Raw food diet for cats? I need more info about it?

Question

So does anyone know what's the deal with the raw food diet? I've read a lot about it on the Internet but still can't make up my mind. Some experts claim it's the best thing for your cat. This actually makes sense since it's what naturally a cat would eat. However, some people, vets included, say it's not a good idea bcoz of the risk of bacteria, parasites etc. Most vets actually recommend commercial foods such as Science Diet and Iams which really surprises me because those are not premium foods, they contain a lot of meat- by products, grains and all kinds of c**p. So why do vets recommend them? Do they get paid to promote certain kinds of foods or what?

Answer 1

I work on a board with diabetic, crf, ibs cats and everyone that has made the switch to raw has been pretty satisfied.

Cats are built differently then humans and can tolerate the bacteria far more then humans can. You are so right about commercial foods and what they contain not being appropriate for cats.

Vets get most of their education on nutrition from  representative from the food industry, In other words, it is biased and not scientific, Not much time is spent on it either

Here are some raw links

http://www.catinfo.org/makingcatfood.htm

http://www.mousabilities.com/cats/food/h...

http://www.catnutrition.org/pictorial.ph...

Answer 2

I don't know if vets get paid to promote those foods.  No clue.  But I do know from personal experience (my vet) that Hills offers classes in "nutrition."  Not surprisingly they push their own products.

It's obvious to me now that any vet who's had adequate training in feline nutrition wouldn't reach for a bag of anything, let alone a food food with more corn than meat.

I think the reason is they just don't know any better.  And they do what they're told, and what they're told is that Brand X is good.  So they just parrot that info.

I feed one cat raw, the other canned.  I'm hoping to transition #2 to raw someday, as it's much less expensive and of course healthier.  So I do have personal experience although I'm not holding all the answers.

But I did write this blog which may help you:

This blog is not intended to serve as your one-stop-shop for raw feeding. But hopefully it'll help you focus on what you need to decide and give you ideas of where to look for more info. I personally chose to feed ground whole prey so I do not supplement*. I still serve some canned food for variety and likely will always have some on hand. I am feeding chicken, turkey and rabbit, and perhaps other meats when they become available.

(This ground meat does nothing for their teeth, so I also give the girls 1" or so pieces of raw chicken neck to chew on.  I do this a few times a week.)

*Unless you are truly feeding whole prey (e.g., a mouse) then it's perhaps a good idea to do a bit of supplementation.  The members of Whole Cat Health overwhelmingly favor the Nu-Cat multivitamin - either chewable or tablet.  Note that their recommended dosages are half what the mfrs. suggest, so instead of 4 pills per day, give 2.  Instead of 2 chewable, give 1.  In addition, I add about 100mg of Taurine to each 2oz of meat - perhaps a bit more if it's rabbit.  On top of that, I add fish oil and probiotics.  So to sum up, to each meal (2oz meat/bones/organs), I add one crushed multi-vitamin and the taurine.  To every other meal, I add about 1/4 tsp probiotics.  I add the fish oil at the time it's served because I don't want it to interfere with the flavor of the food.

So you've decided to feed raw. What's next?

It's actually pretty simple. You need to find a supplier. You need to decide on a method (ground, whole, etc.) You need to decide which meats to use. You need to know whether you need to supplement, and if you do, what supplements to use. And most importantly, you need to get your cat to eat it.

1. Finding a supplier.

A. Find a local supplier. If you're in the midwest, I recommend Taylor Pond Farms. I buy my meat from them and it couldn't be easier. They now rely mainly on local distributors who have the orders shipped to them (or keep some on hand), and they then make the deliveries.  It's much better this way because now there are no minimum orders, which was sometimes a problem when I was buying for just one cat. www.taylorpondfarms.com. They also have Yahoo groups for specific areas (http://groups.yahoo.com/search?query=tay... You can also join http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawme... http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Carni... http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Whole... and look through their list of links.

B. Buy online. One site used by many is www.hare-today.com. There are many other sites; the WholeCatHealth links above will help you find them.

C. Buy meat at the grocery store. Your choices will be limited but if all you're going to feed is chicken, that's fine. Just be sure that the meat is hormone and antibiotic free - or organic.

2. Choosing a method.

A. Whole prey. This may be either meat, bones and organs all ground together, or it may be chunks of meat and whole bones and organs. With this method you do not need to supplement; your cat will be eating a properly balanced meal (almost - see the above asterisked paragraph regarding supplementing.)

B. Just meat. Again, this can be either chunks of meat or it can be ground. If you do not include bones and organs, you will need to add supplements to ensure that the meals are complete and balanced.

