With the advent of a pet named Meow, the question arises of creating a complete diet, when it is necessary to take into account the weight, breed and life characteristics of the animal. There is a misconception about feeding cats with one fish. Such food can play a cruel joke and result in a tragedy for the family - the loss of a pet. Being in a crazy rhythm of life, it’s hard to allocate proper time for preparing food for your pet, so the Sheba cat food was developed. The reviews of the owners who buy this delicacy praise him on the podium of the best food for a purring pet.
Malnutrition
A condition caused by malnutrition or malnutrition can occur in an animal when it is fed with natural products. Do not forget that giving the cat only one liver or river fish means that the pet will be doomed to kidney disease and thiamine deficiency. And to feed Murka from his pan is also unsafe. According to the nutritional strategy , cats belong to carnivores whose gastrointestinal tract is configured for meat processing. But man is an omnivore. For example, cats do not absorb vegetable oil, although saturation occurs earlier in an animal, which is why the body loses calories.
In the diet of the animal must be present: calcium, phosphorus, vitamin E, potassium, zinc. This makes it difficult to prepare homemade balanced feeds. Canned food for cats is the solution to the question of proper nutrition of a pet.
Types of feed
According to the method of preparation and texture, there are two types of food: wet and dry. Canned food is in airtight cans or aluminum packaging. The volume is usually small. The difference between this type of nutrition in low carbohydrate content and a higher proportion of water in its composition.
Dry food is produced in the form of granules of various shapes. The packaging volume in this case is much larger. For the price it is cheaper than its wet substitute. The advantage of dry nutrition in its long and safe stay in the pet's plate. That is, the food does not weather and does not disappear in the cat's bowl after 12 hours.
The indicated main types of cat food are divided into the following categories: for neutered, sterilized, pregnant, lactating animals and kittens up to one year old.
Categories and requirements
All the indicated food for pets, depending on the composition and ratio of components, differentiates into classes of cat food.
The budget option is the economy class. The main ingredient here is soy, with additional components - flavors. Such nutrition has low nutritional value. The animal is undoubtedly saturated with it, but it is not balanced.
The middle class includes canned food for cats made from products of higher quality. This food has a therapeutic line aimed at removing wool, preventing urolithiasis.
Foods of the categories "premium" and "super-premium" are the most expensive, since they lack soy, as well as a large proportion of carbohydrates.
The modern class of feed is holistic. The composition of the product uses meat of animal origin, and grown without antibiotics and other chemicals, and there are no vegetable proteins.
Veterinarian advice on choosing food
When purchasing food for an animal, it is necessary to abstract from advertising descriptions, happy faces of cats on food packages and focus on the totality of ingredients. For example, Sheba cat food will be considered, the reviews of veterinarians about which can be called positive, they only say good things about the quality of such food.
In the composition, meat is in the first place, which indicates its high content, when compared with the components listed below. The second position is offal. There is a lot of controversy regarding this component, it all depends on its quality and the conscientiousness of the manufacturers. Indeed, in a processed product it is difficult to see whether the tongue, liver, heart, or ground skin and bones are added to it. Considering that Sheba cat food belongs to the premium class, there remains hope for the inclusion of high-quality offal in its production.
The next component is taurine. This amino acid is essential for domestic cats. With its lack, the condition of the animal worsens, hair and teeth fall out. And the list of vitamins (A and E) completes the list of ingredients. The lack of carbohydrates in the feed is also a sign of good nutrition for the "meat-eating" furry.
Allergy
In most cases, dry food can cause an allergic reaction in the animal, expressed by baldness, itching, and digestive tract disorders. However, do not confuse the individual intolerance of any ingredient in the feed with allergies.
So far, a general picture of the allergic reaction of cats to food has not been revealed. Initially, it is recommended to exclude from the diet of the animal those foods that it has been eating recently. If positive changes do not appear, then it is likely that the antigen is not feed at all, but, for example, dust or synthetic litter. Sheba cat food is approved by veterinarians and pet owners in this regard. Although in the product line of this brand there is no special nutrition for animals with sensitive gastrointestinal tract. In all feeds of the Sheba firm there are no fragrances and dyes.
Cat Feed Rating
Finding an objective assessment of the quality of a particular feed is very difficult. Each manufacturer, trying to promote his product, creates ratings and gives leadership positions to his creation.
As for the composition of canned cat foods, the following classification is found according to their beneficial properties: Natureda, Innova Evo, Hill's, Gourmet, Felix, Brit and Sheba. Combines their presence in the composition of meat, probiotics, vitamins. The rating of cat food in terms of accessibility for 2014 was headed by popular brands: "Viskas", "Kitiket", "TerraKot".
