What are the benefits and harms of dry dog ​​food? The dangers of dry cat food and its beneficial properties Products approved for cats

In this article I will look at whether dry cat food is harmful for cats. I will list the beneficial and harmful properties. I will consider the benefits and harms of cheap and professional brands. I'll tell you which one is better to choose. I will list recommendations for using ready-made dry food for cats.

Many cat owners use dry cat food. It's convenient and fast. But is it safe for the animal? Is this type of food harmful for cats?

Beneficial and harmful properties of dry food

Ready-made dry food has positive properties:

  • Convenience.
  • Balance of nutrients.
  • Sufficient amount of taurine.
  • Food helps clean your teeth and mouth.

Negative properties:

  • The fact that the food is dry, and the pet needs a sufficient amount of water.
  • Some contain chemicals.
  • With constant use they cause gastrointestinal diseases.

The benefits and harms of cheap dry food

  • Different packaging - from small weight to large.
  • Low price.

Negative properties:

  • Low quality. They contain up to approximately 4% meat.
  • They provoke various diseases, including cancer.

The low cost of such food is due to low quality. The product contains many harmful chemicals and various additives.

Due to this quality of nutrition, various diseases are provoked: gastrointestinal diseases, urolithiasis, various allergic diseases.

The only plus of economy class food is the price.


Perhaps someone has a lot of animals and this diet is just right. Cheap dry food for cats is available in most stores; you don’t need to look for them somewhere or go to a specialized store. Also, a large selection of packaging attracts owners.

Beneficial and harmful properties of professional feeds

Popular premium and super premium brands are Royal Canin and Hills. Most often, these brands are chosen by responsible pet owners.

  • Natural composition.
  • There are special treatment lines for different cats, including different breeds of cats.
  • Vitamins.
  • Variety of assortment.
  • Fairly high price
  • Individual intolerance.

In general, there are no complaints about premium food. It contains natural products, a small percentage of by-products and essential vitamins.

No dyes or chemicals. Which has a positive effect on your pet's health.


The medicinal line of feed deserves special attention. Each type is selected for an animal with a particular disease. They put the body in order and stabilize the pet’s condition.

Some foods in this class can be used when the animal is on a diet. It is specially designed for this.

In general, premium dry food has some advantages.

But it happens that a cat has an individual intolerance and it will not suit her. This is quite rare. In addition to this minus, food from this line has an above-average price.

Which one is better to choose?

If you decide to give your pet a finished product, then to be sure of the right choice, consult a veterinarian. If necessary, you can take tests, and the doctor will select the appropriate food for your cat.

Of course, you should opt for premium and super premium food. Since they are balanced, have a set of essential vitamins and can be selected specifically for your pet breed.

You should not skimp on food, because if the diet is incorrect, the cat can acquire various diseases that will have to be treated for a long time and persistently. And some are not treatable at all.


When feeding a cat dry food, the pet needs much more liquid

Recommendations for using dry cat food

But there are some general tips:

  • If your pet eats ready-made food, then there is no need to supplement it with natural products.
  • Use one brand. Before use, do a test - let your cat try the product and observe the reaction throughout the day.
  • When using ready-made food, be sure to monitor the amount of liquid you drink. The pet should not feel thirsty.
  • You cannot feed your cat only dry ready-made food. Use wet food or canned food from the same line.

If you decide to change the brand, you need to do it gradually. Replace old food with a small amount of new food. Gradually increasing the proportions and so on for a week.

Feed your cat the food that is intended specifically for its breed or as recommended by your veterinarian.


Ready-made dry cat food is very practical for both animals and humans. High-quality food contains the required amount of vitamins and elements, and the owner does not need to think about what to feed the pet and waste time on cooking.

