What to feed a Scottish straight cat?

This breed of Scottish cats won the hearts of breeders around the world. An interesting appearance and soft, appeasable character encourages more and more people to buy such a small fluffy miracle. However, in order for a cat to fully grow and develop, it is very important to care and proper balanced nutrition.

For any cats, including Scottish straight, there are 3 types of food:

• feeding "naturalka";
• feeding finished dry or wet food;
• mixed feeding, in which both natural products and ready-made mixtures are present in the diet.

There is no single answer to the question, what kind of feeding is more rational, there is no - each type of menu compilation will be correct, so you should make a decision based on your pet's taste preferences and your free time. Keep in mind that feeding “naturalka” requires a certain time to find and prepare all the necessary products for a balanced cat food.

When feeding with “naturalka” 70% should fall on pre-frozen beef or white meat of chicken breasts. Once a week, you can add offal - it is best to take the liver and heart, enter them into the diet more often than not - in this case, the pet may begin indigestion.

Argued that any cats useful fish. This is not exactly the case. even ordinary “yard” breeds should not be given this product more than once a week, and the Scots can only be given low-fat varieties (carp and hake) in boiled form, in small quantities and no more than 1 time in 10-14 days.

Another common misconception is the love of cats for milk. The fact is that the organism fluffy secretes the enzymes necessary for the absorption of this product only until the kitten reaches two months of age. Therefore, in older cats, milk is simply not digested and creates a load on the digestive organs. However, the low-fat cottage cheese, sour cream, ryazhenka or kefir bites with exceptional usefulness for animals - once a week they must be given to their pets.

From time to time it is possible to offer boiled chicken yolk to the Scots - two a week will be quite enough. For cats, cereals are very important, they are a source of energy, vitamins and minerals. Cereals such as oats, buckwheat, semolina and oatmeal are rich in carbohydrates, so they are mixed with meat and given to animals every day. If possible, supplement the mash with steamed vegetables such as carrots, zucchini, cauliflower or green beans.

When feeding Scottish cats there are several taboos, their observance is very important for the health of animals.

• It is not necessary to overfeed a pet - this is a very common mistake of the Scots' hosts: many believe that kittens need a lot of food in order for them to grow and develop. This is not so - the fact is that cats of this breed do not know the measures and often eat more than they need, therefore the quantity of the obtained product should be controlled without fail.
• Any salty, smoked, spicy and fried food is banned - any products “from your table” that seem tasty and useful to people are too heavy for the body of fluffies and can lead to the development of various pathologies of internal organs.
• In no case should cats be given bones, they can injure an animal and even lead to death. However, bone meal from time to time can be included in the diet.
• Pork and other fatty foods should be completely excluded from the menu.

A calorie sufficient for a pet is one that provides a cat with high activity, maintaining the necessary body temperature, and allows the digestive, respiratory, and cardiovascular systems to function normally. The average standard consumption of an adult cat per day is 200-300 J per kilogram of weight.

In this way, A pet weighing 3 kg needs about 1000 J every day, cats weighing 4 kg - 14 J, in 5 kg - 1500 J.

1 option:

• 25 g of beef or veal;
• 5 g of the lung;
• 10 g of water;
• 2 g of vegetable oil;
• 5 g yeast;
• 4 g cereal flakes.

2 recipe:

• 10 g of liver;
• 25 grams of lean fish;
• 4 grams of buckwheat;
• 7 g of water;
• 0.2 g yeast;
• 5 g low-fat cottage cheese.

There are specific features for feeding small kittens and adult cats. But for any type of feeding, it is important to ensure that the pet has constant access to clean water.

In the daily diet of an adult Scotsman must be present a sufficient amount of a balanced nutritional feed, which allows you to satisfy all the energy needs of the animal and maintain muscle tissue. Do not forget that cats spend a lot of energy on games and they need sources of energy.

The quantity and quality of food directly depends on the lifestyle and size of a furry pet. The fact is that each domestic cat has its own level of activity and this will certainly have an impact on the caloric content and amount of food. So, for a cat with an average level of mobility you need a basic amount of calories, and for balanced cats, leading rather a contemplative lifestyle, their number can be reduced by 10-14%. Naughty teasers who love to play the day away should get much more - their diet can be safely increased by 40% of the normative.

It is advisable to feed an adult cat 2-3 times a day, the intervals between meals are approximately 8-10 hours.. If the cat eats all the proposed food at once, then you can transfer it to three meals a day, and if it leaves, then two feedings will be quite enough.

Unfortunately, some breeders, due to the peculiarities of the work schedule, cannot provide the required diet and leave their pets a supply of food so that they can eat during the day. Often, the Scots abuse it and eat all the food they offer at once. To prevent this It is advisable to purchase a special dispenser that dispenses a specified amount of products at the time set by the breeder.

Ready-made feeds are usually made in a dry and wet form, they can be combined only if they are made by one manufacturer. Besides, It is advisable to offer them at different times, for example, in the morning - wet food, and in the evening - dry. These two types of foods are digested in different ways, so the combination of them within the same feeding often leads to digestive problems in animals.

