5 Potential Health Risk of Dry Food for Cat You need to know
Food is one of the vital needs for growth and the development of all living things. Of course, pets don’t get disregarded in this; it is essential to provide for your pet an adequate and balanced food blend that ill aids their development.
Having a cat as a pet is not just fun, but they serve as a company and play friends; therefore, your cat’s health is essential and your sole responsibility. The growth and development of your cat, depending on the type of food you feed it.
Cat foods, commonly classified as wet or dry food, but in this article, we focus on the potential health risks of feeding dry food to cats. It is essential to rule of dry food from your cat’s diet if you get set on improving your cat’s health and development, taking off dry cat food is a bold step to take.
Whether it’s the premium package, a natural blend, or prescription, dry cat food is a threat to your cat’s health. It is composed of 85-90% starch and carbohydrate. The ingredients don’t matter; a food container with low moisture content is a deal to make it a poor choice for your cat.
The high amount of starch and carbohydrate in dry food takes the place of other vital nutrients such as protein and vitamins; these factors make dry food a potential health risk for cats.
Before we jump into the potential risks, dry food can cause your cat to stream down to learn out the ingredients and other essential factors involved in these dry foods that endanger your cat’s health. If you desire long and happy life for your cat, dry food isn’t a choice, find out why;
Factors Affecting Cat Dry Food
Dry food normally does not cause any health issues but the way it is given to the cat may cause them to suffer and cause diseases. Here are 5 things you should know.
#1 Combined Ingredients
Dry food, naturally made from specific ingredients, such as poultry by-products, bone meal, and chicken meal.
When these animal rich ingredients are collected, they are poured into a large grinder to limit them into chunks. These chucks are collected and boiled for more than 24 hours at a very high temperature; the remainder of the cooked mixture is further processed and dried to low moisture, protein powder used as dry foods.
The animal source food ends up in a brown protein powder after processing, and it is therefore impossible to know what kind of exposure the dust met during the procession.
Other ingredients used include grains, starchy vegetables, limited vitamins, minerals, and moisture content.
Adult cats do not require high carbohydrates in their food; these would only provide calories during digestion because they aren’t natural and can quickly convert to fat. High-calorie intake will lead to high cholesterol levels, which will cause obesity.
#2 Processing
In manufacturing dry food, the collected high protein food gets blended into carbohydrate dough, getting pressed into an extractor that forms the dry food commonly called kibble.
The dough pressed into a barrel, the heat and pressure in the extracting machine is high and extremely heats the mixture.
The dough gets exposed to the air passing through machine blades that blend it into pieces as the pop up continues until the mixture reaches a steady air pressure—the end product results to the packaged dry cat food.
While the processing blends the grains, fruits, and vegetables and makes them digestible for the cat, it has the opposite influence on the added proteins. Cooked proteins are less digestible, and heat disintegrates and denatures them, making them less healthy for consumption.
These abnormal proteins can result in food allergies resulting from the reaction from the immune system.
Enzymes are unique proteins that help the body’s chemical reactions; they are easily destroyed by heat even on low heat temperatures. During dry food precession, the enzymes get damaged due to high heat content. Due to the lack of enzymes on dry cat food, the pancreas becomes stressed and blotted. This situation is life-threatening and will require immediate attention.
#3 Addition of Carbohydrate
Carbohydrates are molecules which compose of carbon, hydrogen, and carbon atoms. The purest form of starch, which we all know is ‘sugar,’ all carbohydrates are sugars but in different varieties.
Cats are carnivores feeders; their diet is usually high in protein and moisture. The average dry cat food contains 30% carbohydrate; Protein foods are expensive and contain top-quality ingredients; carbohydrates are cheaper food with low ingredients. Kittens can absorb and digest carbohydrates, which will turn directly into fat, not healthy for a kitten.
Also, carbohydrates contain the glycemic index (GI), giving rise to blood pressure faster and higher than other nutrients. High blood sugar develops the release of the insulin hormone from the pancreas. The Insulin hormone allows sugars to get absorbed into the body cells to get used for energy.
The absence of insulin will accumulate sugar in the bloodstream. It will not help the growth or development of a growing cat.
Recommended Product | High Protein Cat Food
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High Protein Grain Free, Natural Adult Dry Cat Food
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#4 Calories
Recent studies have proved that many cats are obese, which is a threat to healthy living. Having extra weight is not cool for anyone; it shortens your pet’s life span and will result in discomforts such as kidney disease, liver failure, gastrointestinal complications, and cancer. Giving your healthy cat food than supposed is not doing it any good.
