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Corn is found in many cat foods — but not all corn is created equal. Learn more about this ingredient, its forms and its role as a source of energy for your cat.
Corn is included in cat food formulas in various forms, such as ground corn, corn meal, corn grits, corn gluten meal and corn bran. When reviewing the ingredients list on cat food packaging, you may see one or more of the following corn ingredients:
Corn Ingredient | What It Is |
Ground corn or corn meal | Finely ground and chopped whole corn |
Corn grits | The portion of ground corn containing little or none of the bran (fiber) or germ (the small protein portion at the end of the kernel) |
Corn bran | The outer coating of the corn kernel; largely fiber |
Corn gluten meal | A dried protein source that remains after the corn’s bran has been separated and removed and a large portion of the carbohydrate and germ have been removed |
Corn is included in the formulas for all IAMS cat foods, including IAMS™ ProActive Health™ Healthy Adult and ProActive Health™ Healthy Kitten. It is more appropriate to associate the corn used in our products with “corn bread” rather than “corn on the cob.” The difference is similar to cooked corn versus raw corn. We use only the highest-quality corn in our products. The corn is finely ground to a meal, which breaks up the outside covering of each kernel, and then it is cooked, which increases its digestibility.
Corn grits and corn meal are used in our foods as high-quality sources of carbohydrates, which are an important source of energy. Corn generally also results in lower glycemic and insulin response than rice. This can be especially beneficial for senior and overweight cats.
Providing your kitten with the proper nutrition goes way beyond just putting fresh food in a clean bowl. Your kitten’s nutritional needs will change as her body develops through adolescence. Proper nutrition during these critical growth periods will help your kitten mature into a strong, healthy adult cat. Discover four essential kitten-feeding tips you need to know in your kitten’s first year.
Learning what development milestones your kitten will experience in her first year will help you decide what and when to feed her.
After kittens are weaned, they enter a stage of rapid growth, which lasts through the sixth month of life. They need a balanced diet to deliver the nutrients and energy to sustain such rapid development.
Kittens have twice the energy needs of adult cats on a pound-per-pound basis. But their smaller mouths, teeth and stomachs limit the amount of food they can digest during a single meal. Therefore, it may be best to divide their total daily food amount into three or four smaller meals.
Because every bite must be packed with nutrition, kittens require a diet specifically formulated for growth. The best choice is a food with animal-based proteins that is highly digestible, nutrient dense and designed to meet kittens’ unique nutritional needs.
As kittens approach adult size, their nutritional requirements begin to change again. Their rate of growth begins to slow, activity levels may decline and they can start eating fewer, larger meals each day. During this stage, kittens begin to look like adults, but they are still growing and need the special nutrition found in kitten food.
The adolescent growth stage is a time when many cat owners are tempted to change a kitten’s food for variety. But cats do not get bored with a consistent diet of high-quality dry food. You can supplement your kitten’s dry food with a nutrient-dense canned food for a nutritious change of pace.
When your cat is about 12 months old, it’s time to switch to a maintenance formula adult cat food, such as IAMS™ Proactive Health™ Healthy Adult with Chicken. At this age, cats no longer need the extra calories and nutrients for growth supplied by kitten food. As with any change in a cat’s diet, remember to gradually transition from kitten food to adult food over a period of several days.
Monitor your cat’s weight and body condition during the transition, and adjust feeding portions if necessary. Because cats generally eat only what they need, free-choice feeding is fine for most cats. However, some indoor cats that don’t exercise much may overeat if fed free choice. In this situation, portion-controlled feeding twice a day is a good alternative.
Giving a kitten “human food” and table scraps can lead to undesirable behaviors, such as begging or stealing food. Feeding homemade diets or food formulated for adult cats (especially those designed for weight loss), or supplementing a complete and balanced diet with vitamins could cause nutritional disorders.
Kittens and cats are strict carnivores and need the nutrients found in meat. For example, sufficient amounts of taurine, an essential amino acid provided naturally through meat, help cats maintain healthy eyes, heart and reproduction. All IAMS kitten and cat food formulas have optimal levels of taurine for every life stage.
