how do you deal with a raw-unfriendly environment?

roguethecat

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what do you say when you have forwarded links and lend out books  only to have them gotten back unread and laughed at ("too long to read"),


have your arguments thrown back at you because all the vets in town are selling prescription dry food ("and they should know, shouldn't they?")


and finally are asked why you're so complicated when every normal person feeds their cats dry to their convenience? 
 

I don't care if people cringe when opening my fridge to find a couple rats thawing for dinner 
 but it's unnerving to have them criticizing my feeding habits, especially if they don't know anything about cat nutrition and don't really care to change that.
 
 

peaches08

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LOL, I'd probably freak out over the mice too if I wasn't warned first.  I don't mean that in a mean way.  I know it's silly, but something about it still having a face on it.  When I had a small farm, a guy kept a few cows on it.  I still ate beef.  Beef from him, too.  I had chickens and ate chicken from the store multiple times a week.  But to butcher my own, or at least butcher any meat...yeah, I'm a wimp.

For the most part, I'm pretty lucky.  My friends consider me an intelligent and well-researched person, even if I'm a cool "crazy cat lady."  They know I love my cats and like most owners, want to do well for my pets.  Another convincing factor?  They are astounded by the fact that you can't smell my cats nor the litter boxes.  They've been in my house when the boxes went 5 days without picking, BTW.  Not a habit I'm in love with, but when I was busy with clinicals, things got missed.

Most of my friends have either ditched dry entirely, or supplement the diet with wet or even raw/cooked meat.  They often ask me about raw diet and it's philosophy.  Only one acquaintance mocked me for my choice in feeding raw.  What she thinks just doesn't really matter.

One thing that I have to remind myself of often is that not everyone sees things like I do.  I knew someone who thought that since I was agnostic, that meant I was able to be molded (read:  able to be forced) into Christianity.  Used to drive me insane.  I remind myself of that guy when I find myself as the only one talking when discussing raw feeding.  Thankfully, I can usually pull off raw feeding as a smart, cool, intellectual way of feeding my pets.  Most people are scared of costs or commitment.  I tell them that they don't ditch healthy eating over having a pizza, so feeding their pet a raw/cooked meal is OK every now and then too.  Then they get it.
 

abby2932

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I'm not going to lie, I do feel awkward about it no matter who Im talking to. My regular vet is openly against raw feeding so I'm switching to a holistic vet the next time my cats are due in.

My family thinks I'm completely crazy. I'm a 27 year old single girl and they want me to focus on finding someone to get married to and not order 50 pounds of ground meat online to feed to my cats.

Sometimes I do wonder if it is a little overboard but knowing what I know now I just don't want to go back to canned or dry food.
 

sugarcatmom

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I just tell them they only need to take one look at my 5 fabulously healthy cats with their obnoxiously glossy (and practically shed-less) coats and super-sleek physiques - the epitome of feline perfection if I do say so myself - and then compare that to their own fat, dandruffy, runny-eyed, furplus of a cat and then we can talk. 
  (I do feel sorry for their cats though.)
 

lisahe

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I feed a combination of commercial raw plus canned (about half and half) and have definitely get some weird looks when I mention going to buy frozen cat food, though, like peaches08, I'm pretty lucky. One friend even plans to try raw for her IBD cat after I told her about raw food and sent her links to sites that mention it.

I think even our vet, a cat specialist, was pleasantly surprised at how good our cats looked when they had a brief check-up exam a few months ago. They just aren't very familiar with raw food: when I mentioned to one of the staff, who's pretty knowledgeable, that the cats' litter boxes don't smell, she said something like, "I've heard that can happen." One pet food store in town told me they sell tons (literally) of raw food for dogs but very, very little for cats.
 

mildlyironic

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Many of my friends who aren't cat owners have been intrigued by my decision to feed raw, and have asked a lot of questions. My family used to think I was crazy. However, my aunt recently told us that her cat had urine crystals. When my proposed solution (no more dry food) turned out to have matched what her vet had told her, my family's since grown to better respect my growing knowledge of cat nutrition, and have not wholly written off my decision to feed raw.

Probably the biggest struggle I have is with my friends who are long-time cat owners, and are huge proponents of dry food. Because I'm new to cat-owning, it's assumed that I don't know enough about cats or don't know what's good for cats. Additionally, friends who are cat owners will point to their own cats as proof that their method of feeding is appropriate, and it puts me in the awkward position of pointing out (a) that anecdotal evidence is not good evidence, and (b) their cat(s) is/are overweight. 


