Cats (felids) are obligate carnivores. That means cats must have meat to live. Cats don’t need grain products, sugars, or starches.
According to Wikipedia:
Obligate carnivores
Obligate carnivores or ‘true’ carnivores depend on the nutrients only found in animal flesh for their survival. While they may consume small amounts of plant material, they lack the physiology required for the efficient digestion of vegetable matter and, in fact, some carnivorous mammals eat vegetation specifically as an emetic.
Some research indicates that felids including the domestic cat are obligate carnivores requiring a diet of primarily animal flesh and organs.[5] Specifically, cats’ metabolisms appear unable to synthesize certain essential nutrients (including retinol, taurine, and arachidonic acid) out of vegetable matter, and thus rely on animal protein in their diet to supply these elements. Synthetic forms of essential nutrients such as taurine in the lab have allowed feed manufacturers to formulate foods for carnivores including domestic pets and zoo animals with varying amounts of plant material.
As Natural News points out in Cigarettes, Lies, and Pet Food Advertising, some commercial cat foods are made up primarily of grain products that offer no nutritional benefit to cats, even though their ads imply otherwise. Always read the ingredient list before buying pet food.
Ingredients are listed by pre-cooked weight. When buying cat food, make sure that meat, poultry, or seafood (and not just by-products) are high up on the list.
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