"rpl" wrote in message
...
PawsForThought wrote:
Dr.Carla,DVM wrote:

1. How many meals per day?

Free choice (put it out and let the cat regulate itself) is best but, it
may
depend on the cat.


Can you please tell us why "free feeding" a cat is best, including any
studies that show it's beneficial to cats and how an obligate carnivore
would especially benefit from eating free fed kibble?


kibble does include animal products; it isn't really analgous to human
"breakfast cereal". YMMV depending on the brand/product.

Cats are carnivores. Humans are omnivores. So, yes, you're right,
it is not equivalent to human breakfast cereal in that the latter
actually meets some of our nutrition needs, whereas the corn meal
and other starchy fillers in dry food meet none of the cat's needs.



As I've posted, the "kibble" part of their diet should be a brand that
they'll eat when hungry but not when bored (sortof like leaving celery
sticks out for the kids as opposed to chocolate chip cookies).


This works well for one of my cats, as she stays skinny and is allergic
to many foods--but not the one brand of dry I use and the one brand
of canned. However, recommending free-feeding of dry to every cat
is not a good idea. First, they may learn to eat when bored; and second,
canned food is just much better for them due to the water content and
the nutrients.

Convenience is the only reason many people feed dry food, and it
may be the best reason. And not a very good one at that.