Healthy treats for Cats

We have a foster cat who is 15 years old.  She was adopted out but was returned after 4 months because she had developed hyperthyroidism.  When I went to pick her up, I saw 4 large plastic containers of Temptations cat treats, definitely not healthy treats for cats.  We call it “kitty crack” because cats can’t seem to have enough of it.  In hindsight, I know why she was overfeeding the cat with temptations — because she wanted the cat to come near her.  The 15-year-old cat was not affectionate so she would bribe her with treats.  Four containers later, hyperthyroidism has set it.  The constant treating of low quality cat treats as well as the low quality dry food and low quality canned food has unfortunately taken a toll on her health and she developed hyperthyroidism.

Below are the top five ingredients of popular cat treat, Temptations, from their website:

• Chicken by-product meal – cheap protein makes lots of money for the company but provides no nutritional value to your pets
• Ground corn – your cat can’t even digest corn
• Animal fat –  an inferior preservative ingredient that contains a phenobarbital and possibly remains of euthanized animals
• Mixed tocopherols – a safer preservative
• Rice – rice or any kind or any type of grain has no nutritional value but rice is more dangerous because it decreases taurine in whole blood and plasma in cats

Pet food manufacturers list down the ingredients in decreasing quantities, so from this list we know that the main ingredient is chicken by-product meal.  The top 5 main ingredients provide no nutritional value to your cats so feeding them in large quantities will definitely have a negative effect.

Instead of feeding your cats temptations, we’ve come up with healthier alternatives.

Healthy Cat Treats

1. Real Chicken Breast Cat Treats  by Whole Life – the link will take you to their Amazon page.  If you look at the ingredient list there is only one ingredient and that is chicken.  This treat has been freeze dried so it has retained all the nutrients of raw chicken so its a great treat for your cat.
2. Freeze dried whole chicken hearts by Cosmo – the link will take you to their Amazon page. Freeze drying the hearts enable it to retain its nutrients such as folate, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium and copper. Great quality treats that keep your cats healthy!
3. Dried Chicken Pet Treat by Catmandoo – the link will open on a new page and take you to their Amazon page.  It only has one ingredient and its freeze-dried chicken!

The more you stick to food that looks natural, the better quality and the healthier your cats will be.  If you want to save a lot of money on pet treats, try making some of the treats yourself.  Its not easy but it will be worth it when you see your pets healthier and living longer.

References

1. The truth about Animal by-products  from DogFoodAdvisor.com
2.  Pet Food Ingredients  from The Truth about Pet Food
3.  Rice isn’t nice by Feline Nutrition