Cat Nutrition and Diet Tips

Your kitten, adult cat or senior cat’s diet information is provided in following tips and points about how to structure diet of your kitten, adult cat or senior cat’s

Nutrients Your Cat Needs

Nutrients are substances obtained from food and used by an animal as a source of energy and as part of the metabolic machinery necessary for maintenance and growth. Barring any special needs, illness-related deficiencies or instructions from your vet, your pets should be able to get all the nutrients they need from high-quality commercial pet foods, which are formulated with these special standards in mind. Here are the six essential classes of nutrients fundamental for healthy living.

• Water is the most important nutrient. While food may help meet some of your pet's water needs, pets need to have fresh clean water available to them at all times. A deficiency of water can cause serious illness or even death.
• Proteins are the basic building blocks for cells, tissues, organs, enzymes, hormones and antibodies, and are essential for growth, maintenance, reproduction and repair. Proteins can be obtained from a number of sources. Animal-based proteins have complete amino acid profiles. (Please note: Do not give your pet raw eggs.) Protein is also found in vegetables, cereals and soy, but these are considered incomplete proteins.
• Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, and are divided into essential and non-essential amino acids:
• Essential amino acids cannot be synthesized by the animal in sufficient quantities and MUST be supplied in the diet. Essential amino acids include arginine, methionine, histidine, phenylalanine, isoleucine, threonine, leucine, tryptophan, lysine, valine and taurine*.
• Non-essential amino acids can be synthesized by your pet and are not needed in the diet.
  *The essential amino acid taurine is required for companion cats. Taurine is required for the prevention of eye and heart disease, as well as reproduction, fetal growth and survival. This essential amino acid is only found in foods of animal origin, such as meat, eggs and fish.
• ​Fats are the most concentrated form of food energy, providing your pet with more than twice the energy of proteins or carbohydrates. Fats are essential in the structure of cells and are needed for the production of some hormones. They are required for absorption and utilization of fat-soluble vitamins. Fats provide the body insulation and protection for internal organs. Essential fatty acids must be provided in a pet’s diet because they cannot be synthesized by a cat in sufficient amounts. Linoleic acid is an essential fatty acid for cats. Arachidonic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid, is also essential for cats for the maintenance of the skin and coat, for kidney function and for reproduction.
• Omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids play a vital role in healing inflammation. Replacing some omega-6 with omega-3 fatty acids can lessen an inflammatory reaction—whether it is in the skin (due to allergies), the joints (from arthritis), the intestines (from inflammatory bowel disease) or even in the kidneys (from progressive renal failure).
• Carbohydrates provide energy for the body’s tissues, play a vital role in the health of the intestine, and are likely to be important for reproduction. While there is no minimum carbohydrate requirement, there is a minimum glucose requirement necessary to supply energy to critical organs (i.e. the brain). Fibers are kinds of carbohydrates that modify the mix of the bacterial population in the small intestine, which can help manage chronic diarrhea. For cats to obtain the most benefit from fiber, the fiber source must be moderately fermentable. Foods that are high in fiber are not good for cats with high energy requirements, such as those who are young and growing.
• Vitamins are catalysts for enzyme reactions. Tiny amounts of vitamins are essential to cats for normal metabolic functioning. Most vitamins cannot be synthesized in the body, and therefore are essential in the diet.
• When feeding a complete and balanced diet, it is unnecessary to give a vitamin or mineral supplement unless a specific deficiency is diagnosed by a veterinarian. Over supplementation can result in poisoning with some key vitamins and minerals!  
• Minerals are inorganic compounds that are not metabolized and yield no energy. These nutrients cannot be synthesized by animals and must be provided in the diet. In general, minerals are most important as structural constituents of bones and teeth, for maintaining fluid balance and for their involvement in many metabolic reactions.

Nutrition Tips for Kittens

If you’re responsible for taking care of kittens in the first few months of their lives, you should be prepared to move them from a diet of milk to regular kitten food. Read on for tips for making the transition.

