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BENGAL DIET

GRAIN-FREE DIETS ARE BEST:
All cats are obligate carnivores, meaning that they must eat a meat-based diet.  Their digestive systems are fine-tuned to extract all the essential protein, fats, and vitamins from meat. 

Most widely available cat foods contain a lot of grain (wheat, corn, barley, or rice) to bulk up the food at a low cost.  However, cats are not designed to digest significant amounts of grain. Feeding them a grain-based diet can cause digestive upset and early deterioration.  Therefore, we recommend that you feed your Bengal a grain-free cat food.  True, grain-free foods are more expensive than generic brands, but your cat will be happier, and you may save money on vet bills in the long run.

One cost saving of premium food that may surprise you is the small portion size.  You don't have to feed as much since there is little or no filler.

Check the ingredient list on your cat food!

CANNED VERSUS DRY FOOD:

OVERFEEDING: THE EASY MISTAKE
When we hear about a Bengal cat or kitten with digestive problems, we always ask about the food.  Most of the time people are feeding good diets, but they're often feeding too much!

Overfeeding is easy with these rich, concentrated foods.  In the wild cats hunt small animals like rodents and birds, so they've evolved to live on small, rich meals.  Every once in a while they make a big catch so they're capable of stuffing themselves when they get lucky.

Now that we've brought them into the home, they live an easier life and eat on a regular schedule.  But they're still capable of eating more then they need - more than they can digest.  Overeating leads to diarrhea, gas, and bloating.

PORTION SIZE:
Check the portion recommendations on your food, and use a measuring cup.  But to fine-tune your feeding to the needs of your cat, here are some general guidelines.

First, look up the calorie content of your cat food.  Often this is not on the label, but it's usually available on the manufacturer's website.  Then weigh your cat with a reliable scale.  Now you can calculate how much to feed based on your cat's daily caloric requirement.

RECOMMENDED FOODS:
These are just our personal recommendations; we haven't tried every brand, and our opinions are not infallible.  But we can offer some guidance based on our experience.

RAW DIETS:
We have tried raw diets in the past and decided not to continue.  We think it's too messy and time-consuming to grind whole carcasses with a loud meat & bone grinder, and then deal with the sanitization.  Plus, mixing in vitamin and mineral supplements, and worrying about things like the taurine level.  We also got tired of handling large amounts of gooey mashed up raw chicken two or three times a day, every day.

You can buy commercially prepared raw diets and some of them are very good.  Many cats thrive on these raw diets.  There is a much higher chance of bringing in salmonella with raw food, no matter what the raw-food advocates say.  Salmonella will kill a young kitten, so we keep the risk out of or cattery.  Cats do a lot of mutual grooming (and butt-licking) which can spread salmonella to a non-exposed cat.

There are some serious raw food evangelists on the internet, and we wish them well.  We hope their cats are perfect and happy and disease-free.  But it's absurd when someone states that all non-raw foods are terrible, because I can point to thousands of healthy, happy cats who don't eat raw diets.  The vast majority of award-winning cats don't eat raw diets.

If you want to feed raw diet, that's fine.  Raw diets may be more practical for people who don't have very young kittens around.  Just be careful to handle raw cat food as carefully as any raw meat, don't leave the bowls out for long periods of time, and clean the bowls thoroughly between feedings.