Yes It Is True! What You Feed Your Kitten/Cat Is Important
Wet or dry food - what to feed a cat
When people are considering what to feed kittens/cats, they often look at whether wet kitten/cat food or dry kitten/cat food will be best. The best kitten/cat food should not only provide the best nutrition, it should also be easy for you to manage and be something your kitten/cat wants to eat.
Ideally, it should also help keep any potential health problems in check. Wet food is a great way to look after some of those needs, while dry kitten/cat food is brilliant in other ways. Wet food helps increase your kitten/cat’s intake of water, whereas dry food helps maintain your kitten/cat’s dental health. The aroma of wet food is more likely to tempt a fussy eater, whereas dry food will maintain its quality in the bowl for the whole day. Because wet and dry kitten/cat food provides different benefits, it is worth considering feeding your kitten/cat a mixture of both (although not in the same bowl).
Benefits of dry cat food
One of the main benefits of dry cat food is it is easy to store and simple to serve to your cat. It can happily sit in a bowl all day without any waste. This allows your cat to slowly eat the dry kitten/cat food throughout the day. which is good for supporting healthy eating habits. When dry food is properly formulated, it also helps improve dental health by using a mild abrasive surface on the kibble to control tartar levels on your kitten/cat’s teeth. In our experience of keeping Kittens/cats, like most breeders, it is our opinion that, one of the best kitten/cat foods you can buy is: Royal Canin
Benefits of wet cat food
Many cats don’t get enough hydration through drinking and rely on their food to supplement the amount of water they consume. A key benefit of wet cat food is it helps provide your cat with the extra water that not only keeps them properly hydrated but also reduces the likelihood of health issues in areas such as their kidneys or urinary tract.
Wet food also has the added benefit of giving off a richer aroma than dry food, which is important for cats because they rely heavily on their sense of smell than their sense of taste. A cat’s sense of smell is much stronger than the average human, while a human’s tongue has around twenty times more taste buds than a cat’s tongue.
Benefits of mixed feeding
Kittens/Cats respond well to a little variety in their diet. That doesn’t mean they need to eat something different every meal or have their diet totally changed once a week or month – far from it. However, providing them with a diet that is a mixture of wet and dry food has been shown to reduce problems with fussy eaters. Different kittens/cats also have different preferences when it comes to texture. By feeding them a mixed diet they’ll get a combination of textures that ensures they will find the one they like.
Mixed Feeding respects the natural feeding behaviour of any kitten/cat. Kittens/Cats prefer to eat different small meals throughout the day. Offer them a mix of wet and dry foods throughout the day, in separate bowls, to give your cat some variation to their diet. A healthy kitten/cat is a happy contented Kitten/cat.
How to introduce mixed feeding
Mixed Feeding can be fed alternately and/or combined. The method of mixing depends on the preference of your cat. Introducing mixed feeding should be done gradually, over at least a week, to prevent any stomach upset. To find out how best to transition your cat onto a new diet
Introducing your cat to a new food should be done slowly, to avoid any potential stomach upsets. Follow our simple, seven day guide to ease your cat onto their new diet safely and carefully.
Why would you change a cat's food
There may be an occasions when you may decide it’s time to change your cat’s diet. There could be a number of reasons for this transition, including
Your kitten is ready to move on to adult food
Your cat’s health requirements have changed and they require a more specialist diet
You’d like to transition to a wet, dry or mixed feeding plan
Nowadays complete well-balanced foods adapted to the cat’s age, physiological status and lifestyle can be given all throughout their life with no risk of nutritional deficiency. This means pet owners could be increasingly more likely to shift between cat food products.
Why is it important to change a cat's food carefully?
Early experience of a type of food will play a big role in the creation of later food preferences for kittens. This is why it is important to find out what sort of food a kitten was given before you bring them home – they will adapt to a new environment more easily if their food is familiar.
In the same way, during the cat’s life, any change in food should be made gradually. Faced with a new sort of food, some cats can be wary. This avoidance behaviour is called neophobia. It is believed that this behaviour is a sort of protection against ingesting toxic or tainted food. This is why it is better to introduce new types of food in stages, and to reduce any potential stress factors, to avoid aversion to the new food.
Important. How to change your cat's food
It’s best to introduce a new food to your cat gently, over a period of at least a week. This way you can help to avoid stomach upsets, neophobia, or any other anxiety for your cat.
Begin by introducing small percentages of the new diet, gradually increasing the ratio until your cat has completely transitioned onto their new food.
Day 1 & 2 – 75% previous food + 25% new food
Day 3 & 4 – 50% previous food + 50% new food
Day 5 & 6 – 25% previous food + 75% new food
Day 7 – 100% new food