I haven't told my vet that I'm feeding homemade raw (though I mentioned that I fed them commercial raw), and I'm not inclined to have the conversation. So I guess, the way I deal with a raw-unfriendly environment is to hide it, for the most part, from people who I think won't be that accepting. However, that's a lot easier when I have a jar of nondescript ground stuff thawing in the fridge, and not dead mice. 
 

peaches08

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What did your vet say about the commercial raw? 

I know what you mean about some pet owners.  I was trying to point out to someone the other day that their dog is in pain, and they kept attributing it to "it's all in his head."  Sheesh.
 

mildlyironic

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I tossed it in as a sub-clause in a sentence about poop, I think, and he just ignored it. He's a really great vet, and has been the vet for all of my family's dogs for the past 21 years, but he has so much Science Diet in his front room that I'm pretty sure he would be displeased by the idea of homemade raw (especially since he warned us that chicken juice on the cutting board could give the kittens salmonella). I'm moving to a new city in 1.5 months, and have been trying to look up holistic/raw-friendly vets, so I'm just hoping nutrition doesn't become an issue before then.

And YES. It drives me crazy when I see owners ignoring obvious warning signs because they're not in tune with their pets and/or who think they're experts at pet care solely because their pets didn't die in infancy in the past. Just because your pet didn't perish doesn't mean you did a great job. (Alternatively, some kitties and puppies die in infancy despite the best of care.)
 

ldg

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I just ask people if they'd want to eat the same dry cereal day-in, day out, forever, because it's convenient, or do they feel better when they eat fresh fruits and veggies? Or say they want to upgrade - canned stew for the rest of your life?

...Now imagine that dry cereal and that canned stew - only make it with ingredients humans aren't even ALLOWED to eat or technology can't even recover to be used in fake chicken nuggets or "pink slime" hamburgers.

Nope, I don't call poison control when I see a cat catch a mouse and eat it. And I feel MUCH better eating fresh fruits and salads. Why wouldn't my cats be healthier and feel better eating their equivalent of fresh food?

If I "need" to, I throw in the - I don't feed my cats to my convenience, but for their health.

I haven't ever gotten anything but either interest or "that makes sense."
 
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roguethecat

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I just ask people if they'd want to eat the same dry cereal day-in, day out, forever, because it's convenient, or do they feel better when they eat fresh fruits and veggies? Or say they want to upgrade - canned stew for the rest of your life?

...Now imagine that dry cereal and that canned stew - only make it with ingredients humans aren't even ALLOWED to eat or technology can't even recover to be used in fake chicken nuggets or "pink slime" hamburgers.

Nope, I don't call poison control when I see a cat catch a mouse and eat it. And I feel MUCH better eating fresh fruits and salads. Why wouldn't my cats be healthier and feel better eating their equivalent of fresh food?

If I "need" to, I throw in the - I don't feed my cats to my convenience, but for their health.

I haven't ever gotten anything but either interest or "that makes sense."
yes, that works with the non-cat owned people


those that have fed mostly dry for decades tell me their cats are fine and like it (they have urine crystals, hyperthyroidism and vomit at least once a day, which people attribute to those cats being elderly)
 

ldg

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those that have fed mostly dry for decades tell me their cats are fine and like it (they have urine crystals, hyperthyroidism and vomit at least once a day, which people attribute to those cats being elderly):sigh:

Ah, yes. :( THAT is a completely different problem, people not understanding their cats are not well.

Of course, the guilt of realizing that we are harming our cats by what we feed them can be a very difficult reality to accept. Thus many don't and won't.
 

mildlyironic

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Ah, yes.
THAT is a completely different problem, people not understanding their cats are not well.

Of course, the guilt of realizing that we are harming our cats by what we feed them can be a very difficult reality to accept. Thus many don't and won't.
I definitely think that's a lot of the reason why I tend to get more push-back against raw or even all-wet food from long-time cat owners, rather than new cat owners or non-cat owners. With people who don't have cats, they take the information and accept it or not based on thoroughness of questioning/interest/intuition (which, we have to admit, plays a lot into our first impressions of a new idea). With people who have cats, admitting that dry isn't good means admitting that you've been giving bad nutrition to cats that you love, and feeling like you caused the illnesses that gave your cat pain or a shorter lifespan. The guilt that creates (and feeling guilty is certainly better than not feeling guilty, because it means that they love their cats) I think leads to more willful blindness. It's super non-productive and isn't what's best for their cats, but it's a common coping mechanism.

