When the owners are faced with the need to sterilize their cats, they must understand that this process will have a noticeable effect on the metabolism of pets, body constitution, behavior and lifestyle. Therefore, one of the important components of supporting a pet after castration is a properly selected, rational diet.
Features, pros and cons
Sterilization or castration as a whole affects the pet, rather, safely: the pet lives longer, becomes more balanced, aggressiveness decreases, he no longer needs to mark the territory.
But there may be negative consequences. Stagnation occurs in the urinary system, since a decrease in the secretion of steroid hormones disrupts the ion exchange in the kidneys, causing fluid retention. For castrated and sterilized cats, a rare toilet trip is a typical situation.
This leads to the formation of stones in the pyelocaliceal system, ureters, and bladder infections. Reorganization of the hormonal background, together with a calm disposition, causes the cat to become lazy, he plays less willingly and moves much less.
Also, a decrease in estrogen and testosterone seriously reduces the rate of fat metabolism, in particular decay, which, combined with a new lifestyle, leads to a faster swimming of the sides and stomach of your pet with fat. An increase in prolactin levels, which leads to an increase in appetite, also contributes to this.
To stop all these problems, it is necessary, first of all, to choose the right feed, then make a diet for the pet and strictly adhere to it.
You should choose a special dry food for sterilized cats and neutered cats - these are the recommendations of veterinarians. Producers of such feeds must indicate the exact serving size depending on the constitutional features, weight and other parameters of the animal.
In addition, you need to follow some more recommendations:
- the pet switches to fractional nutrition: the frequency of feedings can increase up to five times a day, but at the same time the portion sizes are reduced;
- to reduce the risk of calculi in the kidneys and ureters of your pet, restrict the intake of phosphorus and magnesium into the body, since sterilized pets form stones of mainly phosphate and magnesium nature;
- the animal should be regularly weighed in order to assess the dynamics of weight and adjust the portion accordingly.
Specialized food is selected a couple of months before the operation, and the pet is gradually transferred to it, so that after surgical intervention such changes in the menu do not become unnecessary stress for him.
Special food has several obvious advantages. Firstly, the recipe is selected in advance by experts, almost guaranteed to include everything you need for your pet in the right proportions. Moreover, when preparing food yourself, you will probably come across the fact that your cat picks and does not eat all the ingredients in a row, ignoring, for example, vegetables.
Secondly, industrial feed also saves you time, since you do not need to cook it, and the cat will not be able to skip any of the components past its belly, as the whole feed is a homogeneous substance. Thirdly, dry food is more universal in terms of storage time and conditions - it does not dry out in the open air and is easier to transport.
Regardless of the selected nutritional model, the ratio of macronutrients should be approximately as follows:
- 30–40% of proteins;
- 10-12% fat;
- 30–45% of carbohydrates with a fiber content of 5 to 7%.
When choosing dry food, you should not focus on beautiful packaging and cool advertising slogans. You should decide on the price segment in which you will choose: holistic, premium or super-premium, as well as professional diets. You should immediately discard such options as Kitekat, Whiskas, Friskes and the like: there is no division into physiological groups of animals in such feeds.
Consider one more fact: as soon as you transferred the pet to dry specialized food for sterilized cats, it is no longer necessary to change the diet to natural food, since you can hardly do it without harm to the digestive tract of the animal.
Examples of professional diets include Royal Canin, Hill`s, Eukanuba or Proplan. These formulations must bear the special Sterilized label on the packaging, which means "for sterilized pets."
More expensive options, most likely, will not be divided into categories of pets (for sterilized or not), but they are acceptable, since the quality of the protein in them is higher than in other feeds. These are, for example, Now Natural, Go !, Acana or Orijen feeds.
Top manufacturers
Nowadays, there are many food options that have their advantages and disadvantages. Sometimes it is very difficult to make a choice in favor of a particular species. Below is the rating of the most popular manufacturers of food for sterilized cats.
