cats prefer food similar to their natural prey

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Robert and Echo

Robert and Echo

Member Since 2008
Research finds cats prefer food similar to their natural prey
Cats self-regulate protein, fat, carbohydrate intake
Release Date: Monday, February 28, 2011

According to research carried out in collaboration with Professor Steve Simpson at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, Australia, and Professor David Raubenheimer at the Institute of Natural Sciences, Massey University, New Zealand, healthy pet cats regulate their protein, fat and carbohydrate intake to mimic the types of food they would eat in the wild.

The research, carried out over a two-year period at the Waltham Centre (http://www.waltham.com) for Pet Nutrition, demonstrated that cats have an intake target that equates to approximately 52% of their daily calorie intake from protein, 36% from fat and 12% from carbohydrate. “This is a fascinating discovery and we are intrigued to know more about why cats have the ability to do this,” said lead study author Dr. Adrian Hewson-Hughes. “It is particularly remarkable that, even after thousands of years of domestication, cats still select a diet nutritionally similar to their natural prey.”

Waltham intends to pursue further research in this area and will now focus on the selection of these key nutrients in other cat lifestages including gestation, lactation and growth, as well as in dogs.
 
I remember watching a documentary about cat food and basically it came to be the best food would be Mouse in a Can. A whole mouse apparently has everything the cat needs but I just cannot see myself going and buying those frozen little baby mice to feed my cats.
 
A LONG time ago, another doc and I tried to start our own pet food manufacturing for diabetic cats. We put a lot of work into it but just couldn't compete with the resources available to large companies.

We were going to call it MOUSE IN A CAN. We even had an LLC named that.

Grossed out most people!
 
My cat Gabby just passed away from stomach cancer last week, and she would refuse almost every can of food I bought her after a day or so, except for two foods: Cowboy Cookout (which is supposedly formulated to mimic a mouse), BFF (A high quality Tuna based food). If it weren't for the fact she found those foods so appetizing, I wouldn't have had my last month with her because she would have stopped eating earlier. So I believe this study whole heartedly!
 
Dearest Rebecca,

One Sunday last fall when I went down to the basement to do my laundry, I noticed something unusual from out of the corner of my eye in front of the dryer.

Went to inspect. It was a flattened, deceased, yet, still thankfully whole field mouse. It could explain why Nikki was spending so much time in the basement the week before...

Took me about a roll of paper towels and a lot of hysteria, a plastic bag, putting those handles into a really tight multiple knot whilst running up the stairs and putting that bag into a big garbage bag which was immediately tripled knotted and put outside in the trash can. Okay, and an hysterical phone to a dear friend here...

Maybe I'm just a wuss. But, you might want to think about the branding image of Mouse In A Can... At least, possibly, for part of the NorthEastern US... Or, maybe just come up with a different name for us wusses...

As someone who's been in advertising for decades and market research for a year and change, it definitely has possibilities. I'm just humbly suggesting you figure in the wuss factor...

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww...

Much love and countless grateful hugs for giving us all this place we never wanted to be; but, are blessed for having found...
Deb and Nikki -- and, Giz, forever dancing and whispering in my heart, and who sent me Nikki!
 
Dearest Dian,

Okay, I could conceivably buy Ewwwwwwww In A Can...

:lol:

Thank you!

Much love and countless silly hugs,
Deb
 
Well, due to lack of funds, we did have to give up the pursuit and eventually disbanded Mouse in a Can LLC.

But long before that, our wussy husbands insisted we couldn't call the actual product Mouse in a Can! Can't even remember some of the ideas we batted around but we did hire a marketing person who immediately said, No way are you going to sell a product with that name!

_Rebecca
Faithful servant to 4 cats who makes rounds every morning in the house with paper towels and bleach and picks up all the mouse guts my barn cats so nicely bring in as offerings. (They have a cat door so they can come inside at night and be safer from predators.) Repeat after me, I love cats, I love cats, I love....
 
What a wonderful topic!

