Formulating an ideal diet for domestic and captive wild cats begins with the straight forward study of their diet as wild-living animals and the following analysis of the prey. Laboratory conducted feeding trials, used to measure minimal nutritional requirements by withholding nutrients and observation of the ensuing deficiencies, are unnecessary. It is a cruel method, and the acquired knowledge of minimal requirements leads to development of dietary formulations of non-optimal nutritional quality. Also, the simple analysis of nutritional composition is insufficient if the nature of the food and the way it is consumed, remains unexplored.
Cats consume small prey whole. Larger prey is only partially eaten, leaving digestive tract, skin, hair, larger bones, or feathers. Larger prey may be eaten over several days, although cats seldom take carrion. Most importantly the food is consumed as is: raw - an important fact when considering that heat processing, even at low temperatures, will destroy or alter most essential nutrients and food components (e.g. enzymes, amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals).
Carnivores have been defined through evolution by eating meat raw - feeding them cooked meat will lead to deficiencies resulting in poor health and ultimately in premature death.
In turn, this poor health is inherited by future generations manifesting as congenital defects. These facts have been succinctly demonstrated in a long term study conducted between 1932 to 1942 by Francis M. Pottenger, Jr., M.D.
Initially Dr. Pottenger kept cats as laboratory animals for experiments in human health. As his research and cat population grew, he resorted to feeding them raw meat scraps from a packing plant instead of cooked kitchen leftovers. Within a few months, he noticed distinct improvements in the cats whom were fed raw meat, which prompted Dr. Pottenger to undertake a whole new experiment: he segregated cats into different groups - some of which were fed a cooked meat diet and others who received a raw meat diet. All observations were noted in great detail over many generations of cats. At the end of the study Dr. Pottenger concluded that cats fed on a heat processed diet were deficient and suffered from innumerable ailments ranging from low immunity, irritability, and allergies; to skeletal deformation, organ malfunction, poor development during kittenhood, low birth rate, birth defects, infertility, and shortened life-span. By the third generation of being fed cooked meat the cats were often so "physiologically bankrupt" that none survived beyond the sixth month of life. On the other hand, the cats fed the raw meat diet, and their offspring, thrived in near perfect health throughout the study.
If you wish to learn more about the Pottenger study, you can purchase a summery of the study as book or video from the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation.