Mary Allen
Meat is an extremely important part of cat nutrition. Whether chicken, beef, or lamb, raw or cooked – every cat has its own preferences. Find out which meat is suitable for cats and in which form it should be fed.
Animal proteins play an extremely important role in cat nutrition. Muscle meat in particular provides cats with this vital nutrient.
This Meat is Valuable For the Cat
Most types of meat hardly differ in terms of the content of vitamins, trace elements, and minerals. Nevertheless, there is a small but subtle difference. The meat from:
- beef
- pig
- poultry
- lamb
- horse
- Wild
- Poultry meat for cats
Chicken, turkey, duck, and goose are very healthy for cats. The advantages are:
- Rich in vitamin B niacin and vitamin A
- especially chicken and turkey low in calories and fat
- contains high-quality proteins
Poultry meat such as chicken and turkey is therefore also suitable as a light diet for diarrhea or vomiting. Cats especially like it cooked. You can also feed chicken and other types of poultry raw. Remove skin and bones. In this way, you save calories and avoid the risk of injury from swallowed bone splinters.
Beef And Other Red Meat For Cats
Beef, pork, and lamb, as well as other red meats, are important sources of iron for cats and should therefore not be missing from a cat’s diet. Cats need iron for blood formation.
Red meat is best served in the form of lean, small bites. Since loin or fillet is expensive meat products, you can use hearts as an alternative. The heart is low in calories, rich in vitamins, and tastes very good to cats. In principle, red meat, with the exception of pork, can also be fed raw without any problems.
Be Careful With Pork For Cats
Pork is also valuable for cats. Like other red meats, pork is rich in iron. Fat-free cooked and lean pork such as heart, fillet and escalope is a high-quality and low-calorie source of protein and is particularly suitable for cats who have to diet in order to lose weight.
Fatty parts of pork, such as pork belly and pork neck, on the other hand, are particularly tasty and healthy for cats because they are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids. Fatty pork is good for feeding emaciated cats.
Please note:
Never feed raw pork to your cat. Raw pork can contain the Aujeszky virus, which is deadly for cats and dogs! Raw meat for cats – yes or no?
More and more cat owners are choosing BARF as an alternative to ready-made food. In principle, you can feed your cat all types of meat raw. The big exception is pork. In principle, the following applies to raw feeding:
- Only feed raw meat that is also available for human consumption from well-run butcher shops.
- Pay close attention to hygiene during processing, because when you feed your cats raw meat there is always some risk of infection with pathogens and parasites – not only for the cat but also for the people who come into contact with it.
There are also cats who prefer cooked or roasted meat to raw meat. But: When meat is cooked, the substance taurine, which is essential for cats to survive, is lost. You then have to add this to your meals.
Meat Alone is Unhealthy For Cats
Muscle meat alone is not enough for your cat’s species-appropriate diet. This becomes clear when you look at the nutrients the cat takes in when it eats a prey animal: In addition to muscle meat, it also takes in skin and hair, innards, and the contents of the stomach of the prey animal and thus receives carbohydrates, fat, minerals, and vitamins.
An exclusive feeding with muscle meat would therefore lead to deficiency symptoms in the cat in the long run. Therefore, you still need to supplement meat rations with the rest of the food components. Only then can the cat’s diet be regarded as wholesome.