Pet News
Cats … Arrr Meat Eaters
The author would like to acknowledge the contribution of the Veterinary Information Network in the preparation of this article.
Unlike dogs, cats are true carnivores. As a result, their nutritional needs are very different from dogs and from people. Cats are designed to eat multiple small meals throughout the day. In fact, cats that are left to fend for themselves outdoors will consume 10 to 20 meals daily. They are hunters and are designed to be active at night when the animals they normally hunt – like mice – are also active.
Cats that live outdoors burn a lot of calories and eating one mouse isn’t enough to sustain an adult cat, satisfying only 1/10th of their daily nutritional requirements. Because of their inclination to eat numerous small meals throughout the day, cats are considered “grazers” and will frequently visit their food bowl several times throughout the day. But if you have both a canine and feline family member, be careful when leaving your cat food out where Fido can find it. To your canine family member, cat food is like potato chips to us. It is incredibly tasty and it may be gobbled up, resulting in Fido gaining unwanted weight. So place the cat food in a place that will allow your feline family member to have access, but not your dog - maybe somewhere where your cat has to jump to get it. This can even help Kitty burn off a couple of extra calories as they have to work to get their meal.
When cats hunt, they have instincts to eat their prey in a specific manner. This is to allow for easier swallowing. Because of these hunting instincts cats prefer solid moist foods because they feel more like a meal of hunted prey. They also prefer meals served at “body temperature” rather than “room temperature” or “fridge temperature”. Therefore slightly warming the food you serve may make the food more palatable. Use the same cautions when heating a cat’s meal as you would when warming a baby’s bottle, ensuring there are no hot spots and that it is not too warm.
Cats have evolved to prefer certain flavours including anything that tastes like fat, meat or digested proteins. They don’t like sweet flavours and usually avoid plant materials, though anyone with a cat will recognize that some like to nibble at certain plants. We will put together an article in the coming months on which plants to avoid in your house, as some are very dangerous. Cats vary a lot in terms of their desire to eat new foods. As a rule, many do not crave variety in their diet the way people do. So feeding them a consistent, balanced diet suits them quite well. In fact, if we were able to eat the same balanced meal every day that ensured we got all the nutrients we needed for proper muscle, bone and tissue growth, overall we might be healthier. Maybe cats have this whole food thing figured out.
While we know that spaying and neutering is important to prevent unwanted litters of kittens, the surgery does reduce the amount of energy a cat will burn during the day. As a result, it is important to reduce their energy intake following these surgeries. Usually we do this simply by switching from a kitten or growth diet to an adult or maintenance diet. As a rule of thumb, prior to their spay or neuter surgery, cats require 60 – 80 kilocalories (kcal) per kilogram of body weight per day. So a 3 kg cat should need 200 to 250 kcal per day to maintain their body weight and function. Following the surgery, this can be cut in half. Cats frequently get overweight after they are spayed or neutered. This is typically a result of their caregivers feeding them the same amount of food after their surgery as they did before. Recognizing this fact, we recommend reducing their food/calorie intake as well as trying to keep up their activity level.
Another common mistake is feeding to our cat’s actual body weight, rather than their ideal body weight. If your cat weighs 7 kg and your veterinarian has indicated they should weigh 5 kg (their ideal weight depends on several factors) you should be feeding to the 5 kg level on the feeding guide not the 7 kg level. Slowly over time and with a bit of exercise (balls and laser lights are good for this to get your family member moving) hefty Kitty can return to her ideal weight. As with humans there are several health risks to our feline family members being overweight. Maintaining a healthy weight will help manage future veterinary bills as they get older.
Unfortunately because cats are grazers and have small stomachs, it isn’t possible to train them to eat their required daily intake of food in one or two meals. But it is possible to simply put down less food every day when you feed them. It is not a good idea to keep their food bowls full all the time expecting the cat to self regulate. Some can and others cannot and once overweight, a regulated diet is an effective way to manage this process.
While every cat is different, adhering to a few of these nutritional rules of thumb and understanding their somewhat unique dietary needs will help keep your feline family member healthy.