Content:

Man has changed the genotype of cats to create breeds with a given phenotype. For animals obtained artificially, it is necessary to create conditions different from natural ones. However, humans have not been able to completely overcome the cat’s nature. The transformation from wild animals into decorative ones has undermined the vital foundations of cats, so the slightest deviations in living conditions and nutrition lead to diseases. Providing purebred animals with natural feed requires fundamental knowledge and a willingness to spend a lot of effort and time. Fellinologists sooner or later realize that they are not able to provide their pet with adequate nutrition and switch to food prepared by professionals. This article informs cat lovers about economy-class dry food and warns about the possible consequences of their use.

The influence of habitat on the nutritional needs of cats

The ancestors of modern cats, living in nature, fed on small rodents, birds and fish, eating them along with their skin and entrails. In this way they met their needs for minerals, vitamins and cellulose. Living close to humans, felines have adapted to eating leftover human food. Natural selection shaped the appearance of the modern domestic cat, and non-viable races became extinct. Newly created man-made ornamental breeds are prone to diseases, so they require special feed.

The habitat has changed. If cats that eat Kitty-Kat diversify their diet with mice and also grass, then those living in apartments of high-rise buildings are deprived of this opportunity. Adynamia develops from lack of movement, so the need for calories decreases. Animals are deprived of the joy of communicating with the opposite sex. The owners, observing the suffering of their pet, decide to sterilize. Metabolism, and therefore the need for nutrients, changes dramatically. Therefore, regular food becomes toxic for cats. The consistency of the feed is of particular importance. Some animals, due to their physiological characteristics, age and lack of teeth, are recommended to use wet food.

The main advantage of semi-liquid food is that it facilitates the transition from milk to solid food. For dental diseases or stomatitis, it is recommended to exclude hard particles from the diet. Some fellinologists believe that it is better to feed sterilized cats soft food. However, constant feeding of wet food contributes to the formation of dentolits and the occurrence of gingivitis. Wet food spoils quickly, so some cat owners prefer to alternate it with solid food.

Characteristics of economy class dry food

From the above it follows that the harmfulness of dry food lies not in its form, but in the imbalance in a number of nutritional components. The raw materials for economy-class dry food are waste from meat processing plants. Coarse grains containing allergens and antinutrients are used as sources of carbohydrates. They are inactivated by extrusion, but not completely. To make the food more attractive, flavorings and taste correctors are added. The following brands are popular in Russia:

  • Kitty-Kat.
  • Dr. Clouder.
  • Whiskas.
  • Friscas.

The demand for such food is due to the low purchasing power of the population.

The harmfulness of such foods is established if they are fed to purebred cats. Sterilization makes animals more vulnerable. But such products are popular among owners of outbred felines. Cats fed dry or wet economy-class food live up to 10–15 years, so it is impossible to determine what exactly caused their death.

The most characteristic symptoms of pathologies caused by unbalanced feeds are urolithiasis and allergic manifestations.

Kitty-Kat food

Disadvantages of natural feeding

Some cat owners, fearing for the health of their pet, refuse cheap food, but do not purchase expensive ones, but prefer natural food. In this case, the cat’s diet may become even less balanced. The cat stops receiving sources of cellulose, vitamins, and minerals. The presence of salt and spices in table waste causes chronic poisoning. Many human foods are unacceptable for cats and cause digestive disorders. Those who like to pamper their pets with fish run the risk of causing anemia due to the presence of iron-binding compounds in some types. Other varieties may contain thiaminase, which destroys vitamin B1. Food poisoning from spoiled foods is possible.

To create a balanced diet for a cat from natural products, you must have special knowledge in the field of feeding felines, as well as food preparation skills.

Benefits of premium feed

Breeders, as well as experienced cat owners, prefer to deal with high quality food. Their physical form is not decisive. The high cost of food is compensated by the increasing duration of communication with the pet, minimizing the cost of veterinary services, as well as maintaining high reproductive abilities. Experts recommend dry food from the following brands:

  • Eagle Pack.
  • Filiday.
  • Leonardo.
  • Ikeniba.

Conclusion

From the above it follows that the form of food does not have a negative effect on the cat’s body. Ignorant use of cat food can be harmful. This applies to cheap and expensive, dry and wet, factory-made and home-made food.

