The best cat food in the world

As an exotic cat breeder I have to know what the best foods are for our cats and the diet is simple mix 1 lb of beef or chicken with 1/4 cup rice, 1/4 lb of liver, 1 tsp of bonemeal, and a little oil. Meat can be cooked or uncooked, but try to find a wholesaler of food to buy meat and chicken for .30lb rather than one to two bucks a pound. Http://www.bobcatandlynx.com

For anyone reading this post, before feeding your cat anything but something designed for a cat, please consult your vet. If you are going to feed a raw (or cooked) diet, there's lots more you must know in order to give them a balanced diet.

Agree with Sandie here. There is no one set diet for one cat, as each cat has different needs. There are supplements you need to add in your cats food if you are not feeding them a good quality cat food wet or dry.

Agreed. I'm concerned about the lack of variety here as well as vegetables or fruits. The point of this type of diet is to get closer to what they would in nature. Think of cat food as like a mouse replacer. You give some muscle meat, some organ meat, some bone/calcium substitute to make up the mouse. Then grains and veggies and probiotics/digestive enzymes to mimic the stomach contents. A poorly designed home diet can be very very dangerous. There was a woman on Animal Planet who fed her cats too much rice and they were going blind.

If someone is interested in this kind of diet please feel free to PM me and I can give you some more advice on how to get started, but for starters, get the Pitcairn book, the Kymythy Schulze book and the Natural Cat book, and find a vet through AVHMA that will support and advise you.

Yes, you can feel free to PM me too, if you are interested in the BARF/RAW diet, and I can give you loads of informations and the do's and dont's.

There is not one single diet out there which will work for every cat. It just doesn't exist. And before making any extreme switch in their diet (such as this) please do consult your vet.

Also, becareful when you feed beef, some cats can be allergic to it. And with any change in diet you'll have to make it a slow process so that they can adjust.

I would LOVE to know any info anybody has on feeding a raw diet. I'm currently feeding a combo if canned, dry & raw. I'd like to give more raw & less dry, but don't feel confident enough in my knowledge yet.

I think it's not only important to know about feline nutrition (and no one person knows it all, not even the pet food manufacturers...which is why I don't believe in feeding only one brand). It's also important to learn about food safety. I've spent some time learning this, but there is always more to learn. Any info any of you have on it would be more than appreciated.

I've recently switched from feeding my crew canned morning & night (with biscuits out for about 10 mins per mealtime), raw chicken necks daily, and meat a couple of times a week....to replacing the evening meal of canned with raw. I'm currently buying pet meat, but I'm a bit suss of this, I'd rather buy human grade meat & mix it up myself, I have better control of the quality of the meals then.

I don't know if I'm allowed to post my e-mail addy here, but there's a link to my site below, and my e-mail addy is there. Or, I can be PM'd.

Thanks

Julia.

Misha: Ok done! Check your PM's.

Oops well PM only lets me say like 1 thing and my email is down (argh)
so I'll just respond here. There's nothing private about it, I just mentioned taking it to email since AngelZoo and I are always talking food!!

Julia,

I totally understand how you feel, it is hard to get away from kibble, as we are so indoctrinated to believe that only 'pet food' commercially made will supply what our pets need. The best thing for us was finding a vet who does this as well. Below I have some links on that. It is so great to have a very knowledgeable vet there to support and advise us, rather than argue with!

I do believe that all pets can be fed at home and have their nutritional needs more than met! Unfortunately I will admit that I have not managed to convince my cats of this, so I too feed kibble but I supplement it as much as they'll allow. I have a lot more experience with dogs and feeding dogs naturally, however I think the basics are overall the same for cats and dogs.

I totally agree about no one knowing it all. I started doing this about 8 years ago with a dog, and I'm still reading and researching pretty much every day. I don't know if I will ever feel I have enough information on their needs, nutrition, etc etc. I am no expert but I love to share what I have learned as well as learning from others.

I'm not sure what you mean by pet meat. Do you mean the prepackaged 'BARF' (raw) meals for pets at some pet stores? I have never tried those out, they are so expensive here! We just buy meat for all of us together, pets and humans, at the market or butcher.

