What should a cat's daily feeding ritual look like?
Thursday, 9 May 2024
Feeding your cat is a real ritual for your darling. When you fill his bowl with food, he rubs himself, purrs loudly and meows. And when he has finished his meal, he licks and brushes his fur thoroughly to wash off the food smell. Cats are demanding consumers, and their food should be up to standards. Read how to properly feed your cat to meet all of its needs - both nutritional and behavioral.
It's good if feeding a cat is preceded by several minutes of play, e.g. running after a fishing rod with feathers. Then let the cat "hunt the prey" and fill its bowl with food. This feeding ritual suits most cats very well. It helps to recreate the hunting chain, which consists of chasing, catching, tearing and eating the prey and resting. Of course such a ritual doesn't have to take place before every meal, but it is worth introducing it twice a day, e.g. before morning and evening meals. After eating a cat licks itself and thoroughly washes its fur. This behaviour is also due to its primal instincts and serves to remove the scent of the prey, so as not to attract other predators or be recognized by subsequent prey.
Cats in the wild eat very frequently, even several times a day. Their meals consist of small prey (mice, birds, insects among others). At home, it's difficult to provide your cat with such frequent meals. So, how to feed your domestic cat? It's worth using a mixed diet. Give your cat a meal consisting of wet food in the morning and in the evening. In your absence and for the night fill the bowl with the appropriate amount of dry food - cats usually do not eat the whole portion at once, but they come up to it several times, crunching a few granules. This way, your pet will have a chance to eat even a dozen times a day. In a mixed diet, it's also very important to maintain the correct ratio between dry and wet food, i.e. 1:9 in terms of weight, with wet food predominating.
A complete food should be the basis of your cat's diet. Prepared food, prepared by specialists, provides the cat with all the necessary nutrients needed for proper functioning. The cat's diet should be adapted to its age and physical activity. This is why you should choose a cat food designed for the stage of life your cat is in. Dose the food according to the instructions on the package. Consuming too many calories in a day can, over time, lead to weight gain and the development of overweight or obesity.
Ideally, your cat's menu should consist of both aromatic and flavorful moist meals and crunchy pellets. Using a mixed diet allows you to benefit from the advantages of wet and dry food. Wet food covers a large part of your cat's water requirements and is low in calories - it contains around 4 times less calories per 100g than dry food. Unfortunately, it loses its freshness more quickly once opened, so you'll need to remove the leftover wet food from the bowl after 20-30 minutes. Dry food, on the other hand, is very convenient in this respect, and can easily lie in the bowl for several hours. In addition, dry food helps to remove bacterial plaque.