Assortment "Sheba"
The manufacturer of premium food is Mars. This is a well-known company that produces fodder "Wiskas" and "Kitiket." The Sheba product line lacks specialized nutrition for sterilized and neutered animals, and dry food. The packaging of canned food is very convenient, one pack contains 80-85 grams, which is enough for one feeding an adult animal.
Sheba wet food is made from poultry, fish, seafood, veal and beef in a diverse combination of them. The main flavoring options:
- Beef with a rabbit.
- Tuna with salmon.
- Chicken with turkey.
- Veal with tongue.
- Duck with a chicken.
- Chicken with a rabbit.
- Trout with shrimp.
If you open a tin can, you can see not porridge, but whole pieces of shrimp, chicken and other ingredients.
Advantages and disadvantages
One of the advantages is the content of a sufficient amount of liquid (82 grams in one pack) in the Sheba line. Dry food contains only 10% water, while the cat's natural daily fluid intake should be 78%. And this is important because cats lack a feeling of intense thirst. Lack of fluid in an animal can trigger chronic dehydration. Those cats that eat dry food receive 1/2 less water.
Advantages of Sheba feed:
- Convenient packaging.
- Good premium staff.
- Lack of flavorings, dyes.
- The presence of vitamins and taurine.
- Nutrition: 75 kcal per standard 100 grams.
Disadvantages:
- Lack of special treatment series.
- The price is above average.
- Lack of classification of feed according to the age of the animal.
- The entire range is designed for cats older than 1 year.
All the disadvantages of commercial nutrition of this line are reduced to zero after the slogan declared by the manufacturer, they say, Sheba canned food is not intended as a main meal, but as a treat.
Goodies price and reviews
Since the product is declared as a delicacy, and you have to pay for delicacies, the food prices are above average. As of October 2015, the picture is as follows:
- Food in aluminum packaging with a volume of 85 grams in Russia costs 29 rubles, in Ukraine 16 UAH.
- For canned food (100 grams) in Russia you have to pay 86 rubles, in Ukraine - 38 UAH.
The recommendations of people who purchased this delicacy as food for their animals are different. Subjective opinions, therefore, judging the nutrition of this company, referring to the conclusions of people, will be incorrect. So, the Sheba cat food, the reviews gathered are:
- Many praise canned food, indicating the presence in them of whole pieces of shrimp and meat, which characterizes commercial feed as a product from natural ingredients. However, such food is very expensive for daily animal feeding. There are cases of cats recovering from allergies after introducing this brand of liquid nutrition into their diet.
- There are opinions about this feed and negative. So, the fact of getting used to “Sheba” and the individual intolerance expressed by disorders in the animal was noted by the owners of the furry pets.
What to do if food is a very expensive pleasure?
Sheba food, the average price of which is 50 rubles per 90 grams, is far from affordable for all cat owners. If you translate the product into kilograms, and that’s the way a person is accustomed to starting off when calculating the purchase price, then the price goes fabulous - 550 rubles in Russia (or 300 hryvnias in Ukraine). An adult cat, on the recommendation of the manufacturer, needs 3-4 packs per day, that is 270-360 grams. 2.2 kg are released per week, and 8.8 kg per month. Then the cost of a furry pet per month will be about 5 thousand rubles (or 2.6 thousand UAH). The amount is rather big, so the question arises of how to feed the animal.
The main product should be meat. Not boiled, but frozen. Milled bones or pre-acquired bone meal must be included in the diet . Vegetables at the discretion of the owner. Cats lack food enzymes to break down raw vegetables and fruits. If you add them to homemade food, then only in steamed form.
Recipe for Home-Based Balanced Nutrition
Approximate composition: 3 kg of chicken thighs (skin is removed from a half portion), 2 tablespoons of bone meal, a glass of water, 3-5 capsules of fish oil, 2 eggs (moreover, the yolk is raw, and the protein is slightly boiled), 50 mg of vitamin B complex, 268 mg of vitamin E, 2000 mg of taurine, which can be purchased at the pharmacy, 1 teaspoon of iodized salt, 100 grams of liver.
Meat, skin, liver, fish oil capsules are twisted, the rest of the ingredients are added here. You can form balls of about 40-50 grams and send them to the freezer. The animal should not be given frozen food. It must be pre-thawed or warmed up. A cat needs 5 of these balls per day . This amount is enough for one animal for 14 days. The price of food is about 800-1000 rubles, per month - about 2000 rubles. In order not to stand every day in the kitchen to prepare food for the animal, you can spend 2 hours once a month and prepare balanced food for 4 weeks in advance.
The recipe was taken from Dr. Lisa Pearson and is not recommended for cats with chronic kidney disease.