As two experienced veterinarians with a cat-only clinic as well as being cat owners ourselves we understand how sensitive some feline friends are to change. With this in mind, we have put together a guide on how to successfully introduce your new slow feed bowl as well as answering some frequently asked questions!
How to introduce your new bowl
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When transitioning from a standard bowl it can be useful to offer both bowls, to begin with. Place a small portion of your cat’s favourite food or a tasty treat in the outer rims of the puzzle bowl to start with. This will be easier for your cat to eat.
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Over the course of 4 – 8 weeks start putting a greater quantity of food in the puzzle bowl and less in the old bowl.
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Remember, cats and kittens can take a while to accept a change in routine, especially around food. During testing, some cats moved onto the new bowl immediately and others took a couple of weeks.
Why is the bowl larger than my previous food bowls?
We tested a variety of sizes in our cat-only vet clinic. The bowl is larger than usual cat bowls as it has to be to allow the puzzle element to work. When in our design stage we created a number of prototypes of differing sizes and the smaller bowls were much less effective as either the space between the walls is tighter making the food difficult to move around or the total size being smaller allows much fewer opportunities and challenge. All of our studies showed the large design to have the optimum result in controlling feeding and making it challenging, engaging but not too frustrating.
Can I use wet food or does it have to be dry kibble?
Our bowls can be used with wet, dry or a mixture of both. Here is a link to a great video of our brand manager Gayle’s cat Piper enjoying ‘fishing’ from her bowl!
How do I clean my bowl?
Our bowl is dishwasher safe, on the top rack. However, we prefer to give ours a clean with warm soapy water and a stiff brush.
My cat still won’t use the bowl, what should I do now?
Cats are a species that is often stressed by even the slightest change in their environment. Whilst we are confident that most cats will use the slow feed bowl (we have tested it on many cats) and benefit from it there will inevitably be a small cohort of cats that will take longer to get used to it and also some that will just point blank refuse – don’t worry, it is a cat’s nature to do this, our experienced team is always on hand to offer advice and support and arrange a refund if necessary.
Best wishes, and thanks once again for purchasing our product. Every pet has a story and we’d love to hear yours. Why not share some pictures or a clip of your cat using their new bowl on our social media, if you have a spare moment we would appreciate an honest review too!
Regards,
Paul and Sarah,
Dr P Proctor BVSc (Hons) MRCVS & Dr S Middleton BVSc MRCVS GPCert (FelP)