Cat Food Brands
There are different types of foods available for cats. Many people prefer homemade food for their cats. But over the years many brands have jumped into cat food industry and started rolling out cat food in different forms like dry or wet (canned) food. These cat brands have quite a competition in this market thus bringing cat food prices to a minimum.
Thus with drop in prices, many people are mow serving their cats the branded food that is remarkably cheap but provides all the necessary ingredients necessary for your cats health.
There are cat food brands in US like Science Diet, Eukanuba, Fancy Feast, Friskies, and Diamond etc. There are merits and demerits of using or not using a brand food. Many websites and magazines provide cat food comparisons that is a good way of checking which food is better then other and why.
Here is the list of cats basic nutritional needs.
Protein from a meat, fish, or poultry source
Taurine, an essential amino acid
Certain other vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and fatty acids
Water
Cats do not need carbohydrates, although corn, wheat, and/or rice are used as fillers for both canned and dry cat foods. Other ingredients, such as binders, flavoring, and coloring, are added by cat food manufacturers to satisfy the aesthetic wants of the consumer. Although preservatives are necessary, to keep foods fresh for our cats, canned food should not be allowed to remain out for any length of time, in any case.
Many nutritionists agree that cats should get a variety of food, both dry and canned, for several reasons:
While dry food is convenient, and can be left out for "free feeding,"
Canned food contains water, and many cats do not drink water regularly
To ensure that your cat gets the right amount of nutrients. That "near-perfect" food you've selected might be adding too little (or too much) of certain minerals and/or vitamins.
Cats may actually become bored with the same food day in and day out, and simply quit eating. Face it, would you enjoy pizza morning, noon, and night, for years?
To head off possible allergies to certain ingredients. Cats (like humans) develop allergies over a period of time. Although the incidence of food allergies in cats is rare, cat owners might want to err on the side of caution, particularly if their cats have shown evidence of allergies in the past.
Many pet stores provide the owners with coupons of cat food brands upon shopping for some goods. This is a very good opportunity for owners to check the quality of a certain food brand and using those coupons to full effect