As a caring parent, you want the best for your fluffy friend, and that means giving him the best possible food to keep him healthy. But many misconceptions about what to feed your cat are still common, and some of these are worryingly misinformed. Here at Ziggy, we wanted to take a long, hard look at all of these and put you right. Here are 15 of them.
1. Wet food for cats is a treat
"I'll treat him to wet food."
Wet food is still sometimes mistakenly considered a treat. However, it's a complete food that can be given multiple times a day on its own and is actually the food that best matches cats’ natural diets. Provided, of course, that it's rich in premium animal proteins, balanced in essential nutrients (essential fatty acids, minerals, vitamins) and low in carbs.
It's important to distinguish complete wet food from complementary wet food. Complete wet food contains all the nutrients your cat needs to stay healthy. So it can be given on its own as a sole source of food. There's no need to supplement it with other foods. In contrast, complementary food doesn't cover all your cat's nutritional needs. It may contain high levels of some nutrients but be lacking in other areas. Read all about it in our article about complete wet food vs complementary wet food.
Complete wet food is not a treat, it’s much more than that! We actually recommend making it the main part of your cat's diet. And for good reason, it provides numerous benefits:
- It's rich in water. In the wild, cats drink very little as they are originally desert animals! Their hydration mainly comes from the prey they eat. Unlike dry food, wet food provides them with all the hydration they need. A cat that eats wet food takes in twice as much water than a cat that feeds solely or primarily on dry food.
- It prevents urinary problems. By diluting their urine, it makes it less concentrated.
- Wet food also has the advantage of being 4 times less caloric than dry food. It allows our little friend to eat in large quantities without the calories that come with it. Rich in water, it also fills their stomach and makes them feel full for longer.
Last but not least, wet food increases your furry friend's level of activity. It's unsure whether this is due to hydration or the frequency of urination, but several studies suggest that felines who eat wet food are more physically active than those fed on dry food. And as we've seen, physical activity helps reduce the risk of obesity and urinary problems. This is what we call a virtuous circle 😺. Of course, the wet food must be of high quality. Simply being wet is not enough in itself.
- The nutrients in high-quality wet food help keep your pet's coat looking at its best.
We didn't pull these claims out of thin air, they come from very serious scientific studies. And if you're still not convinced (or if you don't have the time to read these publications), feel free to watch our video with veterinarian and feline nutrition specialist Géraldine Blanchard.
2. Wet food for cats leads to weight gain
Although not all wet foods are created equal, it's important to remember that pound for pound, wet food is on average four times less calorific than dry food. Rich in water, it allows your furry friend to eat a satisfying quantity and feel full. It’s also been proven that a cat who eats wet food will have more energy and be more active.
"My cat's gained weight, even though I've put him on a wet food diet !"
In that case, your choice of wet food may not be suited to him.
It should be noted that after neutering, a cat's energy needs drop by an average of 20%. Non-suitable wet food may provide him with too many calories.
If your feline is neutered, you need to feed him wet food specifically formulated for neutered cats. These will provide him with the necessary nutrients without the calories that come with it. But again, these must be of high quality. Read all about it in our article on how to feed neutered cats.
Becoming overweight or obese may be related to a lack of physical activity, boredom, stress, or even certain medical treatments.
Read our article on obesity in cats on our blog: what diet should you give them and how to help them lose weight.
3. Wet food is not nutritious
We sometimes hear pet parents or professionals say "It's basically water!" which is completely wrong.
Even though wet food is made of 80% water, it's still very nourishing. Provided again that it is of high quality and contains animal proteins that have real nutritional value. For context, a piece of raw meat contains on average 75% water!
Many industrial wet foods don't contain premium organ meats or real pieces of muscle but reconstituted meat (mixtures of animal and plant proteins), animal meal, or mechanically separated meat (MSM). In other words, proteins that don’t have any significant nutritional value!
To learn more, check out our article on proteins in your cat’s diet.
Ziggy wet food
Our Ziggy wet food, developed by Dr Géraldine Blanchard, veterinary specialist in cat nutrition, does not contain reconstituted meat, MSM (mechanically separated meat), or animal 'waste' such as carcass scraps, skin, feathers, and bones. It consists only of muscle and premium organ meats (chicken, beef, pork).
4. Wet food causes diarrhea
On animal forums and blogs, many owners claim that wet food causes diarrhea in their pet. This can be true if their wet food is of low quality!
In addition to providing no health benefits, it's important to know that not all proteins can be digested. When they reach the large intestine, they decompose and can then cause gas and diarrhea.
If a cat has diarrhea, it may also be because he is given wet food only occasionally, as a 'treat'. As we know, the slightest dietary change can disrupt cats' digestion, so any occasional change to their diet can cause diarrhoea.
