Cat Care - Feeding & Safety

[suleka]

Feeding

You should bear in mind that cats have a very acute digestive system and have specific nutrition needs. You pet needs to be fed a balanced diet containing water, proteins, vitamins and fatty acids.

The use of dry foods in your cat bowl will ensure that your pet has clean teeth and healthy gums. Try not to be tempted to put water with the dry food as this may lead to wasted food and also makes the food go off quicker which can make your cat sick.

Never feed your feline friend anything which has bones in it. This includes foods such as turkey and chicken. these bones splinter easily and can really injure your companion.

Make sure that your cat's food is served at room temperature and not straight out of the fridge. Cats have a tendency to vomit cold food.

Safe Environments

The best place for a cat is in the home. If you let your cat roam outside then there are many hazards that can put him/her in danger. These include predators, cars and rat poison.

It has been proven that cats which live indoors will have a greater life expectancy than those allowed to roam outdoors. Your cat may also annoy the neighbours and is likely to kill wildlife such as birds if put out at night.

[GoingPostal]

Is this serious? Dry food is not going to clean a cats teeth, have you ever seen a senior kibble fed cat's mouth? And don't feed them stuff with bones? Cooked bones shouldn't be fed because they can splinter but raw is fine, my cat loves chowing down on real meat, chicken, mice, etc which does a way better job at keeping her teeth clean than any kibble.

[Jay_Bunny]

Is this serious? Dry food is not going to clean a cats teeth, have you ever seen a senior kibble fed cat's mouth? And don't feed them stuff with bones? Cooked bones shouldn't be fed because they can splinter but raw is fine, my cat loves chowing down on real meat, chicken, mice, etc which does a way better job at keeping her teeth clean than any kibble.

x2!

The idea that kibble cleans a cat/dog's teeth is purely marketing. The reason cats and dogs have so many mouth/teeth/gum problems is BECAUSE of their diet. Kibble does not clean teeth. A cat's back teeth (where they crunch the kibble) are sharp and pointed. These teeth are designed to tear and chew through meat and bone, not kibble. When a cat's tooth crunches down on kibble, it simple splits the kibble into smaller pieces. This does not clean the cats teeth or the gums. The cat even swallows the smaller pieces instead of chewing it up further. This is because cats are not designed to chew and chew and chew their food into smaller pieces. They are meant to tear a chunk of raw flesh from an animal, and swallow it. Their digestive tract will take care of breaking it down.

Now, when a cat sinks its teeth into a chunk of meat, the tooth will actually sink all the way up to the gum line. So the tooth gets cleaned and the gums are stimulated and cleaned. When my cat, Ramman, was around 10 months old, he went to the vet for bad breath. He had dirty teeth and had the beginning stages of gingivitis. The vet told me to brush his teeth with a medicated toothpaste. I decided to take a more natural approach. I put all the cats on a raw diet for a month. NO kibble. Just raw meat/organs and raw bones. I did this for an entire month and the cats loved it. Ramman's gingivitis and bad breath cleared up within the first week. It was wonderful. If I could afford it, all of my cats, and the dog would be switched to a raw diet TODAY!

I know I have said this a hundred times before in threads about my ferret's diet (raw fed). Kibble is one of the worst diets you can put a carnivorous pet on, especially obligate carnivores like cats and ferrets.