How to feed cats is equally important as what we feed them.
If your New Year's resolutions include your home's cats, I hope you enjoy this January newsletter on feeding them. There is a lot of talk about WHAT we feed our cats, but not enough about HOW we feed them.
Cats are not small dogs, and simply copying a dog's feeding routine can put many cats in distress.
How often do you feed:
Reviewing my 2025 cases made me realize that many cat owners still feed their cats only once or twice a day.
The American Association of Cat Veterinarians published a statement on its website, encouraging cat owners to feed multiple small meals over 24 hours.
https://catvets.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/FelineVMAHowtoFeedCat_Web.pdf
This statement does not provide exact information on how many times it is multiple, but the following study, recently published by Eyre et al. (2025), examined the feeding habits of healthy aging cats and reached the following conclusion:
The cats consumed around 6 (dry) or 7 (wet and mixed) small meals over 24 h, clustered around dusk and dawn.
Six to seven meals clustered around dusk and dawn come close to what we see in the wild. One mouse is about 30 kcal. Assuming an adult 10-lb cat requires between 200 and 300 kcal, the cat would need to eat between six and ten mice during a 24-hour period.
How often do you feed the cats in your home? Have you considered that this could affect your cat’s well-being or even lead to behavior issues, such as biting or counter-surfing?
Cats thrive on routine and predictability, and as a crepuscular species, they prefer to hunt and eat at dusk and dawn. This study validates feeding cats several small meals during the day, a meal before bedtime, and allowing them to graze overnight and in the early morning hours.
How much do you feed:
As a nutritionist, I don’t care whether you feed dry, wet, raw, gently cooked, or a combination.
It is important, though, that the food is complete and meets your cat’s nutritional needs and life-stage requirements. Don’t underfeed your kitten, overfeed your adult or senior cat, or force your cat to eat only what you believe is healthy and appropriate for them:
Not every cat loves raw or freeze-dried food.
Don’t underfeed or restrict your kittens’ caloric intake to the point that their healthy growth is compromised and they start counter-surfing and displaying aggressive behavior.
Don’t ignore the signs that your cat doesn’t like the food YOU deem appropriate for them. If the cat consistently refuses to eat the food you serve, consider switching to a different form or brand.
If you don’t want to free-feed or hand out portions over a 24-hour period, make sure you calculate your cat’s daily requirements and feed enough calories for its age and lifestyle.
Always use the WSAVA Body Condition and Muscle Scores as a reference. Obesity is a problem in the cat world, but unfortunately, so is underfeeding kittens.
https://wsava.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Body-Condition-Score-cat-updated-August-2020.pdf
Wet food – temperature matters:
In nature, cats are hunters, not scavengers. They prefer a fresh and lukewarm meal. Wet food straight from the refrigerator may not be appealing to them. Add a spoonful of lukewarm water, or warm it up in the microwave for 5 seconds.
Don’t let the wet or raw food sit out too long.
Don’t serve it out of the refrigerator.
Feeding tools and equipment:
Cats have 12 very sensitive whiskers on each side of their mouth. Whenever they must eat from a deep bowl, their sensitive whiskers must bend, causing so called “whisker stress”.
Provide your cats’ food in shallow bowls to prevent whisker stress and clean the bowls daily. Cats are not scavengers and prefer clean dishes and feeding stations.
If you are not at home during the day, consider automatic feeders if one cat needs special food or another is allergic to certain foods. It’s 2026, and the variety of automatic feeders for cats is great. Some open only to cats wearing a specific collar, others open at set times, and some even keep wet or raw food cool.
Feeding location:
Cats are solitary hunters and prefer to eat alone. Feed multiple cats in the same home separately and provide a food and water station for each.
In the wild, cats don’t drink where they eat. They prefer fresh, flowing water free of particles and contaminants. In a home setting, place the food and water stations apart and ensure every cat has ample opportunities to eat and drink.
Feeding time as enrichment:
When we bring cats into our home, we typically decide what they eat, when they eat, and who they must live with. This leaves today’s indoor cat with little to no choice or agency.
Instead of feeding every meal in a bowl, make them work a little for their food or treats. Food puzzles, snuffle mats, or DIY food puzzles are great ways to add variety.
References:
Bradshaw, J. W. S. (2006). The Evolutionary Basis for the Feeding Behavior of Domestic Dogs (Canis familiaris) and Cats (Felis catus). The Journal of Nutrition, 136(7), 1927S-1931S. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/136.7.1927S
Delgado, M., & Dantas, L. M. S. (2020). Feeding Cats for Optimal Mental and Behavioral Well-Being. Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice, 50(5), 939–953. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cvsm.2020.05.003
Eyre, R., Marshall, E., Goyon, A., Ellerby, Z., Carvell-Miller, L., & McGrane, S. J. (2025). Twenty-Four-Hour Feeding Patterns of In-Home Healthy Aging Cats Fed Wet, Dry, or a Combination of Wet and Dry Diets Ad Libitum. Animals, 16(1), 45. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani16010045
Russell, K., Sabin, R., Holt, S., Bradley, R., & Harper, E. J. (2000). Influence of feeding regimen on body condition in the cat. Journal of Small Animal Practice, 41(1), 12–18. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-5827.2000.tb03129.x