Is pork for cats easy to digest?

Several weeks ago, I started feeding my cats Primal FD pork. Prior to the pork, I was feeding Primal's FD turkey along with some frozen Pronto rabbit and about 25% canned NV rabbit. Both cats, about four years old, always had a lot of energy, to the extent that even after they ate a raw meal, they hardly wanted to sleep, but rather, preferred to run around and play.

I've noticed, since feeding the FD pork, they seem to have less energy and are a bit more sluggish. They have their moments of activity, but not they way they used to.

I don't know if I should be making any correlation between the pork and their energy levels, e.g., is it tougher for them to digest than the FD turkey I was feeding or, if maybe my cats are just slowing down a bit.  Everything else is normal -- they aren't sick. It just seems odd.

They love the FD pork, more so than the turkey.   Before I decided to make the FD pork part of their diet, I researched pork for cats and read that it is a fairly "lean" meat (now I wonder b/c I've found other info to suggest the opposite) and that it is easy to digest. Rabbit is easy to digest, that much I know, however, is pork an easily digested meat for cats?  Should I just stick with fowl (can't do chicken they are allergic) and rabbit (and maybe mouse meat from HT), proteins that are closer to what they would eat in nature - feathered friends and small prey?

Here are the ingredients in the FD pork:

Ingredients: Pork Hearts, Pork Livers, Ground Pork Bones, Organic Collard Greens, Organic Squash, Organic Green Beans, Cranberries, Blueberries, Organic Pumpkin Seeds, Organic Sunflower Seeds, Montmorillonite Clay, Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, Organic Cilantro, Sardine Oil, Taurine, Organic Quinoa Sprout Powder, Dried Organic Kelp, Organic Coconut Oil, Cod Liver Oil, Organic Ginger, Vitamin E Supplement, Mixed Tocopherols (natural preservative).

I'm thinking of also switching or adding a greater amount of S&C's even though the cats are sort of lukewarm with SC unless I add a "topper" freeze dried treat. But I  like that S&C's has less veggies. Maybe duck, duck, goose and just feed the pork occasionally.

Any thoughts?  Thanks in advance .....

Well, how much fat in any food is all about how much is included - all meat has fat that can be trimmed from it.

Being freeze dried, the moisture content is low, so we can just directly compare the fat content of the foods rather than convert to dry matter basis.

Primal FD Pork, fat content: 18% min
Primal FD Turkey, fat content: 23%
And the NV canned rabbit, converted to dry matter basis is 30% fat.

So the Primal pork is much lower fat that the other foods you're feeding it seems. I'm not sure it matters where the calories come from when it comes to energy. :dk:

I don't know where you're located. I'm in Northwest NJ, and it has gotten HOT here. All the cats are acting a bit wilted, no change in food needed to account for that. Perhaps that's happening where you live, too?

LDG, thank you, that is very interesting info. Pardon my ignorance, however, is it the fat content in a meat that makes it either easy or difficult to digest? I was surprised to see the rabbit have a higher fat amount. I'm in NYC and while it has been warm here the past several days, the cats' decrease in energy precedes the change in temps. Very interesting though, thank you.

The NV rabbit has a high fat content because they add a lot of fat to lower the cost of manufacture and that creates larger profit margins. It is that simple, this is not a cynical view, it is the economics of cat food. For most higher end foods (not all - weruva is almost low fat), you're paying for a lot of fat.

Fat is more complicated to metabolize than protein, yes. There are more things that can go wrong with fat metabolism. Cats typically do very well with fat, unless they have a specific GI problem like IBD or EPI (exocrine pancreatic insufficiency).

I find the most common issue in digestion is red meat vs light meat/poultry. I find more cats have an issue digesting raw red meat than high fat foods - but they digest the same red meat protein just fine when it's cooked. :dk:

LDG:

Interesting thanks .... I may switch back then for a bit, see if there is a difference. The introduction of pork / red meat was more than what they've had in the past. But they really do love the pork .

