3 Types of Pet Food You Can Feed Dogs & Cats.

As we mentioned in an article discussing pet shop’s role in Australia, pet owners and their four-legged friends are part of an AU$22 billion a year industry. Of that, food for cats and dogs is worth about AUS$3 billion and has grown at the rate of 3.8% per year since 2016. These figures include foods bought commercially from pet shops, suppliers and other retail outlets such as supermarkets.

This article will look at 3 types of pet food you can feed both dogs and cats. Dog food can be bought commercially from pet shops or pet suppliers as packets of ‘dry food’, in cans or pouches, which is typically ‘wet food’ and in the form of rolls, which is typically sold as ‘semimoist’. This article will also look at home prepared food for cats and dogs, raw meat-based options and to round things off, finishing the discussion with a word on vegan foods for pets.

The quality of commercially bought food for pets varies dramatically. The marketing, advertising and packaging labels offered up by pet food manufacturers all have different claims for ‘premiumness’, and ‘completeness’, so it’s definitely worth taking a look at what the nutritional requirements are for domestic dogs and cats, before delving in to what they should be fed, and what’s going to be the best option.

Before that is discussed however, we must first settle on nomenclature for the mammal order that cats and dogs fall under to see if they are in fact meat-eaters (Carnivores) or plant-eaters (Herbivores).

Some people come to the erroneous conclusion that dogs must be carnivores since they fall under the order Carnivora. While dogs did in fact evolve from primarily carnivorous organisms (Carnivora) and the Grey Wolf, a close look at the anatomy, behaviour and feeding preferences of modern domestic dogs shows that they’re actually omnivorous, able to eat and remain healthy with both animal and plant sources of nutrition.

Obligate, or ‘true’ carnivores, also called hypercarnivores, are animals whose diet consists of at least 70 percent meat. Carnivores that eat mostly meat are called obligate carnivores and they cannot properly digest vegetation.
All felids, including our modern day feline domestic cats, require a diet of primarily animal flesh and organs. Cats have high protein requirements, and their metabolisms are unable to synthesize essential nutrients such as retinol, arginine, taurine, and arachidonic acid, therefore, as in nature, they must consume flesh to supply these nutrients, so cats are obligate carnivores.

Nutritional Requirements of Pet Cats & Dogs

While domestic dogs and cats are now different in their behaviour and physiology from their wild ancestors, they have specific nutritional needs that must be met to avoid dietary deficiencies and associated diseases such as metabolic bone disease and taurine deficiency in the case of cats. While dogs are omnivores, which means that they can eat both meat and plant products, it’s much easier to get the balance of essential nutrients wrong than to get it right if you just adhere to a strict vegetarian diet.

Cats, being obligate carnivores, means it is near on impossible to meet their nutritional needs without feeding them meat. Many of the essential nutrients they require, such as Taurine, Preformed Vitamin A and Cysteine, are minimal or even absent in plant ingredients, so if you do go down that path you will also have to continually supply the correct level of additional supplements.

Cats require more than just meat. Naturally they’d eat the whole prey including the meat, organs and bones so a diet of meat only would be deficient in certain important components, for example Calcium. While cats and dogs have different nutritional needs, what they share is a need for a healthy, balanced diet containing proteins, fats and carbohydrates to produce all the essential vitamins and minerals they need for a happy and healthy life.

