Hi, For several years I have primarily fed home made raw to my horde of cats (FELV + separated) and dogs, and have never had any food related problem whatsoever. They are in wonderful condition. I do mix in some fish as a treat every week or so, but it is canned tuna, mackerel, or sardines (all in water, not oil). I carefully follow a balanced recipe with no grains, starches, veggies.
I make a point of being very well read on the publicized risks but I think they are very overstated - after all, raw is what cats evolved to eat over millions of years. Their digestive systems are short and acidic. Most vets are poorly trained on nutrition and much of that training comes via the pet food industry, which makes a bundle selling biologically inappropriate grain laden, carb heavy, overproccessed, overpriced crap. Of course they fear-monger about raw food, even for cats with perfectly healthy immune systems. As if dry food hasn't been proven to have frequent contamination with salmonella etc. No human has ever been shown to catch disease from raw food, but there are loads of cases of people getting it from commercial pet food. And that doesn't even begin to address the factors of salivary enzymes as the cat gnaws chunks of meat/bone, or the enzymes and nutrients destroyed by the disgusting rendering process, or the plastic and filth cooked in with the often rancid ingredients. Or the risk of tainted ingredients. Or the fact that cats are far less healthy overall than they were 50 years ago... just research the huge jump in diabetes, obesity, kidney disease, cancer, etc. Why do most cats now routinely die in their early teens at best, when they used to live so much longer? Why? If one believes that fresh, natural food is better for people than processed food, then why treat animals any different? I believe sick or immunocompromised animals need more nutrition, not less. They need the best quality food possible, and I think that is the food they evolved to eat. I wish I could feed whole prey, but it's unaffordable. On the other hand, homemade raw is made with far better ingredients yet costs so much less than commercial food - about 35 cents a day. Which do you trust more? Millions of years of mother nature's success, or the money-motivated pet food industry? Ok, getting off soapbox now. :) Kg On Saturday, March 16, 2013, Maryam Ulomi <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Carrie, > I am so sorry to hear about your kitties. And I am praying they get better very soon. > I had put a post up asking the group about raw food for FeLV cats but no one responded or commented about using that for their cats. > I have read that for FeLV cats it might be a hazard because their systems cannot withstand any challenges from parasites. > Also I have read that seafood is not recommended for FeLV cats so I do not feed any seafood to mine. > I am trying to find a holistic vet to start my FeLV cat on a special diet but it's always best to be in contact with a vet when starting the home cook diet or a raw diet. > If the cats are sick l would take them to vet so they can be treated right away, with FeLV early prevention is the best policy. > Hope this helps, please send an update soon. > Sent from my iPad > On Mar 15, 2013, at 23:45, Carrie Rosenblatt <[email protected]> wrote: > > hi. I saw this online - and wondered what you found out about raw food for FeLV cats. I had one at my apt for a night, and gave him homemade food, which was made with raw meat, but no pieces of meat was in what I gave him, just the grains and tuna and supplements, but I was wondering if the juice or residue from the raw meat could have hurt him, as he is very sick and getting worse. > cr > >
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