When choosing brands it is better to give preference to well-known brands. They are distinguished by high cost, but at the same time their quality does not cause any complaints. Low cost nutritional formulations may contain an insufficient amount of proteins, by-products are used in their manufacture, and there are also no vitamin and mineral supplements.

According to the breeders reviews and veterinarians advice, animal products are preferred Royal Canin, Hill's, Matisse and other premium feeds.

Cheap options, widely represented in any outlets, - Sheba, Kitekat and Whiskas undesirable, their nutritional value is low, and the composition is not always "transparent".

Feeding kittens should be given special attention, since the health of your pet, its full growth and development largely depends on it. Up to 3 months, the main food is mother's milk, although from the age of 1.5 months you can enter into the diet low-fat dairy products, shredded meat and boiled cereals in small portions.

The consistency of the food offered should be liquid so that the young Scot can easily take it. That is, the cereals should not be hard boiled, what they are boiled for adult cats, but liquid, and the thinner the mash, the better.

Ready-made feeds already contain all the necessary nutritional elements, and supporters of “naturalka” will need to balance the kitten's nutrition with additional inclusion of vitamin complexes. Keep in mind that dosages must strictly correspond to the age of the animal and state of health.

Regardless of which vitamins you prefer, the kitten’s diet should certainly include fish oil - it is extremely useful for growing up Scottish because it is a rich source of omega, vitamin D and A.

At first, the kitten may refuse to eat solid food, the babies often play with pieces of food - this should not upset you, soon the pets will get used to it and start using them for their intended purpose.

At the age of 5 months, the kittens are fed 5 times a day, upon reaching 9 months they are transferred to 4-time feeding, and by the year the kittens are eaten, like adult animals - 2-3 times a day.

After sterilization and castration, the Scots are often prone to obesity. The reason for this is the hormonal imbalance that occurs after surgery. To avoid unpleasant consequences, it is desirable to reduce the amount of food offered to the animal, but at the same time, the number of feedings, on the contrary, increase. That is, the principle here is simple - you need to feed often, but in small portions. Once a month, you need to conduct tests on the condition of the pet - for this, the cat is stroked on the sides: if you can find the bones, then the condition is satisfactory.

When feeding a neutered cat or a sterilized cat with natural products, there are some subtleties:

• fiber-rich foods should be included in the diet;
• it is better to completely exclude fish from the diet, it contains a lot of phosphorus and magnesium, which, in combination with a passive lifestyle and hormonal disorders, often causes urolithiasis;
• from meat only chicken, rabbit and beef are suitable for consumption;
• cereals must be present in the diet, it is desirable to add a little meat to them to add flavor;
• It is very important to provide the animal with vitamins, for this they need to offer fresh chopped vegetables, as well as germinated grains;
• cats like a non-fat broth;
• when choosing ready-made feeds, choose products marked “for castrated animal”;
• in such a condition, it is preferable for an animal to give liquid feeds rather than dry ones.

Separate attention deserves the preparation of the optimal diet for future and nursing moms. During this period, animals need much more food and proteins, vitamins and minerals that come with it. That is why the quality of feeding at such a moment is extremely important. However, you should avoid an increased portion size, since the stomach of a pregnant cat does not increase, therefore, the ability to digest large amounts of food does not acquire.

When catering to a pregnant Scottish cat, you should follow several rules.

• It is forbidden to give fish. It is better to include liver (chicken or beef) in the menu.
• It is important to provide a cat with feeds containing calcium. This is cheese, low-fat cottage cheese or ryazhenka. It should be added to the feed drug "Calceks", as well as meat and bone meal.
• It is very important to provide a pregnant cat with constant access to clean water, especially if she is fed dry feed.
• You can not dramatically change the diet of the animal. If before the pregnancy the cat was fed with ready-made feeds, then you should not change them to “naturalku” - a sharp change in the type of food will not benefit the pet.

However, you can translate the plaid on a specialized composition for pregnant and lactating cats of the same manufacturer to which she was accustomed. Usually it includes more calories, vitamins and other nutrients, ensuring the full development of kittens in the womb and maintaining mother's health and vigor. Thus, when receiving the same amount of food, the animal will have much more strength and energy to carry healthy kittens.

A couple of weeks before giving birth, the amount of food is reduced by about a quarter - it is important that the kittens do not gain too much weight. Otherwise, there is a risk of complications during labor.

A few days before giving birth, the cat begins to refuse the offered food. There is no need to worry - this is a completely normal phenomenon, do not force it to eat, just provide rest and prepare everything necessary for the birth of babies.

After birth, the young mother also often has no appetite. Usually the reason for this is that she eats her last - don't let her eat more than three, as this can cause diarrhea.

During lactation, the appetite of the animal increases dramatically, because it needs to provide vital energy not only for itself, but also for its children. When forming the cat's diet at this point, you need to take into account the weight of the kittens and their number in the litter.

As the calves go to solid food, the cat often eats the same foods that are offered to her cubs - this happens at the level of instincts, since consuming the same food makes the milk easier for the kittens to eat.

As a rule, during the feeding period the Scottish loses weight and quickly comes to the form that she had before pregnancy. Be sure to ensure that she does not have exhaustion. If you notice that the weight of a young mommy is below normal, then you should offer more high-calorie food or use ready-made feed for kittens.

How to feed the Scottish kittens, see the next video.