All of us would like to feed our kitty the best food possible, but finding a nutritious healthy food for your cat is not as easy as it seems. Looking at the beautifully designed bags filled with kibble, along with the enticing text using words such as "wholesome" "nutritious" and "Veterinary Recommended" it can be easy to be put at ease, especially after reading that the very first ingredient is meat!
Unfortunately there are a number of ingredients in cat food that not only do not belong there, they can be detrimental to your cat.
Pet food companies go through some effort to make you believe that grains are "wholesome" for your pet. The truth is that grains are implicated with a slew of health problems. Grains are also not part of a cat's natural diet.
One of the worst ingredients in pet food is corn. It irritates the bowel, it is highly allergy producing and it has a high glycemic index.
Every time your cat eats food containing corn, there will be a spike in blood sugar levels. Cats do not metabolize foods the same way we do, and do not have the enzymes and hormones necessary to keep their blood sugar levels within normal range after consuming carbs. Cats are designed to get their energy from protein, not carbohydrates.
In the wild cats consume approximately 3-5% of their diet as carbohydrates. Commercial kibble containing corn contains from 30-60% carbohydrates.
A cat eating kibble will have a blood sugar spike after their meal. Cats, having again a very different way of metabolizing food, do not release insulin in response to a high carb content meal like we do. They release insulin in response to eating meat.
The high blood sugar is highly taxing on organs such as kidneys and liver, taxing on the endocrine system and the end result is frequently feline diabetes, degenerative and auto immune diseases, and diseases of the bowel, such as inflammatory bowel disease.
Corn also helps making your cat obese. Cats do not register full after eating carbs. They register full after eating protein. A cat eating a food with high grain content will have to eat a lot more in order to consume enough protein to register full.
Switching your cat to a grain-less food frequently reverses diabetes, even if insulin has been given for some time. (A switch should be done ONLY with the cooperation of your vet, while monitoring blood glucose levels in order to prevent your cat's blood sugar to go too low which can be deadly.)
Getting your cat or dog, onto a food that does not contain corn is of utmost importance.
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