Get A Slow Feed Cat Bowl For Your Kitty To Help Her Stay Healthy And Fit!

It’s not just us who can enjoy food in different varieties of utensils that are both convenient as well as fancy but our pets can have the luxury too. We are going to discuss the slow feed cat bowl which is designed to make cats eat slowly and also comes associated with certain health benefits. Continue to read as we tell you all about these special cat bowls and how they are going to benefit your cat.

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What are the slow feed cat bowls?

It is the name of the bowl itself that indicates the function of this feeder- to make the cat feed slow and steady. Slow eating is beneficial for pets in the same way it’s for us where it helps for the better digestion of food. These slow feeder bowls are designed with innovative technologies that incorporate suitable elements like raised spaces, different patterns, etc. and all of it is aimed towards making it a little harder for the cat to reach out to the food and munch on it.

Why is eating slow important for cats?

The most important thing, as well as the primary aim of this article, is to understand that eating slowly is very important for cats and this is because slow is how cats are supposed to eat. On that note, let us start by telling you everything else related to it.

The morphology of cats is the first reason why they must eat slowly because they have very small stomachs that can handle a small portion of food only at once. Thus, cats are naturally designed to consume their food in small servings and they shouldn’t be served otherwise. Slow eating is good for cats because it helps the digestive system to process the food properly that in turn has many advantages like-

The cat feels fuller and wouldn’t beg for more food.
Proper digestion of food promotes good metabolism and the cat gets an energy boost.

Why do cats tend to eat fast?

If you serve them a large portion of the meal at once, that can encourage your cat to gobble it faster rather than being wise and eat only enough. Many reasons can make your cat eat its food faster like:

Your cat might be very hungry and gulp down the food as soon as it arrives. This will happen if it hasn’t gotten fZood at the right time or the last meal wasn’t enough.
The behavioral instincts of your cat include wanting to save its food from other animals and that can force them to finish it at once.
Boredom or loneliness may also force your cat to eat all the food fast.
Your cat may even eat the food fast because it happens to be its favorite food.

Are there any harmful impacts of fast eating for cats?

As discussed above, slow eating is the only way cats must have their food and that is what the slow feed bowl for cats encourage. The following are the impact of fast eating on cats:

They may end up puking the entire food out.
They may choke on the food.
Swallowing the food fast leads to air inhaling too and that can cause your cat to bloat which is a severe risk.
Cats may also catch other gastrointestinal issues.
Fast eating doesn’t let the cats feel satiated and they might demand more food.
The long term effect of fast eating for cats is obesity as they will overeat when they don’t feel full.
Cats also become prone to stress and sluggishness due to physical discomfort.

What are the advantages of the slow feeder bowls?

Here is a list of benefits that you get from these slow feeder bowls for cats:

Their first benefit is that they prevent the animal from gulping the food easily. They have to smell and find the food that gets stuck in the gaps and that forces them to chew the food for the time being.
The ridges separate the food and thus the animal fails to slurp all the food at one go.
It takes some time for the cat to adjust to these feeders but once they do, they might start enjoying it since they get some level of mental stimulation too. Having to find the food and play with it a bit helps them have some fun too.
Using a cat food bowl to slow down eating has long term benefits too like it helps control obesity and other weight related problems that can occur in cats.
Finding difficulty in eating the food easily can make the over-eating cats eat lesser and slowly. This would impact the number of calories they consume and you will be able to monitor their diet better.
These bowls also provide mental stimulation to the cats by making them a little more engaged in finding the food and eating it.

Are there any disadvantages of slow feeder bowls too?

No matter how much slow feeder cat bowl is advertised as being helpful for the cats and other pets alike, some pet health experts have raised concerns regarding the risks that are involved with these slow feeder utensils. Some of the concerns that you must be careful about include:

Chipped teeth might be a major problem that can occur as a result of your cat trying to aggressively look for food around the barriers and end up biting on the corners. This can chip or even break their teeth and cause much pain as a result.
The next important concerns lie in the risk of your cat ingesting harmful plastic material or any non-edible harmful component present in the material used to make the bowl. The result of this can be your cat suffering from gastric issues or even choking.
These bowls can be difficult to clean and handle too due to their complicated designs and you wouldn’t your cat to feed on any food leftover that can cause them health problems.
There is the risk of your cat messing up with the bowl and causing it to trip it over. The resultant food mess can be very annoying to be cleaned up and deter you from using these bowls.
Your cat may just not happen to like these bowls and might even get discouraged to the extent that they just don’t eat enough only. This can defeat the purpose altogether and will only have you end up with an unsatisfied and hungry cat.

How to pick the right slow feed cat bowl?

There is a plethora of varieties of slow feeder bowls available in the market that you might get confused at picking the best slow feeding bowl for your kitty out of them. To help you with that, we are going to list down some important factors for you to consider:

Pattern

You can select from a variety of patterns like a maze, spikes, cups, levels, etc. that affect the way cats reach the food along with the portion they get at once.

Shape and Size

There are square and circular bowls primarily to choose from and you can also select the right size of the bowl as per the age of your kitty. Get a big bowl for big kitties and vice versa. Choosing the right size also makes it important because that saves the whiskers of cats from being disturbed as cats don’t like that.

Material

These bowls are made of various materials like ceramic, plastic, stainless steel, etc. and you must ensure that whatever material they are made of is safe for the cat.

Ease of care

This is a very important factor for cat owners to consider as a food bowl that is easy to clean ensures safe feeding to the cat every time. Check if the bowl is dishwasher safe and easy to clean or not.

Are there other ways to promote better eating in cats?

Here are a few tips you can use to help your cat eat in a better way:

Use a DIY slow feeder bowl for your cat.
You can use puzzle feeders too that have the same aim as slow feed bowl for cats- to provide mental stimulation to cats.
Try making food eating a mystery hunt for the cat by hiding small portions of it around the house and letting the cat find it to eat.
Serve the meal spread out on trays or wider plates.
Put more food bowls in the house if you have more cats in your home to reduce competition.
Prefer using wet cat food and squash it before serving it to the cat. Food mixed with water needs to be slurped and that slows down the eating automatically.

Conclusion

This was all about the slow feeder cat bowl that has both merits and demerits and it is with smart discretion that you can get the best out of these bowls for your kitty. You may feel like it’s a burden on the pockets but its benefits would surely have you convinced once you use it.

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Luna Tran

My name is Luna and I am a great cat lover and a cat owner of three lovely cats. I have owned many cats till now and have dedicated many years to nurturing and caring cats. Through this blog, I am here to share my knowledge and experience about cats.