Cat Food Ingredients

How to read the label on cat food

Many foods contain meat by-products, animal digest, meat meal or bone meal. The nutritional values of these types of ingredients can vary greatly from batch to batch. In poultry, these are ground, rendered and cleaned parts of necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines. These parts of the animal are generally less nutritious for pets and are of a lesser quality.

It is better, say experts, to look for specific origins when it comes to ingredients. "Chicken meal," for example, consists of chicken flesh and skin, without bone, feathers, organs, feathers, etc. A label that says "meat meal," however, doesn't indicate a source and can come from just about any animal. Experts say beef meal is a lesser-quality protein source for cats than chicken meal.

In dry foods, seeing meat at the top of an ingredient list can be a little misleading as meat has a high water content that's removed when it is processed into dry cat food. Meal, on the other hand, is meat with the water removed, and finding it high up in the ingredient list is a good indication of a high-protein dry food. Again, however, better cat foods will identify the source of the meal.

There are two schools of thought regarding the use of by-products in pet food. One point of view says that in the wild, a cat will eat every part of its prey -- bones, fur, internal organs and all -- therefore by-products are a part of a cat's natural diet so a small amount of by-product might not be too bad. Among those is Dr. Lisa A. Pierson, DVM, whose CatInfo.org website states, "The whole issue of by-products or no by-products is a personal one." Pierson goes on to say that by-products at least are of animal origin and don't add carbohydrates to the food. She adds that it "makes more sense to include small amounts of animal-derived by-products in a carnivore's diet than it does to add hypoallergenic grains like corn, wheat or soy." Others, such as Susan Peters, oppose all by-products in cat food. Her cat food rating system equally penalizes foods for the presence of carbohydrates and by-products. Most premium foods contain few, if any, by-products.

Note that in poultry-based cat foods, by-product meals are labeled as such. However, in other types of cat food, by-product meal can be misleadingly -- though legally -- labeled as meat and bone meal (MBM) or beef and bone meal.

You also might see an ingredient called "animal digest," which is the dry or liquid by-product of the meat rendering process. Experts say that while there is meat content in animal digest, it's of little nutritional value as it is not very digestible. Animal digest is almost never found in top-quality cat foot brands.

Artificial preservatives also give cat owners pause. There have been no studies done to determine the effects of long-term buildup of preservatives. Even so, use of preservatives in human food has become a concern and that has translated to pet food. Based on customer concerns, the best cat foods have switched to Vitamins C or E as preservatives rather than chemical preservatives. If you decide to avoid artificial preservatives, check the label. Some common names of these chemicals include BHA/BHT, ethoxyquin and propyl gallate.

Reviews say that cats need meat much more than carbohydrates and some say that they don't need carbohydrates at all. In general, foods that contain primarily high-quality protein -- meat rather than meat by-products or grain fillers -- rank much higher in reviews. Many supermarket brands use comparatively more carbohydrate fillers -- such as corn or wheat -- which means your cat needs to eat more food in order to get the protein he or she needs. That, in turn, can impact your food costs in the long run, as well as your cat's overall health.