LDG said:

I find the most common issue in digestion is red meat vs light meat/poultry. I find more cats have an issue digesting raw red meat than high fat foods - but they digest the same red meat protein just fine when it's cooked.

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Why would that be then - that some cats have a harder time digesting raw red meat vs raw white meat if the former is leaner in fat than the latter?

Because there are two separate issues. Cooking is a form of pre-digestion, so I imagine the issue in digesting a raw vs cooked protein has something to do with enzymes? I have not found an answer or scientific source or reason.

Some cats having trouble digesting fat is unrelated to the red vs white proteins being eaten cooked vs raw.

Ritz has no problems with pork, but she doesn't have a problem with any food--except no food[emoji]128515[/emoji] i wonder if your cats are reacting to different non meat, organs. For example, does one have pea and the other corn? Just a thought.

I'm thinking that it is too high in fruits and veggies, what are the ingredients of the turkey flavor you were feeding? That seems too heavy a carb load on a cat. Can you feed a food that doesn't have as many fruits, seeds and veggies in it? I'm hoping that they'll do better back on the turkey flavor food.

Thanks everyone for the feedback, really appreciate it.

LDG:  I found this article interesting, re: exotic meats as raw food for cats, that while it's "crucial" for cats eating a raw diet to get a variety of meats, not to overfeed any one protein source, or limit exotic meats to no more than three times a week. (Pork and beef are given as examples):

http://feline-nutrition.org/answers/answers-are-exotic-meats-nutritious-or-a-novelty

Ritz : Thanks, no corn or peas in Primal's FD. I noticed the pork consists of mostly hearts and liver, vs. Primal's turkey FD includes more meat than just hearts and liver.

Nansiludie : Totally agree with you, way too many veggies but the cats prefer Primal over Stella & Chewy FD although I did go ahead and get them S&C yesterday. I like that SC's uses less veggies / fruits, just pumpkin. The cats aren't thrilled with the taste though, I have to "season" it with some LID treat (the FD raw treats).  Primal they always like. The Primal turkey FD has the same veggies as the FD pork.

Thank you for the link to feline nutrition. @LisaMarie12  I mostly feed my cats chicken or turkey, occasionally on holidays fish.

nansiludie said:

 
Thank you for the link to feline nutrition. @LisaMarie12  I mostly feed my cats chicken or turkey, occasionally on holidays fish.

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Sure, you're welcome. Wasn't that an interesting article? My cats love the FD pork so much, I may stick with it but just three times a week. I've been curious about HT's ground mouse meat, we'll see. I did a search on this site for members who tried it with their cats, unfortunately the reviews were fairly lackluster.

There is such a thing as ground mouse meat?   Must be a lot of mice to make a pound.

nansiludie said:

 
There is such a thing as ground mouse meat? 

 Must be a lot of mice to make a pound.

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Ha, ha! I wonder how many mice it takes for a pound ...  Oh, the answer is on the link, 15 mice per pound.

Here is the link:

https://www.hare-today.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_46&products_id=210

15 mice.  Well, he even sells mice as snacks.  I suppose there must be a market for it.

nansiludie said:

15 mice.  Well, he even sells mice as snacks.  I suppose there must be a market for it.

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She. Tracy Murphy. And many feed frozen whole prey as part of the diet, or exclusively as the diet, not as treats. There are several sites apart from Hare Today that sell whole frozen prey, and at most sites - as at Hare Today - one has to choose the age and size of the prey animals.

Thanks for that article, L lisamarie12 . Indeed, very interesting.

My cat with severe food allergies is currently on Pork.

I had him on pork for one month and his allergy symptoms vastly improved. We switched him back to his previous food and within days he broke out in a rash and had oozing sores develop.  So back to Pork again!

It has made a world of difference. For a few years he tolerated turkey but eventually he became allergic to that as well. We've also tried lamb, turkey, chicken, venison, beef etc... with no relief.

He seems to be thriving on the pork, as soon as I get his skin lesions healed up again.

