Food and Nutrition
Food and Nutrition
Just because you are its owner, don't feed your cat like it is a true member of your family your son or daughter. Cats, by nature, are nibblers and like to snack on a variety of foods periodically. This makes them finicky, and you'll often find them sniffing at food before eating it. But they can also become addicted to one particular food such as fresh meat, tuna or liver. However, they eat sensibly, rarely overeat and hardly become obese.
When to feed him: Give him a fixed amount of food at specific timings with fresh water, but do not give him table scraps and snacks, if cold. If you give him table scraps, it can disrupt the nutrient balance in his food and cause obesity and medical problems, besides making him finicky. Give him high-quality commercially manufactured cat food with the appropriate amount of nutrients and calories, to keep him safe from disease.
Give him plenty of water so that he doesn't go in search of it in the toilet, fish tank or vase. Give him milk too but after he has finished a meal, as some cats develop diarrhea and digestive upsets from drinking milk.
Since cats grow bored of eating the same food without variation, give him a variety of flavors and textures and introduce a new brand of food so that he does not suffer from digestion problems.
Types of cat foods: There are various kinds of cat foods, such as:
- Dry cat foods: These comprise meat and vegetables, about nine to 10% moisture, 30% protein and 8% fat. You can further moisten this food or serve it as it is, so that the cat can nibble on it when he wants it.
- Moist cat foods: These are canned foods of fish or meat comprising 75% moisture, protein and fat. These foods are tasty and good protein foods, but not nutritionally balanced, so don't make this his main meal. Besides, if your cat takes to the taste, he will want nothing else. Remember not to serve this food cold or your cat can suffer from digestive problems, serve it at room temperature.
- Semi-moist cat foods: These foods contain 27% protein, 7% fat and 35% water, are delicious and nutritionally complete, and come in a variety of flavors. Place the food in your cat's dish all day and he will nibble on it.
- Supplementing his diet: You needn't supplement his diet with vitamins, minerals or proteins, unless he has a medical problem.
- How much to feed him: This depends on his breed, growth, physical activity, metabolic rate, digestion and if she is pregnant. Adults usually eat 2-3 ounces of dry food or 2-4 ounces of soft-moist food, or 5-8 ounces of canned food, with kittens and pregnant cats eating more.
- What not to feed him: Cats should not eat dog food, raw fish or pork, liver in huge quantities, raw eggs or bones. They should not eat human foods too as these could pose problems of metabolism they can get digestive problems, fall sick or die due to this.
With this information before you, feeding your pet cat shouldn't be a problem anymore.