• Protein
  Protein is essential for nutritional balance in our pets. Dogs need protein for cell growth, body maintenance and muscle repair. Cats need more protein than dogs and protein is especially important for growing kittens and nursing cats. Cats also need the amino acid taurine, which is important for reproduction, vision and their hearts, as they can’t manufacture it themselves. In pet food, taurine is found naturally in animal-based protein ingredients but is also added separately to complete cat foods.
• Fats
  Fats are what give our furry friends most of their energy and come from animal fats and plant seed oils. These provide essential fatty acids such as omega-3s, which they need for healthy skin and fur, the production of certain hormones, body insulation and vitamin absorption.
• Carbohydrates
  Carbohydrates are an important nutrient for dogs, although there’s no known minimum amount required. Cats, who are obligate carnivores, are unable to cope with high levels of carbohydrates so should stick to a diet higher in protein and low in carbohydrate.
  It’s also worth noting that feeding dogs certain vegetables as part of a grain-free diet is an emerging concern. Heart failure in dogs has been linked to certain ‘grain-free’ pet foods that contain peas, lentils, other legume seeds and/or potatoes.
• Vitamins and Minerals

  Vitamins and minerals in your pet’s diet are essential to ensure they remain healthy. Pets need calcium and phosphorous for strong bones, and during times of stress antioxidant vitamins like vitamins E and C help boost your pet’s immune system.
  There are some vitamins and minerals that dogs and cats need to get from their diet as their bodies are unable to produce them. Each species has its own nutritional needs, as does each individual animal, and this will vary by life stage, health and activity level.

Pros & Cons of Dry Cat & Dog Food Options

Dry pet food comes in packets and typically contains between 8-10% water. Dry food, often referred to as ‘kibble’ is a convenient option for pet owners because it can be bought in bulk, it lasts significantly longer than other options and it can be stored easily, as it doesn’t require refrigeration. Dry kibble can also be good for your pet dog and cat’s dental hygiene, with some brands specially formulated and shaped to clean teeth as it’s being chewed. Good quality dry foods tend to have more kilojoules and higher protein per unit than wet food, suggesting that you can feed your pet less due to the high calorie count. The required quantity depends on the individual food and how it’s formulated. Guidelines for the individual product should be followed based on the weight of your pet.

Approximately 95% of dry dog and cat foods are made using a technique known as extrusion. Cooking ingredients (grains, meat and meat by-products, fats, minerals, and vitamins) are combined, then this mixture is forced through a die, where a blade finally slices the mixture to determine the shape and size of the kibble.
During the cooking and extrusion processes, temperatures used by manufacturers can reach 200ºC (392°F). A minimum cooking temperature of 130ºC (266ºF) is required to kill both microbes and bacterial spores in food. This cooking temperature used in producing pet food is consistent with temperatures used in cooking foods intended for human consumption.

Even though dry pet food will last longer than other types, to ensure the product maintains its quality and flavour, it still needs to be stored in airtight containers to avoid exposure to air and humidity, which can speed up degradation and increase the risk of bacterial contamination and mould.

While all animals need access to fresh water, if your pet eats a wholly or predominantly dry food diet, you’ll need to ensure they have ready access to water because they’ll drink more than pets that consume predominantly wet foods.

Pros & Cons of Canned/Pouch Food Options (Wet Food)

Wet foods for pets purchased in a can or pouch, typically contain 60-87% water. They are often more palatable than dry foods for cats and dogs and may leave your pet more satisfied.
Especially on hot days, the higher water content in wet food can help ensure adequate water intake.

Wet food can also be of benefit to both cats and dogs that have trouble chewing or have a sore mouth.

The obvious draw back to wet food is that you need to deploy different handling and storage procedures to ensure it remains fresh. Once opened, it has a short lifespan and must be sealed and kept in the fridge to avoid spoilage and waste.
The water content and often the container, in the forms of aluminium can, also makes wet pet food heavier, so it’s produced and bought in smaller quantities, typically making it more expensive (all other factors being equal) than buying dry kibble.

Many of the same ingredients are used in wet and dry foods, though not always in the same form. Given their high moisture content, canned bought foods for example, typically contain higher amounts of fresh or frozen meat, poultry, or fish products, and animal by-products.

Many canned foods for pets contain textured proteins derived from grains, such as wheat or soy. These materials function as meat analogues, having a physical structure similar to that of meat and high nutritional quality. The use of meat in combination with some of the textured proteins not only keeps production costs down, but it can also improve the overall nutritional content of the final product.

