Cat Food Dos and Don’ts

Dos:

Make sure your cat gets the nutrition they need

Cats of different age have different nutrition need, just like humans. It is important to make sure that they get what they need. All of our cats still eat kitten formula even though Snowy turned one year old several months ago. They eat dry and wet food every day. Occasionally we give them treats that are good to their teeth and coats. We wanted our cats to be healthy and happy. Therefore, we did extensive research before picking the suitable food for our cats. 

Below is what we have been feeding our cat. We never changed the brand from day one, and our cats love them. They are all kitten formulas though. As our cats grow older we may need to switch.

Wet food: Wellness Complete Health Natural Wet Canned Cat Food

Dry food: Wellness CORE Natural Grain Free Dry Cat Food

It’s ok to feed your cats some human food

          But it is ok to feed cats most of the food humans eat. For example, meat, eggs, pizza. It is just not a good idea to let human food replace cat food completely.

Choose the right material for your cats’ utensils

          It is better to use ceramic or glass dishes for cats. Plastic utensils are more prone to make cats have acne on their chin.

Use different containers to separate dry and wet food

          Use different container for different type of food. Each of our cats has three containers, one for water, one for wet food, and a third for dry food. Make sure the dry food container always dry.

Cat utensils should be washed regularly

          Even if you get the right material for your cat’s utensils, you need to clean them regularly. We clean our cats’ utensils once every two to three days. So far it seems fine.

Make your kitchen cat-proof

          Cats are like kids. They are active and curious. More importantly, they can’t judge for themselves. When our cats were a few months old, before they learned to jump or climb to the kitchen counter, they did not know much about the kitchen. However, as they got used to the fact that tasty stuff seemed to always come from that area of the home, they became more and more curious to the kitchen area. They began to try all methods they could think of to get to the kitchen counter, and into the cabinet.

          To make your kitchen cat-proof, you need to put away your knife, put dishes inside cabinet. Don’t leave any poisonous items such as onion, garlic, nuts outside. Practically it means you almost always need to clean your kitchen after each meal.  

Don’ts       

Don’t feed your cat anything and everything

Since I have a more liberal attitude toward cat food, and tend to feed them whatever I was eating (assuming if I can eat, certain can they), my family, however, is more restrictive on that.  After consulting the vet, she gave us a list of food that shows what is healthy and what is poisonous (picture below). We have pasted the list on our refrigerator, so that every time when we want to feed our cats something (we all know how curious cats are, especially regarding food), we would check first.

Don’t feed cat raw meat

          Some people like feeding their cats raw meat. I recommend not do so. The main reason is because raw meat increases the risk for becoming infected with salmonella. It is always safer to simply boil the mean until it is fully cooked.