats wants to provide cats with the best living environment and living conditions within their ability. But many people who have just raised cats have no idea how to choose cat food, and do not know how to choose the most suitable cat food for their cats from the dazzling array of cat food. This article can provide some advice for confused friends.
1. Choose cat food according to the age of the cat. Cats of different ages have cat food eaten at different stages, such as kitten cat food, adult cat food, senior cat food and so on.
There are also some brands that divide cat food into finer points, such as cat food during pregnancy. Cats of different ages should choose cat food according to the cat's physical characteristics, which is very helpful for their healthy growth.
2. Taking health as the main standard, this is also the most important item in the purchase of cat food. Conditional families can choose some big brands of cat food, and the quality will be more guaranteed.
Of course, it's not that the more expensive the cat food, the better, it mainly depends on whether your cat is suitable for this cat food.
3. Before choosing cat food, you must first understand the nutritional needs of your cat. Cats are specialized carnivores and require more protein in their diet than other mammals.
Some cat foods seem to have enough protein, but the ingredients are some meat by-products, or even cheap vegetable protein. The cat's diet can only be provided by the owner, and whether it is healthy and long-lived depends largely on the owner's choice.
The owner must carefully screen when buying cat food. Generally, the color of cat food with high meat content is brown and dark brown.
4. Some cats are easily allergic to certain things or cat food containing certain elements, such . Cat allergies may cause itchy skin, rashes, vomiting, and hair loss. If your cat is prone to allergies, then you should choose some hypoallergenic cat food.
5. In addition, when choosing cat food, you also need to look at the specific nutrients of cat food.
(1) Crude protein: between 37% and 40%, but it is not the higher the better, too high can easily cause problems in the cat's pancreas.
(2) Crude fat: 14%-20%, too low will lead to constipation in cats, and too high will easily cause obesity.
(3) Crude fiber: between 1% and 8%, it is best not to choose those higher than 8%. Cats need a certain amount of crude fiber, which can promote the peristalsis of the cat's stomach.
(4) Taurine: Between 0.2% and 0.25%, cats cannot synthesize taurine by themselves, so cat food should preferably contain taurine, otherwise it will easily lead to retinal degeneration and even blindness in cats.
(5) Mineral content (mainly calcium and phosphorus): At about 1%, cats need to supplement a certain amount of minerals to balance their nutrition.
6. Observe the cat's condition after eating. The best way to buy cat food is to buy those that come with a trial pack, so that you can let the cat try it first, and then you can return it if you think it doesn't work. If it is a good cat food, after the cat eats it, the feces are generally granular and strips with a dark brown color, and the taste is not too great. The cat ate inferior cat food, and the feces were sticky, smelly and shapeless.
7. Selection of cat food purchasing channels. Cat food can be purchased in physical stores, such as supermarkets, pet specialty stores, etc. Cat food can also be purchased online. But no matter where you buy it, you must ensure that the cat food is genuine.
