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A stroll down the pet food aisle of any supermarket confirms the diverse and sometimes confusing choice of cat foods available today.
Cat foods are divided into three basic categories: dry foods, soft/moist foods and canned foods. As a cat owner, it's important to choose the type of food that fits your cat's stage in life, your lifestyle and the type of relationship you have with your cat.
Obviously, nutrition is the most important consideration when choosing a food. "Cats need to eat a sufficient amount of food to satisfy their energy requirements," explains Francis Kallfelz, DVM, PhD, professor of veterinary nutrition at Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Kallfelz recommends that the cat food you feed meets nutritional standards established by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). These standards are based on feeding trials and/or nutritional profiles.
What to Choose?
Canned or wet foods usually contain at least 75% water, which means you pay for that moisture. "Playing against that is the fact that canned foods tend to be more palatable than dry foods," says Dr. .Kallfelz. "For people who really like to interact with their cats and like when their pets come running at meal time, canned foods are probably the way to go."
Dry food is best for free-choice feeding. That makes it an ideal option for someone who cannot always be home at feeding time. It is especially important to provide fresh water for a cat on a dry food diet (although cats on any diet need fresh, clean water).
The third category--soft/moist foods--is formed to resemble human foods such as hamburger meat; this may appeal more to cat owners than to the cats themselves.
Cats being fed soft/moist foods take in more water and produce more urine than cats tha tare fed dry products, says Dr. Kallfelz. Although it may force owners to clean the litter box more frequently, a higher volume may be beneficial to cats with a history of urinary tract stones.
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