Cat fancy magazine article

I just reread my post and I can see why you'd come to that conclusion:

Now, he is one of those "sensitive stomach" cats,

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That was like a cautionary: "Now, don't reach any conclusions...." Imagine me tilting my head and holding up a finger.

This medium has me scratching my head much too often.

You are not the only one Tim....
I recently discovered in an earlier post of mine in this thread....
leave off just one word and it can change the context of the sentence.

i hope no one gets offended by this but i just have to say, pet cats are not lions.....

Originally Posted by jaycee

i hope no one gets offended by this but i just have to say, pet cats are not lions.....

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NO but they arent omnivore s either ....

Yes prep is done Very carefully around here... I have a immune disorder and have had*knock on wood * no issues ... I use sanitizer right after prep and a very through hand washing... Premade is easier to handle for me as I figured out how to aqeeze the portion out limiting exposure to the meat for me and the surfaces....

i wasnt suggesting they are omnivores, just that lions and other wild cats are biologically different from out domesticated pets and therefore may possibly be better able to handle raw meat versus cooked.

Originally Posted by jaycee

i wasnt suggesting they are omnivores, just that lions and other wild cats are biologically different from out domesticated pets and therefore may possibly be better able to handle raw meat versus cooked.

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NO actually DNA wise and digestive tract wise they are quite similiar.Cats remember have really not domesticated , just ask a mouser .. I suggest looking at some of the holistic cat sites like cat info ...

Originally Posted by sharky

NO actually DNA wise and digestive tract wise they are quite similiar.Cats remember have really not domesticated , just ask a mouser

.. I suggest looking at some of the holistic cat sites like cat info ...

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I feed my cats raw, and it was not something I chose to do willy-nilly. I did my research, read everything both good and bad, talked to my vet, and to many other raw feeders, before taking the steps and feeding it to my two.

Ultimatley, I decided that raw is the diet which most closely meets their biologic nutritional needs. The nature of a cats digestive system makes infection from e. coli or salmonella VERY VERY uncommon, and from my understanding, there are usually other factors involved. Eating rotting meat would put a cat at hightened risk for getting sick as the meat contains MUCH more bacteria than fresh meat, even with their short digestive tracts cats can get sick if they're consuming that much bacteria. A cat with a weakened immune system would be at a higher risk, a cat with a weakened or sensitive digestive tract should be given digestive enzymes with raw, to minimize any risk. I'm sorry Hissy, that you lost your baby. But I still have not found anything to have me believe this is a common occurance. It's certainly a risk, but dogs have died from choking on kibble (I don't know of any cats offhand). Anything you feed your animals presents a risk that needs to be considered.

My cats have only benifited from their raw diet. They were sickly for months and months, we were in and out of the vets office on a very regular basis. None of the conditions that were coming up seemed to be connected in any way, or have any obvious cause. I was frankly getting tired of seeing my vet! I wanted my babies to be healthy. Since we switched to raw almost 9 months ago, I think we've been to the vet twice, and once was an accident related injury! It has made a dramatic difference in the health of my cats, and I never ever think twice of the decision I made to feed them raw.

Originally Posted by jaycee

...lions and other wild cats are biologically different from out domesticated pets and therefore may possibly be better able to handle raw meat versus cooked.

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Sorry, but I don't buy that premise at all. Do you have any citations to back that up?

Domestic cats are identical biologically to the north african wild cats they're descended from. As evidenced by the number of feral cats that live quite successfully hunting and eating RAW MEAT. The main problems with raw meat are introduced by modern large-scale PRODUCTION and PROCESSING. It has nothing to do with cats' ability to eat raw meat.

they are a different species, or am i wrong about that?

Actually, domestic cats are just one branch down from wild cats on the Felidae family tree. They are the same from the same species, family, sub family and genus.

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Subphylum: Vertebrata

Class: Mammalia

Subclass: Eutheria

Order: Carnivora

Family: Felidae

Subfamily: Felinae

Genus: Felis
Wild Cat: Felis silvestris
Domestic Cat: Felis silvestris catus

so technically a lion and a housecat could mate and produce offspring?

A lion and a housecat couldn't mate, but a housecat and a wild cat could. The bengal breed is a cross between a wild species (Asian Leopard cat) and the domestic cat.

Julia, how far apart are lions and domestic cats?

