Feeding cats their own specific food is relatively new
Most of us grew up with commercial cat food, in tins, bags or more recently in pouches. Although some people have always prepared raw food for their cats themselves, few people expect their cats to find all their food or feed them scraps of human food. But that is relatively new. Cats used to live with humans as rodent killers and were absolutely expected to find their own food and kill it. Those that did not manage to find enough mice or rats died of starvation.
Dog food started being produced commercially in the 1860s, but tinned cat food appeared a lot later, in the 1930s. We suspect improved living conditions in the 20th century meant there were fewer mice around for cats to catch. So if you wanted a cat in the household, you needed to feed it.
Early commercial cat foods were not necessarily designed to meet all the needs of cats but on the availability of ingredients. But they were based on meat only diet. Research is now available on what else cats need to remain healthy, such as taurine, vital amino acids and omega fatty acids – which is why we include those at 3coty®. If your cat does not need it, it is not in our food.
