06/27/2026
Part 1
Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition
Lisa A. Pierson, DVM
catinfo.org
Diet is the brick and mortar of health. This paper lays out some often-ignored principles of feline nutrition and
explains why cats have a much better chance at optimal health if they are fed a canned food diet instead of
dry kibble. Putting a little thought into what you feed your cat(s) can pay big dividends over their lifetime and
very possibly help them avoid serious, painful, life-threatening, and costly illnesses.
An increasing number of nutrition-savvy veterinarians are now strongly recommending the feeding of canned
food instead of dry kibble. However, many veterinarians are still recommending/condoning the feeding of dry
food to cats. Sadly, this species-inappropriate source of food only serves to promote disease in our cats as
discussed below.
Like medical doctors for humans, veterinarians receive very little training in school regarding nutrition. And
what is discussed is often taught by representatives of large pet food companies, or the curriculum is
sponsored - and heavily influenced - by members of the commercial pet food industry. This represents a
significant conflict of interest. After we leave veterinary school, the most commonly available source for our
nutrition ʻeducationʻ continues to be the large pet food companies that manufacture so-called ʻtherapeutic/
prescriptionʻ diets. Unfortunately, the result is that veterinarians are not always the best source of nutrition
advice.
Dry food addicts
If your cat is a dry food addict, please see Tips for Transitioning Dry Food Addicts to Canned Food in the
sidebar at catinfo.org. All cats can be switched to a water-rich, low-carb diet if their caregivers are very patient
and try enough tricks.
Whatʼs wrong with dry kibble - including any ʻprescriptionʼ diet that is sold by your veterinarian?
The three key negative issues associated with dry food are:
1) water content is too low - predisposing your cat to serious and life-threatening urinary tract diseases
including extremely painful and often fatal (and very expensive to treat) urethral obstructions
See Opieʼs pictures at catinfo.org (Urinary Tract Diseases) for a good look at the tremendous suffering
caused by feeding cats water-depleted diets.
2) carbohydrate load is too high - possibly predisposing your cat to diabetes, obesity, and intestinal disease
- note that low-carb dry foods are NOT healthy diets since they are still water-depleted and are harshly
cooked resulting in nutrient loss/alteration
3) type of protein - too high in plant-based versus animal-based proteins - cats are obligate carnivores and
are designed to eat meat, not grains/plants - grains only serve to enhance the profit margin of the pet food
company and do not promote the health of your cat
Other negative issues include:
✦ bacterial contamination (can lead to vomiting and diarrhea),
✦ fungal mycotoxins (contained in grains and are extremely toxic),
✦ insects and their f***s (can cause respiratory problems),
✦ ingredients that often cause allergic reactions, and
✦ all dry food is harshly cooked which destroys/alters vital nutrients.
My Cat is Doing Just "Fine" on Dry Food!
I often hear people make the above statement. However consider the following:
1✦ Every living creature is “fine” until outward signs of a disease process are exhibited. That may sound like a
very obvious and basic statement but if you think about it……
✦ Every cat on the Feline Diabetes Message Board was “fine” until their owners started to recognize the
signs of diabetes.
✦ Every cat with a blocked urinary tract was “fine” until they started to strain to urinate and either died from a
ruptured bladder or had to be rushed to the hospital for emergency catheterization.
✦ Every cat with an inflamed bladder (cystitis) was “fine” until they ended up in pain, passing blood in their
urine, and missing their litter box - soiling the home through no fault of their own.
✦ Every cat was ʻfineʼ until the feeding of species-inappropriate, hyperallergenic ingredients caught up with
him and he started to show signs of food intolerance/IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) or asthma.
✦ Every cat was "fine" until that kidney or bladder stone got big enough to cause clinical signs.
✦ Every cancer patient was “fine” until their tumor grew large enough or spread far enough so that clinical
signs were observed by the patient.
The point is that diseases 'brew' long before being noticed by the living being.
This is why the statement “but my cat is healthy/fine on dry food” means very little to me because I believe in
preventative nutrition. I donʼt want to end up saying “oops……I guess he is not so fine now!!" when a patient
presents to me with a medical problem that could have been avoided if a species-appropriate diet (low-carb
canned or balanced homemade food - not dry food) had been fed to begin with.
Of course, in order to be on board with the 'preventative nutrition' argument, a person has to understand the
following facts:
✦ All urinary tract systems are much healthier with an appropriate amount of water flowing through them.
Painful, life threatening, and very expensive-to-treat urinary tract obstructions commonly occur when cats
(especially males) are fed dry food. Again, see Opieʼs pictures at catinfo.org (Urinary Tract Diseases).
These obstructions are serious medical emergencies but are extremely uncommon among cats fed canned
food - especially if extra water is added to the canned food. Also, cats (males and females) that are fed a
water-rich diet of canned food are much less likely to end up with painful cystitis.
A veterinarian explains the basics on properly feed cats which are strict carnivores, and the link between a poor quality diet and common diseases.
