A warm welcome to contributing guest writer, Dr. Liz Bales, veterinarian and creator of The NoBowl Feeding System™ for cats! Dr. Bales (known in the veterinary community as The Catvocate) joins The Meowing Vet to explain why her unique feline feeding system can improve your cat’s overall health while providing environmental enrichment by simulating your cat’s natural instinct to hunt.
(The following information by Dr. Liz Bales is used with permission by Dr. Bales directly from her product website for The NoBowl Feeding System™.)
A word from the inventor of The NoBowl Feeding System™, Dr. Liz Bales:
Did you know that cats are not supposed to be fed from bowls? Neither do most cat owners. But, veterinary behaviorists have long understood that cats need to hunt for their food, not eat from bowls. For cats, food is only half of the mealtime equation. Cats need to nourish their instincts with hunting, while they nourish their bodies with food. When cats are fed from a bowl, they are denied the ability to fulfill this instinct. Their bodies are often over nourished while their instincts are starved.
The NoBowl Feeding System™ for cats by Dr. Liz Bales. Click image to order your kit today!
A cat’s frustrated hunting instincts are commonly redirected into negative behaviors like obesity, vomiting, destructive behavior, inter-cat aggression, and maybe even urinating outside of the litter box. While veterinarians have known this for a long time, there has been no safe and effective way to help cats hunt inside of the home.
I was so discouraged after years and years of my own profession knowing what cats needed but not having a way to help my patients, I invented the solution myself. My invention, The NoBowl Feeding System™, is the safe, clean, easy way to bring back the hunt with the dry food that you are already feeding. I consulted with the world’s leading feline veterinarians, veterinary nutritionists, and veterinary behaviorists and then worked with an accomplished team of inventors and designers to create The NoBowl Feeding System™ — an indoor hunting system that will help keep your cat happy and healthy.
Learn more about litterbox issues in The Meowing Vet’s article on Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (FLUTD).
Why the NoBowl Feeding System™?
Feed The Need. Lose the Bowl.
For cats, hunting is part of what brain scientists call “The Seeking Circuit.” In the seeking circuit, the brain releases dopamine, which heightens their arousal and creates a great feeling of anticipation… like a child on Christmas morning. The small meal completes the cycle and leaves your cat feeling satisfied and complete… the presents are open. Cats need to engage in the seeking circuit many times a day to be mentally and physically healthy. Eating from a bowl denies them this natural cycle entirely, yet the need to hunt remains instinctual. Toys engage cats in the seeking circuit, putting them in a heightened state of arousal. However, the circuit is not completed by the food reward. This leaves them in the heightened state of arousal without the satisfaction of completion (Let’s be honest, nobody likes being in a heightened state of arousal without the satisfaction of completion). In nature, cats hunt and engage this seeking circuit between 9-20 times a day, 24 hours a day. Cats spend an average of 6 hours a day seeking their food, which provides them with the majority of their daily exercise. This goes on day and night. Now you know why your cat might wake you up to eat in the middle of the night! When we remove the opportunity to hunt, we deny their natural instincts and disrupt their natural rhythms. This can lead to physical, behavioral, and mental problems. The NoBowl Feeding System™ mimics the natural cycle of the hunt by engaging the natural seeking circuit and completing it with the satisfaction of a food reward. In addition, the NoBowl™ skin provides the tactile sensation cats want, so that they can engage their teeth, claws, and paws in the hunt. Once transitioned onto the system, your cat will hunt, find their meal, and then play with it to get the food reward. Satisfied with this healthy portion, your cat will groom and rest until hunger motivates the next hunt… just like in nature.
Click here to learn more about the nutrient requirements for cats and dogs.
The Benefits of Switching to The NoBowl Feeding System™
SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT
NO MORE WAKE UP CALLS! Does your cat wake you up too early in the morning for food? Save two of the five NoBowls™ each day and hide them before you go to sleep. Make sure to set your alarm because your cat alarm likely will not go off! Zzzzz…
STOP SCARF AND BARF!
Does your cat gobble up its food and then barf it back up? The NoBowl Feeding System™ mimics the natural hunting pattern of cats. Once your cat hunts for and finds its NoBowl™, your cat works to manipulate the NoBowl™ to gradually release the healthy portion. No more scarf and barf!
PEEING INSIDE THE LITTER BOX
Is your cat urinating outside the litter box? If a vet exam shows your cat to be healthy and your litter boxes are adequate and clean, your cat is likely suffering from a lack of hunting!
PREVENT BAD BEHAVIOR
Cats can become destructive when they can’t hunt. The instinct to hunt lies within every cat. In our homes, we have given our cats love, safety, and food but we have denied them the ability to fulfill their natural instinct. The frustrated hunting instinct impacts your cat’s physical and mental health. Cats redirect the hunting instinct into bad behavior, like clawing drapes and furniture. Watch The NoBowl Feeding System™ fulfill the natural hunting instinct and watch bad behavior fade away.
