The cat is one of man's oldest pets. It was domesticated some 9,000 years ago in ancient Egypt and the ancient Near East, attracted by mice that came to harvest grain. Despite this domestication, however, the nutritional needs of cats have remained unchanged.

Unlike dogs, cats are strict carnivores or meat eaters. They can only meet their needs for essential nutrients (amino acids, vitamins, minerals) through the consumption of animal ingredients. In fact, they are so dependent on animal protein that, if there is a shortage in the diet, the body will break down its own muscles and organs to make up for these deficits.

So the only natural food source for cats is meat. Fresh meat.

The cat's sense of smell and taste are specially adapted to perceiving and judging the composition and quality of their food. Hence the common perception that cats are fussy eaters, but actually they just follow their instincts. Cats choose their food on the basis of smell, texture and temperature. They respond most strongly to moist foods that are rich in amino acids, which are similar to ... fresh meat.

An early start is half the battle

As with many things, starting early is half the battle. Cats easily reject new tastes (a reaction called neophobia). And some breeders, like Cattery Cortryck 1302, take this literally. Kittens there are fed FreshFrozen food from FreshFrozen from an early age.

How to start with FreshFrozen food in cats

They also have a clear preference for the temperature of their food. Cats prefer food with a temperature around 38 °C, which corresponds to that of fresh prey, and routinely reject food that is cold or chilled (which would signal to the cat that the prey has been dead for a long time and is therefore potentially toxic).

So don't worry if your cat doesn't immediately like our FreshFrozen food. Your pet has to overcome a double hurdle: a new type of food, moreover offered at a refrigerated temperature!

However, there are ways of bridging this gap. After defrosting (the food is then ~6°C), putting the food in the microwave for 30 seconds often makes wonders and ensures that the temperature is no longer a problem. Make sure that the food does not get too hot, so that your cat does not burn itself!

Tested and approved

And cats do like our FreshFrozen food, once they get used to it. Not only is our Chief Tasting Officer Pistache a fan of the first hour. Independent tests at De Morgenstond (in the Netherlands) on 17 cats have shown that:

• All 17 cats in the testing group ate the raw food (some more than others), even though  most of them never ate raw food before;
• Our food had an acceptance of 76% where we define acceptance as the cat eating at least 125gr of it on a daily basis;
• Our food achieves a score of 80% in the first-bite test versus the old (kibble) food

Jolipet Cat with Beef in particular seems to do very well with the most difficult eaters. Today, we feed more than 2,000 cats with our food every month. And counting… Not bad, for picky eaters.