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The Natural Diet

There is always controversy as to what establishes an ideal diet. Putting aside such controversies, at least for the moment, we may safely say that an ideal diet would be one which meets all the evolved criteria of the cat. In other words, a wild diet: whole mouse, sparrow, cricket, lizard, etc. It is unlikely that Purina or anyone else will be producing canned chopped whole mouse in the near future (the government would probably prohibit sale because of excessive mouse hairs), so we must look to actual wild cats and actual wild prey for the ideal diet.

The actual long-term diet of a wild or feral domestic cat breaks down as follows:

	Total	Dry	Fuel	Energy
Water	70.0%	-----	-----	-----
Protein	14.0%	46.7%	50.0%	35.7%
Fats	9.0%	30.0%	32.1%	51.5%
Carbohydrates	5.0%	16.7%	17.9%	12.8%
Ash	1.0%	3.3%	-----	-----
Calcium	0.6%	2.0%	-----	-----
Other	0.4%	1.3%	-----	-----

The "total" column indicates the percentage breakdown of the diet with water included among the nutrients, while the "dry" column indicates the percentage breakdown excluding water.

The "fuel" column indicates the percentage relationship of the fuel foods to each other: protein, fats, and carbohydrates.

The "energy" column indicates the percentage of total food energy (caloric) intake among the three fuel foods. Note that while fats account for only 9% of the total diet, 30.0% of the dry diet, and 32.1% of the fuel diet, they account for 51.5% of the total energy input. This is because fats contain 9 calories per gram, while protein and carbohydrates each contain 4 calories per gram.

The Natural Kitten Diet

The natural diet for a kitten is its mother's milk. Cat's milk is radically different than that of most other mammals, especially cows. The basic components of cat's milk per deciliter, compared against an equivalent adult cat diet, dog's milk, cow's milk, and 20% liquid reconstituted evaporated cow's milk (canned milk) is as follows:

	Adult Diet	Cat Milk	Dog Milk	Cow Milk	Canned Milk
Water	70%	72%	77%	87%	80%
Solids	30%	28%	23%	13%	20%
Calories	187.2	147.9	119.5	68.7	115.4
Protein	16.8	11.4	7.5	3.5	5.8
Fats	11.6	7.9	8.3	3.9	6.6

Calories are per deciliter of milk or equivalent adult diet. Protein, fats, and carbohydrates are in grams per deciliter (one deciliter is 1/10 of a liter or 100 milliliters: about 3.38 fluid ounces). The carbohydrate content of milk is virtually all lactose, commonly called milk sugar.

Special Requirements

Some cats require special dietary consideration. The obvious would be kittens, pregnant and nursing queens, elder statescats, and convalescent cats. If your cat is or has been ill, you should follow the dietary guidelines prescribed by your veterinarian. Normal cat conditions should require only normal dietary variations.

There is a strong tendency these days for people to follow the advice of others in the matter of diet, even the very strangest of diets have their adherents. This is not always wise, even for humans. When it comes to our cats, one rule is very simple: unless the advice giver is well-schooled in veterinary medicine and/or feline nutrition, take all such advice (especially if radical) with great hesitation. Remember that some components of food are critical but not obvious, and that more is not always better. When in the least doubt concerning a new cat diet, ask your vet.

The normal diet of any mammal changes with age. Obviously, a nursing kitten requires milk, whereas an older cat does not: the myth of cats and milk is just that, some older cats will in fact become ill if they drink milk.

Less obvious is the fact that the total caloric intake per pound of body weight and the ratio of protein to fat in the diet changes with age and other conditions. Following is a simple table giving requirements versus age and condition:

	Cals	Protein	Fats	Carbs
Newborn	190	42.1%	29.2%	28.8%
5 weeks	125	47.2%	27.5%	25.3%
10 weeks	100	50.0%	26.1%	23.9%
20 weeks	65	51.9%	30.0%	18.1%
6 months	50	51.3%	33.3%	15.4%
1-10 years	40	52.0%	35.9%	12.1%
15 years	35	44.0%	42.0%	14.0%
20 years	35	43.3%	41.5%	15.2%
Pregnant	125	45.7%	31.8%	22.5%
Nursing	125	44.9%	31.1%	24.0%

Daily Requirements

A good many of us humans are counting calories, the same may be done for a cat. A healthy adult cat requires approximately 40 calories per pound of body weight per day (for an 8-pound cat this would be 320 calories per day). Of these 40 calories, about 12-16 should come from protein, 20-25 from fat, and 3-4 from carbohydrates.

Protein	3600 mg -- 14 calories
Fat	2500 mg -- 23 calories
Carbohydrate	840 mg -- 3.3 calories
Linolic Acid	250 mg
Vitamin A	250 I.U.
Vitamin D	13 I.U.
Vitamin E	10 I.U.
Choline	25 mg
Niacin (B3)	560 ug
Pantothenic Acid	130 ug
Riboflavin (B2)	63 ug
Pyridoxine (B6)	50 ug
Folic Acid (B9)	13 ug
Thiamin (B1)	7.8 ug
Biotin	0.63 ug
Vitamin B12	0.25 ug
Vitamin C	* trace only
Vitamin K	* trace only
Calcium	125 mg
Phosphorus	100 mg
Potassium	38 mg
Sodium Cloride	25 mg
Magnesium	2.5 mg
Iron	1.3 mg
Zinc	380 ug
Manganese	130 ug
Copper	63 ug
Cobalt	25 ug
Iodine	13 ug
Selenium	1.3 ug

There are, of course, many other subtle and necessary components of food that are not obvious in these tables.

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