Feeding the Cats

 

 

 

All of us cat-lovers know that they are insatiable eaters, and it is no less true for the Kennedy Park cats. Since they are forced to live outside all the time, their food requirements are high: on a basis of 120 g (4.3 oz) of dry food per cat, we need around 20 kilos (44 pounds) of dry food per day for all 150 of them. Various cats currently suffer from gingivitis, which is why eating dry food is painful for them; they must be given canned food if we do not want them to go hungry (around 4 cans of 11 oz per day).

 

Cats have to be fed daily, and the municipal authorities only allow us to distribute the food at night (in Peru night falls at 6-7PM all year long).  Each day of the week corresponds to designated volunteers, in charge of dispensing the food.

 

Cats are very territorial, and usually remain in the same, limited area of the park.  Based on theses are, we have defined “food points”, usually at the foot of a tree up which we know a lot of cats take refuge.  You can see all of our food points on the map below. At the foot of each tree our volunteers leave a couple of disposable plastic containers with dry food and water. When there are more than a dozen cats at a certain point, food is given in individual disposable dishes. Some of the volunteers bring liquefied cooked liver to mix with the dry food so that the cats can enjoy their meal.