Advise would be great (diet and neutering) x

Hi Everyone

I was wondering if you could give me some more great advice. As some of you know i have a Persian male cat (6 months), he is the first cat i have ever adopted and i am a bit of a worrier as he hasnt (thanks to a bad breeder) had the easiest start in life. However he is now feeling fabulous and thanks to everyones advice last time, i am feeling a lot calmer!!

I have read on the site about the raw food diet. Dexter is a grazer so i like to leave him out a bowl of Persian dry kibble throughout the day. Until this weekend i have been giving him Science plan kitten wet food (in the pouches) once in the morning and once when i arrived back fromwork in the afternoon. When he was ill he hardly touched the dry food and ate the wet food pouches but now hes better he tends to just slurp up the gravy and nibble little bits of the meat while wolfing down the dry mix. This weekend i ran out of the wet food pouches so, as my boyfriend and i would give him a little treat of raw lamb or steak mince, i gave him a small bowl of steak mince instead. Would you say this was ok? and do you think i am feeding him correctly? He does seem to miss the gravy but already all the fur around his mouth looks much cleaner and his poos seem firmer (sorry to be graphic!!). I want to make sure all his dietry requirements are met and that he is not lacking anything. Also (maybe a silly question) do you think that cats can get bored with their food if so, knowing how delicate their stomachs are, how can i give him a more varied diet without upsetting his stomach.

Also, he is being neutered on Sat at 9:00 am (EECK!!) he will be in all day and we collect him late afternoon. What should i expect when i get him home, how long will it take for him to be back feeling himself and also how will he be with travel? We are taking him to the vet near my family home, the vet there has known him since we first got him and i would rather he was operated on by someone who knows him well, (we are also registered with a vet near where i live incase of an emmergency) however the family house is an hour drive. Is it best that we stay there for the first couple of days so not to stress him out with a long journey as coming back into London traffic jams is sometimes a NIGHTMARE...not just for cats but for human people too!!

Many thanks for all advice in advance.

Anna and Dexter Xx

As far as the raw feeding goes, raw meat on it's own is fine as a snack but not balanced as a diet. I feed small pieces of raw chicken or beef as treats. If you want to feed a raw diet, you need to pay attention to getting the balance right and including bone or bonemeal, organ meat etc. There are raw feeders on here who can advise you better.

re the neutering. Male neutering is a very simple procedure and they usually return from the vets acting like nothing has happened (always been my experience). He may be a little sleepy from the anaesthetic but otherwise he will be fine.

I feed my crew a raw diet and they all LOVE it!! One of the things you have to consider is that with raw, the kitty can digest it much sooner, I think 4-6 hours, so the chance for them to be exposed to any bacteria is little. Dry food digests much slower, I think 10-12+ hours. So that is why it is not recommended you feed dry and raw together. If you expose them to raw and dry at the same time, they are trying to digest both and it will take longer, therefore possibly exposing them to bacteria since the raw can't digest as fast as normal. I hope that helped!

In regards to neutering, the time for recovery with a male cat is pretty minimal. I try to keep them quiet the rest of the day when they come home from the vets, but I haven't had much luck with that, considering they were all kittens. He might be a little groggy and maybe a little tender, but that should probably be it. Goos luck!

I don't know much about the nutrition part but trust me I know cats can get bored. My older cat is some what picky, she will not eat some flavors of food such as cheese and white ocean fish, and the flavors she does each we can only get her to eat about 3 or 4 time in a row after that she won't eat it so we by small bags of dry food two at a time and switch between them and the can food we only buy one can per flavor that way if she doesn't like it we don't have 30 more hang out.

IF considering RAW ... PLEASE do yourself a HUGE favor and FIND a VET with EXPERIENCE or willingness to learn .... It can be done and EU meat supply is likely safer than the US ...

If choosing wet or dry ... all wet is Great ... wet and dry is good ...

Homecooked is another FIND a VET to help option...

I HAVE done ALL of the above and now the cat by her preference eats mostly dry with some wet and homemade .... prior kitty ate raw and wet ... dog eat s mostly homemade