grain

Question
I want to know is why is grain bad for cats?
Is grain free cat food better for them?

Answer
Karen,

Cats are obligate carnivores which means that they absolutely must eat meat in order to survive and be healthy. Large amounts of grain, such as those found in dog foods and vegetarian feeds for other animals are not able to fulfill a cat's nutritional needs. A little bit of vegetable matter (not necessarily grain) is okay for cats as long as it doesn't make up any more than about 5-10% of their diet. This may be a little gross, but think about what a cat would normally eat if left to their own devices. Cats would catch a variety of small mammals and birds, most of the animals that cats will catch and eat on their own are vegetarians and the cat will often eat the stomach of its prey when consuming the rest of the animal. Now the interesting part of the lesson is that cats will eat the stomach of their prey which has semi digested fruit, vegetables, grain and nuts. The semi digested plant matter is signifigant, what it means in terms of food is that grains or vegetable matter found in cat foods should already be somewhat broken down and only account for a small percentage of the actual content of the food. Grain free foods do tend to be a bit more expensive, but in my opinion they can be slightly more superior to the cheaper foods where grain is high on the list in many forms. I hope that this helps. If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me again.