Wet pet food processing begins with blending meat or meat analogues and fat ingredients with water and dry ingredients, such as vitamins and minerals, for proper nutrient content. The mixture is blended and sometimes ground to produce a fine slurry, depending on product profile. After cans are filled, they are sealed and retorted (a heat and pressure-cooking process that also sterilizes the contents), assuring destruction of foodborne pathogens.

Pros & Cons of Semimoist Food Options (Rolls)

Semi-moist food for pets generally contains 15-30% water. Pet owners may choose this option for its convenience (products are often pre-portioned), because their pet is a picky eater or is able to digest it better than dried foods.

Semimoist pet foods are however often low in fibre and contain humectants and preservatives to prevent spoilage, often leading to them containing unhealthy levels of salt, sugar, and potentially harmful preservatives and artificial ingredients. They’re also susceptible to mould and spoilage if not properly contained and refrigerated. Most pet food rolls are not sold or marketed as a ‘complete’ diet anymore, so are usually bought by pet owners as a supplement to dry food.

While safe in small amounts for dogs, humectants such as propylene glycol, sometimes added to semi-moist rolls to retain moisture is not safe for cats, so it should be avoided if you have both a cat and dog.

Advantages of semimoist pet foods include convenience, high energy digestibility, and palatability. However, semimoist food for cats and dogs is typically the most expensive food option, pound for nutritional pound.

A Word on Home-Prepared Food Options

Dogs and cats can be successfully fed on properly formulated home-cooked diets. While the advantage can be that home-cooked diets include the use of ingredients carefully selected by the owner, the disadvantages often out way this because of the preparation time, variable quality control and diet consistency. The higher cost, and the difficulty in formulating and preparing a nutritionally complete and balanced diets has meant most pet owners have turned to one of the commercial alternatives instead.

In higher-income countries, nutritional diseases are rarely seen in dogs and cats when owners feed a good-quality, commercial, complete, and balanced diet. Nutritional problems occur most commonly when dogs and cats are fed unbalanced homemade diets and when cats are fed diets formulated for dogs, vegetarian diets, or diets (such as grain-free diets) that use ingredients not commonly used in pet food or in higher amounts than have previously been shown to be safe.

Cats have different dietary requirements than dogs and can develop nutritional deficiencies when fed diets formulated for dogs. For example, unlike dogs, cats require dietary sources of vitamin A, arachidonic acid, and taurine. Cats also have higher requirement levels for some amino acids, such as arginine, and the vitamins niacin and pyridoxine (vitamin B6).

Dog or cat foods and homemade diets derived from a limited number of food items are often inadequate. Feeding predominantly meat or even an exclusive hamburger and rice diet to dogs or cats for example, can result in a calcium deficiency and secondary nutritional hyperparathyroidism.
Feeding only liver can induce vitamin A toxicity in both dogs and cats. The form in which the food is fed (raw versus cooked) can also impact nutrient availability. Some raw foods for example contain antinutritional factors that are destroyed by cooking, such as avidin found in raw eggs, which destroys biotin, thiaminases found in raw fish, which destroy thiamine; and trypsin inhibitors found in raw soybeans, which interfere with protein digestion.
Alternatively, cooking methods and temperatures can impact nutrient levels and availability. Cooking can improve the availability of certain nutrients, or it may reduce the amount of other nutrients. These factors must be considered when formulating home-made diets for pets.

