Some Facts About Grain-Free Cat Food

If you ask a veterinarian or a pet expert, you will get the same response: that the term grain free cat food has more to do with marketing than with the actual health of your cat.

There is no concrete evidence that prove grain free cat food is better than regular food.

Nothing definitive

All the studies that have been performed on grain free cat food have found nothing to separate them from regular cat food.

Both dry and canned cat food come in grain-free varieties. But when the grain free varieties are compared to the regular varieties of food, there are some surprising facts revealed.

These facts should be known and understood by cat parents so that they are able to choose healthy cat food.

Some surprising facts about grain-free cat food are:

• A number of grain free cat food brands actually contain grains. From barley to corn, so-called grain free foods sneakily add grain to the products and pet parents hardly notice.
• The amount of calories in regular and grain free cat food are usually the same. Although the types of calories are different, the amount of calories remains the same. Therefore if you want to switch to a grain free diet to help your cat lose weight, it isn't going to be of much help.
• Although the average grain free food has been found to have low amount of Carbohydrates when compared to regular cat food, this isn't true for all varieties of grain free food. In fact, some grain-free cat foods have the same or even higher levels of carbohydrates because of ingredients like potatoes, rice, and peas. Adding rice to a grain free product makes it the same as any other grain product.

• The most common animal ingredient in both grain and grain-free cat diets are chicken, duck, turkey, egg, and fish, while the most common plant-based ingredient are potatoes, peas, cranberries, and carrot.

The most common plant-based ingredients in grain foods are rice, flax, oats, and cranberries. Some grain-free products also have rice included in the ingredient list.

The bottomline

Just because you’re feeding your cat grain-free food, it doesn’t mean you’re giving them healthy cat food. Therefore, instead of blindly trusting grain-free food, you should understand the ingredients that go into every product and also consult your vet to figure out the best diet for your beloved kitty.