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Feline obesity is on the increase, with some studies estimating that it affects up to fifty percent of cats in industrialised countries. With obesity there comes the risk of contracting diabetes, urinary tract disease, feline hepatic libidosis – commonly referred to as feline fatty liver syndrome – and a general decrease in immune response. Elderly cats are more likely to feel the impact on their joints, ligaments, and tendons, which may ultimately lead to the development of osteoarthritis, or if they already do suffer from arthritic changes they will feel its effects more acutely.
It is the responsibility of each and every cat owner to ensure that not only is their cat eating sufficiently, but that it is also eating well.
Cats are obligate, or true, carnivores, which is to say that they are unable to convert the proteins and fats found in plants into the essential acids upon which their bodies depend, and so they require a primarily meat-based diet in order to survive. This is not to say that they do not require any dietary fibre. In fact, when hunting, a cat would ordinarily consume small quantities when ingesting bits of feathers and fur, or sections of the intestinal tract, of their prey. Any nutritiously complete cat food should therefore include a small amount of this carbohydrate in order to promote healthy gastrointestinal function.
As with all living creatures, their nutritional needs and portion sizes will vary over the course of their life, based on their age and circumstance. Kittens require higher levels of protein compared to adult cats, while pregnant queens will also need a greater percentage of protein and vitamins. Never feed a kitten with adult cat food nor an adult cat with food formulated for a kitten, as you will not be fulfilling its daily nutritional requirement. Most certainly do not feed dog food to a cat, for not only will the protein level be too low but there will also be a lack of a number of essential acids, such as taurine and arachidonic acid.
A cat’s nutritional needs are only met with a diet that comprises the following raw ingredients in both appropriate and relative quantities:
As stated above, owing to their true carnivorous status, cats require a primarily – if not solely – meat-based diet, as they are unable to extract vital protein from vegetable-based sources. Essential acids – those that a cat requires from an external source, as they cannot be manufactured by its own system – are: arginine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, taurine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine.
Deficiencies in any of these essential acids can lead to severe health problems. For instance, insufficient taurine can lead to blindness, dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), and heart disease, while a lack of arginine can result in a cat developing hyper ammononemia due to the body’s inability to convert nitrogen to urea to be excreted.
It is important to note that taurine is heat-sensitive, with as much as fifty to seventy-five percent lost during the cooking process, so if food is consistently cooked or heated, then regular taurine supplements may be required. In fact, the taurine found in nearly all commercial pet food has had to be supplemented after processing for this very reason!
An issue with certain meat-based protein sources is that they are known to cause food intolerances and sensitivities in cats. Beef and chicken rank high in this respect. In these cases, selecting a novel animal source, such as duck or turkey, would be recommended. But remember, it is only novel if your cat has never eaten it before, so you may need to place your cat on an elimination diet to truly ascertain what he will and will not tolerate. For more information on elimination diets, read further down the page, under ‘Diet & your cat’s health’.
It is important to note that certain types of fish when fed raw will cause thiamine deficiency in a cat. Thiamine, which plays a key role in nerve, muscle, and heart function, and is essential for glucose metabolism, is broken down and rendered useless by the enzyme thiaminase, which is found in many types of fish and shellfish, including certain types of anchovy, cod, herring, mullet, sardines, and scallops. Cooking will destroy the thiaminase enzyme but even then, only small quantities of fish should ever be fed and should not constitute a primary food source for your cat. This only pertains to fish sold for human consumption, as commercial cat food that contains fish will have had thiamine added to it by the manufacturer.
While cats do not require much in the way of carbohydrates, they do need a small amount of fibre in their diet. Normally a cat will have received this fibre by consuming the fur or feathers of its prey, and indeed may extract some from its own fur in the process of grooming, but in relation to prepared food a tiny portion should be included as part of a nutritionally complete meal.
Check the label on the pet food that you use and ensure that it is both low-carb and grain-free, or if you provide home cooking then speak with your vet or pet nutritionist about appropriate sources and quantities to include in your cat’s daily intake.
Dietary fat is essential for a number of reasons.
Saturated fats are mostly derived from animals, while unsaturated fats come primarily from plants and marine sources. The latter, which includes important fatty acids such as omega-3 and omega-6, are prone to oxidation, so if food has been improperly stored or fed past their sell-by date, there is the risk that a pet may become deficient in these vital nutrients.
