We have been feeding our kittens raw since bringing them to our household five months ago. We live in Southern California and are blessed to have a pet store very close that sells several different varieties of frozen raw diets. We have settled (for the time being!) on RadCat, which is available in chicken, turkey and lamb...all offered in various sizes so you don't have to invest a real bundle on something they might not like. It's very convenient and they love it. We can't help but feel that their lack of G/I problems and healthy appetites is in some portion due to the raw diet. It's also very high in moisture, which is helpful as well.
Sara -----Original Message----- From: felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org [mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of Jane Lyons Sent: Thursday, November 19, 2009 2:23 PM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Raw Food Hi Lorrie It took me a long time to switch my cat (Felv+) to raw. She refused any raw that I first offered her and rejected cat food that had any raw in it. I have two dogs that I have fed raw to since they were puppies. I discovered that when I was preparing their food my cat would jump up and begin eating whatever I was serving them, including organic buffalo, beef, lamb ...not just chicken and turkey. By letting her eat from their bowls she developed a taste for it and will now eat it from her own bowl. It is not always fool proof. For whatever reason she will sometimes reject raw so I use Petguard (Whole Foods) or Wellness (both wet) as back up. I am convinced that a "species appropriate" diet is really the way to go. It is not easy but when you realize what the by products used in commercial pet food are, it is very motivating. Jane On Nov 19, 2009, at 4:45 PM, Tracey Shrout wrote: > Lorrie, > Yes, I think raw is the best also. If you go to those websites, > they give > you step-by-step instructions on how to make it. You have to be > careful to > follow the recommended proportions. It does take a little time to > convince > the cats that this is what they should be eating. One of mine, a > 12 year > old dry food 'addict' took almost 2 months to completely change to > this > diet. The others were much easier to convince. I just mixed it > with a good > canned food, progressively adding more raw. They will eventually > eat it by > itself and love it, you just have to be determined. Occasionally, > I do give > some canned food for variety, or when I run out of the raw. On those > websites, they also explain how to grind it -- you will have to buy a > grinder, and yes, you should use real bones. Its daunting at first, > but gets easier everytime you make it. > > Tracey > > On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 5:07 PM, Lorrie <felineres...@kvinet.com> > wrote: > >> I think a raw food diet is best for cats, as it's certainly more >> natural, with none of the by-products and other awful stuff they add >> to cat food. However only one of my cats will eat it. The others just >> sniff it and walk away. I'd be interested in hearing what your diet >> consists of. Are there any particular proportions you use of the >> chicken, bones, organ meat, egg, vitamins etc, and can bone meal be >> used instead of bones? I don't know how I'd grind bones. >> >> Lorrie >> >> On 11-15, Tracey Shrout wrote: Anna, I will give you my personal >>> opinion dealing with severe diahrrea in 2 of my kitties, one of >>> which is +. After many trips to the vet and having many tests for >>> parasites and doses of parasitic medicines, antibiotics, trying >>> fortiflora (which does help some), nothing completely resolved >>> their issues until I started feeding my cats what I feel is the >>> best food possible -- a raw homemade diet of chicken and bones (and >>> organ meat, egg, and vitamins, etc). Lots of people are totally >>> against feeding raw, but I have 5 very healthy kitties who've been >>> eating it for almost 2 years now with remarkable changes in all of >>> them. No more diahrrea for my kitties, and most of the time is >>> doesn't even have an odor (no kidding!) I will never go back to >>> dry, and I use only a good quality grain-free can food if >>> necessary. Cats with diahrrea are naturally going to be >>> dehydrated, so you really need to be giving them water WITH their >>> food -- a canned food. >>> >>> If the homemade diet is not an option for you though, just try a >>> grain free diet. Wellness has a good canned one, and there are a >>> few grain-free dry foods as well. Most cats merely 'tolerate' >>> grains, and other cats cannot. It is not natural for them to eat >>> grains. Oh, and LOTS of cats throw up. No, it is not good, but it >>> is very common. My cats don't throw up anymore (other than >>> hairballs) EVER! I spent tons of time researching making my own >>> food because of so many health issiues w/my kitties -- now I don't >>> have any issues at all. If you want to learn more, check out >>> catnutrition.com and catinfo.com. If you follow the recipes to a >>> "T'', you will be amazed! Good luck, and I hope they get better! >>> >>> Tracey >>> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Felvtalk mailing list >> Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org >> http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/ >> felvtalk_felineleukemia.org >> > _______________________________________________ > Felvtalk mailing list > Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org __________ NOD32 4623 (20091119) Information __________ This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system. http://www.eset.com _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