On that note: an abrupt diet change. Sudden changes in a cat's diet can trigger diarrhea. This is why it's important to carefully manage a dietary transition when you switch from one food to another. It’s best to gradually introduce the new food into your cat's diet, find out more by downloading our guide on dietary transition.
If your cat’s suffering from a digestive problem, our article on diarrhea in cats provides some valuable advice.
5. Dry food is better for my cat's teeth
It's often said that cats fed on dry food have fewer dental problems than those fed on wet food. Some sites even strongly recommend giving dry food for this reason, as they supposedly prevent the build-up of plaque due to their abrasive texture.
In reality, many cats fed on dry food still display significant plaque and tartar build-up and suffer from oral diseases such as periodontitis. The anti-tartar effectiveness of dry food can be debated.
As it happens, our pets' teeth are not designed to crush, but rather to slice and tear meat. Their ancestors in the wild actually had no or very few dental problems (according to experts!). They naturally 'brushed' their teeth by grinding bones, tearing flesh, skin, tendons, and the ligaments of small prey.
Dry food has minimal abrasive action; it's quite crumbly, and above all, it is often swallowed whole.
We also hear that wet food encourages plaque formation. True and false. It's more to do with how carb-rich the wet food is. As with us humans, the more carbs we eat, the more vulnerable our teeth are.
For good dental health - and the overall health for your little tiger - we highly recommend choosing low-carb wet food. It's been suggested that carb-rich foods could increase insulin secretion and thus predispose your cat to diabetes mellitus. At Ziggy, our wet foods contain less than 2% carbs!
Care for your furry friend's teeth by cleaning them with a special brush. Yes, these do exist!
It's also recommended to occasionally give a large piece of raw meat (slightly cooked to prevent salmonella) so they can slice and tear it with their teeth. In any case, talk to your vet to get more insights.
To learn more, read our article on how to take care of your cat's teeth.
6. Dry kitten food is a gimmick
“It’s just marketing!” Yes, we've heard that one too. And this claim is of course not true!
You can feed kittens with dry food for adult cats. They will gladly eat it. But this food should only be temporary! A kitten fed only on food that's not suited to its age risks developing severe deficiencies.
In addition to being smaller - and therefore easier to chew and swallow - dry food for kittens provides our baby cats with all the essential nutrients they need to develop properly, which are not found in dry food for neutered or non-neutered adult cats.
As kittens grow, they need food higher in calories and fat, as well as higher levels of minerals, especially calcium and phosphorus.
For instance, a phosphorus-deficient kitten risks having a very low level of endurance or bowed legs (poor skeletal growth). A deficiency in calcium may lead to bone demineralization, causing frequent fractures and hypocalcemia (compulsive licking of extremities, digestive problems, epilepsy).
These macro-elements are only present in low amounts in adult dry food as they stop being an essential part of their diet. A higher intake could even be harmful.
Download our guide to find out more about kitten nutrition. Care, diet - we share all our tips on how to keep your kitten healthy.
7. Dry food should be an all-you-can-eat buffet!
Our couch tigers are light nibblers, meaning they have several small meals during the day and night. It's ideal to have a readily-available supply of dry food for them so that they don't get frustrated. That said, having dry food constantly available is only possible for cats that can self-regulate. Unfortunately, this isn't the case for all cats.
Some may be prone to gluttonous behaviour. If their bowl is always full, some cats may eat more than they need. This excessive food intake can lead to becoming overweight, obese, and in the long run, developing diabetes.
Ideally, our felines should get at least 4 meals a day (made up of wet food), and a bit of dry food in a dispensing toy. Once again, wet food brings only benefits. Being rich in water keeps our furry friends' hydrated. It's also satisfying, as it makes the stomach feel full, and above all, it's low in calories.
Keep in mind that portions must be sized according to your cat’s needs. Use our portion calculator to calculate your cat’s ideal portion size.
8. Grain-free dry food is always better
We notice more and more 'grain-free' labelled dry food popping up on the market, and it has become the main thing that many of us look out for. But is this dry food necessarily better for our cats' health? Yes and no.
Grain-free dry food is, as its name suggests, free from grain. A good point since grain isn’t part of our felines' natural diet in the wild (grain is very hard to digest). They don't eat either wheat or corn. Barley even less so. However, they do ingest a little as grain could be found in their prey's stomach.
BUT!
To manufacture them, it's essential to use starch, a carb 'stored by plants in granules which, when ground, provide a paste'. This is the glue that allows the dry food to hold together and have an airy, crispy texture. No one’s found a better solution to this.
Other sources of starch such as tapioca, sweet potato, lentils, or chickpea flour are currently used to replace grain. Such substitutes can provide lots of carbs (carbohydrates). Some dry foods can be up to 50% carbs, making them much more harmful than those containing a bit of wheat or rice.
