You are viewing entries tagged 'nourishment'.
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Kittens do not need food that’s too different from what adult cats consume, but they do need more protein-rich food and they need to eat more frequently.
A kitten needs a greater quantity because he has a tiny stomach and a fast metabolism that burns the fuel up quickly, leaving him ready for more food more often.
Radio show host and pet expert Tracie Hotchner is the author of The Dog Bible and The Cat Bible. Click here to follow her on Twitter. |
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Making homemade dog treats can be easy – flour, beef broth, an egg. But cats can be so finicky, that they’re bound to turn up their noses at something quite common. So, what can you make to tempt them? You might try a catnip treat. Or try these tidbits
made with dried fish flakes), though most of us don’t keep those on hand. If your cat has a sweet tooth, try something made with molasses! |
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Keep your cat’s litter box far from her dining area. Cats do not like to eliminate where they eat and it will cause out-of-litter box issues as well as eating problems. |
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Cats can be notoriously picky eaters, but with a little diligence, you can find the training treat that your kitty loves! Here are some ideas for kitty training treats – canned cat food, kibble, tuna fish (or Gio’s fishy fudge from Dogster!), Lakse Kronch salmon treats, sandwich meat, bits of cooked chicken or liver, and baby food. Can you think of any others?
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Even though cats are creatures of habit in some areas, many of them like variety in their menu. Rotate different ingredients and you’ll see that frequent changes can make for more enthusiastic dining in the cat cafe. |
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When feeding your cat canned food, think of it being the equivalent of the temperature a cat would encounter in a bird or rodent he or she hunted. Cold food, directly from the fridge, is a turn-off to many cats. |
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Cats who chatter are doing it because they see possible prey. Some cats will make a strange chattering noise that is a rapid clicking of their teeth with a high-pitched whining sound to go with it. It’s probably because they have an abundance of adrenaline, a surplus of energy as they anticipate the hunt when they see that bird or mouse. |
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Each cat in a household needs to have his or her own dish with his or her own portion of food. Try to notice which style or size of shallow bowl your cat prefers so you can always choose that one. |
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Since cats are true carnivores, their diet should consist almost entirely of meat, which takes many hours to digest. Therefore, a good meal once a day is ideal for a cat’s natural cycle of digestion, which naturally takes about 24 hours. Cats in the wild hunt at twilight, eat what they catch, and then sleep until dusk the next day. This allows for proper and complete digestion of a meat-based diet and elimination of the by-products. However, since our housebound cats are obviously not wild animals, we have gotten them used to eating more frequently than once a day. Also, we would probably not be comfortable feeding a cat that infrequently – it may be feline nature to gorge and fast (like a lion in the jungle), but it’ s human nature to feel good about our pets having a nice full belly! |
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A cat’s stomach – before it is filled and expands – is about the size of a quarter. There are different opinions on how to determine the quantity of food to give your cat. Some people say a cat needs about two tablespoonfuls of food at each meal; other people calculate that an average eight-pound cat that is healthy and active should eat the equivalent of ten mice a day, with each mouse calculated at being about 30 calories. For the average cat, half a can of food at each meal is about right. However, you don’t really need to portion out a cat’s food because she will self-regulate, eating as much as she needs at any one time. So you can meet your cat’s nutritional needs by feeding her twice a day and giving her fifteen minutes to eat her fill. Put down a few tablespoons of food and if she polishes that off, refill her plate with small amounts until she’s no longer interested. |
Another option is something you add to...