low ash food? Why?
Dickson 3.0
..nnhhHHIIii::.. !
I was told to feed my cat with food containing less than
5% of ash. But what is ash? What happens if my cat eats
food containing too much ash?
Time passes really fast, I had my 1st cat for 10 days already! Some
people told me not to get a cat before, saying that I have to dig gold
from the litter box everyday, and cats lose hair everywhere. But
Germani (my cat) turns out to be very affectionate and deep in emotion.
I never know in this world there's still something which likes to play
with me! Maybe both rejected by people, our common prompts us to
quickly exchange our gift of love for the badly need of friendship.
Looks like Germani will be my best friend for the coming decade.
Yeah! Let us together lose our hair everywhere,
and march towards the coming millennium!
Germani says ..nnhhHHIIii::.. to you.
Dickson 3.0
David A Thomas
Dickson 3.0 (tsch...@eecg.toronto.edu) wrote:
> I was told to feed my cat with food containing less than
> 5% of ash. But what is ash? What happens if my cat eats
> food containing too much ash?
"Ash" simply refers to the mineral content of the food. One of the ways
that food is analyzed is by heating it to a very high temperature so that
all the combustible components are burned off. What remains is the "ash".
It's not something that is put into the food, it's what's left when the
food is burned.
The "ash" is composed of various minerals, including calcium, copper, iron,
magnesium and zinc. These minerals are required for proper nutrition.
Excesses, deficiencies, and imbalances all have pathological consequences.
A high quality food is one that achieves the best *balance* of all the
necessary nutrients, not the one that is highest or lowest in any
particular component.
It has been known for over 100 years that some cats are prone to urinary
tract blockages caused by crystals forming in the urinary tract.
More recently, it has been found that about 60% of these crystals
are composed of the mineral struvite (magnesium ammonium phosphate
hexahydrate). About another 30% are composed of calcium oxalate. It
has been proven that controlling dietary magnesium is important in
preventing recurring struvite crystal formations in cats that are prone
to this problem.
Magnesium is an element that occurs naturally in food. Adult cats
require a minimum of 400 mg of magnesium per kg of body weight. Kittens
and pregnant or lactating queens require more magnesium. Magnesium
occurs in ingredients that contain large amounts of bone: meat and
bone meal, fish meal, and poultry by-product meal have high levels
of magnesium, calcium, and phosphorus. Soybean meal is also high in
magnesium. Palatable, nutritious ingredients that are low in magnesium
are not readily available and are consequently more expensive.
Forget about "ash".
Dietary ash has been mentioned many times as a causative factor in
struvite urolithiasis, in spite of the fact that dietary ash itself was
shown to have *no effect* on struvite crystallization over 30 years
ago. In fact, sodium chloride (salt) added to food *increases* the ash
content, but it stimulates the cat to drink more water, which *lowers*
the risk of both struvite and calcium oxalate crystal formation.
Even when the manufacturers publish the magnesium content of foods,
comparison of the numbers across brands is difficult. The comparison
must be based on the caloric density rather than dry weight. The lower
the caloric density, the more the cat must eat to meet his energy
requirement, and therefore the greater his magnesium intake will be.
You can't simply compare the numbers on the labels.
Maintaining proper urine acidity (low pH) is *much* more effective at
preventing struvite crystal formation than lowering the magnesium content
in the diet. Corn gluten meal, animal digest preserved with phosphoric
acid, and d,l-methionine are all cat food ingredients which lower urine
pH and help prevent struvite urolithiasis. Cat food manufacturers *have*
changed their formulas in the last 20 years to reduce the magnesium and
fiber content and to add urine acidifiers, all of which help prevent
struvite crystal formation.
There is a limit to how far that strategy can be followed, however.
One must be careful not to put too much acidifier into the cat's
diet, to avoid acidosis and leaching of calcium from the bones.
What's the right thing to do?
Possibly the most effective way to prevent a number of problems is to
get the cat to drink more water! That's easier said than done, but
several people have discussed their strategies for getting the cats
to drink more. Most of them involve providing water in interesting
places, not just in a bowl on the floor in the kitchen. Cats have
urinary systems essentially like desert animals--they can concentrate
their urine to such a high degree that crystals form in the urine,
which is the underlying cause of this whole problem. This is also
one of the keys to avoiding the problem.
In choosing foods to reduce the risk of lower urinary tract blockages,
the best strategy is to feed a high-quality food, one with a high
percentage of digestable energy and nutrients, so that the cat does
not have to consume as much to meet his energy needs. The best foods
all contain the appropriate amount of acidifiers to maintain proper
urine acidity. ProPlan, Nutro, Iams, and Science Diet are all
generally considered high-quality brands and are available throughout
the US in both canned and dry forms. It is not a good idea to
supplement commercial cat foods with additional acidifiers like
vitamin C, as this may push the cat into acidosis.
--
David Thomas (da...@micro.ti.com)
Texas Instruments, Houston (713)-274-2347
Christine A. Owens
> I was told to feed my cat with food containing less than
> 5% of ash. But what is ash? What happens if my cat eats
> food containing too much ash?
Ash is a the residue when cat food is burned completely. [This is a test for the
quality of the food.] A cat on low-ash food is less likely to develop FUS.
Chris Owens
David A Thomas
Christine A. Owens (cao...@vivanet.com) wrote:
> [attribution lost] wrote:
> > I was told to feed my cat with food containing less than
> > 5% of ash. But what is ash? What happens if my cat eats
> > food containing too much ash?
> Ash is the residue when cat food is burned completely.
True.
> [This is a test for the quality of the food.]
False. It is a way of measuring the mineral content of the food.
The "ash" is composed of various minerals, including sodium, calcium,
potassium, iron, magnesium and zinc. These minerals are required, in
correct amounts, for proper nutrition. A diet with zero ash content
would be lacking many vital nutrients and would be very low quality
indeed.
> A cat on low-ash food is less likely to develop FUS.
False. It was demonstrated 30 years ago that dietary ash, per se,
has *no effect* on lower urinary tract blockages. It *sometimes*
correlates with magnesium content. However, sodium chloride (salt)
added to food *increases* the ash content, but it stimulates the
cat to drink more water, which *lowers* the risk of both struvite
and calcium oxalate crystal formation in the urine.
Excesses, deficiencies, and imbalances all have pathological consequences.
A high quality food is one that achieves the best *balance* of all the
necessary nutrients, not the one that is highest or lowest in any
particular component.
EVandermas
Good afternoon,
Although you may find this a blatant attempt to solicit a new customer, I
could not help but read your letter and several responses to it.
In addition to a lot of information on nutrition---there are several
articles with regards to "ash" and FUS on our web site at
www.Cats-Only.com---any additional questions you might have can be
addressed to me personally. The term "Ash" you will find is rather old and
uninformative.
E.W. Vandermast D.V.M.
rec.pets.cats