Being obligate carnivores felines require a high protein diet, but this doesn’t mean they don’t need veggies, fat and carbohydrates too.

So how do we find nature’s perfect well-balanced cat food in a can and/or bag? With so many choices facing us, it is confusing to say the least so we often shop by price because those labels are so hard to decipher.

Pet food labeling differs from that meant for human consumption. We have been taught that the first item to appear in the ingredient list is what there is most of in the product. This is true for our foods, but for pets the ingredients are listed by pre-cooked weight. This means that a large percentage of that chicken weight is actually moisture and not protein at all! On the other hand, if chicken meal or by-product meal is listed, this is better as it is measured dry, mostly protein, and will expand when moisture is added.

Dr. Joni Samuels of Buellton Veterinary Clinic advises, “Life stage diets are not just a marketing ploy, changing needs in protein, fiber and sodium levels as the animal ages make senior diets valuable to older cats no longer growing bone and muscle. Canned food is in general better, higher in moisture content for kidney health and closer in consistency to what they eat in nature.”

“Use dental treats to help with tartar control,” she adds.

Great advice, so talk with your vet next time you take Tabby in for a check-up to find out exactly what stage your pet is in.

Matt Snyder of Valley Pets in Buellton has studied pet nutrition in depth and comments, “Most foods you find on the market are foods that our pets should survive on, but 80% are NOT foods that our pets will thrive on!”

It is for this reason his shelves only hold certain brands. Stop by the store to talk pet food with Matt, mention this column and he’ll give you a free cat toy.

Dr. Samuel further recommends NOT feeding raw diets due to the risk of salmonella and other bacteria in our own protein sources. Scary, isn’t it?