Cat nutrition advice

Wet food or kibble?

Cats drink only a little water of their own accord, hence both wet food and kibble must be present in their daily diet. Let's see how to go about it.

Cats

The three basic elements of cat well-being:

Proper calorie intake

Proper hydration

Quality and origin of ingredients

A 4-kilogram adult cat has an average daily requirement of about 220kcal, broken down as follows:
Wet food
110g
contributing to total daily water intake with 90ml broth.
Dry food
35g
Water
130ml

to supplement the required daily intake.

If your cat is not consuming enough water, the amount of wet food should be increased and the amount of kibble decreased accordingly: 60g HFC wet food is equivalent to about 18g of kibble, thus reducing the daily water requirement by about 50ml.

The amounts specified are approximate quantities and refer to HFC wet food and kibble. Adjust the above advice to both your cat's actual weight and daily level of activity and the temperature of their environment.

Learn about pet food with ingredients originally fit for human consumption.

Dry food
Wet food

Learn about pet food with ingredients originally fit for pet food.

Dry food
Wet food
Maintain free access to water

Despite cats usually only consuming little water naturally, their bowl should be refilled at least twice a day.

Serve wet food and dry food in separate bowls

Unlike with dogs, you should never mix dry food with wet food with cats.

How are wet food and kibble to be given during the day?

Wet food should be split between morning and evening meals. Small amounts of kibble must always be present in the bowl as cats tend to eat small, frequent meals, also at night.

Differentiate protein sources

For a complete diet, it is important to differentiate the sources of animal protein: therefore alternate red meat with white meat and fish.

New food?
It takes the right amount of time to make a full transition


Switching from one food to a new one, for instance, from kibble with dehydrated meat or fish to kibble with 100% fresh meat or fish, calls for a slow and gradual transition.

To allow intestinal flora the time to adjust, gradually incorporate an increasing amount of the new food into your pet's current diet, over 7 days, until you complete the transition to 100%.

The role of kibble and wet food in a daily diet

Kibble is a complete food. HFC-quality kibble provides up to 98.73% high-quality, highly digestible protein (Journal of Veterinary Science & Research). Wet food has an essential moisturising function since cats do not usually drink much water. Besides its high-moisture content, HFC wet food also provides large amounts of high-quality, highly digestible protein.