Premium feed
- Pro Plan. This brand is very famous, which makes it easy for a beginner to navigate in its subtleties. You can buy food of this brand in most stores that sell dry food. It is appreciated by the owners for a very attractive ratio of price and quality, and it is believed that this food protects the urinary system especially well.There is also a variety of tastes in the line, which allows you to diversify the gastronomic life of your pet. Experts are discussing the ratio of proteins to fats (41% and 12%): some believe that it is harmful to the musculoskeletal system, others believe that it negatively affects the kidneys, although studies do not confirm these concerns. Consequently, Pro Plan can be considered a very safe food. But do not forget that cats can sometimes be allergic to certain ingredients.
- Hill`s. This brand has an almost perfect vitamin composition, is also widespread and can be bought at most supermarkets. There is a taste line allowing you to choose what suits your pet more. Veterinarians unanimously agree that this food is a good nutritional option for a sterilized animal.
- Purina One. This brand offers not only many tastes, but even a line of medicinal feeds that differ in the composition of the components, which can be used in finer selection of nutritional support for your pet after sterilization. Just like the previous two feeds, you can buy it at almost any supermarket. It contains plant components (gluten and wheat proteins), which, according to veterinarians, can sometimes cause digestive upsets.
Super Premium Feed
- Royal Canin. The most famous brand of "luxury" -food for cats. It is distinguished by high-quality raw materials, a large line of varieties and tastes of food, varieties for feeding certain breeds of cats, as well as a low (for this price category) price. It is sometimes difficult to find, and also in animals there are episodes of allergies to the components of the composition. Specialists advise on the packaging of food for sterilized cats to carefully look for the age for which it is intended. This food guarantees optimal pet weight, dilution of urine and a decrease in the likelihood of stone formation.
- Bosch Sanabelle. This German feed has enough natural meat in its composition, a relatively low cost, but less common in pet stores and supermarkets. The composition contains antioxidants, but which are not always indicated.
- Eukanuba. This feed contains a large proportion of animal protein and has a relatively low price; there is a line of medicinal feeds. Cons: preservatives and additives are present, and the manufacturer does not specify the nature of these "animal proteins".
How to choose?
When choosing, it is first necessary to evaluate the composition of the feed. The shorter it is, the better. The names should be clear to you, even if you are far from the chemical industry.
Primarily in the composition is called the component, which is the main source of protein, it is desirable that it is meat. The remaining components are listed in descending order of their share in the feed. Needless to say, that there should be no flavors, flavors and the like in the feed - a good dry food looks absolutely nondescript and represents the most ordinary brown granules.
Next, pay attention to digestibility: the more saturated the food with nutrients, the less food a cat needs to eat. Moreover, animals are forced to drink dry food, and they are reluctant to drink. Thus, the less food is needed to feed a cat, the less water it will be forced to drink, and the quality of digestion will be higher, due to which the animal will be provided with comfortable digestion.
The third criterion, very important for castrates, is ability to prevent the development of diseases. For the prevention of urolithiasis, it is required to choose a feed with less magnesium, the correct ratio of phosphorus and calcium and a large amount of protein. Protein will lead to acidification of urine and reduce the likelihood of stone formation.
To combat obesity in the feed, it is important to have fiber and protein that support a feeling of fullness, a reduced proportion of fats, calories, many trace elements and vitamins. Often L-carnitine is added to the food, which stimulates the breakdown of fat and the growth of muscle tissue. If the food you are studying meets all of the above criteria, you can give it to your cat.
After you have selected food for your pet, you should pay attention to whether it was suitable for him. Food can be considered well selected if:
- his animal eagerly eats;
- the cat has a “shiny” coat, on the whole it gives the impression of grooming;
- the regularity of the discharge of feces and the formality of feces, which will talk about the stability of the digestion process;
- a healthy body constitution is maintained.
How to feed?
Feeding the cat should be carried out at least twice a day, moreover, it is desirable to bring the number of feeding episodes to five, giving food in small doses.
Dry food must be accompanied by clean and fresh water, and there is a simple rule of thumb: water is three times the amount of food. You should not change water to milk, as it will shift the nutritional balance in the mixture already selected by you or factory technologists. Feed should be given exactly in the quantity indicated - no more and no less.
More information about the nutritional rules of sterilized cats is described in the video below.