Our kitties are not equipped to digest, absorb, and metabolise large amounts of carbs. Moreover, eating a lot can lead to serious weight gain. As mentioned above, products that are too rich in carbs can increase the insulin secretion demand, predisposing your cat to diabetes.
It's important to check the carb content on the back of the bag. If it's not mentioned, simply add up all the rates of the analytical components: crude protein, crude fat, crude ash, crude fiber, and moisture. Subtract it from 100 and you’ve worked out the carb content.
Note that starch is not required to produce wet food. But some manufacturers still add it. With Ziggy, no need to pull out your calculator, all our wet food for cats contains less than 2% carbs 😺.
Our grain-free dry food contains between 18% and 24% carbs, at most.
9. Cats should only eat meat
Our cats are strict carnivores. This means they cannot do without animal proteins in their diet. These are essential as they are the source of the 11 amino acids vital to their health.
They include: taurine, arginine, phenylalanine, methionine, valine, leucine, isoleucine, lysine, tryptophan, threonine, and histidine.
All these micronutrients contribute to the proper functioning of their body (immunity, growth, digestion, reproduction) and their structure (bones, skin, muscles, fur).
However, feeding them exclusively meat could lead to severe deficiencies, as in addition to proteins, our little friends need to find fats (essential fatty acids), vitamins, and minerals (phosphorus, calcium, sodium, etc.) in their food to stay healthy.
Meat, for example, contains more phosphorus than calcium. This macro element facilitates muscle contraction, blood coagulation, and nerve function. Calcium is also a structural component of bones and teeth. A calcium-deficient cat may develop a demineralised skeleton, have fragile bones, and a spine that loses its strength and takes on an abnormal S shape.
Our furry friends also need fibre in their diet to maintain good transit. In the wild, this is obtained by eating the skin and digestive content of prey (eg. mice), along with a little grass.
For these reasons, feeding your cat only meat can be very dangerous for their health. While being strict carnivores, cats also need other nutrients in their food.
10. The more you spend on your food, the higher the quality will be
Eating well inevitably costs more.
We can see this every day while shopping for ourselves. Cheap products are rarely of high quality. Greenhouse-grown tomatoes from the Netherlands, for example, are much less tasty than sun-grown ones from the South of France. The same goes for fruit juice. Cheap products are made from concentrates and not from fresh fruits.
Our little felines are no different.
When you pay 3€/kg for dry food or 0.40€ for a can of wet food, you can't expect to provide quality for your kitty. These products contain more plant than animal protein, because they’re cheaper and more easily available. Don't expect premium organ meats and real muscle cuts in cheap cat food, they are even more costly.
However, the opposite is not necessarily true.
Expensive food doesn't guarantee quality. Some 'premium' products may, for instance, contain a lot of carbs.
Another point to highlight: some brands don't get advice from qualified vets, nutritionists, or agronomists. But thanks to clever marketing strategies, they still sell their trays and pouches at exorbitant prices. That’s why it’s so important to know your way around cat food labels to avoid falling into common pitfalls, risking your cat’s health and wasting a lot of money!
Pay particular attention to overpriced products claiming to be 'vet-approved'. This promise means absolutely nothing, as we do not know who these vets are. They could actually be just about anyone, with no checks ever carried out.
At Ziggy, we don't compromise on quality.
At Ziggy, all our recipes, including our dry food for cats, have been developed by Dr. Géraldine Blanchard, an internationally renowned vet and cat nutrition specialist with great expertise in clinical nutrition.
We preferred to put our trust in her, rather than being guided by purely marketing choices. As a result, our products don't compromise on quality. Every ingredient in our recipes is selected for its specific nutritional value. You can find out everything about our products in our commitments section.
11. By-products are just waste.
When reading the list of ingredients for dry and wet food, you often see "animal by-products". In the collective consciousness, by-products are abattoir waste. In reality, that is not the case.
All animal products, noble or otherwise, are downgraded to 'category 3 by-products' as soon as they are used in animal feed. A prime chicken fillet is, for example, considered a by-product.
European regulations are very strict: in pet products, all raw materials used must come from healthy animals that have been slaughtered under veterinary control and declared fit for human consumption.
Read all about it in our article on by-products used in cat food.
12. A cat suffering from kidney disease should eat little protein.
Kidney disease is one of the three leading causes of death in our furry friends. So faced with this condition affecting the kidneys, many pet parents head to the internet to gather information. And unfortunately, the information published is often wrong.
Fake news alert, we often hear, Cats with kidney disease require a protein-restricted diet.
To date, no study has shown that restricting animal proteins helps the kidney function of sick cats.
A low protein diet may even further endanger the health of your furry friend. If they don't get enough quality proteins, they can catabolise their own muscle mass, and lose more weight. And this effect can cause an increase in creatinine in the body. Creatinine that then needs to be processed by kidneys that are already struggling to function properly.
