◎ 蔡子岳
NoBowl eschews the traditional bowl. Instead, cat owners stuff small portions of dry food into five containers and hide them from the cat. The containers are made of hard plastic and wrapped in stretchy gray fabric, resembling a mouse. The idea is that when the cat is hungry, it will seek out the food and bat the pouch around, dispensing its contents through small holes in the fabric and the plastic.
「無碗」（NoBowl）也就是放棄以碗餵食。代之的是以5個容器內置少量貓乾糧，藏好不給貓看到。容器以硬塑膠製，包覆以耐拉扯的灰色布料，外型模仿老鼠。概念是，貓咪飢餓時，會找出食物，反覆擊打食物容器，貓乾糧便從塑膠容器小洞跑出來。
In their natural environment, cats eat about 12 times a day, feasting on small prey like mice and birds that are appropriate for their stomachs, which are about the size of a table tennis ball. They also toss their prey around in a form of play that is essential to their well-being, says Dr. Carlo Siracusa, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.
天然環境下，貓一天進食12次，小型獵物如老鼠及小鳥與貓胃袋容量合適，約等於桌球大小。貓常以遊玩的方式捕獵，這有益於貓健康，賓州獸醫學院醫師希拉庫薩表示。
"No matter if you feed your cat or not, your cat has to do those activities that are related to the feeding behavior," Siracusa says.
「你家貓咪無論你餵食與否，都需要做與進食相關的運動。」
"The behavior pattern is written in the genes of the animal, which means that this is a behavioral need."
「動物基因裡寫有行為模式，也就是說這是種行為上的需求。」
When we plop a scoop of food into a bowl and walk away, "there’s nothing of this hunting behavior," he says. By contrast, cats are meant to play with the NoBowl.
人類在碗裡丟一團食物，然後自顧自走開，「這中間沒有捕獵行為，」醫師指出。相反的，貓應該與「無碗」玩鬧。