How to Choose Cat Food – Tips to Look Out For

Choosing the right cat food for your purry friend is not an easy thing to do. If you’re asking why, it’s because there are so many brands and recommendations out there, making life difficult for us as purr-ents.

That said, have no fear, as we’ll give you examples of what worked best for our Kiki and what our veterinarians recommend.

These tips will help you better understand how to choose cat food the next time you find yourself in the cat food aisle.

3 Easy Tips on How to Select Cat Food

Feeding is the most important aspect of nurturing our little furry friends in order to help them stay happy, healthy, and active.

To do that, you need to acquire quality and highly nutritious food. With hundreds of various cat food brands, treats, and snacks to choose from, this is often an overwhelming task.

However, learning how to choose cat food that’s just right for your kitty is not that difficult at all. All you have to do is pay attention to the right nutrients and watch your cat’s behavior.

Let’s take a look at how you can do that exactly.

1. Life Stage Considerations

Many cat food brands claim to be good and balanced for all ages of cats. At first glance, this might seem quite handy but it might not be ideal for your kitten or older cat.

Truth is, cats need different types of food as they grow up, similar to how we people function. That said, it is best to pick food that matches your cat’s life stage.

Here’s what you need to know about the different life stages of your cat:

a) Kittens

Little kitties need nutrition-rich foods that can support their overall growth. Look for single source protein ingredients in kitten food, like chicken, lamb, beef, turkey, or tuna.

Additionally, there should be a label “up to 12 months” or “Kitten” on the brand’s packaging. This means the food is rich in all necessary vitamins and nutrients that will aid the little one’s development.

We remember when we gave our Kiki both dry and wet food until she turned one and how one type of food made her gassy while another made her really puffy and overweight all of a sudden. So pay close attention to this, especially in the first 6 to 12 months.

b) Adult Cats

Cats over 12 months old should move to a different category of food. Labels like “Adult” are a good indicator of this, in addition to looking for food with less protein and fat.

How to pick cat food isn’t the only thing that matters here though. Controlling the portion size is also an important aspect.

Therefore, control the portions as well since adult cats are less active than kittens and might get chonky pretty quickly.

Our Kiki is now one and a half years old (or 18 months in human baby language🤢), and now she’s on dry food only, is very fit and healthy, and has virtually no fat. This was made possible because we paid really close attention to the portion sizes and ingredients in the adult food we bought.

c) Senior Cats

According to ASPCA, cats older than seven years are considered senior cats and have specific nutritional needs.

What you need to do here is to ensure their foods are lower in protein and fat and have a sizable amount of vitamins and minerals to help them strengthen their immune system. Foods for senior cats are typically designed to reduce the work on the kidneys, helping cats to avoid any sort of kidney diseases.

Both of our parents have a total of 6 senior cats and all of them eat very little during the day, while sleeping quite a lot. So, their food is balanced and rich with the necessary nutrients to keep them healthy and boost their immune system.

🐾 When you transition between life stages, make sure you also slowly introduce the new types of food, so your little furry friend can easily accept them and not have any belly issues.

2. Nutritional Requirements

Choosing the right food for your cat involves knowing which are the best ingredients. Let’s start with the basics: vitamins and minerals, proteins, fatty acids and amino acids, and carbohydrates.

a) Vitamins & Minerals

Your cat’s food should include a mix of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids such as:

• Vitamins A, B, and C
• B12
• Folic acid
• Calcium
• Phosphorus
• Sodium
• Iron
• Magnesium
• Zinc

These nutrients are important for strong joints, bones, and teeth. A balanced diet means you don’t usually need to add supplements.

However, always check with your vet before giving any supplements to your cat, as some can be harmful.

b) Proteins

Cats are strict meat-eaters. This means they need meat to stay healthy. Some important nutrients like taurine and arachidonic acid are found only in meat. Historically, cats were predators with a diet rich in protein, some fat, and a bit of carbohydrates.

🐾 If your cat shows signs of a food allergy, try changing the main protein in their food first to see if it helps understand the allergy.

c) Fatty Acids & Amino Acids

Amino Acids are like protein building blocks. Two important ones for cats are Leucine and Lysine, which help with muscles, bones, blood, organs, skin, and coat. Young cats need more energy and protein than adult cats.

Taurine, arginine, and arachidonic acid are also vital for cats. If your cat food has good meat, it should have these nutrients since they’re found in animal protein.

d) Carbohydrates

Carbs sometimes get a bad rap because too much can lead to fat. But for active cats, carbs are very important. Cats can quickly use carbs for energy, unlike us humans.

Good carbs in cat food are:

• Rice
• Oats
• Potatoes

Dry kibble often has more carbs than wet or fresh food, so always check the label for carb amounts per serving.

🐾 Make sure the label shows that the food meets AAFCO standards for balanced animal nutrition.