Here are some links and books that I think are great. I am considering starting a small message board at MSN for all us natural feeders to share information, links, recipes etc so when I get around to that I will let you know!
Hope you find some of this helpful!

Links:
This site focuses on Kymythy Schulze's book (great read)
and has other resources including information on workshops.
http://home.earthlink.net/~affenbar/

Introduction to natural feeding article by Kymythy Schulze
http://www.workingdogs.com/doc0164.htm

Directory of natural feeding information, use the links to
explore different topics (some are PDF files so you need Adobe)
http://www.animalsnaturally.com/information/

Good cat specific overview
http://www.drwoodley.com/cat-nutrition.html

Interesting analysis of the Pottenger study
http://www.beyondveg.com/tu-j-l/raw-...ooked-1h.shtml

Many interesting articles
http://www.holisticat.com/articles.html

Dr. Pitcairn's site
http://www.drpitcairn.com/


Recommended Reading:

Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats - Kymythy R. Schultze c1999

Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats -
Dr. Richard Pitcairn c1995

Home-Prepared Dog & Cat Diets: the Healthful Alternative
- Donald R. Strombeck c1999

The New Natural Cat: A Complete Guide for Finicky Owners
- Anitra Frazier c1990

Also books by Billinghurst or Volhard among others. Using Amazon.com,
when you look up these titles it is possible to explore many related
titles as well. You could read about this stuff for a looong time!

Finding a holistic vet:

Holistic vets are generally more supportive and knowledgeable about
natural care, especially those who are nutritionists as well. Cost is
slightly higher in my experience per visit, but I find there are
fewer visits overall necessary.

Directory of holistic vets by state (choose on drop down menu at left)
including a key of specializations.
http://www.ahvma.org/states_and_dire...directory.html

Listing of vets who have studied with Pitcairn:
http://www.drpitcairn.com/anhcreferrals.html

Ali

Thanks alicat, I'm getting a great collection of links compliments of you & Angelz00. I appreciate your help.

I had to laugh when I bought a packet of "prescription dry" for teeth, and the pack says not to use any other food, just this one brand. I know my cats would be happy, they're addicted to the stuff, but I just cannot believe that it is healthy to feed the same brand of food, day in, day out.

I was saying to Angelz00 that I am having problems with my Bengal. Firstly, he has a nose problem. Vet took a biopsy & said "it's allergies" & didn't want to investigate further. I've heard on other sites that Bengals "can" be prone to food allergies. Also, my Bengal is really bad for eating dry. He won't eat canned or raw. The other cats aren't too bad. So far, I've not held out on his dry, in the hope I can convert him, partially because I seriously couldn't stand the whinging. But, I don't think the dry is good for his health, or his teeth, and would like to eventually convert him over to a more raw diet.

I'm really glad to see people here who support feeding raw food. It's a really big issue with me, especially in light of recent research which shows that dry really isn't good for cats. I've long suspected as much, and my vet has never been a fan, but so many people believe dry is the be all & end all.

Re., pet meat. In Australia, there are a couple of manufacturers who put out packaged meat for cats & dogs. It contains organ meats, kangaroo, beef etc. I've never seen the BARF food here. To be honest, I've not looked into the BARF diet too much, it's something else I've been meaning to get onto.

Julia.

It's so weird when I hear Australians talking about eating kangaroo! Here you'd have to break into the zoo for that, and boy would you be in trouble!

I have a similar problem. I have two cats, one is young and was pretty receptive to natural feeding so long as I don't leave dry food down. The other cat, Poppy, was severely abused in the past. She is very accomodating most of the time, but was starved for her first two years and has serious food issues. She went 8 days hardly eating, even when I started making my own kibble (which each batch took about 10 hours!), so I had to give in for her sake. As much as I would love for her to eat better, I would rather she have a good kibble than nothing of course. And I have to free feed her or she worries about food and will eat too fast and too much.

I have heard arguments on both sides of the variety issue. Some people say you should only feed one food, but I also agree that variety is good. It only seems logical in my opinion. I believe the Pitcairn book addresses cats and food addictions very well. I only feed the one kibble, but I vary the wet foods within the brand and add snacks and supplements as much as they'll allow.