Dry food has become a part of the daily lives of busy cat owners. They are easy to use and animals love them. Manufacturers assure the benefits of this product, but numerous reviews claim the negative impact of such a diet. Therefore, before purchasing, you should find out whether dry food is harmful for cats. Veterinarians do not give a definite answer, because much depends on the composition of the food and the characteristics of the animal itself. This article will help answer this and other questions related to

Benefit or harm?

This method of feeding is in great demand among animal owners. The advantages of feed are its long-term storage and balance. You can add food for a day and not be afraid that the animal will be hungry in the absence of the owner. Cats eat food with pleasure, and this is not surprising.

But is dry cat food harmful? Many well-known brands of products contain components that stimulate appetite and improve taste. Thanks to modern technology, low-quality feed appears attractive to animals. Eating such a product becomes addictive, and the cat begins to refuse other food.

Many foods are oversaturated with carbohydrates, which are harmful to animals. Such a diet can negatively affect the condition of the stomach and kidneys. 24-hour access to food causes, and it is unnatural for animals. Better to use

Dry food is the main cause of urolithiasis in cats. The reason is insufficient saturation of the body with fluid. Also, high carbohydrate content in food increases sugar levels and can lead to diabetes. To avoid this, you should choose meat-based food.

When using this food you need to follow some rules. First of all, you cannot mix ready-made food with natural food, since the imbalance of nutrients is disrupted. If a problem occurs, it will be difficult to understand the real reason. Also, do not change the brand of food often. This leads to poor absorption of substances and causes disturbances in the body. If you need to change food, you should do this gradually over 1-2 weeks, adding a new product and increasing its quantity.

Cats by nature drink little water, and dry food is recommended to be washed down with plenty of liquid. Therefore, for better absorption, you need to ensure that there is always water next to your food bowl. Veterinarians recommend diluting the diet with wet food. When feeding kittens, you should pay attention to the packaging labeling, which should indicate the age at which the product can be consumed.

Which food is better to choose?

When choosing a diet for a cat, you should focus on the composition, which will make it clear whether feeding your cat dry food of this brand is harmful. The highest quality food is made from animal meat and ocean fish. They contain all the necessary nutrients and do not contain harmful components.

A high-quality product will not cause allergies and other unpleasant consequences, but, on the contrary, will help prevent them. Often, special dry food is used to treat diseases. Many are put off by the price of such “cat joy”, but considering the cost of fresh food, it is quite justified. And if you calculate the effort and time that will be required to prepare a balanced menu for your pet, then dry food will be a priority.

Is Kitekat and Whiskas dry cat food harmful?

Since cats are carnivores, their digestive system is not adapted to food of plant origin. Meat products completely lack carbohydrates and other vitamins that animals need. But wild cats get the necessary substances from the stomachs of the herbivores that they feed on. At the same time, they arrive to predators already in a processed form, which allows them to absorb some of the carbohydrates. The resulting dietary fiber helps cleanse the intestines. But apartment residents can only rely on a person. The owner takes responsibility and must know whether the dry cat food he feeds his pet is harmful.

“Kitekat” and “Whiskas” are unbalanced or poorly balanced feeds and do not contain all the necessary nutrients. Their use often leads to various disorders in the cat’s body. These feeds belong to the economy class and contain meat waste: skin, intestines, heads, as well as offal with low nutritional value. They contain too much corn, wheat and rice flour. In this case, you can answer the question positively: is dry food harmful for cats and kittens? Daily consumption of such food leads to gastrointestinal disorders, kidney and liver diseases, as well as hair loss. This product negatively affects the growth and development of kittens. Carbohydrates are not digested and disrupt intestinal function.

Is Royal Canin and Proplan dry cat food harmful?