A cat suffering from kidney disease needs a sufficient supply of proteins. Provided that is, the protein is of good quality.
When your little companions get 'bad' proteins, they don't metabolise them. Amino acids that have not been absorbed are eliminated through urine. Your kitty's sick kidneys will again be overworked.
Kidney disease is a very serious condition that unfortunately cannot be cured. Only a suitable and balanced quality diet can slow its progression. Read all about it in our article on diets for cats suffering from kidney disease.
At Ziggy, your furry friend's health is our priority. We have developed special wet food for cats with kidney failure, the Ziggy VET CKD (Chronic Kidney Disease) wet food.
13. You can feed your cats leftovers.
It’s the same dance every meal, your cat only has eyes for your plate, comes purring and rubbing against you to try to get a little piece of whatever you're eating. And because you fall for his charm, you give him a bit of cheese or a piece of that delicious cake you lovingly baked.
Watch out, some foods can be toxic for your little friend.
These include:
- Sauces made from garlic and onion.
- Avocado contains persin, a fungicidal toxin which is harmless to humans, but dangerous and even sometimes fatal to cats. If your cat starts licking your avocado toast, immediately get him away!
- Raw potato. It contains solanine which is toxic and, when ingested, can cause digestive and nerve disorders.
Some non-toxic food can only be given in small quantities, otherwise they may cause digestive problems.
- Cheese, eaten in large quantities can cause pancreas inflammation. To avoid any risk, keep your cheddar out of your cat's reach.
- Spinach. This green vegetable, often served with sour cream, is rich in oxalic acids that can cause urinary problems.
- Tuna in tins is far too salty for our furry friends.
- Meat cold cuts. Our kitties love them, but like cheese, ham, sausage, and other meaty treats they can cause pancreas inflammation.
Find out more with our list of 30 foods that are dangerous or toxic for your cat.
What treats can you give your cat? We have listed 5 healthy treats for your cat.
14. Cats drink milk
This is probably the biggest myth. No, cats don't need milk! Many are even lactose intolerant (milk sugar). This intolerance usually manifests itself as digestive issues, such as diarrhea.
Undigested lactose remains in the intestine and is then fermented by bacteria in the intestinal flora.
The only milk they can tolerate is their mother's milk when they are kittens, or special milk prescribed by a vet if the mother can no longer supply it.
Kittens can digest the lactose from their mother because lactase, an enzyme promoting lactose digestion, is particularly active in their body. But this enzyme wears off once the kitten becomes an adult.
15. You can feed them raw fish.
It all depends on which kind of fish!
Certain fish contain thiaminase, an enzyme that destroys thiamine.
What is thiamine?
As explained in our article on brewer's yeast, thiamine is the name for vitamin B1. This is essential for the proper functioning of our cat's body. This water-soluble vitamin concentrates in the heart, kidney, and brain.
A thiamine deficiency can cause beriberi, a disease also found in humans, manifesting as muscle weakness and neurological disorders (ventroflexion of the head, seizures).
You can give your cat raw fish in small quantities, but only certain kinds. Among the fish containing thiaminase, are albacore tuna, carp, California anchovy, Atlantic herring, and sardines. It's also best to cook fish first to avoid any risk of food poisoning.
There are dozens of misconceptions about cats' diets to be added to the list. Since feline nutrition is a new and very complex subject, it's not unusual to come across false information.
For fish-loving cats, we offer Ziggy's wet food and dry food with salmon. It's a delicious, healthy, and balanced recipe that perfectly meets their nutritional needs.
Everything you need to know about your cat's diet is in this guide.
At Ziggy, your furry friend's health is our top priority, and we always share as many tips as possible to debunk the myths and help you provide the best nutrition for your cat.
This guide includes all our tips on deciphering what’s on the label of your cat's dry and wet food packet.
Bonjour,
N’hésitez pas à utiliser notre calculateur de ration proposé sur notre site pour connaître la quantité de croquettes à donner à votre chat. 😺 Il se trouve dans la rubrique accompagnement. Vous pouvez aussi nous contacter directement par email à hello@ziggyfamily.com. Nos Cat Moms vous aideront à trouver la gamelle idéale.
Plein de caresses à Louis. 🐈💕
L’équipe Ziggy
Bonjour,
Louis, Maine Coon, mon compagnon, a testé vos croquettes. J’envisage de le nourrir avec.
Louis, castré, fait 10 kgs . Il a 3 ans, et je viens de l’adopter .
Combien de gramme par jour dois-je lui donner de croquettes
(Je n’ai eu que des petits chiens ..max 15 kgs , jamais obèses .)
Merci pour votre réponse
M.DM
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