The Nutrition-Behavior Link

Cats are obligate carnivores
‍A diet with inadequate protein (low protein, processed protein, lack of variety in protein) is directly causal to territory issues.

• Aggression: if I don’t have enough then I will need to chase or kill off competition for limited resources.
• Territory marking: if I don’t have enough, someone (seen or unseen) is stealing from my territory; I must use the pheromones in my urine to ward off competition.

Cats are crepuscular in nature
‍They're evolved to hunt and eat twice a day.

• Grazing and/or constant exposure to the smell of their food will keep the kitty’s gut alkaline, which can lead to diseases like diabetes, obesity, cancer, and IBS/IBD.
• Constant exposure to strong-smelling dry food also makes it difficult to transition cats to canned and raw food.
• Cats are designed to gorge and fast. A proper gorge is achieved through a diet of mostly meat. Underfeeding will almost always result in territory-related aggression and house soiling.

The Three Critical Components of a Cat’s Natural Habitat
‍To create a territory (home) that brings out the very best in your cat, follow the Mother Nature Model.

• Abundance: a cat will scent-mark its territory with the pheromones in its feet to establish the amount of territory it needs to be adequately fed.
• Variety: This territory will be replete with a variety of furry and feathery critters, bugs, and grasses. Variety is the cornerstone of a healthy immune system.
• Bioavailability: The food in this territory will be alive, teeming with an abundance of nutrients and good bacteria – all in an unaltered state – immediately available for use and deployment.

Cats are designed to hydrate by eating their prey
‍Cats on a dry-food-only diet are a full 10% more dehydrated compared to cats on a canned or raw diet.

• Chronically dehydrated cats commonly have an extremely low tolerance for outside stimulation such as interaction with other pets, children, and even adults.
• Undetectable cystitis often leads to separation from the litter box. Cats associate painful urination with the box itself, and will seek out other places to eliminate.
• Synthetic preservatives such as BHA, BHT and Ethoxyquin used in packaging and in the product and source ingredients are known to cause liver and kidney damage in animals.

Cats are both prey and predator

• While there is no direct nutritional link here, we can extrapolate that any of the other effects can be magnified due to the stress hormones released in times of fear or uncertainty.
• Each time a cat is moved to a new environment, it assumes that there are predators present until it knows otherwise.  This state is a source of much stress for cats and will cause the immune system to be unavailable. The best remedy for this is to get the kitty into a predictable routine as soon as possible.

How does all of this translate into a diet for a domestic cat? Easy!
Feed your cat a diet of canned and/or raw food, twice per day, on a flat dish. Note: raw food is truly the gold standard for feeding our obligate carnivore friends. Feed until the cat is satiated. Find three or four proteins and manufacturers that your cat enjoys. Rotate the foods. Elevate the diet with raw food, freeze-dried raw treats, raw goat milk and cat grasses.

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