If they want to save money, manufacturers often add moldy products to the feed, which causes irreparable harm to the animal. So dry Reviews from veterinarians say that it is better to give preference to medium or premium products. These include feed produced by Royal Canin. They are made from muscle meat tissue, without the use of flavor enhancers and flavoring agents. This food is rich in all the essential nutrients that an animal needs for its daily diet. It helps improve immunity and makes the animal more resistant to stressful situations. Many people are also interested in whether Proplan dry cat food is harmful? No, since all foods are developed taking into account the age characteristics of the cat and its activity. But even premium food can be harmful to the animal if it is not chosen correctly. Any expired product will also negatively affect your pet’s health, so you should pay attention to expiration dates.

How to feed a cat correctly?

It is important to take into account the physiological characteristics of the animal and adhere to certain rules when forming a daily diet.

Natural food

If the owners decide not to use food, but to prepare food for their pet themselves, then they need to know that it differs from “human food”. It should not contain spices, salt, oils and other components familiar to people. Self-preparing food for your animal, rich in vitamins, increases your pet’s life expectancy by 30% when compared with cats eating dry food. The main disadvantage of the method is the complexity of preparation and the fragility of the feed.

For cooking use: beef, poultry, oatmeal, vegetables. Soups are prepared using meat broth. By-products can be given raw, but they should be pre-treated with boiling water and chopped. To prevent your cat from becoming constipated from natural food, you need to dilute the diet with vegetables and cereals. You should not feed your animal fish, especially if you have urolithiasis. It is better to mix milk with water or remove it from the cat's menu, as it can cause diarrhea. Also, you should not give foods that contain bones; they can get stuck in the throat or injure the mucous membrane. Chicken skin has a bad effect on the stomach; it can stay in it for a long time without being digested, and fatty pork can cause upset. Warm food irritates the mucous membrane less than cold food.

How to plan a diet correctly?

The cat can be fed mixed, using natural food and food at the same time. But this method is considered the worst. You should not mix natural food with wet or dry food, except in cases of transferring the animal to another type of food. The animal’s body gets used to a certain feeding option and produces the necessary enzymes for breakdown. You can mix dry and wet food, but preferably the same brand.

So, whether dry cat food is harmful for cats depends on the brand and its composition. For your animal’s diet, it is better to use premium products that contain meat rather than food waste, or prepare natural food yourself. You can combine meals, but with extreme caution. In any case, you should not save, as this affects the cat’s health.

There is an opinion that industrial cat food, although convenient, is extremely harmful, addictive, made from low-quality raw materials and generally cannot compete with homemade food prepared by the caring hands of the owner. As an opponent of feeding “from the table” and a responsible owner of a tailed pet, I decided to check if this is true. My cat Shaker has been eating exclusively prepared food since childhood; his favorite is wet food in the form of pate or jelly. To understand the myths and legends about the dangers of cat food, I went to the Rostov region to the Mars Petcare plant, where Whiskas ® brand wet food is produced.

Wheat, vegetables and beef blood: myths about cat food

The history of the appearance of ready-made diets for animals dates back to the distant 1860s, when the American electrician James Spratt invented the so-called “dog biscuit”, which included beef blood, vegetables and wheat. More than a dozen years passed before cat food manufacturers started talking about the need to create a balanced, easily digestible, safe product that can satisfy all the nutritional needs of domestic cats.

For a century and a half, industrial feed for dogs and cats have undergone significant changes. Thanks to technology, as well as the joint work of scientists and veterinarians, the variety of cat foods that can be seen today has appeared. Dry croquettes, pieces of meat in jelly, all kinds of pates - a real feast for the belly! However, despite the convenience and huge selection, not all owners prefer ready-made diets. Why?

Perhaps the main reason for the mistrust of ready-made diets is the widespread myth that cat food is made from soy products and unedible animal parts - horns, hooves, skins and feathers, flavored with flavor improvers and preservatives. In turn, this myth gives rise to another erroneous opinion: any food from the master’s table is much healthier than all this “chemistry”. Is it really? Let's figure it out.


