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Pet nutrition has made great strides in recent years. Both cats and dogs have benefited from these improvements.  Cats have a multitude of choices today, and it is your job as owner to pick out the diet that is best for them.  As with dogs, cat owners face the same questions: what to feed, how often and how much?

Cat foods come in three main types: Dry, semi-moist and canned. Each has it's own advantages and disadvantages.

Dry food is nutritionally complete, easy to store, feed, economical and can help prevent tartar from accumulating on your cats teeth.  Companies produce a variety of flavors, and shapes that appeal to cats. 

Canned foods are more flavorful; they are also usually higher in fat, meat products and water. They require refrigeration after opening, and do not prevent tartar from forming.

Semi-moist food is shaped like dry food, however it is softer and sometimes easier to chew. Please check the sodium and calorie content on some of these products, as most premium diets are not available in a semi-moist form.

Cats can be very finicky creatures; they may love one type of food for weeks or months, and then decide it is no longer what they want. Instead of insisting they continue to eat that flavor - try feeding them a few different flavors.  Please call your veterinarian if this persists for a couple of days, or you notice weight loss.

As with dogs, we feed IAMS/ Eukanuba in our hospital and kennel.  We also recommend Hill's Prescription Diet, Purina CNM, and Innovative Veterinary Diets (IVD). We feel that these diets are nutritionally complete, and that they will provide optimum nutrition throughout your pet's life. Unless you have been directed by your cat's veterinarian you should not feed a home made diet. Cats require specific dietary requirements (meat and taurine as a few examples) that premium diets provide in the correct amounts.  Another bonus to feeding a premium diet is the smaller, firm stool. 

If you feed dry food and do not have dogs that nibble on the cat's food free choice may be ideal for your cat.  Free choice is simply having a bowl of food  (and water) available for your cat at all times.  Sometimes cats prefer to nibble throughout the day rather than eat at an assigned time, so long as your cat does not overindulge, and fresh food is given frequently this may be an ideal feeding schedule for your cat.

If you feed canned food it may be a good idea to have a scheduled feeding time. Leave the food available for a couple of hours and then remove. 

If you have a cat that overeats, or other pets that eat your cats' food you may want to have scheduled feeding times.  Divide the amount of food your cat is supposed to eat into two feeding times.  Many cats will finish their meal in a short period of time if placed on a timed feeding schedule.

How much should you feed your cat? That is a common question.  The best places to start are either your veterinarian, or the suggested feeding amount on the package of food. You will probably need to make some adjustments in the amount of food that is given. A cat 's ribs should not be visible, however one should be able to feel the ribs fairly easily. 

Some helpful nutrition tips:
If you are switching your cats diet please do it slowly, over a period of a few weeks. Introduce the new food slowly in with the existing diet.

Do not feed your cat raw meat.  Raw meat can contain bacteria, which could lead to possible infections.

If you are feeding a nutritionally complete diet there should be no need to give vitamin supplements (unless suggested by your veterinarian). Too many vitamin supplements can be just as bad as too little.

Obesity:
If your cat needs has an obesity problem and needs to lose weight, call your veterinarian.  They can prescribe a diet formulation (such as Eukanuba, or Hill's) and give instructions on how much to feed your cat. Remember - cats should lose weight slowly.

Allergies:
Believe it or not it is not uncommon for cats to develop a food allergy. Eukanuba, Hill's and IVD offer a variety of diets for allergy prone cats.  Allergy diets should have a limited protein and limited carbohydrate source.  Often a pet needs the protein and carbohydrate source to be novel. This means that the cat has not eaten the carbohydrate or protein source before.

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