Why is protein so important for cats?
Cats are obligate carnivores - unlike dogs or humans, they cannot produce certain essential nutrients themselves and must get them from animal protein. It's not a preference, it's biology.
A cat fed a low-protein or plant-heavy diet long-term is at real risk of nutritional deficiencies - particularly taurine deficiency, which can cause heart disease and blindness.
What "obligate carnivore" actually means
Cats evolved as hunters. Their entire metabolism is built around processing animal protein - their livers run at a higher protein-processing rate than most mammals, even when fasting.
Animal protein vs plant protein
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Complete amino acid profile including taurine and arginine
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Highly bioavailable - cats digest and absorb it efficiently
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Provides arachidonic acid (essential fatty acid cats can't make)
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Contains preformed Vitamin A - ready for cats to use directly
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Matches what cats evolved to eat
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Incomplete amino acid profile - lacks taurine entirely
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Lower bioavailability for cats - harder to digest and utilise
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No arachidonic acid
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Contains beta-carotene only - cats cannot convert it to Vitamin A
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Inflates total protein percentage on the label without the nutritional value
The 50% benchmark
Cat Food Central's scoring baseline is set at 50% dry matter protein - reflecting the protein content of a cat's natural prey diet. Foods above this score better; foods below score worse.
A food can show "32% protein" on the bag and still be good - or "40% protein" and score poorly. What matters is what the protein comes from, and what the dry matter percentage is once moisture is stripped out.
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Last updated 3 days ago