Feeding recommendations

For a long, healthy cat life, it is crucial that your cat is fed a cat-friendly diet. This starts with choosing the right cat food. As predators, cats need everything that is contained in a prey animal: animal protein, animal fat, vitamins and minerals. Cats, on the other hand, need very little carbohydrate. If you do not want to serve fresh mice, birds, fish and other animals every day, it is best to use a high-quality, so-called complete food. Complete food because it is composed in such a way that your cat's nutritional requirements are covered 100%. It is perfectly okay if your cat only gets the different varieties of a high-quality complete food brand because she loves the flavour of that particular brand. She will certainly not suffer from deficiency symptoms as a result. A high-quality complete food contains absolutely everything your cat needs. No cat has ever complained about one mouse after another.

Once the right food has been selected, the second important issue is of course the question: How much food should she actually get? The manufacturer's instructions provide a first, vague indication. However, the actual, individual energy requirements of your cat are much more important. This is not only based on size and weight, but is also influenced by a number of other factors. These include, for example: how old is your cat? What breed is it? What body type does she have? Is she neutered? The latter means that your cat may need up to 30% fewer calories per day, but her appetite will still be stronger. What is her general activity level? Well, this all sounds great in theory. Don't you think? But what does it mean in practice?

The basic rule is: less is more. It is estimated that almost every second cat in Germany is now overweight – and being overweight is really bad for cats. But why are so many cats overweight? Many cat owners are of the opinion that their cat only eats as much as she actually needs. Well, this view should be taken with a grain of salt. Because there are different opinions. Unfortunately, this natural protective mechanism no longer exists in many cats. This may be due to breeding, as mentioned above to neutering, a general lack of exercise, but above all to a diet of dry food. This is a calorie concentrate compared to wet food.

All of these are reasons why you should never refill your cat’s bowl indefinitely.

It should be mentioned at this point that, unless medically necessary, Albanine & Knuffl® is fundamentally against using dry food as a primary food. Dry food should only be given occasionally for teeth and jaws. There isn't really much dry food available in the wild – so can it be species-appropriate? However, as an occasional bone-crunching substitute for jaws and teeth, it's perfectly acceptable – provided it's of high quality.

The third important point is feeding times or the question: How often should I feed my cat?

As described in Eating behaviour, cats are not called ‘munchers’ for nothing – in nature, their diet consists of several small portions that they eat throughout the day. There are no fixed feeding times. The ideal would be to offer a small, fresh ration of wet food 8-20 times a day. Unfortunately, for most of us, this frequent recommendation only works in theory. Firstly, for various reasons we can't be available to feed them all day long and secondly, once a can or bag is open, it's open. Open is open. Even if you put a lid on the tin, it is still ‘open’ – i.e. no longer airtight in its original packaging. You can also forget about the fridge – chilled food should never be given, and letting it warm up again to room temperature takes far too long. The whole recommendation only works if the ration consists of an 85g bag (pouch) and is eaten completely. However, as a single ration, this is actually too much for most cats. Quite apart from that, there are even cats in the wild that do not eat their prey all at once, but spread it out over several hours.

The general rule is: the more often fresh food is given within the maximum daily ration, the better. But of course, it also has to be practical. The more often the cat can eat small portions, the better. And leaving wet food out for a little while is still better than giving dry food or only 1-2 large portions. If the cat gulps and then vomits, you know something needs to be changed. Then the intervals between feedings are too long. Even the so-called 'anti-gulping bowls' don't change that. However, there are also plenty of cats whose eyes are sometimes bigger than their stomachs. Combined with a sensitive vomiting centre, it just happens. There's nothing you can do – except wipe it up.

All in all, it is certainly not a bad idea to offer half the daily ration in the morning and half in the evening so that your cat can help itself again and again. The important thing, and this is also an Albanine & Knuffl® principle, is that once the daily ration has been eaten, there is no more. Amen!

The actual daily ration depends on various factors, as described above. Therefore, keep an eye on your cat's weight. If your cat isn't too overweight and there's always a little food left on the plate, you're doing everything right. If you have the opportunity, you can occasionally weigh your cat at home or have your vet check its weight.

A few more tips:

1. If your cat rubs against your legs and meows, please don't assume your cat is starving every time. Your cat may simply want social contact. You just have to know your cat.

2. Unlike us humans and dogs, the way to a cat's heart is not through its stomach. You can't buy a cat's affection with (unhealthy) treats. At most, you give her too many calories.

3. Some cats need variety in their food bowls, some do not. There are such and such. Some want something different every day, some want the same thing all the time or for a long time – that's just the way it is. Experience shows that all the training doesn't help. However, you can sometimes outsmart the variety fanatics by simply mixing up familiar flavours (from one manufacturer) and serving up new creations all the time. This works surprisingly well for many cats.

4. Cats also have a kind of food imprinting process. Kittens learn from their mother what is edible and what isn't. Therefore, carefully serve different types of food from the beginning to ensure variety. You'll be glad you did later.


IMPORTANT: Katzenteller für Katzen von Albanine & Knuffl® (Cat Bowls for Cats by Albanine & Knuffl®)

However, a cat-friendly diet doesn't just consist of high-quality food, it starts with the right food plate. With our premium dinnerwar for cats, you avoid the extremely unpleasant whisker stress for your cat. You also ensure that your high-quality food is always served in the plate size that suits your cat, in the best possible material, in the optimum plate shape for cats and in an absolutely cat-friendly colour. Albanine & Knuffl® wishes your cat bon appétit! 😊


CAUTION: Discuss any dietary changes with your veterinarian and/or animal naturopath first, as wet and dry food, for example, may contain different types of nutrients. The calorie content can also vary greatly.


The eating behaviour of cats
The drinking behaviour of cats
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Recommendations for fluid intake in cats