Published by: Ingrid King. Last Updated on: July 12, 2023 by Crystal Uys
If you’ve read this site for any amount of time, you know I’m passionate about species-appropriate nutrition for cats. Cats are obligate carnivores, which means that they need meat not just to survive, but to thrive. Dr. Jean Hofve, a holistic veterinarian and author with more than 20 years of experience in conventional and alternative veterinary medicine, has written about this topic a lot longer than I have. In What Cats Should Eat: Keeping Your Cat Healthy With Good Food, Dr. Hofve takes an in depth look at feline nutrition.
Dr. Hofve has intensively studied and researched pet nutrition and the pet food industry since the early 1990s. She has written dozens of articles and been interviewed for print, radio, and television around the world. In 1995, she founded Spirit Essences (now owned and operated by Jackson Galaxy), which makes flower essence remedies for many animal health and behavior problems. She is the publisher of Little Big Cat, a website that features a wealth of information about feline health and nutrition.
In the newly updated edition of What Cats Should Eat, Dr. Hofve covers
- nutrition related diseases
- an indepth look at the pet food industry, and why it may not have your pets’ best interests at heart
- label myths, tricks and deceptions
- pet food contaminants
- how shop for the right food for your cat
- how to switch your cat to a healthier diet
- making your own cat food
- the case for raw meat and bones
Dr. Hofve also offers a list of brands she recommends.
This book offers comprehensive information from a seasoned veterinarian. Even though Dr. Hofve has retired form private practice, she remains actively involved in working to improve pet food regulation and quality standards. This is a must read for anyone who wants to learn more about feline nutrition.
What Cats Should Eat is available from Amazon as a Kindle book.
About the author
Ingrid King is an award-winning author, former veterinary hospital manager, and veterinary journalist who is passionate about cats.
Is this book available in hardback? I don’t have a Kindle or a personal computer.
You can read it with the Kindle app on any smartphone or tablet, Mary. There is no paper version available.
Sounds like the book would be a good read and informational. Thanks.
Hi Ingrid. We switched our cat to raw meat years ago after the first signs of kidney trouble (our Golden Retrievers ate a raw diet their entire lives). She does fine with it, has a good appetite and is in great health for her 15+ years. The problem now is that she gets hungry again around 3 am and wakes us up until we feed her. When she ate dry food, she could free-feed but we can’t leave her raw meat out for fear of bacterial growth. We are losing too much sleep – any suggestions? Is there a good food that can be left out for hours without harm?
Try feeding her a little “bedtime snack” just before you go to bed, Bob. You can adjust the amount you feed at her regular meals if weight gain is a concern.
For more tips on how to stop your cat from waking you up, read https://consciouscat.net/2012/08/06/how-to-keep-your-cat-from-waking-you-up/ Hint: you’ll have to stop giving in and feeding her at 3am, she’s got you well trained! 🙂
Hi Ingrid, this is kind of food related – I would like to know what you think of the ingredient Montmorillonmite Clay. It seems to be appearing in more and more brands of cat food, especially raw foods (or, at least the easily available raw foods in my area). My concern is that I haven’t been able to find any impartial, third-party research about its safety. Do you think it’s a safe and beneficial ingredient? Or should we wait and see? Thank you and I appreciate your thoughts on this.
I don’t think there’s a whole lot of reliable information about this ingredient out there, Abby.
Having an IBD diagnosed cat who has had thyroid issues I know the importance of proper diet. I downloaded this book to my Kindle in the hopes of gaining more knowledge pertaining to the health of our feline family members.
Ingrid – Do you recommend ordering the e-book from website and downloading the Acrobat reader or ordering Kindle version from Amazon and using their app to read on your PC/Laptop. I don’t have a Kindle and I may be a bit challenged sometimes from a tech perspective and I like paper books.
I would recommend the Kindle app from Amazon, Pamela. I find reading with Acrobat reader cumbersome, but that may just be a personal preference.
Sounds like some great information that we all need is in this book. I’m still trying to teach Miss Kiki that even though bugs are proteins, they are not good for her.
Sounds a very sensible, no-nonsense book and a worthy addition to many, many books about cats in all their aspects. I hope she does well from it – obviously a very knowledgeable lady
We are big fans of Dr. Hofve! I will have my human check out this book.