Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/112551
Cats and Dogs Are You Feeding A Diet That Is Helping Or Hurting? By Dr. Marlene Siegel I often open my lectures with the question, ���Raise your hand if you feed your pet with the intention to create harm?��� No one raises their hand. We love our pets and want to feed them correctly. The disconnect is that most people don���t know how. No doubt about it, CATS ARE CARNIVORES! Not only that, but they are obligate carnivores (they MUST eat meat). Cats have no nutritional requirement for carbohydrates. Cats were designed to eat mice (one of nature���s perfect foods for a cat). The composition of a mouse is 50-55% protein, 22-26% fat, and 3-5% carbs on a dry matter basis. Did you notice that corn was nowhere on the menu? So why do most commercially available cat foods have corn as an ingredient (often the first ingredient)? �� Dbvirago | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos The pet food industry is a multi billion dollar business! Producing a convenient inexpensive processed food meshes well with todays busy consumer who themselves eat the Standard American Diet (highly processed, high fat, high calorie diet). �� Eei_tony | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos Health conscious individuals advise people to ���shop the perimeter of the grocery store for their own food (where there is fresh foods and less processed foods) ���, unless you are at Abby���s where EVERYTHING is good for you! My advice to pet owners is ���feed a cat from the perimeter of the corn field (where the mice and rabbits live)���. The ideal diet is a grass fed, free range, live meat diet balanced with organ meat and bone, with no corn or wheat. ���Don���t be fooled by the term ���grain free���.��� Potatoes, tapioca, and rice have high carbs and contain plant proteins too, all of which contribute to the problems associated with high carb diets. Obesity, diabetes, and gastrointestinal diseases like Inflammatory Bowl Disease (IBD), are becoming common problems in cats. Proper nutrition is the key to avoiding these diseases. Page 20 | Abby���s Magazine - www.AbbysMag.com Cats will reach their ideal weight when their metabolism matches their energy needs. This may be accomplished through feeding a diet that properly balances animal protein and fat, while limiting carbs (corn, rice, veggies, fruits, digestible carbs) to less than 5% (most processed cat food diets sold today contain 30-50% carbohydrates). Carbs in cats (like people) digests quickly, flooding the bloodstream with glucose in excess of their metabolic needs. This glucose tide means there is more sugar released than what the body needs at that time. To cope with all the glucose, the cat produces high levels of insulin (produced by the pancreas). The excess glucose is carried by the insulin into the fat cells and stored. Excess carbs can also result in Candida overgrowth. The remaining insulin triggers a hunger response to eat more food (just like in people). This cycle repeats itself, resulting in an obese cat.