Cat's Nutritional Requirements

By David P. Lee

Walking into the pet store today offers you wall to wall choices for a variety of pets. When you head towards the cat section there are numerous choices for buying food and other items. It can be hard to determine the proper healthy diet your cat needs. To be a great pet owner you need to have good nutritional choices to help maintain a long ill free life for cats. A bad choice can lead to aging and even death in your feline.

What do you need to know about helping your cat remain healthy? Well there are several options. First of all a feline is a carnivore. Cats have always needed the nutrition of meat in order to survive. In fact in the wild cats will hunt their meat, for example just look at lions and tigers. Your domestic cat should not be any different with regard to offering protein in the meal. Water is also an important source of nutrients. To maintain healthy weight water is needed.

Vitamins such as A, D, E and B complex are needed in a cat's diet. Niacin, riboflavin, and thiamine are additional components that are needed in the cat's food. Taurine is an amino acid that helps promote health, but it is something they are unable to create enough of in their system. This means that you need to provide the nutrients in their food. Vitamin K is essential to helping break down other chemicals in the body.

Calcium, like humans is essential for bone growth and health. If you don't offer a cat enough calcium they may be underdeveloped or even have bone density issues later in life. You don't want to overdo the vitamins and minerals, as that can also have adverse effects.

In some of the cat foods offered in stores there are bad dietary options. Some of the foods will not have enough minerals or they may have too much of one mineral. Like human bodies, cats do need to break down the minerals in their bodies. So keep in mind when offering copper, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc, and selenium that they are given in an appropriate amount and with other minerals to break down unwanted excess. Food is not the only thing to be concerned about when talking about the health of cats. Cats need exercise, typically not as much as dogs, but you still need to make sure they are getting it.

To ensure that your pet receives the exercise they need, offering them plenty of different toys to play with and cat furniture, cat tree to climb on is essential. The kitty towers and scratching posts are not to keep them off your furniture as much as they are to give the cat exercise. Sleep is another aspect to be concerned with. Typically a kitten is going to need more play and less sleep. As the cat ages you may find they have a pattern of sleep and play time. Sleep requires a comfortable area they will be happy to sleep in during the day, especially if they are not allowed on the furniture.

Pet owners are extremely important regarding their cat's care. You are the only one able to ensure that they have what they need to survive. It is to your benefit to make sure they have the nutrients, minerals, and supplements needed. You can prepare the meals yourself if you wish. This is arguably a great option because you know there are no harmful chemicals or by products in the food.

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