You know it’s important to get your kitten to the vet for his first checkup. You probably know that spaying and neutering increase the health of your new kitten. But did you know that your kitten’s diet helps shape his future health?
Why Diet is Important
Your kitten’s food is the foundation for the rest of his life. Feeding your new kitten a healthy diet helps build good bones, healthy digestive systems and a strong immune system. Starting off on the right foot gives your kitten the best chance at a longer, healthier life.
Poor Quality Ingredients Leads to Internal Inflammation
If you look at a bag of food from your local grocery store, it’s likely that it has some unsavory ingredients in it. Some foods use cheap ingredients such as grain and meat in their foods. Did you know that cats were originally used in Egypt to guard grains? A cat’s natural inclination is to not eat grains. So these cheap foods spray things like animal digest on the food to entice them. It’s like putting steak sauce on a shoe. It may make the shoe test better, but there’s no nutritional value there.
Artificial colors, artificial flavors, chemical preservatives, cheap fillers, — all of these contribute to internal inflammation. Once your cat’s digestive system experiences inflammation, it can spiral out from there. You might see some vomiting or diarrhea. Or your cat might develop dandruff, hot spots or be excessively itchy.
Healthy Kitties are Happy Kitties
The first thing to know about your kitten is that he is an obligate carnivore. This means that he doesn’t just want to eat meat, he needs to eat meat to survive. Look for a cat food that uses real meat or meal, which is just the meat with the water removed. Stick to foods that specify the protein sources, instead of the vague ‘meal meal’ or ‘animal ‘. Meat should be the first ingredient in your kitten’s food.
The other thing to know about cats is that they need moisture in their diet. Even if your cat drinks from the faucet or from his cat bowl, the way a cat’s system is designed requires them to ingest water directly from their food. This means feeding a wet food. There are quite a few options in canned foods or you can feed a dehydrated food where you add water to it. You can also feed a fully raw diet, which has lots of moisture in it.
Good Choices for a Good Start
We have a wide variety of canned foods, dry foods and even a dehydrated food formulated for cats and kittens. We use free range meats from New Zealand and our foods are free from artificial colors, flavors, and chemical preservatives. We do not source any ingredients from China. To see our full line of holistic foods for your kitten, visit us at Addiction Pet Foods.
