How to feed the cat properly?
Cat's nutrition needs especially careful attention, therefore the cat has to be fed with full-fledged, balanced food it has to get a proper amount of nutrients wherewith. To feed the cat properly one needs appropriate knowledge about food needs of cats and kinds of food.
Often it seems to the owners of cats: "If my cat is not pedigree, it doesn't need a more expensive food" - that is totally untrue! No matter, if the cat is pedigree or not, it has to get good food which would satisfy the cat's physiological needs. What is the difference between pedigree and non-pedigree cat's stomach?
A cat can be fed in to main ways: with natural food (RAW, BARF) or fabricant-made food. Which on to choose depends upon your free time, wish and your cat.
If you have chosen to feed your cat in a natural way, this doesn't mean that you can give the cat anything from your table. Choosing this way of feeding, you will have to arrange a special ration of cat nourishment with which it will get a proper amount of nutrients, and you will have to engage in preparing the food which will require your free time and knowledge. Rations are made of various products, therefore, cats' digestive system intensifies and nutrients are better assimilated. When arranging the ration for cats, one needs to know cat's needs for nutrients and nutritional value of food. It is important, because if the cat is fed improperly, various troubles can be caused, even dying. More information about natural feeding of cats can be found in the references presented below.
Choosing the second way of feeding, i.e. feeding with fabricant-made food, it is important to choose the proper one. It would be useful to know that cat's food is divided into classes - economy, premium, super-premium.
Choosing the second way of feeding, i.e. feeding with fabricant-made food, it is important to choose the proper one. It would be useful to know that cat's food is divided into classes - economy, premium, super-premium.
Mass media is full of adverts with cat's food which states that exactly this food is the best one, is fully balanced, satisfies all the needs of the cat and is recommended by vets. Answering such truths, in good heart we go to the nearest shop and buy a bag of "Whiskas", "Kitekat", "Darling" or any other cat food for our cat, and we are totally sure that it is the best we can give to our cat, but unfortunately, that is not nearly the truth. Have you ever seen into what is in fact put into the food of your pet? Let's compare the composition of economy ("Whiskas") and super-premium ("Orijen") cat food.
As we can see, grain predominate in the composition (product, the amount of which is greater, comes the first one in the composition, and the one with the least amount, comes the last), whereas, a cat is a meat-eating animal. Grain doesn't give any benefit to the cat's organism, thus the food doesn't fulfill physiological needs of the cat. Also, interesting is the thing that "waste, unusable for people" grain is used for poor quality cat food. It is also written in the composition that there are some preservatives and antioxidants, colourants and other synthetic chemical materials. Synthetic supplements have no nutritional value, can evoke cancer or can even be poisonous for a cat's internals. They are gradually accumulating in a cat's organism, when finally this raises a refusal of any organ.
After casting a glance at the composition of "Orijen" cat food, we see that each ingredient is named precisely, all supplementary compound agents are written. We can also see that the greatest amount of the composition is meat, no grain at all. The truth is that the producers of cheap commercial cat food use grain as the basis of food because grain is cheaper than meat, thus, "it is more worth it" for the producers. There are preservatives in the composition (supplementary material, without them food would go bad in short time), but this is not synthetics. Mostly, natural preservatives are used - vitamins A and C or tokoferol (form of vitamin E), which are even useful for the cat's organism.
Often the owners of cats are frightened by the prices of super-premium food. But pay attention to the fact that daily norm of economy class food is bigger than super-premium. Also, a cat eats more economy class food because the nose is irritated by synthetic supplements which foster eating more.
Often the owners of cats are frightened by the prices of super-premium food. But pay attention to the fact that daily norm of economy class food is bigger than super-premium. Also, a cat eats more economy class food because the nose is irritated by synthetic supplements which foster eating more.
It is also important that...
- there is always some fresh water next to the cat's bowl;
- cat's bowls have to be clean;
- if you leave for a long period of time and leave the cat alone, necessarily look to it that somebody will feed the cat for you;
- always see if the validity of wet (preserved) cat food is not over. After opening the canned goods, they have to be fed in the indicated period;
- don't over-feed the cat! Overfed cat can become obese and this disturbs heart activity. It is recommended to feed the cat 2-3 times a day.
Don't give the following things to the cat:
- milk - it has got lactose which is not tolerated by the cat's organism. Never give milk instead of water;
- the food you eat yourself (sausage, bangers,...), because this food not satisfy the cat's needs and it can even be harmful;
- onions - consist of a certain material which destroys cat's red corpuscles and evokes anemia;
- tomatoes and potatoes - can evoke aggressive symptoms of lower gut;
- chocolate (teobromin, present in chocolate) is really poisonous for dogs as well as for cats;
- raisins and grapes - some animals get poisoned by these berries (affect kidneys);
- coffee, tea or caffeine possessed products can be poisonous and affect hear and nervous system;
- spices - most spices are too acrid for animal organism - precisely thereupon it is not advisable to feed pets with human food from the table as it contains much spice.
Is it possible to combine feeding with natural food and dry food?
NO! Such combination is not permissible. This is one of the most common mistakes. Some owners try putting a small amount of dry food as a vitamin supplement to food from the table. They shouldn't do that. It is no good worrying that your pet will eat only dry food. Dry, industrial pet food are fully balanced food materials. After using dry food for a long period of time, pet's stomach adjusts to a certain food quality and composition, and its gastric juices are already not able to digest other food which is offered from your table. This helps organism to keep steady metabolism and fluid balance. Therefore, drinking-water should always be by the dry food. If the pet does not eat the dry food, you can soak the food in the water ambient temperature or you can feed the pet with wet food, i.e., preserves.
