 For both humans and our pets, everywhere modern processed foods go, chronic illnesses like obesity, diabetes, and inflammatory bowel disease are soon to follow. To aid in your search for the best diet to feed your cat, here we discuss the links between cat food, inflammation, and how it impacts your cat's health. What is inflammation in cats? Inflammation is a natural process used by your cat's immune system to combat irritants and foreign organisms like bacteria and viruses. When a harmful invader is detected, the body's white blood cells release chemicals that increase blood flow to the area and leakage of fluid into the surrounding tissues. This leads to the physical symptoms of inflammation which include heat, redness, and swelling. Although this reaction stimulates tissue repair and protects your cat from infections, it also can be triggered inappropriately. When inflammation persists for a long time and becomes chronic, it can lead to many illnesses including feline cancer and pancreatitis in cats. Inflammatory bowel disease, IBD, is chronic inflammation in your cat's digestive system. When this happens, sections of the digestive tract, typically the intestine, become inflamed, which can be confirmed with a biopsy. System-wide inflammation can also be detected by measuring specific chemicals circulating in the bloodstream. Generally, when scientific studies discuss cat foods and habits that lead to inflammation, they measure the levels of these chemicals in blood or tissue. Cat foods that lead to inflammation. Mainstream cat foods contain processed meats, or plant protein, and refined carbohydrates that often rely heavily on additives to increase the packaged food's nutritional value. For humans, diets high in saturated fat, trans fat, sugar and or refined carbohydrates can all lead to increased symptoms of inflammation. Cats could have similar reactions to many of these ingredients, although because they are obligate carnivores, they have evolved to eat a diet that is high in protein and fats. Because of this, saturated fats are probably the least likely of these factors to cause negative health effects in our cats. Refined carbohydrates, which are quickly converted to sugars during digestion, are some of the worst contributors to inflammation in humans. Although there have not been similar studies on cats, carbohydrates have the added problem that they decrease a cat's ability to absorb nutrients from the food it eats. Hyprotein cat foods typically have 50% or more of the total calories from a meat protein source and as few as 1 to 2% from carbohydrates. Many veterinarians recommend feeding your cat wet food over dry food, with one of the reasons being that dry kibble also typically contains more carbohydrates than wet foods. And remember, just because a cat food says grain-free or gluten-free does not mean that it is also low carb. These foods could still contain potatoes and other carbohydrates that are cheaper than meat. Polyunsaturated fats, omega-3, and omega-6 fatty acids have also been studied for their roles in inflammation. Many studies have shown that having a high ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids can lead to a reduction in human and rodent inflammation. Based on these studies, a popular guideline is to feed your cat a diet that is higher in omega-3 and lower in omega-6, which is often accomplished with fish or krill oil supplementation. However, a study that intentionally fed healthy cats a diet low in omega-3 for 3 months did not lead to higher levels of inflammation. Although it is recommended to increase your cat's intake of omega-3 fatty acids, you may not have to worry about this if your cat is healthy. Finally, your cat could be allergic or have a food sensitivity to a specific food ingredient like beef, dairy, or fish. Many allergic reactions also trigger fur loss, itchiness, and skin irritation, atopic dermatitis, so if your cat has these symptoms, you should consult with your veterinarian. Once your veterinarian rules out other potential environmental allergens, like fleas and aerosols, you can try an elimination diet to see if you can identify the source of inflammation. Hello. This video is sponsored by Beemix Pets. Are you looking for high-quality cat collars at an affordable cost? Check out BeemixPets.com. Use coupon code KittenLife, to get 20% off. Feeding habits that lead to inflammation. It's not just what your cat eats, but it is also the quantity that can trigger inflammation. When too many calories are consumed, cells become stressed and this promotes inflammation. In this way, constant overeating can lead to chronic inflammation. Although similar studies have not been conducted on cats, we share these energy storage mechanisms with our feline companions. If your cat likes to overeat, it is important to regulate the portion size of their meals instead of leaving them full bowls of food. If you enjoyed this video, kindly press the like button. Also don't forget to subscribe with notifications on, so that you don't miss out on videos like this. Thank you for watching.