Pet lovers should be aware of what foods they are serving their pets to keep them healthy. Some ingredients in pet foods can be harmful even though they are legal to include in them. To help your cat stay healthy, avoid these cat food ingredients when buying canned or dry foods.
Beet Pulp
Beets are well-known for their high sugar content, so if you see beet pulp in cat food, try to avoid it. The additional sugar can cause obesity in a cat, which can lead to medical complications just as it does with humans.
It’s put in cat foods to harden their stool, but with a healthy diet, their stools are hard enough.
Fillers
An excessive amount of fillers in cat foods is not good for your pet. Dry foods can be up to 50 percent carbohydrate fillers, which includes corn or wheat gluten.
Wheat gluten is a cheap substitute for muscle meat protein and whole grains. It can contain melamine, which causes kidney failure.
Ethoxyquin
If a human cannot consume it, then neither should your pets. This chemical ingredient is illegal to put in human foods because it’s harmful if swallowed or touches the skin.
It’s found in pet foods to extend their shelf life. Fortunately, more pet food manufacturers are using Vitamins C and E as preservatives.
Meat By-Products
To maintain their health, cats should eat high-quality protein and not meat by-products that may be animal organs, blood, and bones. However, the ingredient list doesn’t designate from which animal. If you want to learn more about the cat food brands on the market, go to Cat Reviews.
Propylene Glycol
Be wary of cat foods with propylene glycol in them because it’s also an ingredient in antifreeze. This chemical is also found in medications and food additives for humans.
It helps preserve cat foods and makes them taste sweet, which is why they try to drink antifreeze even though it’s fatal to them.
Food Coloring
Just as humans shouldn’t eat foods with artificial food coloring, neither should your cat. Many food colors are extremely harmful, including Blue #2, which can cause brain tumors, Red #40, which has links to immune system cancers, and Yellow #5, which can trigger allergies.
BHT and BHA
These chemicals, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHT) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHA), are preservatives found in foods, including human foods, that prevents oils from going rancid. However, in many countries, they cannot be added to foods, and they have no nutritional value.
To be on the safe side, consider buying natural or organic foods for your cat. Oganic food, which has the USDA organic label on it, will contain 95 percent organic ingredients. Foods labelled, “made from organic ingredients,” will contain at least 70 percent organic ingredients.
By spending a little extra for a good quality cat food or organic cat food, you can avoid many of the ingredients on this list. The food will also help your feline friend stay healthier longer, so you can enjoy their company for many more years.
