Small felines such as the more known Felis Silvestris Libyca - African wild cat, Felis Silvestris - European wild cat, Felis chaus - Jungle cat, Felis margarita - Sand cat, Felis nigripes - Black-footed cat, Prionailurus bengalensis - Asian leopard cat, Leopardus pardalis - Ocelot, Leopardus wiedii - Margay, Oncifelis geoffroyi - Geoffry's cat, and Felis catus - Domestic cat, prey predominantly on small mammals such as mice, rats, and hare (species depending on area). Young ungulates such as fawns, lamb, and antelopes are also taken, as well as birds and reptiles. Insects are included in the diet of all of them, whereas only the Leopard cat and the Geoffry's cat will prey on fish as well. Amphibians are eaten occasionally.
To meet their caloric requirements and due to the relative small size of their prey, small Felidae must hunt several times a day eating, for example, 3-5 mice per day. They are always on guard, although there are days of unsuccessful hunts and no food at all.

An ideal diet for captive wild and domestic felines is captive raised whole rodents, fed live or killed depending on the individual cat's skill to take down prey. Most domestic cats and captive raised exotic cats have difficulty killing larger rodents, such as adult rats and the risk of injury to the cat is high. Inexperienced cats may also induce too much suffering for the prey and offering killed quarry may be more humane. For added variety day-old chicks and various insects should supplement the diet. However, the raising of live quarry is very inconvenient for the majority of care givers and not an acceptable practice in our society. Alternatively, whole prey is obtainable frozen through speciality pet stores, which also supply reptile fanciers, or directly from a breeder.
However, most adult cats if not raised on whole prey - especially mice, will want nothing to do with such a natural diet. Being so specialized in their dietary needs, and nutritionally dependant on specific foods, it is natural for cats to become fixated on any main staple during their first year of life. In a natural setting, this programmed behaviour insures that the young cat will have learned which foods are appropriate to eat before becoming independent.
During weaning at an age of approximately 5 weeks, if given the choice, cats appear to instinctively favour rodents, but will readily accept other foods if rodents are not made available. This means, in a domestic setting a cat weaned and maintained on a commercial cat food will become fixated on this type of product and reluctantly, if at all, accept other foods - no matter how natural. This however, does not imply that later in life the cat can not learn to accept other foods, although only reluctantly and under severe circumstances. In the wild, a cat may need to learn to hunt other prey if her usual prey becomes unavailable; likewise, domestic cats can be transitioned from a commercial diet to a more natural diet - with greater difficulty, however, if the cat had no chance to explore different foods during kitten hood.

The most readily accepted alternative, by cats and care giver alike, to a truly natural diet of whole prey, is a raw meat based diet. Made from muscle and organ meats meant for human consumption, supplemented and balanced with a variety of ingredients, it is a satisfactory replacement for whole prey. In its nutritional composition, our raw meat based dietary formulation Instincts^tm, comes the closest to that of the cat's natural diet.
Some supplemental feeding of whole prey is highly recommended, however, as the soft texture of the raw meat based diet may not involve enough chewing action to exercise the jaw muscles. Food that does not require shearing through flesh can also result in tartar deposits on the carnassial teeth (molars) in some cats. Day-old chicks, whole quail, or chicken necks are recommended for cats resisting the acceptance of rodents. In addition, the therapeutic effect on the cats mental well being when eating whole prey should not be underestimated.