Why Fresh Cat Food Is Best

Fresh food for our cats sounds like a novel concept, but it’s really the commercial availability that’s novel. This is exemplified by the fact that KatKin is the first company to ever offer freshly cooked cat food directly to cat parents in the UK.

"It's exciting to see the benefits of Fresh can now be merged with the convenience of direct delivery"

But what is fresh cat food? Here's how we define it. First, it's 100% gently-cooked fresh meat. Second, it's kept in the fridge and freezer, not the cupboard. None of the preservatives or heat-blasting methods that mean kibble and wet food last years in the cupboard. You can read more about fresh diets broadly here.

Historically, fresh food has been hard to come by. Mainstream cat food brands wouldn't make it, because it wasn't easy and cheap for them. So home cooking was the only way. Vets would only recommend it when they had to:

• When cats had specific nutritional needs which were not met by other diet forms

• When cat parents had concerns about ingredients and ingredient transparency, or

• When the cat needed a highly digestible or palatable diet.

But now, we're changing all that. Fresh food, gently-cooked by us and delivered straight to your door. Finally, every cat can benefit from the best health.

The research on Fresh is still in its infancy but generally aims to compare the responses of individuals on fresh diets versus other dietary options.

One of the real challenges nutrition researchers have in evaluating diets is that there are few objective measures to really decipher if one food is superior to another in terms of its impact on health. Take, for example, a serum biochemistry panel - what most people would consider a ‘routine blood panel.’ It takes massive nutrient deficiencies or excesses to cause changes in these values. This makes sense, as after all cats and most mammals are built to survive and preserve their critical organ function and blood proteins; which are the parameters measured in such a test.

What type of testing might be helpful then? Well, more sophisticated measurements can be done. The simplest of those is what’s known as a digestibility study, whereby you measure what goes into the animal and what comes out in the faeces to see roughly how much was absorbed. Preliminary research suggests that fresh diets are highly digestible, meaning much of what is in the food gets absorbed.

The reasons for this are multiple. Firstly, many fresh diets are low in fibre, and one type of fibre (known as insoluble fibre) is not digestible and passes through the cat’s system. Even accounting for fibre difference, however, the proteins and fats in fresh diets are usually more digestible than in many kibble diets. This is likely because the meats and dry meat meals used in many kibble and canned diets are inherently less digestible sources of protein, based on the part of the animal from which they were derived. In contrast, the cuts of meat usually fed to humans, which is the grade of meat used in the KatKin recipes, are typically highly digestible. As a result of all of this, the net effect is that cat parents switching to fresh often notice a reduction in the amount of stool produced because more of the diet is getting absorbed.

The composition of bacteria in the gut, collectively known as the microbiome, is influenced by diet, and there is emerging evidence that fresh diets may create microbiome differences compared to other diet types, especially kibble. Both kibble and canned diets contain very few bacteria because of how they are cooked and processed, whereas cooked fresh diets have a reduction in harmful pathogens (verified by testing) while retaining potentially beneficial bacteria found in the food. As the gut is critical to the absorption of food as well as regulation of the overall immune system, fresh diets could have an important impact in this area, and it's being actively studied by vet nutritionists worldwide.

Fresh diets, because of their naturally high water content, may also influence the activity level of cats and promote a healthy weight. Research has shown that higher moisture diets increase spontaneous activity for reasons that are incompletely understood. In addition, KatKin meals are individually portioned using a scientific algorithm; this allows removal of the guesswork surrounding how much to feed. Let’s face it - traditional packaging is confusing, and research has shown it’s inconsistent from company to company, and food to food. It’s no wonder that obesity is such an issue as a result. Cats that are overweight and obese are prone to a number of health problems ranging from diabetes to joint issues. The lower calorie density of fresh cat food compared to kibble also allows your cat to eat a greater volume of food.

Scientists always look for objective data when evaluating diets, but anecdotal evidence from cat parents over the years has suggested that improvements in skin and coat, allergic symptoms, and gastrointestinal issues may well be tied to switching to a fresh diet. There are certainly scientific explanations for this, such as increased amounts of less-inflammatory fatty acids; better absorption of nutrients; and altered gut flora.

At KatKin, we remain committed to advancing the scientific understanding of the benefits of fresh food, and in the interim are even more committed to formulating the best cat foods available. We hope you’ll be part of the movement to fresh and contribute to the expansion of ingredient-focused, whole foods nutrition for cats in Europe.