MORE EXERCISE
Exercise is an important part of a healthy lifestyle for a cat. Indoor cats often find themselves bored and sedentary. Your cat will be happily hunting for her NoBowl™ and not realizing that she is getting her daily exercise! Help your cat get fit in the way nature intended.
The NoBowl Feeding System™ is portion controlled. Feeding your cat an appropriate amount of food in small portions throughout the day will help your cat to maintain a healthy weight. Cats that have a healthy body weight live longer, healthier lives. By maintaining a healthy weight, your cat reduces its risks of diabetes, heart disease, and painful arthritis.*
*Be sure to talk to your veterinarian about the appropriate total daily portion for your cat.
(above images used from The NoBowl Feeding System™ website)
Learn more about feline and canine obesity and weight loss tips in The Meowing Vet’s articles:
- Life Hack: Pet Edition #2: Weight Loss Tricks
- When Your Pet Has a Muffin Top: Fighting Obesity in Dogs and Cats
What Is Feline Environmental Enrichment?
Feline Environmental Enrichment (FEE) is a growing focus for many cat veterinarians and cat behavior experts. We recognize that the cat is a natural hunter and, because we recommend that you keep your cat indoors, we also understand that we need to take care of the environment we provide for our cat.
Your cat may have adjusted to living inside with you, but that doesn’t mean his or her needs are being met. Your cat is not fine.
In an environment where a cat’s instinctual needs are not met, he or she will become bored and anxious. Every cat is different right — some cats hide boredom and anxiety well. Which doesn’t mean they wouldn’t really appreciate a more interesting life.
Other cats may tolerate not being able to express their instincts, and they begin to have behavioral and medical problems — many of which may be familiar to you.
Really? Yes, really. Behavioral and medical problems can indeed be caused by a sub-par living environment. And there are veterinarians and researchers who have devoted their careers to studying this. By looking at their work, I have become more interested in cat behavior and how to alter it by providing for their natural needs. I have become a “Catvocate.”
If your cat views his or her environment as boring or stressful, your cat can become depressed or anxious, leading to self-destructive behaviors such as compulsive overeating or over-grooming. Your cats may become destructive by chewing or clawing on things that they shouldn’t. They will often start to “scarf and barf” their food. Sometimes the depressed or anxious cat can lash out by attacking other cats in the household or, worse, people. And sadly, some cats just retreat into isolation.
New research has found that, for some cats, stress and anxiety can cause them urinary issues, ranging from painful urination and urinating outside of the litter box to complete urinary obstruction, which becomes a life-threatening emergency. As a veterinarian, I have found that more cats are euthanized for inappropriate urination issues than for any other reason.
We owe it to the cats that we love to understand what they instinctually need and provide that for them in a safe, indoor environment. We can do this through environmental enrichment. Many changes are easy to make once we understand what cats want and need. Join me on this journey to understand our cat companions and make them happier and healthier.
For more information, check out the American Association of Feline Practitioners owner’s handout on Environmental Enrichment.
(This blog post by Dr. Liz Bales originally appeared in its entirety on The Catvocate on 12/15/15.)
Cats Need to Hunt… Here’s the Proof.
More than half of cats in the United States live indoors. While cats restricted to indoor living have a reduced risk for vehicular trauma, predation, aggressive interactions with cats and other animals, and exposure to infectious diseases, indoor living is not without risks. Cat behaviorists believe that keeping cats indoors may contribute to numerous increased risks such as certain physical illnesses and behavior problems such as house soiling. Indoor cats are prone to boredom which leads to anxiety. In addition, 58% of cats in America are obese.
In fact, a monotonous and overly predictable environment is physiologically and psychologically stressful. For a cat to be healthy and happy, his/her environmental and social needs must be met. While the vast majority of indoor cats receive adequate provisions such as food and water, a suitable living environment, prompt access to veterinary care, and protection from conditions likely to cause them fear and stress, many of them do not have the ability to express their natural behaviors and suffer as a consequence.
Normal cat behaviors include play, investigation, observation, hunting, feeding, drinking, grooming, scratching, traveling, scent marking, eliminating, resting, and sleeping. Although this list sounds very basic, take a moment to think about it. Are there any behaviors which your cat does not have the opportunity to experience? Let me guess…..did you answer hunting?
I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Something has gone terribly wrong with the way that our cats obtain their food. However, it’s not necessarily our fault as pet owners. It just sort of happened. Our cats receive food with minimal effort. Owners like to see their cats eat and may interpret inquisitive, verbal, or rubbing cues from their cat as a sign of hunger and a request to be fed. So what do we do? We reward such actions with food, often an overly generous pour of food. This is true love and care, right? We give them what we would want.
However, in doing so, we reinforce the cat’s behavior, and at the same time deny them their natural instincts. We inadvertently train cats to ask for food (and possibly those little cat treats that come in the bags that when opened make a distinct crinkling noise sending your cats dashing for [the] kitchen. You know what I mean!). In a way, our cats train us to respond to their boredom or other unmet needs by over-feeding them. Over time, this pattern can result in overweight cats because they eat too much and their food is calorie-dense. Obesity is a huge problem in cats and is one of the increased risks associated with living strictly indoors. According to a 2015 survey conducted by the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, an estimated 58.2% of US cats were overweight or obese.
