Philip Goguen
We all know that having a good diet is one of the most essential factors that can easily determine whether someone would be healthy or not. While consuming different types of food, we make sure to allow all the good nutrients, vitamins, fiber, proteins etc to enter our bodies, making us healthier, stronger and more resistant to all kinds of diseases, due to the strength of our immune systems. Combined with good night’s sleep, a healthy and rich diet is the strongest element in the game of health, the one that prevents and reduces the risks of getting diseases and infections, while at the same time it allows your body and mind to work in its full capacity.
However, it’s important to mention that your lifestyle, your habits, routines and the pace of your everyday life determines (or at least should determine) what you eat and how much you eat. This means that a professional athlete has a completely opposite diet compared to someone who is exercising two or three times a week, or someone who doesn’t exercise at all, and who is maybe walking a certain number of steps on a daily basis (especially if they have a sedentary office job).
Now that we’ve mentioned the importance of having a healthy diet and addressed the differences between what’s healthy for one person compared to the other, we have to make a comparison and mention something else – our furry life companions and friends – our pets. Have you ever thought about their diet? Our dogs and cats also need to have a balanced diet rich in certain nutrients, in order to stay healthy, hydrated and finally – have a happy and long life.
If we look at the whole population of pets in the world, we can see that dogs seem to be the most common pet that people decide to have, while cats are in second place. Nonetheless, these numbers highly vary from country to country, and there still are more cats in total than dogs, especially in Asia, and this number is somewhere around five or six hundred million cats in the world! These precious creatures are specific in their needs, they have strong personalities and they also have special diet requirements. Let’s dig into that.
What Should They Eat?
As you may already know, cats are carnivores. This means that their diet should (maybe the better term is must) have a lot of protein in their diet. But that’s not all. Raw meat is forbidden, but if you don’t include a lot of protein in their diet it is likely that they’re gonna develop certain diseases and conditions that can be detrimental for their health.
On the contrary, they don’t need as much carbohydrates as humans, but they do need lots of protein and lots of fat along with the food that is high in moisture. That being said, every cat is an individual, but generally speaking these are the best things that you can do for your cat. If you are a vegetarian you need to be aware of the fact that humans are different compared to animals, and that no matter what, you shouldn’t try to turn your cat into one. They simply need animal-based protein, so any substitutes don’t work. It’s also been proven that wet food is much better for cats than grain food both because it has a bigger nutritional value. However, you shouldn’t feed your cats the food you eat. You can give it a treat once in a while but avoiding human food should be your priority whatsoever. Finally, the thing that had to be mentioned is more than important for cat, and that are – fibres.
Many surveys show that fibres are almost as equally important as protein for cats. What’s the reason behind this? The answer is simple. Just like fibres are important for us humans, they are important for animals too, because they help maintain good digestive functions and they are also beneficial for maintaining a healthy percentage of body fat, and also the most important parts is – preventing cats from having constipation on one hand and diarrhoea on the other.
Are Fibers Even More Important Than Protein?
Considering the fact that fibres are so essential and so crucial for cats’ health, this is a logical question although we’ve already mentioned that they are equally important as protein. What’s special about cats is that they have unique digestive system, which is made of different organisms, bacteria and due to the fact that cats are meat eaters, they simply need fibres to be able to ferment food they eat, and this is why paying attention to the labels when you buy cat food is something you should do, because both soluble and insoluble fibres have their own benefits and you should include them in your cat’s diet if you want to provide your cat with the best food options.
According to mainecoonhawaii.com, there are also many reasons why fibres are extremely important for cats. One of them is the fact that not all cats are completely healthy. There are cases of diabetes, of overweight cats, cats also often suffer from digestive diseases etc. All of them can benefit enormously from consuming fibres, since they can easily make them feel like they’re full, without putting too much pressure to digest food. Also, sugar absorption is much slower when they consume fibers compared to other ingredients.
What About Fiber and Indoor Cats?
As we’ve already mentioned, fibres are of extreme importance for all animals and humans too, but for cats especially. Still it’s important to mention that the vast majority of cats are indoor cats, which means that they live inside of people’s apartments and homes. This is why you might wonder if fibers are good for your cat who lives exclusively indoors. The answer is absolutely yes! Indoor cats have different habits, they live differently, they are much slower and less active and their nutrition has to be adjusted accordingly. One of the best ways to do that is to include a diet that is rich in fiber or in other words, a high-fiber diet. As a result, they will be able to easily move the hairball through the digestive tract and it will significantly reduce all the risks of developing digestive issues. Isn’t that the best thing you can do for your furry friend?