Dry food contains a high concentration of calories. Therefore, it is the core source of obesity in pets. Obesity is life-threatening and can lead to serious health issues such as;
- Diabetes
- Vomiting
- Chronic Vomiting
- Chronic Diarrhea
- High Blood Pressure
- Skin and Coat Problems
- Hepatic Lipidosis (Liver Failure)
- Pancreatitis
- Arthritis
- Heart Disease
- Asthma
- Allergic Skin Disease
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease
- Bladder Disease
- Kidney Disease
Other complications can result as well.
#5 Dehydration
Dry food, as it implies, is a’ dry.’ It is a big issue for cats and other pets. Cats have a low thirst drive, and they don’t drink water a lot until they are at least 4% dehydrated.
However, due to this low thirst drive, cats must take food rich in moisture that will supplement the water required in their system.
Dehydration plays a significant role in several health diseases such as constipation (which is most common and treated), kidney diseases, bladder infection, and urinary stones.
Health Diseases that Affect Cats Ingesting Dry Food
We have outlined essential factors that make dry cat food a threat to good health; below are some diseases and other complications from constantly feeding your cat dry food.
Liver Disease
The liver organ receives blood from the digestive system. It is a major detoxifying organ. The liver has the sole responsibility of producing bile form proteins like albumin and cholesterol, which are vital for producing hormones.
The bile produced by the liver is required for the digestion and absorption of fats. Cat’s livers are mainly sensitive to dietary changes. If a cat does feed well, the liver can get stressed and starts yearning.
A high amount of fat accumulating in the cat’s body system can become severe. It limits the cells’ functioning and a comprehensive way to liver diseases called “hepatic lipidosis” (fatty liver disease). Overweight or heavy cats that feed mainly on dry food are at risk of this liver disease.
Allergies to Food & Asthma
As discussed above, high heat levels involved in dry food processing can denature proteins, implying that it changes their shape. For protein foods, their shape is essential, and only a well-shaped protein can function effectively. The form is everything to a protein, and only a protein in the correct way will work properly.
When an abnormal or immoral shaped protein seems discovered in the cells, the antibodies react, which stimulates inflammation. The catgut doesn’t respond well to this reaction and will start refusing food to lead by diarrhea or vomiting.
Cats vomit most times, which is a primary symptom of food allergy and high inflammatory bowel diseases. Food allergies and dietary complications are typical when it comes to dry with dry food. Fortunately, they can get treated by nutritional therapy.
Kidney and Bladder Stones
Cats can develop inflammation, stones in kidneys, and bladders. These conditions are critical and caused by the intake of dry food. Cats can develop a condition commonly called “Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disorder” (FLUTD).
The best way to eradicate kidney problems and all complication that comes with it is to have more of food rich in moisture and protein, keeping fluids flowing throughout the unitary tract all flush all particles of diseases causing infections.
Due to The dehydrating nature of dry food, it produces highly concentrated urine, which is more accessible from stones and crystals in the kidney. Wet food is essential to keep the urinary tract of your cat healthy.
Solution for Healthy Living for Cat
If you’re thinking about how to go from here, you are just on the right track; you wouldn’t want your cat to suffer from any health complications resulting from constant intake of dry food by your cat.
Here is a simple step to take.
Start introducing Wet food
Giving your wet cat food is practically the first and best step to take; you can consult a vet to guide you on which wet food to start with, mainly if your cat is used to dry food.
However, giving your cat moisture and protein content food is highly necessary for good health. You can try intruding raw food, canned food, or homemade.
Canned food maybe be processed; it is cooked once and under deficient heat compared to the heating involved in dry food processing. Canned food contains an adequate level of protein than dry food.
Homemade or DIY food is ideal and recommended; try to follow a balanced recipe to make rich protein content food for your cat. Some methods, cookbooks, and guides on the internet are not stable and may cause harm as time goes on, consult your vet for proper guidelines.
Making your cat food is ideal because it is now in control of the quantity and quality of food your cat; you can decide to add supplements to make it more productive and tastier for your cat.
To know in brief about dry food and wet food to feed your cat you can check this post on Wet food and Dry food for Cats | Detailed Guide You need to know.
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Conclusion
Dry cat food does more harm than good to the health of your cat, so it is better to avoid them, so your cat doesn’t get sick. You might want to ask where your cat will get calcium nutrients if not given dry food.
Well, dry food is a good source of calcium to your cat, but you shouldn’t provide too much dry than wet food for your cat, you can give them both in turns or mix them, mixing wet and dry food is not a wrong choice it enables your cat to draw nutrients from both sides. That’s a great idea!
Give your cat a balanced meal to make them happy and healthy.