Essential fatty acids (EFAs) for a cat include arachidonic acid, docosahexaneoic acid, and eicosapentanoic acid. While the latter two may be found not only in fish oil but also plant-based oils, the former tends only to be found in animal fat, such as beef, fish, and poultry. The benefit of these EFAs is multi-fold in that they help reduce inflammation and boost the immune system, while also helping the cat maintain a healthy, vibrant coat.
When it comes to dietary supplements, however, it is best to avoid supplementing your cat’s diet with cod liver oil, as it is excessively high in vitamin D and can also lead to vitamin A toxicity.
Vitamins can be divided into two categories – fat-soluble and water-soluble vitamins. The fat-soluble vitamins are classified as A, D, E, and K, while water-soluble vitamins include but are not exclusive to B-complex vitamins, biotin, cobalamin, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, and vitamin C.
Like most animals, cats have a naturally high requirement for water-soluble B vitamins, which, unlike fat-soluble vitamins, cannot be stored in the body. But they also have a specific need for both vitamins A and C, which they cannot manufacture internally.
However, it is important that quantities be relative to other ingredients. For instance, the amount of vitamin D provided needs to be relative to the concentration of calcium and phosphorous, all of which is important for bone mineralization and growth; and the amount of vitamin E is dependent on the level of unsaturated fat in the diet.
Other minerals that cats need for a nutritiously complete diet include: calcium phosphorous, selenium, and sodium, along with trace amounts of iron, zinc, copper, and magnesium, amongst others.
As with vitamins, there is an inter-relationship between certain minerals, so that quantities need to be relative to each other. The most important of these is the ratio of calcium to phosphorus, as an imbalance can result in skeletal disease and impaired growth. Similarly, excessive amounts of calcium or copper can result in zinc deficiency, and vice versa.
The ingestion of excess amounts of any of the trace minerals can cause toxicity.
Broadly speaking, there are four main divisions of food available for cats. They are:
Cats are notoriously fussy eaters, which is why it is important to expose them to both a broad range of flavours and textures while they are still young. The older a cat gets, the more fastidious he or she may become in terms of his culinary preferences, to the point of expressing neophobia, or a complete unwillingness to try something new.
It is therefore recommended that your cat be introduced to both wet and dry food at a young age, and while you will want to transition slowly when shifting to a different brand, you should nevertheless provide your cat with meals that contain proteins from a wide variety of sources.
It probably comes as no surprise that cats tend to prefer wet food over dry, and raw food over processed meals. But it is important to note that there are pros and cons to each type of diet.
Regardless of the food type you select, you need to ensure that what you offer is both complete and nutritionally balanced, and that the quality of the ingredients – particularly the protein source – is high.
Low-cost foods will only lead to kitty turning her nose up at it or consuming more in order to take in the necessary nutrition, and the resulting health risks and potential weight imbalance in your cat will mean that any short-term saving will be lost to veterinary bills in the long-run.
What ever food you do offer, be sure to make a bowl of fresh water available to your cat throughout the day, but keep it separate from the feeding area to avoid the risk of contamination. Cats may be great groomers, but they are also messy eaters!
Dry food is created through a cooking process called extrusion, in which all the ingredients are mixed into a dough that is then cooked at high temperature before being cut into pellets. As mentioned previously, the kibble is then sprayed with synthesised taurine to make up for the naturally occurring taurine lost during the heating process. The kibble is also coated with a blend of poultry fat and artificial palatants to make the food more enticing to the cat.
This tends to be the most economical option when feeding your cat and has the added advantage of providing a course, dry surface against which your pet can grind its teeth, which helps prevent plaque buildup and promotes overall dental hygiene.
An added benefit of feeding your cat kibble is that it can be left out all day so that your cat may be able to feed itself as and when it wants, although daily portion control should still be strictly maintained.
Most cat kibble tend to be small and round in shape, as cats will chew their food and so are more sensitive to any sharp or rough edges. For some breeds, particularly those with shorter snouts, it may be necessary to offer smaller size kibble or to soften the kibble with warm water, although the latter may mean providing smaller portions throughout the day rather than free-feeding, as no cat would be enticed later in the day by cold kibble porridge!
It goes without saying that dry food contains the least amount of moisture of all the types of pet food on offer, so should you choose to take this route you should ensure that there is a freshly replenished bowl of water available to your cat at all times.
