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Why Healthy dog treats are vital for CATS too

cat-liking-cat-and-dog-treats

cat-liking-cat-and-dog-treats I received an email last week from a very satisfied customer who had bought packs of roo tendons for their dog, and they wondered if their cat could have them too.

While mostly dog food companies want you to think that dogs are run of the mill omnivores (they are not, they are 90% carnivore) – cats are generally, universally agreed upon to be obligate carnivores.

Essentially with dogs evolving from wolves only 20,000 years ago, between farmers and regular pet owners trying to save money by feeding dogs inappropriate grain food or food scraps, the domestic dog has built up a resistance to grain and been able to process it somewhat, but nowhere near the bio availability of meat and offal (their original foods they hunted).

This is how petmed (who makes money from Google ads and commercial dog and cat food ads on their site) describes the difference  ” Both species are in the Class Mammalia and the Order Carnivora, but here’s the difference: The cat cannot sustain its life unless it consumes meat in some form. Dogs, however, are able to survive on plant material alone; they do not have to consume meat. But always keep in mind that dogs do best and by nature are primarily meat-eaters.”

This kind of ‘mealy mouthed’ statement is the reason that dog food companies have gotten away with feeding dogs inferior cheap chaff for years.

They say that cats need to following chemicals in the converted forms that other animals have processed plant matter in (so they eat meat to get these chemicals) –  preformed vitamin (vitamin A,  Niacin).   Cats – Must eat preformed amino acid – Taurine (from a meat source).

This is why cat food (that can be grain based for cheapness) has to have these extra high doses of these preformed chemicals to sustain your cats life. But of course it would be better if they just ate 100% meat in the first place.

Why domestic cats NEED but often don’t like 100% meat treats.

Cats like dogs have sharp teeth for ripping and shredding meat, not a lot of grinding teeth at the back of the mouth for grinding down grain and veggie matter. So to make it easier for the modern cat, and to sell more cat food, cat food is either like soup or very easy to break down pellets. The grain has been pre shredded, pulverised and heat treated to provide little nutrition besides something solid to hold artificial chemicals and a little meat in.

If your domestic cat doesn’t regularly catch its own introduced birds and mice, its jaw and gums are likely to be in a very weakened state. Unless your cat is eating 100% meat cat food, our 100% meat dog treats are an ideal addition.

Why cats have loose stools on meat dog treats

If a cat or a dog have not had a substantial amount of 100% real meat before in their life, their digestive system (enzymes and bacteria) need to get accustomed to processing the meat. This can even happen with 100% meat beef and chicken treats. If your dog is not allergic to these meat types, then you need to do as recommended with any change of diet, change it slowly and persist.

Why you cat needs you to shred the meat treats for them

Having grown accustomed to having its food turned into soup or small bite-sized pieces, cats get lazy. If they have not caught the animal themselves, the thrill of the chase doesn’t translate over to the thrill of consumption. A small domestic cat has a small mouth, and may not even recognised the vital food source as food!  To help it along we recommend using scissors or other kitchen implement to break the dog treats down into very small bite-sized pieces.

Why some meat treats have ‘DO NOT FEED TO CATS’ on them

We still supply some dog treats supplied by Black Dog. These are a tiny percentage of the treats we sell. As of June 2017 most of their pork products, duck jerky, chicken breast, chicken discs were still imported products. Due to food contamination issues in America in previous years, globally most countries have decided to either ban imports, irradiate imports (to sterilise bacteria and make it safe) AND put “Do not feed to cats” tags on labels – in case the any of the import process diminishes the quality of the product. The reality is this tag is about industry protection NOT pet protection.

There are plenty of studies to suggest that irradiation makes treats safer than local treats not irradiated, and that it is perfectly fine to feed any treat that you can feed to a dog to a cat. Its a form of American protectionism for their local industries that now damages the image of treats around the world.  if you are concerned we ALSO sell: Aussie chicken breast treat, Aussie pigs ears etc. however many customers still prefer the blackdog treats, so we still currently stock them.

CONCLUSION

If you feed your cat, commercial cat food, check if it has ONLY meat in it. If it doesn’t then using a 100% meat dog treat supplement for your dog AND cat is a great idea.

If you are concerned about imported treats at all, we have mentioned above which ones we currently stock that are, and you can avoid buying these if you so wish.

Only imported dog treats have “do not feed to cats” on the packet – yet if a dog is able to be fed it, then you can see that this is just sad USA marketing.  Or you can ask for us to confirm at any time.  We only stock treats that are safe for pets to eat.

Dog Nutrition
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