3. Monitor Your Cat’s Eating Regime

There are many theories as to how much you should feed your cat per day. Some say you should only feed your cat in portions, while others suggest leaving food in the cat bowl throughout the day so that your cat can eat whenever they feel hungry.

We have noticed one thing that works best for our Kiki – and that is leaving food in the cat bowl so she can eat whenever she feels hungry. She never eats more than she needs to.

However, this has its own drawback as the food is oxidized out in the open, so it’s best to leave smaller amounts and refill the bowls when they run low.

Cats aren’t like dogs, so they’ll eat only the amount they need and nothing more, so you won’t have to worry about your cat getting chonky.

Additionally, pay attention to your cat’s body shape and activity. This is the best indicator if your cat eats too much, especially since there’s no such thing as eating too little for healthy cats. If they do eat too little, our advice is to take your cat to the vet.

More importantly, though, you should be aware of the type of food you give to your cat. We’ll address this in the next section.

Types of Cat Food

There are various types of food you can give to your cat, and the choice comes down to these four categories: dry, wet, raw, and homemade varieties.

Additionally, you should also learn about grains and taurine, which is what we’ll talk about further below. That said, we’re not going to pay much attention to raw and homemade varieties, as we strongly believe purr-ents should avoid these foods.

Now, let’s check out the most common types you’ll encounter and what to look for in each:

Dry Cat Food vs Wet Cat Food

Dry cat food is the basic type you should give to your cat. It has about 6 to 10% of water content and ingredients are often mixed, shaped, and dried into smaller pieces.

Animal fat that serves as flavor enhancers is also added, which makes dry food highly affordable and rarely spoilable.

When you use dry food, make sure you store it in a cool, dry place, and always check for the expiration date. Larger amounts can last for months, but expired food can lose all of its vital nutrients and go bad. Use airtight containers to keep the food fresh and tasty.

Wet food, on the other hand, has at least 75% moisture and provides quality hydration. It is more expensive, though, but highly appealing to cats.

Once you open wet food, be it from a can or a pouch, make sure to store the remains in a fridge. Before buying, though, always check the labels for nutritional completeness, as many lack the essential nutrients, and can be very bad for your cat.

You should also check the taurine percentages, as we have noticed vast differences in Kiki’s behavior when we gave her food that contained high levels of taurine, versus food that contained lower levels of it.

What kind of behavior do you ask?

Well, let’s just say she tried getting back to her roots as a predator and wanted to constantly attack mommy and daddy, instead of being the sweet little girl we know and love.

🐾 Our advice is to primarily feed your cat dry food and treat them with wet food only on certain occasions or, as our vet says, when it’s their birthday.🙂 Dry food has all the necessary nutrients, so you don’t have anything to worry about.

Grain Free vs Grain Inclusive

Grains in cat food have long been a huge subject of debate. While they are initially used to avoid fatty carbs, experts are warning against grain-free diets for cats.

In essence, grains provide essential carbohydrates for energy, so it is important to note that a grain-free label does not mean carb-free food.

These types of diets for cats may pose a significant health risk, as they’re often marketed as premium or integral. Do note that these terms are not regulated by AAFCO!

Studies show that cats that are being fed with grain-free diets have had an increased risk of developing Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM).

Even though this condition has been linked to protein deficiency diets or taurine, this research connects it to grain-free diets as well.

🐾 AAFCO does not regulate these terms and their study has confirmed the relationship with DCM, so be very aware of feeding your cat grain-free food.

Taurine-Based Food

Taurine is essential for any cat’s health and is present only in animal proteins. Cats need this protein in their food as they do not create enough on their own.

With that in mind, feeding a cat a vegetarian diet can lead to taurine deficiency, causing serious heart and eye problems.

Therefore, it is vital to make sure your cat gets enough taurine in their diet to stay healthy. Although be careful not to give your cat food that is high in taurine for too long or too often.

As we previously mentioned, we have noticed a huge difference in our own Kiki every time we gave her food with high levels of taurine. Her hair became a bit greasy, she put on quite a lot of fat and became a lot more aggressive.

So we concluded that we need to monitor the taurine levels in the food and give her just enough so she can stay healthy. Now, she has defined and strong muscles, virtually no fat, very smooth hair, and is incredibly playful, affectionate, and healthy.

🐾 Always pay attention to the taurine percentage in the food, especially wet food. Too much taurine can make your cat aggressive and chonky.

How to Choose Cat Food Summary

There isn’t a one-fix solution to choosing the right food for your cat. You’ll have to read the label and pick food according to your cat’s life stage and nutritional requirements.

We advise you to feed your cat only dry food and give wet food only on specific occasions or very rarely.

Most importantly, always check how your cat behaves before eating, after eating, and when going into her litter box. These can all be indicators that your cat’s tummy likes or dislikes the food you give them on a daily basis.

We hope you found this article useful and helpful in assisting you to choose the right cat food for your little furry friend.