Food and Water Stations For Kitties

Food and Water Stations

Kitties experience something called whisker fatigue. This is when their whiskers get pushed/bent/stimulated and occurs every time they eat if their bowl is too deep or too narrow. Depending on your kitty’s face shape you may need a very shallow long saucer like dish or you may be able to use a shallow oval dish. Keep reading to learn more about the best food and water stations for kitties!

 

Feeding Your Cats and Kittens

• Free feeding is not healthy for cats. If you are away from home for more than 10 hours every day and want to be sure your kitty has access to food while you are gone, please purchase a feeder that allows you to set a timer for very precise amounts of food to be dispersed at the times you set.
• If you have multiple cats in your home – adult cats should not eat kitten food and kittens should not eat adult food. The best thing to do is to meal feed them and be present so that they don’t eat each other’s food and we also recommend microchip feeders that only allow the kitty they are set for to eat out of them.
• It is very important that your kitties have their own personal space to eat and are at least 6 feet away from each other for meals.

 

Providing Water for Your Cats and Kittens

• Food and water stations should be at least 6 feet away from litter boxes as cats do not like to eat and drink where they use the bathroom.
• It is important that you have at least 2 water stations and if you have multiple pets you have the number of water stations that you have number of pets plus 1.

 

Cats like different styles of drinking

We recommend one fresh water fountain that you are very conscious about keeping clean and changing the filter and one shallow wide water dish that you change out the water daily.

 

Cat Water Fountains

• The brand we have had the most success with and is easiest to clean is Home Run Pet water fountains.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• We also like CatIt as our second favorite

 

Cat Water Dishes

Make sure they are whisker fatigue friendly and stainless steel or glass. These need to be washed in the dishwasher regularly.

 

Cat Food Bowls

make sure they are whisker fatigue friendly and stainless steel, glass or sealed ceramic that can go in the dishwasher. Do not use pottery or plastic as they hold bacteria. CatIt brand has great bowl and slow feeder options. Doc and Phoebe’s also has great slow feeders. The appetizer plates are what Dr. Sands uses to feed her younger kitties wet food (you can set them up on a little box to elevate if you’d like) and they take up very little dishwasher space.

 

Things to Know About Nutrition For Kitties

• Kitties should only receive 10% or less of their total daily calorie (kcal) intake as anything other than balanced food. This means that all treats, snacks, bites of human food, chews etc you’ll want to know the calorie content of and be sure that it is less than 10% of the daily total. Most food bags recommend greater than the amount needed for spayed/neutered kitties.
• Canned food is best for kitties for many reasons (as long as it is quality canned food without lots of sugars). A combination of canned and dry food or only all canned food is best.
• Avoid raw diets as they have significant health risks. Feel free to ask us if you have questions about this!
• When choosing a food for your cat, please be sure that the diet you feed is age specific, from a company who gives you access to nutritional data, research on how their diets are tested and has board certified veterinary nutritionists listed on staff on their website.  The easiest way to know if a diet is good for your pet is to make sure that the AAFCO statement says “tested” and not just “formulated to meet”. A reliable website to learn about choosing food is developed by the Tufts University of Veterinary Medicine –Petfoodology.