Why Fiber is Important to Your Cat's Diet

It is important to feed your cat fiber in order to keep your animal healthy and strong. While fiber is not traditionally considered an important nutrient for a cat’s diet, it is present in just about every commercial cat food. This is because fiber improves the colon health of your cat and helps with digestion problems like diarrhea and constipation.

Giving your cat fibers helps with colon health because some of that fiber is fermented by the good bacteria in your cat’s intestines into fatty acids. These fatty acids help to prevent the growth of bad or harmful bacteria, and also help your cat’s colon cells recover from any injury that they might have taken. They could also possibly help to prevent or at least to reduce the risk of your cat developing colon cancer, making feeding your cat fiber a good dietary choice.

If you are concerned about obesity in your cat, then you will be glad to know that fiber performs an important function in helping to prevent this condition in your cat. Fiber is not digested like proteins, so it helps your cats feel fuller without converting to extra sag in the middle. By adding a high-fiber cat food to your cat’s diet, you can help your cat maintain a healthy weight and still be satisfied at meal time without adding extra calories.

High fiber diets can also help in cases of anal gland disease in your cat. Fiber helps to bulk up your cat’s stool to put more pressure on the anal glands, which can become impacted, causing your cat to scoot on the floor and/or to lick the anal area excessively. These bulked up stools will help your cat feel better by putting pressure on the anal glands and causing them, it is hoped, to express themselves when your cat goes to the litter box. This is not a cure for the disease, but it may provide some measure of relief for your cat. Fiber is available in high concentrations in many brands of cat food; read the labels to find out which have the highest levels.

So what is fiber, anyway? When it comes to your cat, fiber is most likely to be found in the forms of corm, beet pulp, rice hulls, soybean hulls, pectin, peanut hulls and bran. These materials are kinds of insoluble carbohydrates that resist the digestion process of the small intestine, and are often found in the cell walls of grains. Cats in the wild get fiber by consuming the meat of animals who consume large amounts of fiber, however at home they have to rely on the diets that they are provided by their humans. In cats, fiber is an important part of a healthy diet that will help you to manage your cat’s weight and keep him or her at the optimal level of health. While cat fiber is not the only thing to consider when purchasing cat food and thinking about the health of your cat, it is an important consideration to keep in mind.

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