The Cat's Unique Metabolism

Cats are obligate carnivores and, as such, are uniquely adapted to consume a diet that is high in protein, contains a moderate amount of fat, and that includes a very small amount (3-5 percent) of carbohydrates. Since nature designed them to ingest very few carbohydrates, cats lack many of the important enzymes that are necessary to process this type of food efficiently.

With the above information in mind, consider the fact that the carbohydrate level of most dry foods is between 35-50 percent with some of the lower quality dry foods being even higher.

The three main 'take-home' words from my Feeding Your Cat article are "proteins" (animal versus plant), "water", and "carbohydrates". For this article, the most important of the three subjects is carbohydrates.