Now my dog on the other hand has been eating this way since weaning and loves just about anything. I think dogs are much easier to 'convince' than cats. I think cats are a bit more stubborn and resistant to change, especially adult cats. So I am not as confident in my ability to ever change their diet completely, but at least I can use the knowledge to choose a good kibble and improve their diet with added foods like meats etc.

How much do you know about your Bengal's history? I had a cat that had pneumonia in the womb who suffered chronic upper respiratory problems his whole life, runny nose and sneezing mostly. I'm not very well versed on the common allergens in cats, but I would try avoiding them, whatever they are LOL. And also find a holistic vet near you if you can. I realize now that those links won't help you down under sorry! Holistic vets are great because they are more into finding the underlying problem rather than treating symptoms. I think it's terrible your vet doesn't want to work more on helping your cat!

Oh gosh...look how much I've talked!! Sheesh, get me talking natural feeding and look what happens. Hope I haven't put anyone to sleep.

It's funny, kangaroo only seems to be available in restauraunts, or in pet food. I tried it once, just to say I'd done it. It's not a regular part of our diet. Does seem to be odd to feed our pets the animal that's on our coat of arms!!! But a lot of farmers cosider them vermin. Personally, I like them. Just for trivia, did you know a lot of koalas have Chlamydia?

I don't know much about my Bengal. I bought him from a breeder at 12 weeks old. I could contact her, but I doubt she'd have anything of importance to tell me. I don't recall his nose being this way when I bought him, so it's obviously something in our home that's causing this problem. I think it may be the food, the vet said he didn't think it was that because if it was, it would be all over, not just on his nose.

I have no luck with vets. I used a holistic vet once, and was totally ripped off. I'm having so much trouble with another cat at the moment it's just not funny. I've contacted our local university for help, because I'm just out of ideas. I actually added up the vets bills from one vet yesterday, over a 12 month period. I've spent $2,265.00, ouch. But, you have good years & you have bad years, last year (and 2003) are bad ones.

I've fed my crew a variety of food all their lives, and I think it makes for less fussy cats. Other than the Bengal, the others will eat pretty much anything that I put in their bowl. My vet has always said that we're still learning about feline nutrition, and it's dangerous to feed one brand, because even the pet food manufacturers don't know everything there is to know...wasn't there a problem with taurine not being added to food years back?

Julia.

Ali: By the pre packaged BARF diet, do you mean the frozen beef pattie meals (or just pattie meals.)

I've heard good things about them. Never tried them myself however.

Misha: Yes, there was a problem with diets not all having taurine, which can cause blindness in cats, (lack of it.)
I talk like I know a lot about this stuff, but I too will say that I am far from knowing everything, and don't think I or anyone else ever can. But I do intend to get my degree/certification whatever it might be, as an animal nutritionist some day.

I think it's a great thing to suppliment kibble diets with as much natural, raw or (human) food as possible, treats and kittie vitamins!
I really hope you find some vet who is willing to REALLY help you figure out what is wrong with your cat. We had a cat with allergies, he had the runny noise problem (no it was not a URI).
I have heard that if it's a food allergy it more often effects their fur and skin, like bald patches... I could be wrong however!

Wow, that's weird about Koalas! They need to practice safer sex LOL.

What is your kitty's nose problem like? What all does he eat? Yeah, if he came to you that young with no problems then it's very different than with my cat.

AngelzOO, I'm not sure! I've seen them advertised and the pet shops we go to have them in a fridge but I've never actually looked at them. One of the shops I like, Mud Bay Granary, puts out a little Trader Joe's style product newsletter, which I peruse when I'm bored so I have only heard of them, not looked. For me, that seems awfully expensive, but I have more time than money! I can see using them if you were to go away or if you were a really busy person though.

Yeah, from what I've seen a heard they help transfer an animal from a kibble diet to a RAW diet, and can be used just for that, or prolonged into the whole stage of a RAW diet.

Most of them (at least they are suppose to be) 100% natural human grade ingredients, mixed up and shaped like a hamburger! I have seen some to be a little pricey, this is true.
I believe a lot of them include raw meat, which it's said that raw meat has enough taurine in it naturally, that these beef patties don't need added suppliments (like in cooked kibble.)