Feeding Management of Cats
Feeding management of cats requires careful attention to their nutritional needs, life stage, and overall health to ensure optimal well-being.
A well-balanced diet should include essential nutrients such as proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals, with animal-based proteins being a crucial component.
Feeding Behaviour of Cats
The ancestor of cat is the African wild cats which primarily prey on small rodents that are similar in size to field mice.
Therefore the immediate ancestor of the cat is not an intermittent feeder like the larger wild cats; rather, it is an animal that feeds frequently throughout the day by catching and consuming a large number of small rodents.
Like the majority of wild felids, the African wild cat is a solitary animal, living and hunting alone for much of its life and interacting with others of its species only during mating season.
This solitary nature has resulted in an animal that tends to eat slowly and is generally uninhibited by the presence of other animals.
Most domestic cats living in homes consume their food slowly and do not respond to other cats by either increasing the rate of eating or consuming a higher volume of food.
In multiple cat homes, cats often eat peaceably from the same bowls either together or at different times of the day.
When problems do occur, they are often very subtle, with one or more cats intimidating a less assertive cat and not allowing access to the food bowl or supplanting the cat if he or she was already eating.
To prevent this type of feeding problem, several feeding stations located in different areas of the home should always be provided in multiple-cat homes.
If fed free-choice, most cats will nibble at their food throughout the day, as opposed to consuming a large amount of food at one time.
Several studies of eating behavior in domestic cats have shown that if food is available free-choice, cats eat frequently and randomly throughout a 24-hour period.
It is not unusual for a cat to eat between 9 and 16 meals per day, with each meal having a caloric content of only about 23 kilo calories (kcal). (Interestingly, the caloric value of a small field mouse is approximately 30 kcal.)
It has been suggested that the eating behaviors observed in domestic cats are similar to those of feral domestic cats eating rodents or other small animals. However, just like the dog, the cat is capable of adapting to several types of feeding schedules.
General Guidelines for Feeding Cats
- Cat should be fed individually and food selected should promote health
- The food should result in the formation of well formed stools and normal defection frequency
- The food should contain optimum nutrients
- Rapid change in the diet should be avoided.
- New diet should be introduced gradually by mixing it with the old diet in 25% increment each day.
- Cats are carnivores in nature.
- Feed should be rich in protein of animal or fish origin.
- Either raw or cooked meat can be fed. Sometimes there may be digestive trouble.
- Also provide vegetables, green grass etc to avoid digestive trouble.
- Green grass helps to expel fur balls from the stomach.
- Grass will be having vitamins and minerals especially trace minerals and so grass feeding is advantageous.
- Cat should be given plenty of drinking water.
Feeding Frequency in Cats

After each feeding the stomach of kitten should be rubbed with coarse warm towel. Feeding pot should be very thick otherwise it will be spoiled by the cat stepping on it.