Wet food tends to be a more acceptable option for many cats, as the high moisture content enhances the odour as well as the palatability of the meal. However, this high acceptability can lead to obesity if feeding is not carefully managed.
Feeding your cat solely on wet food can also lead to fussy eating (see above). Getting your cat used to a blend of both wet and dry food from an early age could offset this, but pay special attention to the overall portion size to prevent overfeeding. It may be best to use wet food as a treat, given to your cat only every so often, and then cutting down on the kibble portion for those particular days.
As with dry food, there is the increased risk of nutritionally-poor ingredients being included in the more low-cost brands. While food intolerances tend to be fewer than with kibble, owing to the higher water content, it may prove difficult isolating the protein that is causing the problem, as a lot of wet food is based on animal by-product, or meat-based derivatives. What this means is that, even though the can or sachet may be labeled ‘chicken’ or ‘beef’, it simply means that meat-source is the primary meat ingredient, but that there may in fact be a whole host of other animal sources included.
Wet food brings with it none of the advantages of kibble when it comes to maintaining your kitty’s teeth and gums. Another downside to wet food is that, unlike kibble, it cannot be left out for your cat to eat ad lib. Not that many cats would want to, as more than likely they will have polished it all off before trotting off on their next adventure!
A raw food diet comprises of meat, organs and ground bone, along with a small amount of vegetables, fed to the cat in a completely uncooked and unprocessed state.
The benefit of raw food is that none of the ingredients will have been altered or destroyed through cooking or through any other processing methods. Owing to its high digestibility, feeding raw food generally produces low stool volumes and well-formed feces.
There is, however, some risk of nutrient imbalance that can potentially lead to either a nutritional deficiency or excess, unless the ingredients that comprise the diet are varied and frequently swapped.
There is also the increased risk of exposure to pathogens such as E. coli and Salmonella, and these risks are not only to your cat but to others in the household, as well. Proper storage and handling of raw food is therefore essential in order to ensure good hygiene. Owing to its high palatability, there is unlikely to be any food left in the bowl after feeding, but if there is it should be safely disposed of in short order. Similarly, feces from pets that eat raw food should be picked up and disposed of to minimise the spread of any foodborne microorganism that may have passed through the gut.
What this means is that, as with wet food, your cat will not be able to be free-fed and their natural mode of eating of tiny portions throughout the day may not be possible, unless you were to fix them a tiny meal more frequently.
Homemade diets tend also to be made up of raw ingredients, but this practice is generally not recommended, unless it is done in close consultation with a qualified feline nutritionist and your veterinary surgeon. The risk of your cat succumbing to a nutritional imbalance is extremely high, unless you adhere to a strict regimen with frequent rotation of ingredients and dietary supplementation as needed.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter which type of food you select for your pet, so long as you select a brand that is:
One key way of knowing you have achieved all this is by noting the volume and quality of your pet’s feces. Poor diets tend to lead to a higher frequency of defecation, with a greater volume of feces, and stools that are either loose or poorly formed, and smelly. The more digestible and nutritious the meal, the lower the volume of feces, with a lower but more consistent defecation rate, and stools that are firm and well-formed.
As previously noted, cats are obligate carnivores that require a primarily meat-based diet, but there is a growing trend of vegetarian and vegan owners providing their feline companions with a vegetarian, or even vegan, diet. Is this a step in the right ethical direction or simply a case of owners enforcing their own moral outlook on their amoral companion animals?
It is beyond dispute that the raising of livestock for mass consumption has led to increased greenhouse gas production, greater land infertility, and displacement of local species. While our pets do not solely benefit from this industry, they are nonetheless either secondary benefactors (through the feeding of cheap pet food that is comprised of meat-based derivatives or byproduct) or co-benefactors (through the provision of premium brands and raw food diets that contain human-grade meat). Certainly, were the meat industry to contract, as would be necessary for any substantial reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from farming livestock, then it would not only require humans to ingest less meat but for our pets to reduce their meat intake, as well.
So, does this put our owning carnivorous kitties at odds with tackling climate change?
One of the oft-stated criticisms of vegetarian and vegan diets for cats is that it could lead to taurine deficiency unless taurine were supplemented, when in fact any commercial cat food that has been heat-processed – which means all cat kibble! – will have needed to have had taurine added to it, owing to the heat-sensitive nature of that amino acid.