Cat's diet and nutritional needs

It is important to remember that a cat is a carnivore, a predator. Her body is not predisposed to digesting “human” food. Improper feeding of a cat with smoked, fried, salty, spicy and sweet foods can lead to serious diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, urinary tract and kidneys, liver, as well as metabolic disorders, says Natalya Malkova, scientific communication expert at Mars Petcare, veterinary - sanitary doctor, candidate of veterinary sciences.

A cat's diet must contain high-quality animal products. Meat and offal are the basis of a cat's nutritional needs, as they are rich in valuable proteins and vital amino acids, such as taurine and arginine. In addition to proteins, your pet’s body needs polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially arachidonic acid, which a cat can obtain exclusively from certain types of meat, offal, animal fat and fish.

Also, high-quality complete food for cats must contain vegetables, grains, vegetable oils and a vitamin-mineral complex. In a cat’s diet, it is especially important to control the content of retinol (vitamin A) and niacin (vitamin B3), continues Natalya Malkova. - They prevent delayed growth and development of the animal, eye and skin diseases, improve the condition of the coat and help strengthen the immune system. Preferring to feed cat from a common table, it is quite difficult to control the presence of all the necessary substances, even if the diet includes only fresh meat and spring water.

What is cat food made from?

When I got to the production of wet food in pouches (bags) of the Whiskas ® brand, I did not see any horns or skins. Huge freezers store the main components for future cat food - various types of meat, offal (for example, beef liver, kidneys, chicken necks and hearts), fish.


All raw materials undergo mandatory input control for compliance with the standards and requirements for products of animal origin by veterinary and sanitary standards adopted in Russia. Only raw materials obtained from farm animals and suitable for human consumption are allowed for the production of cat food.

Legislation regulates not only the quality of raw materials, but also the biological and organoleptic characteristics of the feed itself (its texture, color and smell). Products made using raw materials unsuitable or dangerous for human consumption cannot be allowed into production,” comments Maxim Gabidullin, project manager at Mars Petcare.

How to make wet food in bags?

Making wet cat food is an almost entirely robotic process. Raw materials that have passed all the necessary checks enter the processing line in frozen form. Why frozen? Due to the effect of low temperatures, the possibility of the development of pathogenic bacteria in the product is eliminated.

Huge industrial meat grinders grind the ingredients for future cat food, turning them into a homogeneous puree; vitamin and mineral supplements and vegetable oils are also mixed into it. At the same time, sauce for future meat pieces is being prepared on another line. Meat puree is turned into thin “sausages” by pressing through a special mold. Before slicing, the “sausages” undergo heat treatment so that the machine can easily cut them into small fragments.


The next step is mixing the meat pieces with the sauce and packing them into pouch packaging. Hermetically packaged food is sent to large industrial “pressure cookers” - autoclaves, where the sterilization process takes place under pressure and high temperatures. It is this heat treatment that makes it possible to ensure a long shelf life of the finished product in the most reliable way.

The completely cooled food is sent further - to packaging equipment, where a special machine at lightning speed packs the spiders into cardboard boxes and sends them further - to group packaging and wrapping in polyethylene stretch film. In this form, boxes of cat food are ready to leave the factory walls and hit store shelves.


Feeding the cat correctly

Proper nutrition for a cat is the key to its good health and longevity. It is important not only to choose high-quality complete food that is suitable for the age and individual nutritional needs of your pet, but also to try to follow the feeding rules, says Natalya Malkova. - We already know that a cat’s body is simply not capable of assimilation of food from a common table. Due to some anatomical features, even ready-made food is important to feed your cat correctly.

The cat's gastrointestinal tract is structured differently from that of a human: its stomach is small, it does not stretch like ours, and the pH level of gastric juice, on the contrary, is more acidic. Another feature of cat anatomy is the short intestine. The ratio of a cat’s body length to the length of its intestines is only 1:3, for an omnivore it is 1:8, for herbivores (for example, cows) it is 1:27.

How to feed your cat food correctly?

