Feeding

The cat is the only truly carnivorous animal we keep at home, and nearly every oddity of its behaviour at the bowl follows from that. This section covers what cats eat and why, how much and how often to feed them, how commercial foods differ, what to do when a cat turns finicky, and how the diet changes with age.

• What cats eat The cat is the only truly carnivorous domestic animal, and its digestion runs on a 28-hour cycle. What follows from that when you feed it.
• Feeding a cat Cooking yourself or buying prepared food: how to feed a cat naturally, and what to accustom it to while it is still young.
• Commercial cat food What is the right way of feeding your pet? Feeding with the commercial food
• Finicky eaters If the cat is not losing weight, passes stool daily and the vet is calm, there is no feeding problem. Perhaps the fussy one is not the cat.
• The particulars of a cat’s diet The received ideas about cat food that often end badly for the animal. A domestic cat differs hardly at all from a wild one.
• Feeding an aging cat Cats now live to twenty and beyond. How their nutritional needs change with age, and what to feed a cat that is growing old.