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FOOD & NUTRITION

Should You Be Giving Your Cat Fish Oil

The board-certified veterinary nutritionists at Tufts are commonly asked by clients whether they should be adding fish oil to their cats’ daily food regimens because they’ve heard there are benefits to the oil’s omega-3 fatty aids. The answer: maybe. There are some diseases for which research suggests fish oils can augment treatment.

Why Cats Love Tuna

Like people, cats have taste receptors for sweet, sour, salty, and bitter, and a fifth taste, umami. Their sweet receptors are pretty insensitive (which is why cats aren’t big sugar cravers). But it turns out their receptors for umami — responsible for the savory flavors of foods like meat — are quite sensitive. No surprise, since cats need flesh food to survive.

Morsels November 2023

A Second Reason Your Cat May Jump onto the Kitchen Counter

Ignore the “best by” date?

Q: I know that if a cat food has passed its expiration date it’s best to throw it out, but what about a “best by” date? That doesn’t seem as bad.

When It’s Okay to Use an Automatic Feeder to Give Your Cat Her Meals...

Pop quiz (a tale of two feeding scenarios):

The Right Diet For Feline Kidney Disease

Three in 10 cats over the age of 10 have chronic kidney disease, and that number rises to as many as eight in 10 for cats over the age of 15. That makes it one of the most common illnesses to befall our feline pets — and one of their biggest killers. But feeding the right diet can prolong the life of a cat with kidney disease, along with her quality of life.

Your Growing Kitten Is Hungry — and Then Not So Much

At 10 weeks of age, your growing kitten might require about 90 calories per pound of body weight each day, says the American Animal...

Potential Changes On Cat Food Labels Should Make Them Easier to Interpret

I t looks like reading nutrition information on cat food labels may get easier. After years of discussion and input from different sources, the Association...

6 Cat Facts That Aren’t

There’s a lot of cat lore out there that people accept as the truth because it gets repeated so often. But frequently, what’s assumed to...

Some Cats With Diabetes Can Stop Taking Insulin

Diabetes is an expensive disease, with insulin injections for some cats easily reaching $100 a month. It’s also a terribly inconvenient one. Shots of...

Healthy Weight Loss Goes Slowly

Your cat weighs 20 pounds and should weigh 15. You put him on a weight-management plan that you worked out with the vet, but...

Should You Choose Food That’s Preservative-Free?

You’re trying to decide between two different brands of canned cat food. The clincher is that one is advertised online as preservative-free, so you...