Mary Allen
The addition of sugar to wet food unsettles cat owners. Obesity, caries, and diseases such as diabetes are feared. Are these fears justified? Experts can give the all-clear.
Is sugar in cat food dangerous? Does he make the animals sick and fat? Many cat owners are concerned. Accordingly, the topic is also omnipresent in forums. The fact is, many wet cat foods contain sugar. And that despite the fact that cats – unlike dogs – cannot taste “sweet” at all. That is confusing.
In order to get to the bottom of the questions, it must first be clarified what is actually meant by sugar. “Sugar” is a lot more than white table sugar. In fact, nature has made the most diverse sugar compounds from a few basic forms. All of these sugars together make up carbohydrates. There are simple sugars, double sugars, triple sugars, and multiple sugars. The best known are probably white table sugar (sucrose) and fruit sugar (fructose), which is mainly found in fruits. But cellulose (the main component of plant cell walls) and chitin (e.g. insect and crab shells) are also carbohydrates. And what is in the cat food?
The Lining Should Look Nice
“Carbohydrates are found in cat food in particular in the form of starch from grain or potatoes and in the form of roughage and non-fermentable fibers,” explains veterinarian Sabina Büttner from Tierfutter24.ch and iPet.ch. Sugar, as it is popularly known, is actually only found in wet food: “Mostly a form of sucrose, but it is also called caramel syrup, caramel color or dextrose.” The producers are aware that many cat owners would react sensitively if the ingredients said “sugar”: “That’s why they try to describe the addition of the added sugar differently.”
The reason for the controversial addition: the lining should look nice. “Of course, we know that dogs and cats have different ideas about what looks appetizing than we humans do. But the animal owner not only makes the decision to buy the animal but also unconsciously influences it through the inner attitude with which he gives his animal the food,” says veterinarian Julia Henner from Mars Schweiz AG in Zug. The company sells the cat food brands Whiskas, Sheba, Kitekat, Perfect Fit, Dreamies, and Exelcat. It sounds similar at Nestlé Purina PetCare Switzerland: “We use very small amounts of sugar in our wet food in order to achieve an even and intense color of the product during the cooking process,” says veterinarian Sandra Bruckner.
Although cats cannot feel sweet, both companies claim that added sugar increases palatability. “During the sterilization process of the wet food, aromas develop that cats can perceive with their sense of smell and taste,” explains Bruckner. And Henner says: “The addition of types of sugar in our recipes also serves to round off the taste of the product by reacting this sugar with the other ingredients during the heating process.”
Both Henner and Bruckner emphasize using only very small amounts of sugar in cat food. Less than 0.5 percent is added to the products sold by Mars Switzerland. Both manufacturers state that the cats’ health is in no way endangered by the additional sugar. “The addition of sugars in this minimal amount causes neither dental problems nor other diseases such as diabetes mellitus,” says Henner. The nutrient content of their products would correspond to the nutritional guidelines of the European Association of the Pet Food Industry (Fediaf): “We thus meet all the established criteria that are decisive for balanced and healthy cat food.”
Don’t Judge Cats from Humans
The two experts are convinced that diabetes mellitus in cats is not triggered by the small amount of added sugar, but rather by being overweight. According to Bruckner, the administration of certain medications and diseases of the pancreas are other possible causes. According to Bruckner, the small amount of sugar is not a cause of tooth decay either: “Cats suffer primarily from gingivitis and painful destruction of the hard tooth substance in the area of the tooth neck, which is not caused by sugar.”
“In my opinion, sugar is not the problem,” Büttner is also convinced: “The small amounts used have no negative effects on the health of the cats.” The assertion that sugar makes you fat or causes caries comes from findings in humans: “But the whole metabolism of sugar works differently in cats than in humans. Findings from human nutrition cannot simply be transferred to cats.”