Holistic veterinarians say there are many ingredients in cat food to avoid.
These ingredients include nondescriptive meats, grains, rice, corn, soy, sugar, and chemical preservatives and colors.
These poor-quality ingredients can lead to diabetes, hypertension, weight gain, liver or kidney disease, and ill health.
The FDA says cat food manufacturers use fanciful claims and marketing gimmicks on the label.
- Learn AAFCO cat food label rules
- How to read the ingredients list
- Know what cats do and don’t need
And I’ll teach you all about that!
Disclaimer: Nothing I say is medical advice.
What are bad ingredients in cat food?
Bad ingredients in cat food are unnecessary and low-quality ingredients.
This includes carbs, sugar, nondescriptive meats, and chemical preservatives and colors.
These are bad ingredients because they are inappropriate for cats.
Nondescriptive meats can include 4D meats (dead, diseased, dying, disabled).
Many chemical preservatives and colors can cause cancer.
Here are common ingredients in cat food to avoid:
- Corn
- Rice
- Soy
- Brewers yeast and rice
- Wheat
- Sugar
- Meat by-products and meat and bone meal
- Animal digest
- Poultry fat, by-products, and meal
- Fish oil
- Salt
- Cellulose
- Colors (yellow 5, yellow 6, blue 2, red 3, red 40)
- BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin (chemical preservatives)
Why are these ingredients in cat food bad?
Grain, corn, soy, and rice ingredients are cheap fillers in cat food.
Cat food manufacturers use these ingredients to bump up the protein content.
These cheap fillers can:
- Include deadly mold
- Encourage diabetes
- Cause bowel distress and digestive upset
- Lead to diabetes, arthritis, and allergies
- Be toxic to the liver and kidneys
- Include floor-sweepings from the human food industry
Sugar in all forms (dextrose, sucrose, corn syrup, beet pulp, etc.) can lead to:
- Hyperactivity
- Weight gain
- Diabetes
- Ill-health
- Addiction to food
Nondescriptive meat ingredients can include 4D meats:
- Meat by-products
- Meat and bone meal
- Poultry by-products, fat, and meal
- Animal digest
- Fish oil
These mystery meats are dangerous. The cat food manufacturer doesn’t list which type of meat or by-products are used.
I explain this in greater detail in the video above. And it’s also explained on Dr. Kruger’s website.
Put simply, AAFCO says meat by-products are essentially leftovers from the human food industry.
But I can buy liver, kidney, tongue, ears, tails, and feet at my local grocery store.
So what the heck kind of leftovers go into cat food?!
How do we know that by-products in cat food are actually CLEAN sources of organs and bones?
What are 4-D meats in cat food?
4-D meats are designated as dead, diseased, dying, and disabled.
4-D meats are not directly suitable for animal consumption.
Unless “processed in a manner that rids them of disease-causing microorganisms prior to becoming animal feed.” – AAFCO
So dead, diseased, dying, and disabled meats ARE allowed in cat food. As long as they’re cooked to death.
Yum!
Cooking to death may kill bacteria.
But what about euthanasia drugs and prescription drugs in these (very large) livestock animals?
The Clean Label Project tested 85 pet food products (wet and dry). And found pentobarbital (a euthanasia drug) in some of the largest manufactured brands.
This happens because euthanized livestock are sold to rendering plants and then sold to pet food manufacturers as “animal by-product meals”, “fats”, and “tallows”.
But guess what?
AAFCO states that 4-D meats aren’t allowed in raw cat food!
Salt is used in cat food to cover up rancid meat and fat.
It can cause kidney and heart disease and hypertension.
Cellulose is suspected to include cardboard.
It causes irritable bowel problems. And it’s harsh on the digestive tract.
Colors and chemical preservatives are known to be carcinogenic.
Honestly, the list goes on.
These are the most common ingredients in cat food to avoid.
However, you should still research each ingredient if you don’t know what it is.
Or call the manufacturer. Good luck with that!
Final thoughts on ingredients in cat food
Don’t trust fancy marketing gimmicks on the label.
Instead, learn AAFCO cat food label rules.
This will help you understand what’s actually in your cat’s food.
Most ingredients in cat food are unnecessary, cheap fillers, and low-quality meats.
Long-term consumption of these poor-quality ingredients can cause a variety of health issues in our cats. Unfortunately, sometimes even death.
If you don’t know what something is, look it up. Or call the manufacturer.
Need help finding good-quality cat food? Grab my Cat Food Label Cheat Sheets!