Proponents of vegetarian and vegan cat food are quick to point out that an obligate carnivore does not require meat per se, so much as it requires specific nutrients in relative proportions, and if those nutrients are synthetically sourced or supplemented, as with taurine, then what is the harm? They also correctly observe that many commercially available pet foods are comprised of meat-based additives, derivates, digest, and byproduct, which are low in the very nutrients they purport to provide.
All well and fine. But that is why we recommend against any pet food label whose protein value is said to come from such low-grade sources.
The problem is that cats are notoriously fussy eaters, and transitioning a cat from a meat-based diet to a vegetarian or vegan meal will be difficult, to say the least.
You would need to slowly mix in the new diet with the old, and even then you will probably find that your cat will pick out only the familiar meat-based food, or disregard the meal altogether and decide to go hunt for his next meal! This can lead to greater risk of injury and parasitic infection for your cat while at the same time depleting the local fauna. All the while, you will need to ensure that your cat is maintaining its daily intake of nutrients.
If your cat does respond positively to the new diet, be prepared to have the pH of his urine regularly tested, as cats can develop abnormally high alkaline urine due to the higher pH of plant based proteins. A cat on a vegan diet will also be more susceptible to feline lower urinary tract disease.
All this is to say that while it is not impossible to provide your cat with a nutritiously complete vegetarian or vegan diet, the odds are stacked against it. Perhaps the simplest answer would be to stick to your vegan or vegetarian principles while feeding your cat only premium cat food with responsibility sourced ingredients or organically farmed raw food. You will still have greatly reduced your carbon footprint while hopefully keeping kitty’s paw prints off of the local wildlife population. You will both have done your bit.
Pet food labels contain three important summaries in relation to their product, namely:
In order to interpret this information properly, there are some important factors to consider and points to bear in mind.
The first thing to find out is whether that line of pet food is listed as a variable- or fixed-formula diet. If it is a variable-formula diet, it means that ingredients used will probably vary from batch to batch, whereas fixed-formula diets tend to be more consistent. Low-cost food items tend to vary in quantity and quality, as producers are keen to use the cheapest ingredients at the time of manufacture, and so their sourcing of those ingredients will be economically-driven and hence market-dependent. They are also less likely to perform analyses on different batches to confirm that what is contained within each can is what is stated on the tin.
Secondly, moisture-content can sometimes cause certain ingredients to be placed higher on the composition ranking than is actually the case. Meat-based ingredients retain more moisture than vegetable-derived ingredients, and so while meat may be presented as the primary ingredient, once the water-content is taken into account, it may be that it is actually a secondary source on a dry matter basis. For the same reason, moisture-content can also give misleading constituent analysis when comparing two different types of food, such as comparing a dry food product with a wet food brand.
The composition portion of the label describes what ingredients have gone into the product, with primary ingredients listed first followed by the trace vitamins and minerals.
Often you will read labels that describe the meat portion as ‘meat and animal derivatives’, or ‘-byproduct’, or ‘-meal’, or ‘-byproduct meal’. But what does this all mean?
’Derivatives’ or ‘-byproduct’ refers to meat sources that are not typically used for human consumption. This means: internal organs, muscle meat, brain matter, heads, and feet.
‘Meal’ means that the meat source has been dried and ground down into particles by a similar process that is used to provide farm animals with their feed.
Hence ‘-byproduct meal’ is a meal that has been created from animal byproduct.
The problem with a lot of low cost pet foods is not so much the manner in which the meat is provided or how it is rendered – although there is certainly an argument to be made that a lot of the nutritional value may be lost through that rendering process – but that there is no definitive way in which to say what animals that meat even came from. So for instance a composition label for a turkey-based cat food that states: ‘Meat and Animal Derivatives (43%, including 4% turkey) means that just under 91% of the meat source remains unknown to the consumer, which makes it impossible to manage food intolerances and sensitivities.
For this reason it is strongly recommended that only food that states its exact meat source be bought, as opposed to one that simply labels its main ingredient as ‘meat and animal’.
The analysis panel describes the percentages of crude protein, crude fibre, fat content, minerals (also described as crude ash), and moisture in the meal. While not always listed, the percentage of carbohydrate present can be presumed by adding up the total values of the percentages provided, which combined should come to less than 100%. What remains, along with the listed crude fibre, can be presumed to be carbohydrate.
Remember that the protein percentage as listed will be a combination of both animal and plant-based proteins, and that it is important to ascertain which of these protein sources is the primary ingredient. For cats, it should be predominantly – if not all – from an animal source.