Sigh. 
 

peaches08

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Ah, yes.
THAT is a completely different problem, people not understanding their cats are not well.

Of course, the guilt of realizing that we are harming our cats by what we feed them can be a very difficult reality to accept. Thus many don't and won't.
I think that's just it.  Including the people who "researched which vets were best at declawing cats."  People who ought to know better but when facing the facts just shut down, stick their fingers in their ears, and scream rhetoric at you.  It's sad.  The point is to do better once we learn better. 
 

11201ny

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Ah, yes.
THAT is a completely different problem, people not understanding their cats are not well.

Of course, the guilt of realizing that we are harming our cats by what we feed them can be a very difficult reality to accept. Thus many don't and won't.
Not really much different than raising your kids on fast/processed foods. Kids love it, it's cheap, it's easy, it doesn't require much effort or skill.

Not like making a healthy, balanced meal anyway, which can be the exact opposite of all the above.

The audacity.

(At least fast/processed foods aren't pushed on the public by doctors, & the health industry.)

;-)
 
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AbbysMom

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I'm sorry people aren't accepting your food choice for your cats. :( You need to tell them that they are YOUR cats, you have done the research and that this is YOUR choice and what works best for YOUR cats. Honestly, that's all there is too it. We all need to be more accepting of each others choices. I don't like being told that I am a bad pet parent because I supplement with a small amount of dry food, but it is what works for me and my cat and is my choice. It took a lot of trial and error to come to what she eats, but it is what works for her. :dk:
 

jclark

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...With people who have cats, admitting that dry isn't good means admitting that you've been giving bad nutrition to cats that you love, and feeling like you caused the illnesses that gave your cat pain or a shorter lifespan. The guilt that creates (and feeling guilty is certainly better than not feeling guilty, because it means that they love their cats) I think leads to more willful blindness. It's super non-productive and isn't what's best for their cats, but it's a common coping mechanism.



Sigh. 
Well I wouldn't say dry food in general is BAD but just not ideal. Otherwise I tend to agree. Dry food (dogs,cats) is for convenience for the pet owner. It's cheap and easy. People hate admitting that because it requires them to acknowledge they they're taking a short cut with regards to their pets nutrition for the sake of their own convenience. This is especially true of those who just buy the cheapest dry food out there.

I'm lucky in that my "excuse" is that I have a senior IBD cat so I cannot feed any dry, and the young adults don't need to eat hypo-canned.
 

ritz

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With my vet, we agree to disagree. Though he can't not see Ritz' glossy coat.
I get incredibly tongue-tied when questioned (not only about raw feeding but about anything really). So unless it's germaine, I don't mention to anyone that I feed raw. People use to look at me weird when I said that. Now I say when appropriate/needed (like at the farmer's market when I gleefully buy a pound of hearts and inquiry about availability of lamb offal): "For health and safety reasons I fed my cat raw". I guess if people are interested enough in that simple statement, they'd ask further questions. But no one has. Except the person at the farmer's market where I buy food from who said 'good for you!' Cause she feeds her cats the leftovers (they butcher their own chickens).
I use to be more vocal/opinionated about what people fed their cats and how bad I thought dry food was. Now if they ask me I share and am quick to point out that good quality canned food is an option. Otherwise, I keep quiet. I don't know their entire circumtances, and who am I to be jury and judge?
 

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I don't deal with it. I let everyone else deal with their choice to NOT feed raw. lol
 

andrya

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l'm finding that more and more people are interested in raw feeding.

One of the vet clinics l go to has been encouraging home cooked meals for years. lt's only one step from raw, and they are happy with my choices.

The cats only clinic l go to are not proponents of it but are okay with it.

Friends are curious and interested, and l've given raw food to a couple of people to see if their cats liked it.

l see nothing wrong with giving most cats a broad spectrum of food. ln fact l still feed a lot of canned and my rotation consists of high end stuff down to lowly Friskies which contains rice. l'm fine with them getting rice once in a while. My son has mistakenly bought them gravy type Fancy Feast before, and l didn't return it, l fed them it ... wheat gluten and all. lt makes me a little leery to completely avoid any component of nutrition. l'm fine with giving them what other people see as "junk" once in a blue moon. lt depends which side of the fence you're on as to what constitutes "junk".
 
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