Quality pet food is often expensive, but worth the tradeoff
There is a difference between “needs” and “wants.” Cats have needs from their pet/cat food (dry or wet). They need it to be palatable (some are notoriously finicky about it); healthy, or they will not live long; and nutritious, so they can grow and thrive during a long, happy life. They do not care about cost, and unfortunately such cat foods as those described above are expensive, but most cat owners can and should indulge their fluffy buddies.
Now, cats do not buy cat food. It is humans who do this for them, and we already agreed that cost should not be a (major) issue. So, what do cat owners (I do not like the newfangled term parent as cats do have their parents – if anything I would go with guardian) really want from the cat food they buy for their beloved friends?
A few months ago, I got a male Ragdoll kitten, and he is already eating well. I prefer an all-meat diet for my own cat, but I understand the benefits of having dry food too. So, here are three items I want from my wet cat food.
It should promote a “clean” stool. I cannot patrol my kitten all day and he has a habit of visiting the toilet when I am sleeping – and then he likes to watch me on my computer placing his butt right on my face. I am convinced he does all these on purpose, so I want him to have a clean butt, to begin with.
The first canned food I was feeding him was rich in liver. My kitten loved it, but my wife hated it, and no, I do not feed my wife with cat food. It just smelled so horribly, especially when we had to refrigerate a half-empty can, that we had to change brands. So, I want my cat’s food to not stink to me (or to my wife), no matter how much my cat loves it.
I live with my kitten all day long. He shows me his love and affection by biting my nose every time he wakes up or wants to wake me up to play or feed him. His breath is horrible, even worse than the stink of that liver-rich canned food. I tolerate it because I love him back, but I would rather his breath smelled like roses and not like his butt (not that I sniff his butt, mind you).
So, there you have it. I buy the best possible 100% meat canned cat food, but not all products are made equal. So far, we solved the problems above except the last one, but cats are carnivores and having a rotten breath comes packaged with their love and affection.
