Raw Feeding

[Elaine]

For those of you that raw feed your animals, do you use this product? Would you rate it?
http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bonesandcalcium.php

I am seriously looking into changing to raw feeding and want as much info as I can as to how best to go about it etc. I dont think its going to be an easy transition for my two because they love their buiscuts too much. After having read alot of the recent links etc on this and other forums, I feel I owe it to them to give them as healthy a diet as I can in order to aviod early CRF, thyroid problems etc.

[angieh]

This whole topic is really interesting Elaine. I note that Iams are advertising a new range of cat food with cereals and vegetables in it - hardly a "natural" diet for cats.

I used to think that feeding your cat was simple, but it is getting increasingly perplexing! I am not even sure that so called "veterinary diets" have got it right. I think over the years better diets have extended cats lives, but the downside of this is that they are open then to all the health problems that we know about only too well - a bit like people. There has to be a happy medium, doesn't there? Love to know what it is though!

[Elaine]

Well, from what I have been reading about recently it seems that about 10 years ago the average life expectancy for a cat was 20 to 25 years but with the flood of dried foods on the market now the average life span has been reduced to 18 years. Now i did give this alot of thought, Winston lived to the ripe old age of 21 and for most of his life he was largley fed wet foods, only in his later years was dried foods really introduced into his diet by the vet for his CRF, which he didnt eat that much of. His teeth were in good condition for his years and never needed a dental.
I feed Eva and Bernie a mix of wet and dry foods, Eva largly prefers the dry to the wet and Bernie the opposite. Last vet visit with Bernie revealed that he may well need a dental in the near future and I have to keep an eye on his teeth and gums, he is only around 3 and half years old. Being a rescue, we dont know anything about his previous life/diet so its hard to say if this is down to what he is fed here or if it has to do with him being very under nourished when he was picked up. Eva on the other hand has a lovely set of gnashers and she is coming up for her fourth birthday.
As far as i can gather, vets dont really get that much of an education on pet nutrition and most of what they do get is from the pet food companies, who, lets be honest, are only interested in profit. I am sure there are some vets who set out to educate themselves and i am not having a go at them but lets just look at the CRF thing for a minute.
Vets recomend a prescription diet, mostly Hills. There is wet and dried food available. Dried food puts extra pressure on the already failing kidneys. CRF cats drink/urinate excessively and have difficulty keeping themselves re-hydrated, so why are vets recomending dry food for CRF cats? CRF is becoming more wide spread in younger cats and i wonder if that has to do with feeding mainly dry foods and free feeding.
I am not convinced that pet food companies know that much about pet nuitrition either and so am turing my attention to trying to better the longevity of my cats by giving them a better diet.
I would love for them to live at least as long as Winston, if not longer.

[angieh]

I appreciate your reasoning Elaine. Merlin has always had basically wet food and, whilst an adult cat, two meals a day. As I was out at work in those days I left dry food down so that he wouldn't go hungry during the day. Some days he ate some, some days all would go and some days he didn't seem to eat it at all. Smudge on the other hand seemed to prefer dry food and because of her weight problems was on Iams Light for most of her life. Of course, they always had fresh water available and I am convinced that Merlin's struvite problems originated because he did not drink water hardly at all.

It is such a shame that CRF is becoming more widespread amongst younger cats and (without being an expert) I would suspect dry food as being at least one of the causes.

This is such a huge topic, I do hope some other Catsey members will come and give their opinions on the issue.

[Elaine]

I hope so too Angie, I'd be very interested to know if those who feed raw have ever had problems with things like dandruff for example coz I am begining to think that this has more to do with diet than central heating.
Cats are not naturally drawn to water which could account for alot of health issues if fed mainly dry foods.

[angieh]

Apart from that kitty in the email you sent! I didn't count the number of times that cat pulled the flush, did you?

[Elaine]

Apart from that kitty in the email you sent! I didn't count the number of times that cat pulled the flush, did you?


:lol: :lol: :lol:

[Daisy-Doo]

Hi, I have 2 females both 11 years old, and they aren't raw fed as yet, but we are working towards it. Mine are on grain-free canned at the moment, and are fed twice a day. I've managed to sneak some raw pet mince in to their canned, and they seem happy to eat it. It's just a case of adding more gradually, and decreasing the canned. I hope to get them totally raw within the next 6 months, but cats' can be such stubborn creatures, so I'm not holding my breath:roll:

I haven't used the feline future supp, and doubt that I would. I prefer as natural as possible, so hope to eventually have them crunching bones (maybe even whole prey:shock: ):lol:
.
Ferrets, like cats, are obligate carnivores, and every bit as fussy. I've managed to switch my 5 to a completely raw and whole prey diet. So, if I can do it with them, then I'm hopeful that I can get the cats eating the same. Even though I expect to be banging my head against the wall many times in the process:lol:

There's a raw feeding list for cats on Yahoo groups (it's called raw cat) that you may wish to join, but it's a group for people that ultimately want to feed a whole prey, or 'prey model' diet. They don't advocate feeding 'recipes', or ground meats. They believe in feeding whole chunks of meat/bone and organs.....Although they don't have a problem with feeding ground meats in the transitional stages if that's what it takes:)

If you ever get to the stage where you'd like to feed some whole prey (mice, chicks etc) as well, just let me know, and I can recommend a couple of online sites where you can get them.

Good luck:D

[angieh]

Hi Daisy-Doo. Thanks so much for the information. I suppose that, in thinking about alternative diets and Elaine starting this thread about raw feeding, I had not actually thought about the ultimate aim, which is as you say, feeding whole prey. This wouldn't be appropriate for my cat Merlin who is 21 years old and I wouldn't attempt to change his diet so drastically at his age. I wonder whether I would be prepared to go to this "extreme" if in the future, I had another cat? Certainly something that, if I'm honest, at the moment I would feel squeemish about.

[Elaine]

Can I ask what the grain free cat meat is called and where you get it from?

[Daisy-Doo]

Hi Elaine, It's called Bozita. It's a Swedish food available from Zooplus. You can either get chunks in jelly that come in a tetra pack, or canned meat that isn't chunks. The canned food works out cheaper per 100gms. Ive bought both and the cats' liked both.

Angieh, I know exactly what you mean about being squeamish with whole prey. It took months for me to pluck up the courage to give it a try, and I'm still not great with it. There are things that I just haven't been able to cope with as yet. I had about 15 wood pigeons in the freezer a month ago, and I couldn't even look at them, let alone prepare them. So I gave the lot to a friend of mine who doesn't have a problem with things like that. Silly, I know, as it's no different than the chicken legs, lamb necks, brisket, whatever, that I have in the freezer. Just that it hasn't been prepared and still looks like an animal.
I hope to master these things one day though:)

[Elaine]

Thanx for that Daisy-Doo:D