5 Benefits of Gently Cooked Cat Food

We all know that our feline friends are picky eaters, and as cat owners all we want is to make sure our cat gets all the nutrients it needs while actually finishing their food.

One of the ways to spice up your cat’s diet is to introduce gently cooked cat food. In this article, we discuss 5 benefits that you can get out of gently cooked cat food.

#1 – It is specially formulated for your cat’s needs

High quality cooked cat foods provide a strong advantage of being formulated with all the necessary nutrients your feline needs to thrive as opposed to just feeding them, for example, canned tuna. Specifically in the case of tuna, they can prove to be addictive for cats when used as a steady diet which can lead to malnutrition for your cat and even mercury poisoning if fed too much. While many cats love fish, it would not be advisable to use them for daily feeding considering they are high in fatty acids that can lead to Vitamin E deficiencies and painful conditions for your cat.

#2 – It is gentle on your cat’s stomach

There may be proponents that argue that fully cooked meat degrades the enzymes found in food that our pets need to digest foods with or that cooking destroys some nutrients which are heat sensitive. However, this can be mitigated by cooking cat foods at lower temperatures with moisture to minimise the impact of cooking in terms of nutrients and enzymes required by your cat.

For older pets or pets with damaged or sensitive GI tracts, cooked cat food may be the only thing they will be comfortable to eat until their GI tracts have time to fully heal.

Even if your cat is not old or has sensitive GI tracts, we definitely would have come across occasions where our cat has bouts of vomiting or diarrhoea. Even in cases where your cat has inflammatory bowel disease or has pancreatitis that is flaring up, a cooked plain diet is recommended for a short period of time to help its GI tract settle down.

It is important to note that cat food should not be fully cooked in order to preserve the protein structures and enzymes required by your cat which could be destroyed due to high heat.

#3 – Reduced risks when cooked at the right temperature

If you want to feed your cat eggs for example, you should never serve them raw as they may carry Salmonella. Even if they do not get sick, this may cause your cat to become a subclinical carrier of Salmonella which means that they may potentially transfer it to you.

This is the reason why gently cooked cat food serves as a good alternative to raw food. When cooked at FDA recommended temperatures, common pathogens such as Salmonella, E. Coli and Listeria can be destroyed while still preserving the necessary proteins and nutrients that your cat needs. Raw ingredients should be cooked to a proper internal temperature measured by a food thermometer as advised by the FDA so that harmful foodborne bacteria such as the ones mentioned above and L. Monocytogenes can be eliminated.

#4 – Serves as a good transition to raw food

Some pet owners are interested in feeding their pets a raw food diet but are not quite sure how to go about it. Using gently cooked cat food serves as a good way to help transition your cat from kibble to a raw food diet. Essentially, gently cooked cat food falls in the nice, sweet spot where it is more nutritional and beneficial than kibble but less risky than raw food.

#5 – Made with fresh ingredients and lack of preservatives

Gently cooked cat food is typically made with human-grade, fresh ingredients. One of the benefits is that you can ensure that there is no additive, filler, unnecessary food colourings and preservatives being used in your cat’s food. However, it often takes time and effort to research and prepare freshly cooked meals for your cat. Fortunately, there is a saving grace for our busy feline owners that still want to explore gently cooked cat food but lack the time to prepare for them. There are commercial options that mimic how one would cook at home but with the added convenience of being ready-made. One good example of this is PetCube’s Gently Cooked Cat Food that is high in protein, contains appropriate amounts of fats, low in carbohydrates and does not contain any preservatives, fillers or additives.

If you are running out of ideas on how to appease your picky feline eater, why not try out gently cooked cat food? PetCubes even offers trial packs of their gently cooked cat food range that consists of gently cooked chicken, beef and kangaroo and fish so that you can try as many flavours as you want before committing to a full sized cat food pack!