ON HEALTHY EATING – FOR YOUR CAT?

Losing a pet is a difficult time. Just like losing any loved one, we tend to question ourselves. Was there something I could have done differently? Was this my fault? After recently losing my best bud for the last 10 years to cancer, I found myself wondering if I could have done more. So, when I found myself rescuing another cat, I began by looking at the type of food I was buying and quickly realized I really needed to know more about cats to make any kind of informed decision. What I found out was surprising. Did you know that Serotonin is actually formed in the digestive system? Serotonin is a chemical nerve cells produce. It sends signals between your nerve cells. Serotonin is found mostly in the digestive system, although it’s also in blood platelets and throughout the central nervous system. It is made from the essential amino acid tryptophan, which you can only get through your diet and is commonly found in foods such as nuts, cheese, and red meat. Tryptophan deficiency can lead to lower serotonin levels. This can result in mood disorders, such as anxiety or depression. And not surprisingly, it had the same effect on cats. What we feed our cats can have a direct impact on their moods and their desire to eat or not eat. So what foods will provide serotonin to our pets? The first thing to know is that the food needs to be “Species appropriate” – what they would eat in the wild. The second thing to know is that cats are “obligate carnivores”. That means that any fruits or veggies they get in the wild are found in the stomachs of their prey. That tells us cats should be eating mostly meat – preferably organ meat because it is the best source of the nutrients they need – and very little fruit and veg. That fruit and veg though is still important because that’s where they get the “prebiotics” they need to properly digest their food. Prebiotics ensure your cat has good gut bacteria to get the most nutritional benefit from his or her food. Excellent sources for prebiotics would be flax, pea flour and carrots. One counterproductive ingredient in most dry cat food is fillers. You can look at the ingredients listed on the bag of the food you buy and when you see things like “meat byproducts” you are serving your pet hair, bone, fecal matter; any part of an animal that is not used in people food. And then there is “meat and bone meal”. This could very well contain remains from your pet’s own species and possibly even diseased tissue. Not Good. Equally as damaging, though not nearly as disgusting, are preservatives. Cooking the food that goes into pet food as well as the preservatives they use virtually strips the food of its nutritional value and the chemicals included in the preservatives make it difficult to digest and can often cause severe gastrointestinal problems. Finally, dry food can leave your pet dehydrated. Obligate carnivores get much of their hydration from the food they eat. Have you watched those YouTube videos of cats drinking water? They are funny because cats are not very good at drinking water. I know! Never occurred to me either. So what is the solution? Seriously, most of us don’t even cook for ourselves that often, so buying and preparing raw organ meat is just not realistic. When I looked at the different foods available, I was surprised to find that even the high dollar foods are full of filler and preservatives – dry and wet -Rachel Ray’s dry food is pretty good; better than most I saw. But her wet foods have been cooked so they are not really very nourishing. I did find several dehydrated foods on Amazon that seem pretty good and I found one that I decided to order from www.drmartyspets.com because all you have to do is add water to the food and it gives you guidelines as to how much to feed your cat. After all is said and done, convenience still plays a pretty large part in my buying decisions. Hopefully this will give you a different outlook on feeding your pet. If you have knowledge, insight or additional information that will add to this topic, please drop me an email at: hart@the post newspaper.net or visit us online at www.thepostnewspaper. net or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ThePostNewspaper