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Chicken: The Complete Protein Source for Your Cat

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Chicken: The Complete Protein Source for Your Cat

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Chicken is a key ingredient in IAMS™ cat food. Its protein can help maintain healthy muscle structure, and it naturally provides each of the amino acids essential to carnivorous animals. And chicken adds great taste.

 

 What Chicken Ingredients are Used in Cat Foods?

  • Common chicken ingredients include chicken, chicken meal, chicken by-product meal, and chicken fat.
  • Chicken is flesh and skin without internal organs or feathers.
  • Chicken meal includes flesh, skin, and bone that have been cleaned, dried, cooked, and ground.
  • Chicken by-product meal is flesh, skin, and internal organs, including intestines and bone, that has been cleaned, dried, cooked, and ground.
  • Chicken fat, a high-quality energy source, provides essential fatty acids that help support skin and coat health.

 

What Is Natural Chicken Flavor?

Another common chicken-based ingredient is natural chicken flavor, also called chicken digest. Natural chicken flavor adds palatability and nutrients. It is high-quality protein and fat material that has been reduced to amino and fatty acids to improve taste through an enzymatic process.

 

Why Are Internal Organs and Bone Included in Chicken By-product Meal?

Internal organs are a rich source of protein, fats, and minerals, such as iron, that are essential to cat health and they add a taste that cats enjoy. Including some ground bone provides a good source of minerals, such as calcium. Some pet food manufacturers formulate their products without such ingredients to appeal to cat owners, rather than for the health of the cats themselves. However, the nutritional needs of cats are not the same as those of humans.

 

The IAMS Difference

Dried (meal) chicken protein sources contained in our chicken-based cat foods, such as IAMS ProActive Health™ Healthy Adult - Chicken, undergo an extra refining process and contain each of the amino acids that are essential to cats.

 

  • 5 Shocking* Secrets about Single-serving Cat Food
    5 Shocking* Secrets about Single-serving Cat Food
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    5 Shocking* Secrets about Single-serving Cat Food

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    *Actually very obvious things no one thinks about

    Okay, we admit it: We’re kind of obsessed with cat food. And while we’ve done tons of research to create the world’s best single-serving menu items, all it really took was observing the obvious. Here are five basic facts about cat food you didn’t know you already knew.

     

    1. Cats don't like leftovers any more than people do

    We presented a neighbor’s 12-year-old tabby with both a Perfect Portions™ fresh salmon meal and yesterday’s salmon leftovers from a can. Guess what happened? She sniffed us out and chose fresh. Is it because her sense of smell is more powerful than a human’s? Or was it completely obvious that the leftovers had mixed with the scent of the blue cheese and pea soup sitting next to the can in the fridge?

     

    2. A picky eater might be your fault

    How would you like to have tuna salad for lunch? And then for dinner? And then for breakfast? Don’t assume your cat doesn’t mind just because her taste buds are different — feeling superior is a cat’s job. Your job is to give them variety, which is hard when you have leftovers coming out of your ears. Try a multipack of Perfect Portions™ for the ultimate in no-leftovers variety.

    Why your cat judges you

     

    3. Leftovers smell bad

    A focus group of four people at a recent dinner party revealed that opened cat food smells less than good. It’s especially embarrassing if you're the host and the smell keeps wafting over your mashed potatoes.

    What cat food smells like when it's left over in your fridge

     

    4. Cans. Very messy.

    Canned food has been around for more than 100 years, so it seemed high time for a design update. When we reimagined canned cat food, we decided to get rid of the can altogether in favor of Perfect Portions™, with no-mess, no hassle containers. The results have been, uh, uncanny. Everyone agrees we should can the can. For good.

     

    5. Cats like to (over)eat, just like us.

    With food this good, lunchtime for cats can be just as tempting as Thanksgiving dinner for humans. Cats can have problems maintaining a healthy diet — and sticking to healthy portions — just like we do. It’s why we’ve taken the guesswork out of meals with Perfect Portions™. Each pack contains just enough (and not too much) every time. So don’t be fooled by cat food cans with 1½ servings. Unless you plan on training your cat to use the treadmill.

    Cats after mealtime on regular canned food