My black cat's fur is turning red, why?

A nutritional deficiency

A healthy coat is mainly due to a good, healthy and balanced cat diet . If your little black cat's hair is turning red, it may be suffering from a deficiency in phenylalanine (tyrosine) , an essential amino acid provided by proteins.

Phenylalanine, found mainly in beef, poultry, pork and fish, plays a role in the production of melanin (pheomelanin, eumelanin). A deficiency in this amino acid can cause a reddish black coat. Also note that a cat deficient in phenylalanine can present neurological disorders (ataxia, hyperactivity, hypersalivation), significant weight loss and anorexia.

In addition to a phenylalanine deficiency, your cat may also have a copper deficiency , a trace mineral that, if not taken in enough, can cause discoloration of the coat.

To keep your little black cat's beautiful fur, its diet must be rich in protein , so that it provides it with all the essential amino acids for its health, including the famous phenylalanine.

But be careful about the quality of the proteins. Some foods are very rich in proteins, but they actually contain carcass or collagen… Protein sources that have a low capacity to provide essential amino acids to the cat.

To learn more, don't hesitate to consult our article on proteins in your cat's diet . We explain what these "bad" proteins are and how to spot them on the packaging of your cat's kibble and pâtés.

At Ziggy, quality is our watchword. In our cat food, we only use muscle and noble offal as animal proteins, which are very nutritionally rich and highly assimilated by our cats.