To learn more about these methods, check out these Yahoo groups: (http://groups.yahoo.com/search?query=raw...

3. Supplements. If you've chosen to serve meat without organs/bones, you will need to add supplements. There are a few different ways to do this. You can purchase a ready-made supplement such as Instincts TC (http://www.felinefuture.com/) or Wysong's Call of the Wild (http://www.wysong.net/page/WOTTPWS/PROD/... Or you can put together your own mixture. There are tons of recipes out there. One example is here (http://www.catnutrition.org/foodmaking.p... One of the raw feeding groups is dedicated to one particular supplement: (http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/felin...

4. Meats. Most meats are appropriate but you may want to avoid pork. The most commonly used meat is chicken. My vet suggested feeding a variety, so my choices are chicken, turkey and rabbit. If it becomes available I'll also try venison. Lamb and duck were rejected. It'll be up to you and your cat what to feed.

5. Converting your cats. If you've got a kibble junky on your hands, it might be easier to first convert him or her to canned food, and then try the raw. This has been a tried and true method for many including myself. Once the cats are happily eating canned food, start slipping a bit of meat into it. Just a speck to start with. Gradually increase that amount. If the cat balks, back down a bit but keep at it.

When you're ready to try it alone, you may need bribes. Raw meat has little scent so it can be helpful to add something stinky your cat likes. Crush some kibble and sprinkle it over the top. Try fish or liver flakes, parmesan cheese, a drop of soy sauce, meaty baby food (with no added onion or garlic), whatever it takes.

Note that you do not have to start with canned. You may be able to toss down a hunk of chicken and your cat will devour it. You never know until you try.

If you join any or all of the above groups, you'll find many more tips as well.

Patience and perseverence is the key. I was surprised at how readily Poppy took to the chicken after being on canned food for a year, but Sophie who is not normally picky has been resisting. What she doesn't know is that she's getting a bit of chicken along with her Wellness. (NOTE: Mushier canned foods may do better to hide the meat than the denser varieties such as Instincts).

Last but not least - relax! If you're researching this you may become overwhelmed at the tons of info out there, and all the conflicting opinions about what is best. What you need to do is choose the method that will work for YOU and your cats. And while it is important that your cat eat a balanced diet, it is not the end of the world if you don't get it exactly right your first time out, or if you forget to add a supplement one day. As my vet said, do you eat a balanced diet every day?

I don't mean to downplay the importance of proper supplementation, but this shouldn't be viewed as rocket science.  It CAN be done.

Answer 3

This is my anecdotal 2 cents.  

We feed our cats raw rabbit (frozen patties) and have been for about 4 months.

Senior kitty had chronic, never-ending diarrhea for two-plus years.  After a month on the raw, she is pooping solid again.  

Younger cat has asthma.  We read that grain aggravates that condition, so he got switched over, too.  Maybe it's a coincidence, but he hasn't had an asthma attack since the changeover (and he was having them pretty regularly and spectacularly every 6-8 weeks).

Answer 4

Beware of the 'experts' pushing raw food diets.  Many are on sites that just happen to have the 'magic' ingredient to sell to make it the best in the world.

If you actually look at what cats would naturally eat, it would be a whole mouse, and that would include what is known as 'meat by-products'.  Cats have a short digestive system, so they need enzyme rich organ meats, such as lung, etc. that we would not normally eat.  They also would eat bones for the calcium.

But, with a great deal of care, it can be done.  The problem is that an error may not show up for months, and then it is too late.  One can overcome the bacterial problem with great care, but many find the requirements to prepare a raw food diet takes more time then they can allow.

And there are commercial foods out there that claim to be in the raw food category.  Some of those have had recalls due to contamination, so perhaps that indicates some of the problems.

There are people who point to vets who carry special dietary foods from brand name companies as being proof the vets are biased.  Most vets will tell you carrying that line is a pain in the posterior.  There are better ways of making money.  But if you look carefully at perhaps the Ekanuba or Science Diet cat food vets carry, they are for specific problems, such as diabetes or renal problems, or kidney stones.  They normally don't carry the cat foods you can pick up at any pet store or grocery store.

Stick with a cat food that has meat as the first ingredient.  And in IAMS, not all their formulations have that.

But if you look at who is doing major research into cat nutrition, it really is the main cat food companies.  They have the resources, and the incentives to come out with quality foods.  No company wants to put out a cat food that does not give a long and healthy life, unless they really don't care, and don't expect to be around long, and sell at the cheapest price with the cheapest ingredients.

