If you want your cat to live a long and healthy life, then a nutritious and balanced diet is essential. Cats are relatively picky about their diet, so you need to be extra careful in feeding and food selection. We all know that cats are carnivores and meat is very important for their healthy growth, and their protein needs are much higher than those of dogs and us humans, so we need to ensure that our cats have adequate nutritional intake during feeding, but not too much to cause obesity.

 

1.Selection of cat food

There are many different types of cat food, and the three more common ones are dry food, semi-wet food and wet food.

Dry food is a solid food mixed with meat and grains and other nutrients, and is nutritionally balanced. It has a low moisture content, so it's important to make sure your cat stays hydrated. Dry food is cost-effective and has a longer shelf life than wet food.

Semi-moist food is moist to the touch and has a good taste. It's popular with cats and is generally softer than dry food, making it easier for young and senior cats to eat. However, it's not very conducive to preservation as it will deteriorate quickly after opening.

Wet food is high in protein and fat and has a strong flavor that cats tend to favor. It's a good option for cats with low appetites, but it has a high moisture content and can spoil quickly after opening, so it's important to store it properly in the refrigerator and consume it within a day.

2. Disorders of intestinal flora

2-1. Weight

Although each individual and different breeds of cats vary greatly, in general a 12-month-old cat is considered an adult and should be fed twice a day. A 4-kg cat needs about 1100 kJ of calories per day, and 10 grams of food with water has about 400 kJ of energy, and this cat needs to eat about 275 grams of canned food a day to be full. This figure is for reference only. In order to prevent cats from eating too much or from diseases caused by insufficient nutritional intake, it is best to feed cats the right amount, but if many of our owners visually measure the amount, it will vary from day to day and will not be able to feed the right amount, so here is a tip, you can measure the amount of cups at the beginning of the week, and then divide the week's amount into small packets per day, so that every day Feeding will be very appropriate and convenient.

2-2. Timing

Feeding any small animal should be careful to ensure that their diet is regular, feed them things that are in line with their growth stage, and arrange a fixed time to feed them. If you feed your cat as soon as it begs for food, it is likely that the cat will grow up to be fat. If your cat has a strong appetite and often wants good food, how do you do? It is also very simple, then you just need to divide its daily diet into more small portions, reduce the amount of each feeding, and increase the number of feedings, so that it will also eat to its heart's content.

2-3. Choose the right time to clean up the cat food in the food bowl

Cats almost never eat all the food at once, they will eat it in several batches, a little at a time. If you see half a bowl of food left after your cat has eaten, please do not dump it immediately and clean the bowl, but come back after 30 minutes to clean it up, because it may come back to eat. But don't leave the leftover food for too long, if the cat really doesn't like to eat it, then dump it. Some owners don't pay attention and pour new cat food without cleaning up the leftovers, so the cat will have abdominal pain when it eats it, so the owner should also clean up the leftover cat food in time. It is also important to note that food gas and water may remain in the cat's bowl after eating, which may lead to microbial reproduction, so it is best to wash and dry the bowl after the cat has eaten, which is cleaner and less likely to make the cat sick.

 

3.Feeding of cats of different ages

The life stages of cats are divided into three periods, the growth period, which we call the kitten period, the maintenance period and the senior period. In these three different periods, we have to develop a nutritional menu for cats according to their age, exercise level and physical condition. Generally, kittens in the growth period have a great demand for protein, fat and minerals because they are growing. Cats before four months should be fed about 3 to 4 times a day, and then gradually become fed twice a day, and the digestive ability of kittens is still immature, so choose easily digestible food when feeding.

The maintenance period, or adult cat period, generally refers to cats from the age of 1 year to about 7 years old. During this period you only need to feed twice a day a nutritionally balanced cat food, and cats in this period buy prone to obesity or urinary diseases, so you can also feed some formula food. When your cat reaches 7 years of age or older, she will be a senior cat and her exercise level will be significantly reduced, but her appetite will not be reduced.So you have to be careful of your cat's excessive calorie intake. At this time, ordinary adult cat food can easily lead to obesity, so you have to feed her a food rich in vitamin E, vitamin C and taurine or dietary fiber with low calories twice a day to keep her healthy and even.

Finally, I hope everyone's kittens are healthy and happy.