Bowls

Cats need shallow bowls to eat out of. It prevents them from getting too dirty while they eat or even just drink water. I suppose plates could do just as well for food, but not for water. Usually cats have bowls for food and water. It seems to be the easiest for their human caretakers to deal with when providing cats with food and water.

Usually the cats I live with don’t tend to get fat when I leave out plenty of food for them. They tend to exercise and of course play quite often. So, I’ve never had to deal with overweight cats.