Give your cat a healthy diet to prevent health conditions

22nd August 2019

A healthy diet can have a positive impact on your cat’s overall happiness and wellbeing and can prevent them developing conditions related to poor diet.

What is a healthy diet?

Your kitten, adult cat or senior cat should be fed age-appropriate food to ensure they get the right nutrients for the stage in their life. You should make sure that you do not overfeed your cat, by using the portion guidelines on your cat’s food packet or guidance from your vet.

To ensure that you serve your cat the same portion size every time, serve their food in a SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder Connect. This feeder contains integrated scales which weigh your cat’s food to within one gram of accuracy. The Microchip Pet Feeder Connect links to the Sure Petcare app via a Hub so that you can keep track of how much your cat is eating.

If you give your cat treats, do so in moderation or consider treating your cat in different ways that do not involve food, such as giving them a cuddle, a scratch behind the ear or playing a game with them.

Conditions caused by poor diet

If your cat has a poor diet they could develop pancreatitis, heart disease, high blood pressure, feline lower urinary track disease or diabetes, all of which could cause discomfort to your pet and lead to costly vet bills and specialist diets.

Feline diabetes

Cats who are overweight or obese that are fed an unhealthy diet are at risk of developing diabetes. A cat with diabetes will require insulin to regulate the level of glucose in its blood. Type two diabetes, caused by abnormalities in the pancreas, is the most common type in cats with type one diabetes, an auto-immune response which destroys the cells which process insulin in the pancreas, being very rare. Symptoms of diabetes include an increase in urination, thirst and/or hunger and/or weight loss. Speak to your vet if you suspect that your cat is unwell.

Feeding your cat a healthy diet and keeping their weight under control can help to keep this illness at bay.