Just as we do for ourselves, we believe in feeding for health and nutrition for our cats and not just to fill their tummies, so we have spent a great deal of time studying the best diets for our babies. We feed high quality foods that may seem more expensive but, we are what we eat, so if by eating more healthfully and more biologically appropriate foods means less trips to the vet, then we believe it is worth it and might even be more economical in the long run.
If you would like to follow our recommendations, here’s a short and sweet summary of what we feed. To understand more comprehensively why we have made these recommendations, please read on! The health of our cats is of utmost importance to us, so we’re happy to chat with you about any questions you may have, feel free to email us!
Raw Food - Darwin's
(use our code ‘Owlington’ for a one month trial of food for $14.95, plus free treats! Your purchase will also go towards the charity Stray Cat Alliance!)
Wet Food - Weruva
Weruva Slide ‘n Serve Pate (flavors - Jeopuurdy Licious, Let’s Make a Meal)
Dry Food - Farmina's
Farmina Chicken & Pomegranate Kitten Food
Treats - Churu Purée
Probiotics - Proviable
Why a raw diet is best?
Cats are naturally carnivores, they thrive on high protein, high moisture diets that are rich in amino acids, fatty acids and other essential vitamins and minerals only found in meat. The goal of a raw diet is to mimic what a cat would eat in the wild, that means including not only muscle meat but also organ meat, and bones which makes the diet most biologically appropriate for our feline babies. You may have heard of this as the ‘BARF’ diet which stands for Bones And Raw Food. For cats that have never been exposed to raw diets before, it may take some time to transition, so be patient but it'll be so worth it in the long run!
A raw diet may seem more expensive initially, but our cats’ overall health is much better, their energy levels are higher, their bowel movements are normal (and not smelly which really helps if you live in a smaller home), and they do not develop food sensitivities and over time, so we actually save more money since our cats don’t develop allergies or ailments that might warrant a visit to the vet for medications.
You might be wondering, is it safe to feed my cat raw food? While it is true raw food may contain pathogens like E. Coli or Salmonella, cats have shorter and more acidic digestive tracts than human, allowing them to digest raw foods without any issues most of the times.
Darwin’s has offered our friends & family a trial offer for a month of raw diet delivered straight to your doorstep for only $14.95. Use our code ‘Owlington’ at checkout and also get a free pack of treats with your order. In addition, your purchase total will be donated to Stray Cat Alliance to support kittens in need! We really encourage everyone to at least use the trial offer to give it a try!
Click here, answer a few questions about your cat, and input our code 'Owlington' into the promo code section before checkout to get the promo + freebies + make a donation all at the same time!
Why we also feed wet food?
As mentioned above, cats need a high moisture diet to ensure they get enough fluid intake because cats naturally do not drink enough water on their own. A lack of fluid intake overtime can lead to potential health issues - less serious ones like constipation to more serious and life threatening such as kidney disease. So feeding your cat a diet high in moisture is one of the most important things you can do for your companion.
Not all wet food brands are the same, we prefer Weruva because they use high quality proteins, no fillers and the food is produced in a human food facility. The important things to look out should you want to look for another brand, is to avoid meat by products and fillers. We like to avoid anything in the ingredients list that looks like any type of meat by product meal (chicken, beef, pork etc), meat by-products which indicates the meat might have been rendered. Also look for the nutritional analysis to see what % is carbs. Carbs is not good for cats. Cats naturally cannot digest carbs and vegetables and it has little nutritional value to them. Avoid grains, corn, and wheat gluten. Wheat gluten is an especially popular cheaper alternative to actual muscle meat protein, avoid at all cost!
Lastly, at Bearington Cats, we also like to avoid Tuna and Salmon as the main flavors that our cats consume. We believe a little is ok, but not as the only proteins that your cat should eat. This is because a synthetic form of Vitamin K is added to all wet food that contains at least 25% fish since fish protein naturally does not provide enough Vit K. However, studies in Germany have shown that this synthetic form of Vit K over time can cause liver disease in other animals. No studies have ever been done on the long term effect of synthetic Vit K on cats yet, so we believe it is best to avoid feeding this as the sole flavor / diet to our cats. The other issue with feeding only fish flavor foods is that you’ll notice a lot of cats become ‘addicted’ to the fish flavor because the smell is stronger and more enticing, and over time you might have trouble getting them to eat other proteins.
Is there a good dry food option?
We also feed dry food when the situation warrants it. As we all have recently experienced (cat) food shortages due to supply chain issues, we have learned that having a backup plan to a backup plan is necessary sometimes! With dry food, there is only 1 brand that we have trusted to feed our cats, its called Farmina and its an Italian cat food brand. Dry cat food (kibbles) is usually very high in carbs due to the process of extruding / creating the kibble form. And as mentioned above, cats have no need for carbs, they can easily become overweight on a dry food only diet. However, Farmina brand dry food actually has less carbs than a lot of commercial wet cat food brands out there, and they also only use real meat, no meat by products, grain free & no fillers.
Please remember, if for whatever reason, your baby ends up eating mostly dry food, please be sure they consume A LOT more water and has access to a water fountain at all times. (Refer to our products list for which fountains we recommend)
Want to earn extra snuggles from your baby?
Last but not least, we LOVE Churu as a treat for our cats. We don’t know what is in it, but we call it kitten crack because every single cat I’ve come across goes MAD for it! Emotional well being is as important as physical health, so we love seeing our cats get excited over this treat! It is also great for mixing any probiotics or medicine that you may need to get your cat to eat.
Last but not least - consider probiotics!
Probiotics are 'good' bacteria necessary to create a healthy gut biome. A healthy gut is needed for proper food digestion and absorption. We have found Proviable to be the best because of the high concentration of active live cultures that is needed to help populate the intestinal tract in order to elicit a beneficial response. Proviable contains 7 strains of probiotic microorganisms plus 2 prebiotics. The high amounts of active cultures is especially beneficial during times of imbalance ie: if your baby is having digestive upset due to stress or eat something inappropriate or after antibiotics treatment. Antibiotics wipe out both good and bad bacteria so it's especially important to follow up with a probiotic after antibiotics treatment. Your vet might recommend Purina's FortiFlora product instead, in our humblest opinion, we recommend you decline their offer and purchase Proviable. Vets love to recommend Purina's FortiFlora but if you compare the labels, Proviable actually has ALOT more active cultures so it works faster, and its often cheaper. We recommend 1 capsule a day, especially during periods of transition such as when moving into a new home or travels. (we are not sponsored by Proviable or FortiFlora to say this, we just truly believe it)
We hope you found this information on cat nutrition helpful! Leave us a comment, we're happy to answer questions and if you find a brand of food that's better, please share it with everyone!
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