• Newborn kittens receive complete nutrition from their mother’s milk for the first four weeks of life. Mom's milk is perfect for their needs, so you don’t need to feed them anything else.
• In the event that the mother cat is ill or doesn’t produce enough milk—or if the kittens are found as orphans—it may be necessary to feed the kittens a commercial milk replacer. If you find yourself in this situation, contact your veterinarian for product and feeding recommendations.
• During the first weeks of life, a kitten’s body weight may double or even triple.This rapid growth will continue, albeit at a decreasing rate, until maturity. Large amounts of energy and nutrients are required in balanced quantities to support this spectacular growth.
• Kittens need large amounts of energy—about two to three times that of an adult cat. Kittens also need about 30% of their total energy from protein. Make sure the food you offer is specifically formulated for kittens. Your pet will need to eat kitten-formula food until she reaches maturity, at about one year of age.
• By the time kittens are five to six weeks old, they should be nibbling on a high-quality dry food consistently even though they’re still nursing. This process of gradually introducing kitten food is important in training cats to eat as they are weaned.
• Most mother cats will suckle their kittens until about eight weeks of age. By this time, 80 to 90% of the kitten's total nutrient intake should be from kitten food.
• Kittens can be fed free-choice—which means food is available at all times, as much as the pet wants, whenever the pet wants. You can feed them dry kitten food or nutrient-dense kitten-formula canned food—however, the free-choice method is most appropriate when feeding dry food, which will not spoil if left out. If you have a dog in your home, make sure he can’t get to the kitten’s food (dogs just adore cat food!). Also, make sure fresh water is available at all times.
• At first, curious kittens will probably want to play with their food rather than eat it, but the youngsters will soon catch on and realize they are supposed to eat the food, not just bat it around!
• It’s fine to feed your kitten a few treats. However, treats should make up no more than 5% of your kitten’s daily nutrient intake, and the rest of his/her diet should come from a high-quality kitten food.

Weaning a Kitten

Weaning is the process of transitioning kittens from mother’s milk to solid food. During weaning, kittens gradually progress from dependence on a mother’s care to social independence. Ideally, weaning is handled entirely by the mother cat. However, if the kitten in your care has been separated from his mother or if you are fostering a litter or a pregnant cat about to give birth, seeing the young ones through a successful weaning process may be up to you.

When to Wean a Kitten

The weaning process normally begins when kittens are around four weeks old, and is usually completed when they reach eight to ten weeks. If you are in charge of weaning an orphaned kitten, please remember that weaning should not be attempted at too early of an age. Generally, when a kitten’s eyes are open and able to focus, and he is steady on his feet, the introduction of solid food can safely begin.

The process typically takes between four and six weeks, with most kittens completely weaned by the time they’re eight to 10 weeks old.

How to Start the Weaning Process

It’s important to remember that abrupt removal from the mother cat can have a negative effect on the kittens’ health and socialization skills—they learn to eat, use a litter box and play, among other things, by observing their mother. Whenever possible, kittens should remain with their mother during the weaning process, as she will inherently know what to do.

• When the kittens reach four weeks old, you can place them in a separate area for a few hours at a time to reduce their dependency on mother’s milk and her overall presence.
• Put them in their own special area with a litter box and food and water bowls.
• As the kittens become more independent, they can spend more time away from their mother until they are completely weaned.

How to Wean a Kitten Off of Mother’s Milk or Bottle-Feeding

• Serve kitten milk replacer in a shallow bowl. Do not use cow’s milk, as this will cause stomach upset and diarrhea in some kittens.
• Dip your fingertip (or the syringe or bottle the kitten is used to nursing from) into the liquid, let the kitten lick it, then guide him by moving your finger down into the bowl.
• Please do not push his nose into the bowl. He may inhale the liquid and develop pneumonia or other lung problems.
• Once he becomes accustomed to lapping liquids, create a “gruel” mixing a high-quality dry or canned kitten food with kitten milk replacer until it is the consistency of oatmeal.
• Though you should continue to bottle-feed while the kitten is learning to eat from the bowl, you can help with the gradual transition by always offering the bowl first, and then the bottle.

How to Introduce a Kitten to Solid Food

• Make a gruel.
• As the kitten gets accustomed to eating, gradually decrease the amount of milk replacer you add, while slowly increasing the amount of kitten food.
• By five to six weeks, he should be eating only lightly moistened food.
• Now you can start to leave out small amounts of dry food and fresh water at all times.
• By eight to 10 weeks, kittens should be accustomed to eating unmoistered kitten food.

Weaning an Orphaned Kitten

Generally, orphaned or hand-fed kittens can begin weaning slightly earlier, at about three weeks of age, but otherwise the process is essentially the same.

• Begin by offering milk replacer in a dish, teaching the kitten how to lap from the dish.
• Gradually transition to a gruel.
• As the kitten slowly grows accustomed to eating, gradually reduce the amount of milk replacer you use.
• By five to six weeks of age, he should be relying solely on kitten food for his nutrients.

Tips to Help the Weaning Process

Kittens may play with the gruel, batting it around and stepping into the bowl before they understand that it’s food. Have patience and don’t rush the process—they’ll catch on eventually. In the meantime, use a soft, moist cloth to wipe any formula off the animal's face and feet after each feeding. Gently dry him with a towel and keep him in a warm area free of drafts until he's completely dry.