In order to work out the percentages on a dry matter (DM) basis, which would be the only way to compare relative nutritional values in two different types of food, you will need to exclude the moisture-content from each of the respective products.
The best way to illustrate this will be by using the following example – you have a label that reads:
| Nutrient | As Fed |
| Crude Protein | 8.5% |
| Crude Fibre | 0.3% |
| Fat Content | 5.5% |
| Crude Ash | 2.0% |
| Moisture | 82.0% |
The implied carbohydrate percentage is worked out by deducting the protein, fat, ash, and moisture percentages from the hundred percent total, so using the above example the estimated carbohydrate percentage is therefore:
100 – 8.5 – 5.5 – 2 – 82 = 2.0% As Fed
In order to work out the percentages of each on a dry matter basis, divide each nutrient percentage by the percentage of dry matter, which in the above example would be 18%, or .18. Using the above example:
Now we want to compare this wet food label against a dry food one, whose values are presented as following:
| Nutrient | As Fed |
| Crude Protein | 30.0% |
| Crude Fibre | 3.0% |
| Fat Content | 11.0% |
| Crude Ash | 8.0% |
| Moisture | 10.0% |
On the face of it, it would appear that this dry food contains a better percentage of protein than the wet food label. However, when we consider how those figures stack up on a DM basis, we find that:
Hence there is actually a greater percentage of protein and fat in the wet food option than there is in the dry food, when one takes away the moisture-content of the product.
However, going back to the food composition label, were we to discover that the primary source of protein in the wet food was either from cereals, vegetable protein extracts, or from animal and meat derivatives, whereas the dry food was comprised of 40% Chicken & Turkey , then perhaps the dry food would still be considered more nutritious, owing to the quality of its source ingredients.
The manufacturer may set some guidelines as to how much of their product to feed your cat on a daily basis. Please remember, this is only guidance, and the amounts may vary depending on your cat’s:
It is up to you to monitor your pet’s weight, to keep it fit and healthy, so portion sizes may need to vary depending on the factors listed above. A good rule of thumb is: The greater the energy density of the food, the smaller should be the portion. Regularly feel your cat’s sides, and if you can feel his ribs but not see them, then he is at a good weight. If you can’t feel his ribs, then he probably could afford to shed a few pounds. If you can see his ribs, then he probably could use a few more pounds, or there may be an underlying medical issue that needs to be investigated. Keep a record of your cat’s weight on a weekly basis and amend his daily allotted portion in order to keep him at optimum health.
The way in which we feed our pets tend to take into account two parameters – time-restriction or portion-restriction – or often a blend of the two. Dogs, for instance, are generally fed on both a time and portion-restricted diet, in that they are usually fed twice a day with set portions at each serving. Unlike cats, dogs wolf their food down – a mode of eating that most likely stems from their scavenger ancestry, when they would consume as much as they could as quickly as they could – and hence dogs are more prone to over-eating and consuming too quickly, thus requiring greater oversight.
Instead, a cat’s hunting ancestry means that it is used to having five or six small meals spread over the course of a twenty-four hour period, which is more in line with their natural mode for attaining food, not as two meals at set points at either end of the day.
Ideally, therefore, a cat would self-feed. However, this strategy would only work when feeding dry food, as both wet and raw food would spoil and pose a health risk were it to be left out for too long. Even then, quality cat kibble tends to be both energy dense and highly palatable, so self-feeding poses the risks of overfeeding, owing to this artificially enhanced palatability. In order to avoid excessive intake, it is advised that some portion control be maintained, so that only the recommended daily allotment is left out over the course of a single day. This may prove difficult in multi-cat households, where a single cat could consume more than its fill, in which case separate microchip feeders may be required.
Another way to slow a cat’s intake is to make him work for his food, by placing his daily portion into a puzzle feeder. An added benefit of these food-dispensing toys is that they allow cats to express their natural pawing and grabbing behaviour while feeding.
For all other diets, such as wet food, raw food, or home cooking, both portion and time restrictions should apply in order to ensure that your cat receives its daily nutritional intake while maintaining good hygiene. Ideally these would be dished out in small portions over the course of the day, but it is understood that this is not always possible.
Regardless of what food is being served, be sure to wash out bowls regularly to avoid build-up of bacteria and risk of contamination.
Cat treats come in all shapes, sizes, and textures, from semi-moist snacks to paste and even liquids. Some, like dental treats, are designed to promote good health, while others, such as catnip, are there purely for the enjoyment and the reward.