“What can I do,” you wonder? Give your cat the opportunity to fulfill his/her natural instincts. Environmental enrichment, specifically, feeding enrichment is the answer! You can optimize the indoor lifestyle of your cat by providing him/her with opportunities to hunt and play with their food before eating it! In fact, providing opportunity for play and predatory behavior happens to be one of the five pillars of a healthy feline environment according to the American Association of Feline Practitioners and the International Society of Feline Medicine. Cats should be able to engage in all aspects of the predatory sequence: locating, stalking, chasing, pouncing, killing, preparing, and eating their prey. In a household situation, this translates into pseudo-predatory play and feeding behaviors. Inhibiting or failing to provide cats with opportunities for predatory-type behaviors can result in obesity or boredom and frustration that can express itself as over-grooming, stress-associated disease, or misdirected aggressive behavior.
Cats should spend a high percentage of time hunting for their food, so why not provide puzzle feeders and hide food in several places in your home? Feeding your cat an appropriate amount of food in small portions throughout the day and night will help your cat to maintain a healthy weight. The NoBowl Feeding System™ does just that! It promotes locomotion associated with prey localization, the cognitive stimulation associated with the capture and play with prey, and provides small and frequent meals that a cat’s metabolism thrives on. The NoBowl Feeding System™ is a portion-controlled puzzle feeder that not only allows cats to hunt to find their food, it adds to your cat’s joy and fulfillment. The hunt is exercise in disguise! Cats that have a healthy body weight live longer lives. By maintaining a healthy weight, your cat reduces its risks of diabetes, heart disease, and joint pain. Order The NoBowl Feeding System™ for your cat today!
(This blog post by Dr. Liz Bales originally appeared in its entirety on The Catvocate on 11/03/16.)
– Elizabeth Bales, VMD
Special thanks to Dr. Liz Bales for contributing to The Meowing Vet. Dr. Bales will be joining us periodically to provide helpful articles on cat health and overall well-being. You can learn more about Dr. Bales by reading her blog on feline medicine, The Catvocate, and by following her on her on Facebook and Instagram. Have additional questions about The NoBowl Feeding System™? Visit the product website (www.docandphoebe.com), Facebook, and Instagram pages to ORDER YOUR KIT and become a fellow Catvocate today!
Living in the United Kingdom? You’re in luck too! The NoBowl Feeding System™ is available for purchase in the U.K. through Pets at Home. Pets at Home is the United Kingdom’s largest pet supplies retailer with a hugely popular online store and more than 370 physical locations. Order your kit online today! Wondering if this incredible system is available in your country? Send an inquiry here.
Living in Canada? You can purchase your kit online at Ren’s Pets or in person at Pet Valu stores!
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About Dr. Liz Bales:
Elizabeth Bales, VMD, is a born animal lover. She spent her childhood on horse farms surrounded by horses, cats, and dogs. Dr. Liz graduated from The University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine in the United States in 2000. Dr. Liz has been fascinated with cat wellness in her veterinary career – including feline behavior, nutrition, and internal medicine. She is the founder and CEO of FEED Co. and inventor of The NoBowl Feeding System™ for Doc & Phoebe’s Cat Co., the first and only science-based feline indoor hunting system that satisfies a cat’s natural instinct to hunt. In the name of feline wellness, Dr. Liz authors multiple articles on cat health and appears on television to educate pet owners on how to improve feline quality of life.
Disclaimers: Always consult with your personal veterinarian about your cat’s medical and behavioral concerns and whether The NoBowl Feeding System™ is a right fit for your cat. The Meowing Vet is an affiliate seller of The NoBowl Feeding System™.
Sources used by Dr. Bales:
- Scherk M. Optimizing an indoor lifestyle for cats. Veterinary Focus. 2016;26(2):1-9. http://www.fvah.ca/files/2016/08/vf-26-2-en-1-1.pdf
- Courcier EA, O’Higgins R, Mellor DJ et al. Prevalence and risk factors for feline obesity in a first opinion practice in Glasgow, Scotland. J Feline Med Surg. 2010;12:746-753. http://www.2ndchance.info/fatpets-Courcier2010.pdf
- http://petobesityprevention.org/us-pet-obesity-grows-veterinarians-call-for-standardization-of-obesity-scale/
- Amat M, Camps T, Manteca X. Stress in owned cats: behavioural changes and welfare implications. J Feline Med Surg. 2015:1098612X15590867. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279308884_Stress_in_owned_cats_behavioural_changes_and_welfare_implications
- Ellis S. Environmental enrichment: practical strategies for improving feline welfare. J Feline Med Surg. 2009;11:901-912. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/38037189
- Ellis S, Rodan I, Carney HC, et al. AAFP and ISFM feline environmental needs guidelines. J Feline Med Surg. 2013;15:219-230. http://jfm.sagepub.com/content/15/3/219