  1. The main rule for all owners: do not overfeed the cat! A cat's daily food requirement depends on its age, weight, activity level and other characteristics. You can find out the feeding rate for adult cats and kittens either independently, by studying the information on the cat food packaging, or by consulting with your pet’s veterinarian.
  2. It is very important that a cat that eats both dry and wet food has access to clean drinking water. How much water does a cat need? One daily serving of food should contain at least three servings of water.
  3. The cat is a nocturnal animal and should have access to food at any time of the day. A little dry food in a bowl will solve the problem of late snacks.
  4. Cat food should not be cold; cats prefer to eat food at room temperature.

Is it possible to mix dry and wet food?

Both types of cat food have advantages, so combining them is not only possible, but necessary. Wet food is lower in calories than dry food and contains more liquid, which helps maintain water balance in the cat's body and control its weight.

Dry food granules are an excellent preventative against tartar. Fiber, which is part of dry food, helps normalize intestinal function. The mixed feeding scheme is simple: feed the cat wet food in the morning and evening, dry food throughout the day.

Affiliate Material

"Raw materials obtained exclusively from farm animals and suitable for human consumption are allowed for the production of cat food."

Can I dispel this myth?
Meat fit for human consumption is sold to people.

Meat that is conditionally suitable for human consumption (for example, meat contaminated with helminth larvae, meat from animals with brucellosis, tuberculosis, etc.) is also sold to people in the form of stewed meat, i.e. having undergone deep heat treatment.

The meat that cannot be sold to people either in the form of suitable meat or in the form of conditionally suitable meat is sent to feed animals.

"The sources of raw materials from which meat and bone meal is produced are: Unsuitable waste from meat processing plants and private farms. Carcasses of dead livestock without signs of disease. Veterinary confiscations."
Colorful pet food packaging uses the term "dehydrated meat" instead of the term "meat and bone meal."

In principle, it is already clear that if something can be sold to people in the form of fresh meat, semi-finished products, sausage and stew, it will be sold to people and not taken to an extruder.

There are also chickens of egg breeds that lay eggs in poultry farms for a certain period of their lives, and then are sent to feed animals. Probably sheep of some wool breeds and carcasses of rabbits raised for wool also go there? Ducks from which down is collected, etc.
Why do we hardly see food with pork? Because pigs go entirely to producing products for people.

Among cat foods there are both very high-quality products and those that can be called real slow poison for these animals. These feeds are Whiskas, Kitiket and Friskas, as well as products comparable in price to them.

The presence of a wide range, of course, is generally pleasing, but it would be even nicer if it were a high-quality range, where one high-quality food would compete with another of equal quality. However, in reality, everything is not so rosy and on the shelves next to food of really high quality (and equally high prices) there are packages of economy and super-economy class food. And some of these foods pose a serious danger to the health and life of the cat.

Often it is economy-class food that poses such a threat. In general, the term “economy class” is a euphemism that beautifully and attractively disguises the word “cheap”, which is closer to the truth. And if cheapness in clothing or in other areas is, in principle, not so terrible, then cheapness in food almost always indicates a risk associated with health. This even applies to food for people, the production of which is surrounded by a mass of norms and laws, and there is nothing to say about food for animals - you can stuff anything into them, call it “the best food that cats are crazy about” and calmly sell it, not fearing lawsuits. It’s a shame, but these foods, due to their low cost, remain the most popular and the most widely advertised.


How to choose the best cat food?

Each owner chooses food for his pet based on several fundamental factors:

  • cost;
  • composition;
  • advertising;
  • constant availability for sale;
  • advice from other cat owners.

But the most important factors, as experience shows, are price and advertising.

Friscas and Kitiket are the most dangerous foods for cats

Of course, the list of “poison” is not limited to just these foods: there are foods of even worse quality, but they, as a rule, are sold only on the regional market. It’s easy to distinguish them - their price is even lower than that of Whiskas or comparable to it.

As for the above-mentioned three world-famous foods, their price category does not allow the inclusion of not only high-quality, but also ordinary meat, even the cheapest varieties. If it is used as one of the ingredients, it is only for show, in order to somehow make the food look suitable for a carnivore. Very often there is no meat at all, even if the packaging states its presence in the composition. The main vegetable protein there is soy. And if the human body absorbs soy protein not much worse than meat protein, then cats do not have such an ability.

