Discover Facts

Did you know that an astounding 90% of cat owners don’t know their feline’s true dietary requirements? As America’s most popular pet, with over 94 million domesticated cats, that’s a lot of clueless cat parents. Read on as we dig into the details around proper cat nutrition and what cats actually like to eat for good health and happiness.

It’s generally accepted that cats are picky eaters. However, there is a method to their craziness. To keep your cat healthy and properly nourished, it’s important to understand your feline’s dietary needs, tastes, and preferences when it comes to food.

A Carnivore Through and Through

At heart, cats are meat eaters. As members of the family Felidae, they are obligate carnivores, meaning they need a diet consisting primarily of animal flesh to thrive.

In fact, cats lack specific metabolic pathways to utilize plant nutrients efficiently. For example, they cannot produce enough taurine, an amino acid essential for heart and eye health, without meat. So while cats may nibble on grass or enjoy an occasional veggie treat, they rely on the nutrition in animal proteins.

Key Nutrients Cats Need

To stay in tip-top shape, it’s essential cats get sufficient amounts of certain key nutrients in their diets. This includes:

• Protein – Provides amino acids for building and maintaining muscle mass along with supporting metabolic function. Cat food should have at least 18% protein from meat, poultry, eggs or fish.
• Fat – Supplies fatty acids for skin health, energy needs, and other bodily functions. Kitties need food with at least 5% fat content.
• Vitamins and minerals – For vision, digestion, immunity and more. Taurine, Vitamin A, calcium and magnesium are especially vital.
• Water – Prevents dehydration and helps regulate body temperature and waste removal. Cats tend not to drink enough. Wet food provides hydration!

What Human Foods Can Cats Eat?

While commercial cat food formulated specifically for feline nutrition is best, many cat parents wonder – can I share tidbits of my own human food? Experts say yes, you can, but in moderation! Cats can eat some human foods like peaches, cabbage, & pomegranates, etc.

Here Some safe, healthy human foods cats enjoy include:

• Cooked boneless, skinless chicken or turkey
• Canned (water-packed) tuna or salmon
• Plain yogurt
• Scrambled or hard-boiled eggs
• Baby carrots and green beans
• Small pieces of cantaloupe or watermelon

Just avoid spicy dishes, garlic, onions, chocolate, nuts, seeds, raw meat or eggs, and anything with xylitol in it, as that’s toxic to cats.

Dry vs. Wet Cat Food – Which Do Cats Prefer?

Cat owners often wonder if they should feed dry kibble or canned wet food. So which type of cat food do felines naturally like best?

There are pros and cons to both:

Dry cat food

• Usually cheaper per ounce
• Helps keep teeth clean
• Can be left out for cats to free-feed
• Comes in array of flavors and textures

Wet cat food

• Has much higher moisture content
• Increased protein and fat
• More meat taste cats crave
• Easier for young and old cats to eat
• Promotes hydration in cats

Most vets recommend feeding a combo of wet and dry food. Dry kibble helps with dental health but lacks the hydration cats need, while wet food offers robust nutrition and taste with less dental scrubbing action.

Offer both types to please your furry feline while meeting their overall dietary requirements!

A Cat’s Sense of Taste Guides Food Preferences

Ah, now we get to the heart of why cats can be so picky! The truth is, our whiskered friends have a far more sensitive sense of taste than humans do.

• Cat tongues have fewer taste buds than dogs but still over 470 of them compared to humans’ 9,000.
• They boast an extra organ called the vomeronasal or Jacobson’s organ on the roof of their mouth detecting pheromones/chemicals.
• This gives cats extremely heightened taste and smell capabilities.

In fact, while humans register sweet, salty, sour, bitter and savory (umami) flavors, cats can perceive two special tasty flavors people can’t – amino acids found in meats and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) molecules abundant in muscle tissue.

No wonder Fluffy goes crazy for canned tuna but turns up her nose if her dinner tastes too bland!

Top Flavors Cats Can’t Resist

So what food flavors do cats like best? Here are their top tempting tastes:

1. Meaty – Beef, Chicken, Turkey

Savory meat flavors appeal strongly to cats’ craving for protein-packed fare. Wet foods often list real beef, chicken, turkey or other meat as the first ingredient with added meat juices sure to entice kitty appetites.

2. Fishy – Tuna, Salmon, Shellfish

The aroma of seafood drives kitties wild since their keen sense of smell can detect it from a mile away! Skip the fake fish flavors – most cats desire real salmon, tuna or shellfish taste and textures in their bowls.

3. Cheesy – Sharp Cheddar, Parmesan

Surprisingly cats relish rich, pungent cheese as a tasty treat, especially sharp cheddar, parmesan, Swiss or Romano. It’s smart to shred or finely grate cheeses before serving cats a petite nibble.

4. Milk-like – Milky sauces or broths

While cow’s milk can cause tummy troubles for grown cats, creamy milk-like flavors are quite popular. Many cozy up quickly to dishes like kitten formula, creamy soups and chowders or wet foods boasting milky, buttery pan sauces.

In the end, whatever flavors most closely mimic the taste of real meat and fish appeal strongly to cats due to their evolutionary drive to consume fresh animal prey.

Feeding Habits of Cats in the Wild

To gain more insight into why domestic cats like certain flavors and textures of food, it helps to consider the natural feeding habits of wild felines that cats inherited genetically. 

In their original forest environment, wild cats were solitary hunters feeding mainly on small birds and mammals captured live with their quick paws and sharp teeth.

Unlike pack animals, cats lacked the social structure and skills to cooperate in hunting much larger prey. But they found evolutionary success in pursuing smaller game they could swiftly ambush and devour fresh on their own.

This is why present-day domestic cats still prefer cat food with the following qualities that aligns with their ancestral wild diets:

• Meaty, savory flavors
• Soft, shredded textures
• Warm, fresh aromas they can smell from across the house
• Juicy gravies replicating blood and marrow
• Discrete portion sizes allowing them to eat one serving at a time
• Bright colors and interesting shapes they can pounce on

It’s simply in cats’ nature to desire food with the look, smell and taste of recently killed fresh prey!

Best Practices on Feeding Your Feline

Now that you know why cats like the flavors they do, follow these tips ensuring your pet gets the tasty nutrition they crave:

• Mix wet and dry foods to balance flavors, textures and hydration
• Serve 2-3 small meals at the same times daily rather than free-feeding
• Don’t give only fish to avoid vitamin deficiencies
• Add extra water to dry food to increase moisture intake
• Incorporate special toppings like broths, cat milk or tuna juice
• Offer tasty treats in toys making cats “hunt” for them

Soon you’ll have a happy, healthy kitty eagerly anticipating each satisfying small mealtime full of their favorite feline flavors!, Catheist is great alternate to get health tips about your kitty.