I think sizes might make that slightly tricky, and I dont know what lions gestation periods are.
I am too squeamish to do raw, and too iffy bout being able to get the right nutrients. But Tom had been with me a year yesterday, so I got them some rump steak and gave it to them raw - Tom and Martha woudln't touch it, but the others loved it. Ginger was prob the one that enjoyed it the most, and he has no teeth (which means I have to spend ages cutting it into small enough pieces for him. )

Originally Posted by coaster

A lion and a housecat couldn't mate, but a housecat and a wild cat could. The bengal breed is a cross between a wild species (Asian Leopard cat) and the domestic cat.

Julia, how far apart are lions and domestic cats?

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if they cant mate wouldnt that make them seperate species? <confused>

Just wish to clarify something. I was not feeding the raw diet to the cats when Kahuna died. At the time, my cats were inside/outside cats. He was raiding the neighbor's compost pile, which if you compost you know that meat is never part of the composting. However, raw eggs and other spoils that harbor bacteria are. Why he was sampling this was anyone's guess.

After he died and the necropsy came back saying he died of salmonella that is when I did the article. Curious about how a Siamese cross-breed in perfect health could succumb so quickly.

While I was researching this, I talked to the top experts in the country on this disease. It was through them that I learned what I did about salmonella and how it can affect cats.

It is my choice NOT to feed a raw diet based on my research. I fault no one for feeding their cat raw diets as long as they do so as safely as possible. Salmonella is a nasty way for a cat to die. The tip-off are the bloody bubbles- if you see those in your cat's diarrhea rush your cat to the vet immediately and demand they test for salmonella

For those interested, the article is here:

http://www.thecatsite.com/Health/97/...nt-Killer.html

Originally Posted by jaycee

if they cant mate wouldnt that make them seperate species? <confused>

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Oookay, you guys are really making me work today! lol

Lions and domestic cats are from different genus and subfamilies but in the same family. They are different species but that doesn't mean that because of that alone they are biologically very different. They are still very much similar.

Domestic cats are:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Genus: Felis (with african wild cats, european wild cats, indian desert cats. -pumas, carcals, ocelots USED to be considered part of this group but no longer are).
Species: F. silvestris
Subspecies: F.s. catus

Lions are:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Genus: Panthera (with leopards and jaguars and tigers)
Species: P. leo

Wowsa, this is off topic! lol

Species is just a division of the scientific classification of where an animal fits. For example, in Julia's classification of the domestic cat (above), the species is Felis silvestrus, and the sub-species is Felis silverstrus cattus. The lion is in the same family (Felidae), but a different genus (Panthera). Genus is a higher-order classification than species, so yes, lions and domestic cats are a different species. Domestic cats and north African wildcats are the same species, but they're different sub-species. I have no idea how close two species or two sub-species have to be in order to mate and successfully produce offspring. I don't know that much about genetics.

Ha ha --- thanks Julia, you were just a little faster on the research than I and hit that "Save" button first. (Yours is better, anyway.)

I haven't read through all of the responses, so I don't know if this was mentioned or not....

I advocate feeding raw (I am going to put my kitten on a NV pre-made raw/kibble diet), and a good way to eliminate the risk of contamination in the meat (if it's home-made raw) is to make sure the meat has been frozen before you feed it. This kills most bacteria, etc that could cause problems.

I am not pro or con raw but according to the authors of the Cat Fancy article that this thread is about...
freezing does not kill serious pathogens nor does grapefruit seed extract.
I have no idea if that is accurate info. but it is certainly something to keep in mind if you are feeding raw.

I re-posted Hissy's link from above about Salmonella.
Everyone should be alert to the symptoms created by these devastating bacteria.
Thank you for sharing this MA.

http://www.thecatsite.com/Health/97/...nt-Killer.html

Originally Posted by xocats

I am not pro or con raw but according to the authors of the Cat Fancy article that this thread is about...
freezing does not kill serious pathogens nor does grapefruit seed extract.
I have no idea if that is accurate info. but it is certainly something to keep in mind if you are feeding raw.

I re-posted Hissy's link from above about Salmonella.
Everyone should be alert to the symptoms created by these devastating bacteria.
Thank you for sharing this MA.

http://www.thecatsite.com/Health/97/...nt-Killer.html

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the article is correct, freezing does NOT kill serious pathogens, the ONLY way to do that is to cook the meat. i am not against anyones choice to feed their cats raw meat but you do need to be aware of this.