A Word on Raw Meat-Based Options

Feeding cats’ and dogs’ raw food has become more common in recent years, with some pet owners espousing its virtues and benefits to their pets. But there’s currently next to no scientific evidence to back up the claims that a raw diet is actually better for them than the better nutritional commercial choices. There’s also a real concern relating to bacterial contamination of raw foods that have not been cooked or prepared properly.
Recent scientific studies have found high levels of potentially harmful bacteria in raw meat intended for consumption by pets. The Swedish study tested samples from 60 commercially available raw meat dog food products from 10 manufacturers, available in Sweden, for bacteria such as E. coli, Salmonella and Campylobacter. Researchers found all 60 samples were contaminated with Enterobacteriaceae bacteria, the family to which E. coli belongs, and half of these samples exceeded the Swedish guidelines.
While exceeding the limit for these bacteria doesn’t necessarily mean that the food is harmful to pets, because the study didn’t test to see if the E. Coli strains isolated were pathogenic. The concern raised was that dogs who eat these foods can and may pass on antimicrobial-resistant bacteria to their owners, posing a real risk to human health.

In Australia, it’s not a legal requirement for pet meat to undergo bacterial testing so we currently don’t know if our raw pet meats contain high levels of bacteria. However, to be safe, if you serve your pet raw meat, use human-grade raw meat to avoid the potentially dangerous bacteria in untested pet meats. The concern with that is though, products for human consumption will not be a complete food for your pet.

A Word on Vegan Pet Foods

Vegan pet diets may have synthetic supplements and nutrients added to them, but there isn’t enough evidence to support that they are safe long-term for feeding our pets yet, as these ingredients may not be bioavailable to the animals. This means that it’s not so much the presence of taurine and other nutrients in the diet but how accessible (bioavailable) they are to the animal in their synthetic forms and whether they would interfere with the action of other nutrients. We need good evidence from large-scale, long-term, robust scientific studies feeding cats and dogs on appropriately supplemented balanced vegan diets for their lifetime, looking at how these diets affect their health, before recommendations can be made as to whether these diets are suitable and safe for pets.

For now, the bottom line is that the jury is still very much out as to whether we should be feeding our pets a vegan diet. What we know is that your pet needs a balanced diet that is tailored for their age, health, weight and lifestyle.

As mentioned above, both domestic dogs and cats are different in their behaviour and physiology from their wild ancestors. They have specific nutritional needs that must be met to avoid dietary deficiencies and associated diseases such as metabolic bone disease and taurine deficiency in the case of cats.
Remember too, dogs are omnivores, which means that they eat both meat and plant products, so while it is theoretically possible, it is much easier to get the balance of essential nutrients wrong than to get it right with a vegan diet. And as cats are obligate carnivores, which means it is much harder or even impossible to meet their nutritional needs without feeding them meat. Many of the essential nutrients they require, such as taurine, preformed vitamin A and cysteine, are minimal or even absent in plant ingredients.

Summary of Pet Food Types

The information provided on this page and indeed throughout this website is not intended to offer a substitute to the professional advice supplied to you by a veterinarian who has inspected your pet.
For the avoidance of all doubt, we suggest you make an appointment for your pet with a local vet you can find near you using PetsBook’s Pet Directory, before undertaking or changing any aspect of your pet’s diet.

Everyone has their own preferences when it comes to feeding their pets. Some people might choose to follow a vegan or vegetarian diet, but making this meat-free choice for your pet dog or cat can be dangerous as they can potentially become unwell.
Take a look at the pet food commercially available from pet shops and pet suppliers so you can make informed decisions about feeding your cat or dog.

Similarly, raw-meat and home-made foods made for pets’ carries significant risks of malnutrition and infection, plus the real risk of pathogens from animal faeces passed on to humans.

There are always going to be some who will look on big brands and their global owners unfavourably, sighting product recalls as evidence of a case they wish to make against using commercial food for pets, and that veterinarians have been bought by these companies to support and push their products.
However, your vet does care about the welfare of your pet cat or dog and is the best source of information on pet nutrition. They really can provide expert advice on what is the best type of food for your pet to keep them healthy.

Isabella (Editor In Chief)

Hi, I’m Isabella, the new Editor In Chief at PetsBook. Apart from writing some articles myself, with over 25 years pet experience, i am responsible for making sure you receive up to date information to keep your dogs and cats healthy, happy & wise.