There are so many differing views on cat food that I thought I would dedicate a page based on facts & my personal view.
Cats are obligate carnivores, so in the wild they would get their nutritional requirements from meat, which is high in protein & low in carbohydrates. It is said by experts that dry cat foods are merely dry dog foods that have been modified for our beloved felines, by adding minor changes to the vitamin & mineral supplements. It has been said that dry foods can be responsible for urinary tract problems, obesity, diabetes & skin problems. It is also mentioned that because cats are descended from desert predators who naturally have little thirst, they get the water they need from the foods they eat. So feeding the dry, starchy biscuits, according to the experts, to our cats, can put them in a state of subclinical dehydration, because the cats thirst drive does not compensate for the low water content of their diet. This is what can contribute to the urinary tract problems, which can cause some cats unnecessary stress.
A Breeders Dilemma
Now, for those of us who are registered breeders, we have to take into account each persons lifestyle. Our lives nowadays can be pretty fast & stressful, so the idea of feeding raw can seem pretty daunting & time consuming, which leaves us breeders into trying to accomodate prospective slaves. I have decided that I will continue to use some dry food along with high content meat pouches & raw so that any new slave, if they work or they lead rather hectic lifestyles, decide to adopt a baby from me & would rather feed dry, that my kitten will already be used to eating this. In my opinion I think letting mummy cats have access to dry as well as pouches & raw, can be beneficial to her whilst being pregnant & lactating, plus it helps when the kittens are weaning because of their growth rate.
All we can do as breeders I feel, is educate prospective slaves as I'm sure there are pros & cons to each of the foods. Let people make their own choices & what suits one particular lifestyle may not suit another.
With regards to dry foods, try to look for ones that contain little or no grain & have meat as the main ingredient.
Here is a link to a site that stocks a variety of dry foods & high meat content pouches & tins, just be sure to research the ingredients on the ones available ZOOPLUS
Cats including wild cats are usually solitary or small group animals except Lions who live in a pride. This normally consists of an Alpha Male & Lioness's who do the catching & killing of the prey for the pride. Domestic cats that we see today, are really just smaller versions of their cousins with their mind, body & souls being just as wild. Of course they are not capable of killing or injuring us the way big cats could, but they are however an ancient, instinctive hunting machine. This also means that our domestic cats can have very wild interactions with other cats, harmony between larger groups of even well-cared-for house cats is NOT assured. The research suggests that an important factor is the number of cats in the 'territory'. In the home, the territory is the space within the house itself. If we consider the size of the range of feral communities of cats, it is easy to understand that even sizable homes of 2,000 to 3,000 square feet are NOT adequate for more than a small number of animals to live in peace. When sizable numbers of cats are confined in a static amount of space and are unable to expand their territory by moving further away from other cats in the group, friction & aggressive behaviours may result. It is suggested that keeping more than one cat per 500 - 700 square feet of living space will create a kind of territory stress that can cause disharmony among pet cats.
Male & female cats do NOT live in constant close proximity to each other within the group's territory in the wild, & forcing them to do so in the limited space of the home environment can create stress. Sometimes, alpha-type females WILL become aggressive against other younger or less-dominant individuals. Although females do live relatively close together in the wild, their companionship in that situation revolves around bearing & caring for kittens. When spayed females do not share this common focus, the potential for unpredictable irritable interactions between them is very real. Neutered males seem to make the most continuously harmonious companions with one another within the home environment. But even they ca become socially aggressive if their environmentis too small, they must share their home with too many others, or if the environment is chaotic.