And just as one needs to be mindful of what goes into your cat’s food bowl at meal time, so too should one pay close attention to the ingredients that make up those treats. Take into account their overall caloric value and consider feeding your cat a little bit less at its next meal.
The best type of treats for cats tend to be those made up of natural ingredients and, as with their meals, are nutritiously complete and balanced, but avoid treats that contain high levels of salt or sodium.
Be careful not to over-treat your cat. Cat treats – especially those that are not complete and balanced – should not make up more than 7% of their total daily caloric intake. If fed too much or too often, your cat risks becoming overweight if his meal portions are not reduced, or risks becoming nutritionally unbalanced if they are.
A kitten’s diet all starts with its mum, both whilst in the womb and immediately after birth when feeding on her milk. Therefore queens require extra protein and vitamins both during gestation and while nursing. In fact, during peak lactation, these levels can be as much as three times her usual requirements when feeding for maintenance.
As with queens, kittens require higher levels of protein in meals that are prepared with high quality and highly digestible ingredients, so ensure that you feed your kitten with food formulated specifically for them. Here it is important that you neither allow self-feeding nor meals restricted to only twice a day, but that you maintain a regimen of feeding small portions at least five or six times a day, keeping a watchful eye that each kitten has an opportunity to eat. There is growing evidence to suggest that kittens that are allowed to get overweight will be more prone to obesity later in life, even if they have been brought back to maintenance levels while they are still young. Similarly, kittens that are not fed sufficiently will not receive all the nutrients their growing bodies require and are at greater risk of ill-health, compromised growth, and poor muscular-skeletal development.
As previously mentioned, introducing a kitten to new flavours, tastes, and textures is vital to avoid the risk of it suffering a neophobic reaction to certain foods later in its life, but be sure to transition slowly if switching between brands.
Most breeds of cat can be weaned over to an adult diet at around one year of age, however certain large breeds, such as the Maine Coon and Norwegian Forest Cat, can be switched over a bit later, when they are around 18 months to two years of age.
The three key takeaways in relation to a cat’s diet and its health are:
There are times, though, when other factors or circumstances affect your cat’s health, and hence its diet.
There is substantial evidence to show that cats that have recently been spayed or castrated are at greater risk of putting on weight. This gain in weight is down to an energy-imbalance, in that they are either receiving more calories than they require or that they are not expending sufficient energy to burn them off.
It used to be presumed that cats simply became more sedentary after neutering, and that it was incumbent on owners to prompt these cats to partake in physical activities. But more recent studies suggest, in fact, that it is probably an issue with these cats consuming too much. What influence neutering might have on a cat’s appetite is unclear, but it might be that the concomitant reduction in hormones might fool the cat’s body into believing that it had not yet reached full maturity, and so still required a high protein diet.
Self-feeding is therefore not recommended for recently spayed or castrated cats, and they should receive set meals with strict portion control for at least the first three months after their operation. Once they are returned to self-feeding, their weight should continue to be monitored, and at the first sign of any weight increase their caloric intake should be reduced accordingly.
It is important to recognize that food intolerance or sensitivity is not the same as a food allergy. Allergic reactions tend to be immediate, whereas intolerances and sensitivities can build up over many months or years. So even if your cat has been eating something for ages, it does not mean that it can’t develop an adverse reaction to it.
The most common ingredients to cause an intolerance or sensitivity include: beef, chicken, corn, dairy, lamb, soy, and wheat, along with other grains that contain gluten.
Common symptoms of such a dietary reaction may include:
In order to ascertain what ingredient is causing the adverse reaction, you will need to place your cat on an elimination diet, which means to say a strict diet that contains only one protein and one carbohydrate source. These sources should be novel, which is to say that your pet should not have been exposed to them before.
It may take up to one or two months for you to see clinical signs of improvement, but once you do, you can then begin to add further ingredients to find out which is the offending one.
The difficulty in creating an elimination diet on your own is that most pet foods these days contain multiple protein sources. As stated above, even a foodstuff that has been labeled as ‘salmon’ or ‘turkey’ will most likely contain ingredients from multiple animal sources. Therefore, in order to ensure a proper assessment is done whilst maintaining adequate nutrition to your cat, any attempt at an elimination diet should be performed in consultation with your veterinary surgeon and a qualified feline nutritionist.
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