To make sure that these three foods are low, it is enough to calculate the cost of meat, vegetables, the packaging itself, wages for workers, production itself and the profit margin for both the manufacturer and the store. The amount received will far exceed the cost of the feed, and not twice, but several times. So elementary logic and mathematics testify against such food, no matter what the advertising says.

Why do cats eat these foods with pleasure, neglecting even meat in their favor? It's very simple: the food contains taste enhancing substances, which are sometimes indicated in the composition, and sometimes not. By the way, they, for example monosodium glutamate, are quite often used in human food, and they are most often found in sausage. And if this harmful ingredient is used in human food, then you can imagine how actively it is included in cheap food. The effect of such additives is so high that, as has already been noted by many cat owners, after a sufficiently long period of feeding on Friskas, Whiskas or Kitiket, cats refused to eat both natural food and other foods, including those that were of the highest quality.


Economy class food is addictive for cats

But maybe it’s not just the additives? Maybe cats love these foods so much because they contain something extremely healthy, albeit cheap? Well, we should consider the composition of these feeds in more detail. And since Whiskas food has a higher price than Friskas or Kitiket, we will take it as a guideline, as potentially the highest quality of this trinity. So, the composition:

  • Chicken by-product flour.
  • Corn gluten.
  • Fish meal.
  • Turkey meat.
  • Corn.
  • Wheat flour.
  • Alpha tocopherol.
  • Calcium carbonate.
  • Methionine.
  • Potassium chloride.
  • Taurine.
  • Vitamins.
  • Minerals.
  • Potassium iodide.
  • Dry brewer's yeast.
  • Copper sulfate.
  • Manganese sulfate.
  • Zinc sulfate.
  • Choline chloride.
  • Chemical preservatives.
  • Salt.
  • Natural flavors.
  • Caramel.

For people who are educated in matters of nutrition and the composition of good food, it will immediately become clear from this list that this food is no good. For comparison, high-quality food should not contain:

  • salt (excessive amounts of it are dangerous for the cat, and in light of the fact that the bulk of the ingredients already contain salt, it becomes clear that there is too much of it in the food);
  • flour from chicken by-products (at best, this is flour from the neck, undeveloped eggs, shells, legs and entrails of chicken, at worst - from waste from chicken farms);
  • brewer's yeast (an allergen);
  • wheat flour (also an allergen);
  • corn (another allergen that can cause allergies even in healthy animals, but which is persistently used as an extremely cheap filler);
  • chemical preservatives (lead to the development of a number of diseases, from disruption of the gastrointestinal tract to urolithiasis).

Why do cats eat economy class food with pleasure?

However, all these components are included in Whiskas food. As for the nutritional content, it is as follows:

  • 30%: proteins;
  • 12%: fats;
  • -%: carbohydrates;
  • 5%: fiber;
  • -%: ash;
  • 12%: moisture;
  • 41%: other;
  • Calorie content per 100 grams of product: 367 kcal.

From the composition and the shyly unspecified percentage of ash and carbohydrates, it becomes clear that the manufacturer prefers not to disclose this figure. Meanwhile, given that the composition includes a huge amount of cereals, it becomes clear that it is the most carbohydrates. 41 percent of the mysterious “other” also clearly hints at excess carbohydrates. In addition to them, this most likely includes a flavor enhancer and chemicals. To understand what consequences eating food with such a composition can have, just type “Whiskas food reviews” into a search engine and you will see not happy commercials, but sad stories from the lives of real cats and their owners. Disease and early death are common themes there. And these animals die solely for the reason that their owners blithely followed the lead of advertising and the desire to save money. Therefore, if you feed your pet any of these foods or foods in the corresponding price category, try to avoid them. If the cat is already addicted to them, then resort to a plan of gradual and systematic transition to another food or natural food.

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