Contrary to popular belief, handing out treats can actually be harmful to your cat. It puts her at risk of overeating or upsetting the balance of her diet.

Be wary of handing out treats

Most owners like to treat their cats. Scraps from the dinner table or a small piece of food fed by hand are often seen as ways of showing affection. However, be cautious of handing out treats too liberally as you risk overfeeding or upsetting the balance of your pet’s diet.

Generally speaking, manufactured treats are a far healthier alternative. Carefully formulated to taste great and complement main meals without upsetting the nutritional balance, many even include nutritional ‘extras’ with benefits like improved dental or digestive health.

Remember, when you do treat, always reduce your cat’s main meal by an equivalent calorific amount and feed according to the manufacturer’s directions.

• Hand-fed rewards - Though the need for food rewards in training does not apply to cats as it does to dogs, treats can strengthen the bond between you and your cat. You’ll find a range of soft-textured meaty treats available on the market that are specially designed to appeal to a cat’s fastidious tastes – without ruining the diet.
• Crunchy bowl-fed treats - Crunchy treats are fed as a topping to a canned or pouch meal to add texture to the food. Many manufactured treats have the additional benefit of helping to clean your cat’s teeth by reducing tartar and plaque build up.
• Cat milk- Tradition has it that cats love milk. In reality their digestive systems are not designed to cope with the lactose it contains. Special cat milk is low in lactose to avoid the digestive upsets cats can suffer if they drink cow’s milk.