What is the best diet for cats?

Due to some ongoing 'people' health issues, around 6 months ago my hubby and I completely changed our own diet and eating - with remarkable results. We're eating a Paleo type diet (no grains, no processed food - just 'real' food).

And so lately of course, we've been thinking about our 4 year old black cat Cappy. He's relatively healthy, except for ear polyps which we treat regularly with drops and cleaning, and cat 'acne', and a few other skin issues. Right now Cappy's main food is Purina ProPlan Turkey and Rice for Indoor Cats. It's the food he had in the shelter and he loves it. He also gets raw meat treats. For example, I'll give him bits and pieces of the meat that I'm making for our supper. (And it's all grass fed beef and free range chickens now) But it bothers me that so much of his diet is 'processed'. I used to give him little bits of canned cat food - but my thinking is that it might be just as bad.

I want to make sure his diet is 'balanced', and I know he requires different foods than we humans do (mainly meat protein), but I'm at a loss. He doesn't like any other dried food other than Purina Pro Plan. I will take this question to the Raw Foods Forum, if you think it fits better then. 

But any websites or suggestions would be appreciated. 

lin

Since he's already eating raw, I guess the hardest part is over!

Of course, the most natural diet for cats would be mice, gophers, rabbits, small birds, etc. If your cat will eat whole prey, you can get pre-killed frozen prey animals from a variety of sources. But if he won't, or you don't want to feed him whole mice :tongue2:, you can still provide a balanced raw meat diet. The basic "recipe" is: 80% muscle meat, 10% edible raw bone (for cats, small bones like chicken wings, rabbit ribs, etc), and 10% organ meat (half of that liver and half some other secreting organ like kidney or spleen). If your cat is unwilling or unable to eat bone and/or organ, you can supplement to make up for it. There are also pre-made ground raw foods available at all price points. If you want to go raw there's lots of info in the raw feeding sub-forum.

Canned food is also an option. Almost any canned food is better than almost any kibble (in terms of moisture content, meat content, and protein levels). A lot of people tend to think of canned food as being kitty junk food, and kibble being healthy, but really it's opposite! There are some very good canned foods, although of course there's alway some ingredient to quibble over :lol3:. So if you want to have full control over the ingredients, raw/homecooked is the way to go.

Well, as he seems to like the raw meat treats, I would consider the raw diet for him. It's not hard to do properly - though "properly" is important, whether you want to make ground or feed whole prey model, and you'll get a lot of help on the raw forum. :nod: I would also expect that chin acne and those skin problems to clear right up. It has helped a lot of cats with those same issues!

And several members have transitioned die-hard kibble addicts, so you'll get help with that too.

And congrats on the improvements in your diet! Sounds like your kitty is going to benefit too. :rub:

Thanks! I think we're going to transition him - not that he'll mind. He gobbles up raw meat like nobody's business. I don't know if I'm allowed to post links to things here, (I couldn't find that anywhere on the site, but I think I remember reading it - or maybe it was for another forum!) but what do you folks think of this guy: 


He has some interesting ideas - With the raw meat he includes cut up wheat grass, a small amount of pumpkin and a smaller amount of yogurt for the probiotics. 

lin

Just wanted to say....

CONGRATULATIONS ON THE DIET CHANGE!

I did so with myself and my kitties recently as well. Raw is certainly the best for kitties!