For the first 2 or 3 years of Caesar's FD, we fed all 3 cats a BARF diet (2004-2007?), using meats we bought at the supermarket (when on sale, we would buy 1/2 dozen or more huge frozen Turkeys to stock up), grind up the meat ourselves (we bought a kick-butt meat grinder just for this purpose) and added the supplements we ordered from Feline Instincts dot com (located on the Salt Spring Islands off the coast of BC, Canada)

I tell ya, the cats almost immediately perked up, ate much less, droppings in the litter boxes dramatically dropped in size (and smell too!), the cat's coats became shiny and lusterous and their eyes werre clearer and appeared "sharper" than before. Their energy levels never abated, and Caesar, our sugarbaby, seemed to have more "zest" for life than before.

Finally, even though Caesar was a Type I Diabetic, his insulin requirements went down (but he still needed it), however, he had much less "ups and downs" than before.

So, my wife and I wholeheartedly endorse any "Mouse-in-a-can" product. The BARF diet showed us the true nature of the cats, (Oh, they would NOT share their BARF food - often growling at each other or just at the food :shock: while eating. They NEVER did this with canned food...), but I think the benefits (reduced poop/smell, increased health, etc) was worth the hours we spend "making" their food. Unfotunately, as my health deterrioriated, we were unable to keep up with this regeime, much as we didn't want to stop.

At this point, we would have bought a truckload of "Mouse in a Can".
 
Rebecca said:
A LONG time ago, another doc and I tried to start our own pet food manufacturing for diabetic cats. We put a lot of work into it but just couldn't compete with the resources available to large companies.

We were going to call it MOUSE IN A CAN. We even had an LLC named that.

Grossed out most people!
Click to expand...

To resurrect this two-year old thread, I wanted to comment that I'd buy your food! Currently, the only commercial food I've found out there that even comes close to natural is Tiki Cat and I think this is the reason it's so expensive!

I just wonder if Michelangelo is also allergic to mice (so far, he's proven allergic to beef, venison, rabbit, and lamb). :lol: You might have to make a Bird in a Can version for him! :lol:

And speaking of natural prey, my Henry is a bird catcher and one thing I've noticed he does when "playing" with his food before eating it is that he basically pulverizes the insides of it by batting it around. The outside is still intact, but... [Squeamish Stomachs Stop Reading Now]

...when he finally "cuts" into it, it's a soupy mess that he licks and gulps away in ecstasy. It reminds me of what spiders do to their prey. :?
 
Thank you Kay for resurrecting this thread! I have been wondering what Protein to Fat ratio I should be trying to go by. I knew we wanted to keep the carb under 10% (or as low as possible), but couldn't find any resources talking about the Protein and Fat.
 
My 3 are indoor/outdoor cats and they love mice - I often find bits in the garden ;-)

My 8 year old suggested we get some mice from the pet shop for Honey when I was telling her about feline nutrition - I don't think she realised that they were being sold as pets!
 
rvontrapp said:
Thank you Kay for resurrecting this thread! I have been wondering what Protein to Fat ratio I should be trying to go by. I knew we wanted to keep the carb under 10% (or as low as possible), but couldn't find any resources talking about the Protein and Fat.
Click to expand...

The study Rebecca references above can be read in full here and the whole reason I found this old post is from a Think Tank thread on dietary carbs that's also worth a read-through.

Whenever I would feed Evo to Michelangelo, his numbers would always spike and I couldn't figure out why. Someone mentioned something about kittens needing higher protein at one point and I finally put 2+2 together and realized it was because Evo was much higher in fat than other foods I was feeding him. He simply needed more protein than Evo had and, through trial and error, I discovered that he seems to do best on foods over 50% protein/fat. Because of this (and his food allergies), I ended up creating a modified version of Dr. Lisa's food list, sorted by carbs with an added column for protein/fat ratios (and separate tabs for Mikey's food allergies).

Denise & Honey said:
My 8 year old suggested we get some mice from the pet shop for Honey when I was telling her about feline nutrition - I don't think she realised that they were being sold as pets!
Click to expand...

I remember someone mentioning how they would buy the mice they feed to snakes for their cat but now I can't remember who or where it was. ohmygod_smile I've actually thought about doing this too, but I would think you'd need a cordoned off area for the cat to hunt the mouse without worrying about the mouse escaping. :?:
 
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