Why is protein lower in wet cat food pouches than canned food?

As long as the minimum Crude protein percentage is above 26%, it should be adequate for cats. However, you rarely need to worry about this, because cat foods have to meet this requirement in order to be approved by AAFCO standards. Here is a link to a short article that further explains how to choose the right cat food: https://www.petcoach.co/article/what-to-look-for-when-choosing-your-pet-s-food/ You are right that cats are carnivores, so the higher the percentage of protein, the better the food likely is for them. Grains are OK for cats and make contain some essential nutrients, so I wouldn't worry too much about them. Grain-free foods usually substitute the grain with some other source of carbohydrate, so it really would not make much of a difference which food was eaten. I, like many other veterinary professionals, find the grain-free movement quite misleading and unsupported by the facts. It's essentially just marketing and should not be taken seriously at this time. I hope that helps.

Kibbles usually contain around 10-15% moisture only, which makes them much more concentrated in proteins, but if you would reduce the moisture content in the raw diet i'm not sure you would get less proteins. do not forget that a dog eats much less kibbles (in quantity) than raw food and will drink more water when eating kibbles, to compensate for the lack of moisture.

Cats need higher amounts of protein because they are obligate carnivores, and they should have 25-30% protein in their diet. As for carbs, the average dry food contains between 35-50% of carbs. Dried egg product is fine. I hope this helps!

Unfortunately, I do not think you are going to get a consensus or simple answer to this question. The short answer is that we think the most biologically appropriate food for a domesticated cat is a mouse. And that is quite high in protein. In a young cat like Autumn wihout any health issues, I do not have a problem feeding a high protein food. Cats are obligate carnivores and generally thrive on a high protein diet. One thing you have to think about is that if the food is lower in protein, then it will have to be higher in carbohydrates and/or fat. Again, since cats are obligate carnivores, they are not able to utilize carbohydrates effectively and will often just gain weight on foods that are higher in carbohydrates. You also have to consider if you are comparing dry food or canned food. Dry food will "appear" to have more protein than canned food on the label, but often canned food is actually higher in protein. I feed my cats a rotation of different canned foods and Blue Buffalo is included in that rotation. I do not consider it too high protein for them. Please let me know if that was helpful. I am passionate about cat nutrition, so let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

As long as your cat is eating a diet that has undergone feeding trials or is formulated to meet AAFCO standards and is eating an amount of food in the range recommended in the feeding directions on the label for his weight, then he is likely getting enough protein. As long as he does not have any underlying liver and/or kidney problems it does not matter how much protein you feed him. Please know that feeding a diet that is higher in protein than cats need does not result in any health benefits. For a healthy cat, excess protein is unlikely to be harmful, either. The extra protein will just be broken down by the body and eliminated in the urine.

If you would like to feed a homemade diet, I would recommend using a website like balanceit.com or discussing a recipe with a veterinary nutritionist. Completely meat diets won't be balanced for all of their micronutrient needs. Wet cat foods usually have higher protein concentrations than dry food. Purina Pro Plan makes a good dry cat food that has 45% protein, my cat loves it! In the wild, cats don't eat just meat. They will snack on grass and eat entrails of herbivores, which give them fiber and grains.

Indoor cats and outdoor cats should get the same amount of protein. It depends on the food you are feeding them. I recommend a high quality diet of dry food or canned food, fed twice daily. If you find your indoor cat is gaining weight, try a food formulated for indoor cats for those are live indoors only. Good luck, i hope this helps!