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Click on any of these marvelous Cat Feeders and Watering Dishes sure to stimulate and entice your Cats appetite.
Choose the Purrfect Cat Bowl for Your Kitty Cat..
If you're looking for a cat bowl or feeder for your cat, you're in luck, Cat food and water bowls are available in a variety of colors, materials, sizes, and styles to fit almost every taste and decorating style. Cat food feeders are also available in a variety of sizes, shapes and functionalities. Finding the cat bowl or feeder that's right for your cat should be easy if you stop to consider a few factors before you shop. Desirable Features in Cat Bowls # Easy to clean # Dishwasher safe # Tip or spill proof # Durable # Safe # Size, shape and texture pleasing to pet (see more below) # Sealed feeders (preserves freshness) # Cooling function (for timed feeders feeding canned food) Ideal Choice for Cat Bowls and Cat Food Feeders Cat Food and Water Bowls Depending on how you feed your cat or cats, you may consider a few bowls. One for water, one for dry food and a “dish” for canned food treats. Heavy ceramic or pottery bowls with gently tapered sides are ideal for dry food. Stainless steel bowls or a matching ceramic/pottery bowls are great for water. These bowls should have some weight and a potentially rubber bottom to avoid tipping or sliding movements. The ideal bowl should also be easy to clean and dishwasher safe. Some cats may have a preference of depth, shape, and materials of bowls. Some cats prefer to eat from a rather wide shallow dish and others don't mind a slightly deeper dish. Watch what your cat may prefer and choose the product that meets their preference. Feeders Cat Food Feeders are available to either offer free choice dry food or time feedings of canned meal treats. The ideal dry food feeder is tip resistant, dishwasher safe and easy to clean and seals in the freshness of the food. The heavy plastic varieties work well. The size is up to you but generally sizes that hold 2 or 3 days of food are good. The bigger ones hold more food but don't keep it as fresh as the bag does and some cats won't eat as well if it is old. Feeders should not be substitute for carefully monitoring your catss appetite. The ideal canned food feeder should have a cooling component to ensure food does not spoil. You can select models that can offer from 1 to several timed feedings per day. Again, you should not substitute being there for a timed feeder. Cats should never be left alone for more than 24 hours. The canned feeders are great for cats that nibble through the day and you want to offer them a special treat when you are out. Shopping Tips for Cat Bowls and Feeders # Avoid light-weight plastic cat bowls that can be easily moved. Avoid lightweight glass and pottery that can be broken, especially if you are feeding on an elevated surface. . # A rubber bottom slip-proof bottom is especially important if you feed your cat on an elevated surface such as a counter (away from other cats or dogs) so that it is not pushed off the counter and broken. # Elevated feeders may be easier to clean around and under, which is especially usefully for messy eaters. # Narrow and deep feeders are unappealing to many cats. Most cats don't like to put their head into a “hole” and prefer a more shallow option that allows them to monitor their environment while they eat. # Don't worry about getting a big bowl. Cats prefer “fresh” food so a smaller bowl forces you to refill more often which appeals to most cats! More Tips for Buying Cat Bowls and Feeders # The best place to feed a cat depends a bit on your cats personality. The ideal choice is in the kitchen where you are likely to be near your pet. The kitchen also has flooring that is often easy to clean and you are also close to the water for easy refilling the water bowl. Some cats are very social eaters and are more inclined to eat when you are near them. However, other cats are “quiet” eaters and may prefer an area where there is less noise and traffic and they feel safe. If this is the case, you may want to feed in two different areas to allow them plenty of opportunities to feed in an area of peace and quiet. This is especially true if you have more than one cat. # The ideal way to feed some cats is to offer free choice dry supplemented by small amounts of canned food once or twice daily. This gives you a good opportunity to observe your cats' behavior and appetite. Feeding Your Cat Properly Cats are obligate (strict) carnivores and are very different from dogs in their nutritional needs. What does it mean to be an ‘obligate carnivore’? It means that your cat was built by Mother Nature to get her nutritional needs met by the consumption of a large amount of animal-based proteins (meat) and derives much less nutritional support from plant-based proteins (grains). It means that cats lack specific metabolic (enzymatic) pathways and cannot utilize plant proteins as efficiently as animal proteins. It is very important to remember that not all proteins are created equal. Proteins derived from animal tissues have a complete amino acid profile. (Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins.) Plant-based proteins do not contain the full compliment of the critical amino acids required by an obligate carnivore. The quality and composition of a protein is also referred to as its biological value. The protein in dry food, which is often heavily plant-based, is not equal in quality to the protein in canned food, which is meat-based. The protein in dry food, therefore, earns a lower biological value score. Another important issue with regard to the protein contained in a dry food is that it has been cooked at very high temperatures for a long period of time. This extensive cooking required to dry the product significantly decreases the biological value of the protein With regard to the overall protein amounts contained in a food, do not be confused by the listing of the protein percentages in dry food compared to canned food. At first glance, it might appear that the dry food has a higher amount of protein than the canned food—but this is not true on a dry matter basis which is the accurate way to compare the two foods. Most canned foods, when figured on a dry matter basis, have more protein than dry food. And remember, even if this were not the case, the percentage numbers do not tell the whole story. It is the protein’s biological value that is critical. Cats Need Plenty of Water With Their Food Another extremely important nutrient with respect to overall health of your cat is water. It is very important for a cat to ingest water with its food, as the cat does not have a very strong thirst drive. This is a critical point. This lack of a strong thirst drive leads to low-level, chronic dehydration when dry food makes up the bulk of their diet. Cats are designed to obtain most of their water with their diet since their normal prey contains approximately 75 percent water. Dry foods only contain 10 percent water whereas canned foods contain approximately 78 percent water. Canned foods therefore more closely approximate the natural diet of the cat and are better suited to meet the cat’s water needs. A cat consuming a predominantly dry-food diet does drink more water than a cat consuming a canned food diet, but in the end, when water from all sources is added together (what’s in their diet plus what they drink), the cat on dry food consumes approximately half the amount of water compared with a cat eating canned foods. This is a crucial point when one considers how common kidney and bladder problems are in the cat. |
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