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 <[email protected]>
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
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