raw diet for weight loss? (long

I just read about this on a link provided...elsewhere on the forum. I'm intrigued.

One of my cats gained a lot of weight after being spayed. She had a blood work-up done and it's been noted that she has a low metabolism and high...something. (I'm in Russia and it's not always easy to translate...) All the vets have Rx-ed a portion controlled dry diet. It hasn't helped. My poor kitty weighs 18 pounds and isn't happy about it! She even seems too self-conscience to play with the kitten I got to help her be more active. (I know it sounds crazy, but she'll only attempt to play when the kitten is in another room.)

ANYWAY. I just want her to feel better. I wondered if anyone here had success with feeding a raw diet for weight loss. I'm sure I could have the supplements shipped in...and since I only eat white meat, we'd be set up like Jack Spratt and his wife!

I am cautious to start this if it's not going to help. I'm in the middle of an adoption as a single parent and know that every waking moment will soon be spoken for. If this will help her, I'm all for it. If not, then we'll try to find some good canned food.

Thanks for sharing your insights!

Yes it helps unless there is an underlying problem that causes overeating. The feline body can process the raw meat much better since its so much more natural to them (hence no fat cats in the wild...even if food is plentiful). Our girl Autumn came from a barn where she led a very active life and was pretty young. The vet told us she was the perfect weight. Then she went to being an indoor kitty and eating dry food. Major weight gain! She was going upwards of 2lbs and really starting to be noticable (in probably 4 months or so). Then I started her on a raw diet. Yah she went back to a healthy weight. Actually its the perfect weight and even if we put down to much food she still dosent' gain weight. They are so much more satisfied after eating such a meal and really don't need to eat much.

The diet I give is half raw / half canned salmon (by vets recommendation - we see a holistic vet now). Cats also need a high fat content so chicken and turkey are very good sources of protein. Rabbit is popular in the diet but many people have trouble getting their cats to eat it because its so lean. I don't find it to difficult but if you self-prepare it, it will be much more time-consuming.

Very interesting...

Do you self prepare? Is there anything specific about the canned salmon? (That would be sooo much easier than me making it...) I live in Russia right now and there aren't many pet food options.

Thanks for posting!
Kate

I do a pre-prepared. There are a bunch of companies here that do that...I'm not sure about in Russia. The one I use is local made NuDimensions. It comes in 1lb packages of ground raw with bone. If you don't intend on including the bone in the diet then you will need to supplement the calcium. Salmon is good in combo, but not on its own as it has low levels of taurine and the canning process kills 2 amino-acids essential to cats (not to humans though), but high in omega-3's and heavily nutritious all-around. I actually supplement these amino-acids anyway via ProteFood its called. Wysong Call Of The Wild is a good raw food supplement (has calcium and taurine in it).

If you have a butcher that will grind meat for you then its pretty straight forward. If you chunk the meat yourself...well cats like to carry it around the house with them and cleanup is not as fun but if your cat eats it in his dish then not so bad. I also supplement beef liver (not chicken liver, they are more potent) once a week one inch cubes. This is a good liver support food and full of vitamins. I cut up the liver and put it into individual serving baggies in a container and put it in the freezer and then I can pull out the baggie and thaw as needed.

Also the bone in the salmon is edible even though this is probably the only safe cooked bone. The process they use to cook/can does something to the bone that makes it safe. Sorry I can't be more specific. The vet had better terms for it than I remember!

If you want to do this I suggest joining raw food yahoo groups. I think rawpaws is for cats and dogs and felinefuturediet is for cats. It has a wealth of info. You will need to feed about 2-3% of their body weight a day in 2-3 meals. I usually do 2 meals but I have a pregnant girl right now so she gets extra meals now.

Also...switching a cat that is not used to raw is not usually easy. It takes a slow transition. Autumn was pretty young and switched very quickly with no problems. But many people experience a lot of protest from their kitties! Just warning you .