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As a pet parent it’s important it’s important that you’re aware of the proper nutrition that your Bengal cat needs for good health and a long and happy life. Often it can be difficult to know what actually makes up a good nutritional diet for your cat. In this article we hope to cover the following topics:
It’s extremely important as a pet parent that you truly understand the nutritional needs of your Bengal cat. When it comes to carnivores, not all of them are known to be obligate carnivores. Most actually aren’t. But, when it comes to Bengal cats and all cats, they are. This means that being obligate carnivores they can’t digest foods that are plant based very efficiently. Also, foods that are plant based simply don’t provide your Bengal with the right nutrients that they require to stay healthy.
Herbivores as well as omnivores are extremely different from your Bengal cat and they can easily adapt to a variety of different dietary options, but when it comes to a true carnivore, like your Bengal cat, this just is not the case. This means by being a true carnivore they genetically must eat a meat based diet in order for them to thrive. Depriving any cat of meat is actually detrimental to the health of your cat.
The digestive track of your Bengal is very short and this makes them unable to process any nutrients that are found in plants. The protein in plants don’t have all the amino acids that are vital to the health of your Bengal. They are not like humans who have the ability to turn this plant protein into all the missing pieces that might be needed for a total amino acid profile. Cat’s simply do not have the physical ability to do this. However, the protein found in meat does have a complete amino acid profile for Bengals and all cats.
All cats require what is known as taurine which is a fundamental building block for their good health. Even though it can be bought as a supplement always remember that supplements are chemically derived and can’t always be fully absorbed by the body and often will be passed just as waste and not nutrition, especially in cats. Taurine in it’s healthiest form can only be found in the flesh of animals, especially in liver and the heart.
When choosing food for your Bengal cat, it’s very important that you take a close look at the ingredients that make up the food. Remember, you really need to try your best to avoid any kind of non-meat protein sources. This means that you should try to stay away from foods that contain:
None of the above are appropriate foods for your Bengal cat to be eating. These foods are only put in your cats food as fillers and they have absolutely no nutritional value for your cat. Unfortunately, there are so many different cat food brands in your local grocery store that contain a lot of animal by-products as well. These by-products are made up of leftovers that have been deemed unfit for our consumption and these by-products can be things like feet, undeveloped eggs, intestines, and beaks.
By-products are all things except for what’s considered “clean meat”. They include these items because it’s cheap to do. However, even though it is protein, it’s a low quality of protein that is harder to digest than the clean meat. When you see these items listed on the ingredients label of your cat food it’s a sure sign that the food is of poor quality.
When you are shopping for a good cat food for your Bengal look at the labels closely and make sure that the kind of meat that is in the food whether it’s beef, chicken, lamb, fish, etc. that this meat is the first thing listed in the ingredients before all other ingredients that are in the food. Always remember that the grains and other products that might be included in the food are never listed first.
The meat must always be the number one ingredient listed. Bengals and all cats are by nature designed to eat protein that only comes from actual meat sources and not grains and plants. Another important thing to note is that when a food has a high grain content it can lead to obesity and even allergy issues in your Bengal.
There are a variety of foods that are offered for your Bengal you just need to make sure that it’s what your cat truly needs.
Here’s a video of two Bengals enjoying a meal of raw meat together:
Probably the best diet overall for your Bengal would be a combination of all the types of food that we’ve covered here. By combining dry, wet, and raw foods will help you give your Bengal a much more well balanced and interesting diet they should enjoy immensely.
So, did this article help you understand better whether or not your Bengal likes to drink milk and did it also give you a better overall understanding of what a good diet is for your Bengal? Please let us know what you think by leaving your own comment below.
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