So I stick with name brand cat foods, and look at the ingredient labels.  I have given a link to a brochure from the Cornell Vet school that discusses cat foods.

Answer 5

Cats that have been raised on a diet of commercial food may not transition easily to a raw food diet.

Unlike dogs who clean the bowl as soon as they're fed, cats are, by nature, snackers.  They eat a little, then a while later they eat a bit more.  Raw food needs to be eaten quickly (think road kill) so it remains safe for consumption.  It hasn't been processed or purified.so it wouldn't be wise to leave it out for the cat to snack on at will.

I will say, however, that since I stopped feeding my cats dry food, they have both slimmed down to sleek proportions and the older one hasn't shown any signs of the irritable bowel syndrome with which she had been diagnosed.

As to the vet recommendations, at one time, not so long ago, Iams and Science Diet were the premium brands because they had the correct %s of taurine and ash.  Cat food has changed and improved in the last 20 years and our understanding of feline nutrition is also improving.  As owners are better informed we are asking more questions and I, at least, am finding that there is no clear concensus among the vets I have spoken with.

Answer 6

I personally feed a ground Raw Meat, Bones and Organ based diet to my cats and they are incredibly healthy on it. I HIGHLY recommend it. While scary at first, once I got the hang of it and felt comfortable with it it's a snap to prepare.

Cats are obligate carnivores after all and must derive ALL their nutrients from meat based sources. They are unable to absorb them from any other source. Despite thousands of years of domestication they remain strictly carnivorous. True and honest meat eaters and that is what they need most. Protein from meat!

If you are interested in feeding a raw diet some great places to start learning are http://www.catinfo.org/  , http://www.catnutrition.org/  , and http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/  .

If you would like to try raw with your cats and don’t want to get all technical about it but want to try a trusted, time tested and balanced raw diet you can order from http://www.felinespride.com/products/cat...  . I purchased this myself when I first started and my cats loved it!

Another premade Raw you can try is Natures Varity. I personally have never used this but know many people that do and it’s pretty easy to find http://www.naturesvariety.com/content.la...

Here's a bunch of websites to help you learn what you need to know.

www.catinfo.org/

www.catnutrition.org/

www.rawfedcats.org/

www.felinespride.com/

www.felinefuture.com/

www.felineinstincts.com/

www.raisingcatsnaturally.com/

www.blakkatz.com/

www.holisticat.com/

http://www.goldcoastragdolls.com/MyOwnCa...

Answer 7

Yea I agree ... Raw food = worms.

A cat in the wild would have all kinds of parasites.

Feeding your cat food that has been cooked (cat food) is a better choice because of this.

I give my cats chicken livers occasionally but I cook them first.  

Animals contain "meat by products" that is what the wild animals eat too.  

Vets are like you and I they are busy and many times pressured to buy eat a particular thing over another because of advertising.

I have a 19, 15 and a 7 yr old and all are in good health.  They eat dry food/ and FRISKYS can food.

i give supplements such as B vites, knox gelitin and acidophilus occasionally feeding them the chicken livers.  They are healty as a horse!

good luck  

Answer 8

Raw food diets in my opinion are not good for any pet, unless you're REALLY know what you're doing your pet will not get the nutrients it needs to fight off diseases.

Answer 9

One of the people who responded above posted a lengthy reply to your question that's probably given you all the information you asked for. But as an aside, if the idea of feeding your cat a "raw diet" is to approximate what they would eat in the "wild," then feeding them stuff like chicken necks is pretty much beside the point...no cat I've ever known could ever catch and eat a chicken, and certainly not one of the modern ones that are pumped up with antibiotics and hormones. Remember, too, that cats are not "wild"--they are domesticated animals that have been living alongside us for a couple thousand years and on our modern "petfood" diets now live longer than those mummified cats in King Tut's tomb likely did.

Truly "natural" foods for your cat would be the mice and rodents they fed upon while protecting the grain and food reserves of humans over the centuries. And I had a cat who did this...in the summer months she would catch and eat more mice and moles than anything else, and she refused to eat "kibbles." We were fequent vistors to our vet for wormings and bowel problems (from parasites transmitted by rodents), but even so I had her put to sleep a year ago after an undiagnosed bortadella infection (transmitted by infected rodents) caused her brain damage and reduced the once-healthy cat I loved to a weak, partially paralyzed shadow of herself. And the seizures she began to suffer caused her to inadvertently severely injure my mom when Tabby bit down on her hand while mom was trying to keep her from falling off the bed.

Just feed your cat iams.