It could be the overall balance of the diet you are feeding is deficient in something, rather than any one particular ingredient being problematic for your cats.

Also, some cats like to switch their schedules with the change in seasons. My cats now want to party at midnight, and sleep all day, whereas in winter they were more active during the day.

LDG said:

She. Tracy Murphy. And many feed frozen whole prey as part of the diet, or exclusively as the diet, not as treats. There are several sites apart from Hare Today that sell whole frozen prey, and at most sites - as at Hare Today - one has to choose the age and size of the prey animals.

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I'm really very interested in giving mice another try, or a fair try. About two years ago, I picked up a packet of pinky mice, I think it was Gourmet Rodent, from Petco. Silly me, all I did was thaw and then plopped them into the cats bowls.  The cats weren't interested.  In retrospect, I would have placed the mice in a little baggie and run it under warm water and .... cut them in half if I had to. Maybe they would have eaten them if they had been halfed, as I've read with some cats who don't recognize the thawed mice as food until they are split in half.

I think I'm up for the challenge with the whole prey mice but I wanted to give a try with the ground first, see how that goes, get the Alnutrin, do that for awhile.

She is wonderful, Tracy. I ordered the dehydrated rabbit ears from  her once. The cats liked them, however, I was concerned, b/c of the dehydration process, the ears were too hard, I'd break them up but some pieces just seemed to sharp and hard. The cats loved them though but I was afraid they'd choke.  I was a bit creeped out as well b/c the ears come with fur and all ....

And isn't it interesting, btw, how people who have e.g., lizards, snakes, geckos, etc., go to stores like Petco looking for bioappropriate food for their reptilian friends. "Where are the feeder fish, the crickets, the feeder mice?" (Petco isn't supposed to sell feeder mice but they do), yet when it comes to feeding our quadruped friends, people usually come looking for bags of dry.

Sarah Ann said:

 
My cat with severe food allergies is currently on Pork.

I had him on pork for one month and his allergy symptoms vastly improved. We switched him back to his previous food and within days he broke out in a rash and had oozing sores develop.  So back to Pork again!

It has made a world of difference. For a few years he tolerated turkey but eventually he became allergic to that as well. We've also tried lamb, turkey, chicken, venison, beef etc... with no relief.

He seems to be thriving on the pork, as soon as I get his skin lesions healed up again.

It could be the overall balance of the diet you are feeding is deficient in something, rather than any one particular ingredient being problematic for your cats.

Also, some cats like to switch their schedules with the change in seasons. My cats now want to party at midnight, and sleep all day, whereas in winter they were more active during the day.

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How interesting Sarah Ann, thanks. I'm glad your cat is doing better on pork. I empathize, my cats are allergic to chicken although I haven't given raw chicken a try (wondering if it's the denatured protein of chicken they can't handle). My little guy still has to wear a bib of sorts, due to two skin lesions on his neck, they heal, but when I take the bib off to wash, he goes right to that area to groom usually gets the scab off,  I clean and treat, it's a viscous cycle ... We've had a terrible time trying to figure out what is causing this. They do eat turkey (their diet is 75% commercial raw) and a little NV canned rabbit at night  but I'm trying to do 100%.  At some point we'll do allergy testing.

Pork seems to be the misunderstood meat. Just today I was at my local indy retailer picking up food for the cats, the owner was on the phone with a woman who wanted to order Stella & Chewy's raw rabbit for her cat (hard to get here in NYC, even special orders) and was also interested in FD food. The owner mentioned Primal's new pork and the woman gave a resounding "No way!!" the owner couldn't even explain any of the benefits of pork.  I am going to keep it though to just three times a week.

Btw, my cats never did well on venison or lamb either.  I later learned, which is also a fascinating area - pet food energetics, that those meats -- chicken, turkey, lamb and venison, are considered "warm to hot" meats, (based on Chinese medicine, but there are some holistic vets who use pet food energetics to treat animals), not good for cats / dogs with allergies.